Perfectly golden brown, crispy, and light zucchini fritters. Hold onto this recipe!
Zucchini is the wettest vegetable around. Close to it at least, right? Well, the moisture is great for baking zucchini bread and zucchini muffins. And let’s not forget zucchini cake! Not so great for fritters, though. Moisture strips these fritters of their crisp texture. They’ll be wet, gooey, and soft. So, the solution? Get as much moisture out of the zucchini as possible. Same with the potato as well—because we’re adding in a shredded sweet potato for flavor and substance. You’ll love it.
How much moisture you remove from the vegetables will make or break your fritters. Take the time to draw out as much moisture as you possibly can, even more than when you make zucchini casserole.
Use a large-hole box grater to shred your zucchini and potato. Place both in a strainer and press down with your hands to begin straining the water out. Next, wrap it all in a paper-towel lined bowl (or a clean dish towel) and just keep pressing. Let it sit for 45 minutes, then press again.
More fritter ingredients: beaten eggs, herbs, cornmeal, and cornstarch. The last two might be a little odd to you, but trust me! The cornmeal adds a wonderful, almost unexpected, crunch. The cornstarch helps to thicken the mixture up while also soaking up some liquid. The two also keep my zucchini fritters gluten free.
Liquid will pool in the bottom of the bowl as you scoop the zucchini mixture. Make sure you use a fork when scooping up small piles to form the fritters. You don’t want that liquid in the skillet.
Another trick for keeping your fritters crisp? Pan-fry in a little olive oil until they are golden brown on both sides. You only need enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. That’s plenty.
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Zucchini Fritters with Garlic Herb Yogurt Sauce
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 6 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
- Yield: 10-12 fritters
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Perfectly golden brown, crispy, and light zucchini fritters.
Ingredients
Garlic Herb Yogurt Sauce
- 1/2 cup plain Greek or regular yogurt
- 2 teaspoons chopped parsley
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic
- salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Fritters
- 2 cups shredded zucchini (2 small or 1 large zucchini)
- 1 cup shredded sweet potato (1 small, peeled)
- 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup cornmeal
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/3 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Make the yogurt sauce by whisking all of the yogurt sauce ingredients together except for the salt and pepper. Taste, then add salt/pepper to your taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Make the fritters: Place the shredded zucchini, sweet potato, and onion in a large strainer. Top with 1 teaspoon salt and mix it around with a large wooden spoon. Press down with your hands to begin draining some of the water from the vegetables. Let that sit in the sink for a few minutes. Meanwhile, line a large bowl with paper towels or a clean dish towel (easier to use a towel!). Place the vegetable mixture in the bowl and top with more paper towels or fold over the dish towel. Begin pressing down; you need to get out as much liquid as possible. Grab more paper towels or a new dish towel as needed. Note: you can also simply wring out the vegetables in the dish towel over the sink. Just keep wringing! Let the vegetables sit in the towels for 45 minutes, then press again. The goal is to remove as much moisture as possible. Otherwise, the fritters will be soggy. You will be amazed how much water you wring out!
- Whisk the eggs together in a large bowl. Once beaten, whisk in the garlic, parsley, mint, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Fold in the vegetables, then add the cornmeal and cornstarch until everything is combined.
- Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, use a fork to scoop up around 2 Tablespoons of the zucchini mixture (I always eyeball the amount). There may be liquid pooling in the bottom of the bowl, so make sure you use a fork so the excess liquid isn’t in your fritter. Place the mixture onto the hot skillet and flatten with a spatula. Repeat with a few more, making sure not to overcrowd the skillet. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate until finished.
- Serve warm fritters with yogurt sauce.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: These fritters are best cooked and eaten right away. They make great leftovers stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Reheat by placing on a lined baking sheet under the broiler for a couple minutes. Freeze fritters for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat as directed before.
- Adapted from Bon Appétit magazine.
Keywords: zucchini fritters
These were delicious! I didn’t have any mint or parsley, but they were still wonderful.
