When zucchini are in season, we can barely keep up with the bounty! One vigorous zucchini plant can easily supply a family of four. Two or three plants and you are leaving bags of zucchinis on your neighbors’ porches.
Here’s a quick and easy zucchini fritter recipe that’s perfect for a side or snack. The trick to keep them from being mushy?
Drain the freshly grated zucchini of excess moisture. Fresh garden zucchinis are usually heavy with water. If you salt the grated zucchini and let it drain in a sieve over a bowl, the salt will help draw out the extra water.
This recipe uses a simple batter of zucchini, egg, flour, green onions, herbs and lemon. You gently fry the fritters in hot oil until lightly browned on both sides.
We’re making a sour cream dipping sauce with lemon and garlic, or you could skip that and just serve with a dollop of yogurt.
Zucchini Fritters Recipe
PrintYou can easily substitute the fresh herbs with 1/2 teaspoon or so of dried herbs such as Italian seasoning.
A variation that several commenters have mentioned is to add a bit of cumin and feta to the mixture. You can also separate the egg and whip up the egg white and fold back in for lighter and fluffier fritters.
Ingredients
- 1 lb of zucchini (about 3 medium sized), coarsely grated
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup sour cream (can sub Greek yogurt)
- 1 clove garlic, minced, about 1 teaspoon
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- Pinch of salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 3 green onions, minced
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh basil
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup of olive oil, grapeseed oil, or canola oil
Method
1 Salt and drain zucchini: Salt the grated zucchini with about 1 teaspoon of salt. Place in a sieve or colander over a bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes.
Press down with a wooden spoon to push out more of the water. Wrap in paper towels and try to squeeze out more liquid.
2 Make dipping sauce: While the zucchini is releasing its liquid in step one, make the dipping sauce. Whisk together the sour cream, minced garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
3 Mix zucchini with egg, flour, green onions, herbs, zest, salt, pepper: Whisk egg in a large bowl. Add the grated zucchini, flour, minced green onions, thyme, basil, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Mix to combine well.
4 Fry zucchini fritters: Heat oil in a large skillet (we recommend a 10-inch cast iron skillet) over medium high heat until the oil is shimmery and hot. Test the oil by flicking a little flour into it. If the flour sizzles it's ready.
Cook the fritters in batches. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter into the skillet. Flatten slightly with the back end of a spoon or spatula. Cook, turning once, until browned, 4-6 minutes on each side.
Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Sprinkle with salt. Repeat with remaining batter.
Serve immediately, with sour cream dipping sauce.
Fritters can be reheated by placing on a sheet pan under a broiler for a minute or two.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
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Last night was zuchinni night! I had a slightly larger zucchini (free from a neighbor) to use up and made these fritters, along with your turkey zucchini burgers. We loved the pairing of the two recipes. The only problem was that I didn’t make enough for leftovers for today’s lunch!
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Great recipe! I like to add some grated potato (maybe 75/25 zucch/potato) to beef it up a bit.
I placed the grated zucchini in muslin cloth in a colander for a couple hours squeezing now and then got so much water out! And was still wet.
Adding fresh Chilli and garlic and onion, Parmasen cheese and oregano.
Tasty recipe overall, although I may skip the lemon next time. I used a zeppelin-sized zucchini from my garden, doubled the recipe, and added fesh basil, chives, and parsley (also from my garden). Plain Greek yogurt complemented the fritters nicely.
Substituted lemon zest with grated fresh ginger. Yum!