★★★★★
Can I make this without the mint? I have everything else and really don’t use mint often. It would save a run to the grocery store. thanks
Hi Karen! You can leave the mint out if desired.
My first time making zucchini fritters and they were delicious! I waited 45 minutes before pressing the grated vegetables in a potato ricer, a handful at a time. It worked perfectly!
The sauce was amazing as an accompaniment.
★★★★★
Hi! I made these a few years ago and they came out delicious! I’m curious now if I could make them in the air fryer instead? Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!
Hi Kari, we haven’t personally tried it but we can’t see why not! Let us know if you give it a try.
I loved the fried fritter recipe, but I made so many, I decided to add some of them as the first layer of the lasagna I was making for dinner. I used my regular mix in the lasagna , meat cheese red sauce, and laid it all out on top of my fried fritters, then baked it all as usual. Well what a great treat to have that wonderful fried fritter surprises on the bottom of my lasagna It was delicious. . I’m sureI I will have to be making it like this again, with those fried fritters added to my lasagna.
Yum! I just finished eating these for dinner and I’m hooked! So easy and so delicious, this is definitely one of my go to meals!
★★★★★
I’m just now preparing this recipe, and found I didn’t have any sweet potatoes left, so I grated a small peeled red potato ( an extra one after making potato salad ), added a tsp of sugar to mimic the sweet potato. I’m using the chia, and cheesecloth methods and I’m getting a ton of liquid. I’m waiting the 45 minutes and I’ll be set to go. From your reviews I’m suretbjs will be very delicious.
★★★★★
Tasty easy to make
They sound delicious! I will have to break out my grater tomm. and try to make them myself. Wish me luck!
Just made these this morning! I used frozen zucchini which took a lot longer to get rid of the moisture. Definitely worth the time and energy. You must also make the sauce….an amazing recipe!!
★★★★★
OMG! Made these tonight, they are so good!
To speed up removing excess moisture from shredded veggies salt, let stand in colander for a few minutes then press with a towel. Get out your salad spinner and spin away till contents are dry.
Thanks for the tip, Vivian!
Yum! These were excellent. And yes there is a ton of moisture so do the wringing thing. All that takes time so I’d recommend starting early on the vegetable prep part. I made 1.5 recipe for 6 people and they would have eaten more if there had been a couple more.
★★★★★
Made these tonight and they were amazing!! I prepped the zucchini, sweet potato and onion mixture per the recipe and then let it sit overnight to get all the juices out. Turned out perfect.
★★★★★
Delicious zucchini fritters! Will be making again to use up the zucchini from the garden.
★★★★★
I have an abundance of zucchini right now, and since Sally’s Baking addiction is one of my favorite sites, I came here looking for recipes. We have loved all of them. This one, however, is a favorite. I did have to change out the sweet potato to a russet, simply because it was what I had. I also left the mint out of the fritter but added it to the yogurt. It was fantastic. My husband even ate the liquid left at the bottom of the bowl as a sort of scramble. I can’t imagine a sweet potato being better, but will try it before the season is finished.
Did not work well for me. Little flavor, and not enough binding. Came out very dry. Followed recipe exactly.
★★
Can you substitute shredded carrots for sweet potato?
Hi Cassie, definitely! For best results, use freshly shredded carrots, not the pre-shredded mix sold in grocery stores. Enjoy!
Thank you for the carrot suggestion! My son and I don’t like sweet potatoes so I was going to skip this recipe. If I can use a carrot instead this becomes a perfect recipe for us! I’ll be making them this week and I’ll let you know how it turns out!
★★★★★
A great way to squeeze out the moisture in zucchini is to use a cheese bag. If you don’t have a cheese bag you could make one, all it is is unbleached muslin; which is .99 a yard. Just sew two rectangles together invert and you have a bag no draw string needed, if your feeling adventurous you can add a drawstring and therefore have a proper cheese bag too. Then just pop zucchini into the bag twist the open end until it puts pressure on your zucchini And voila, strained zucchini without the mess and breakage of paper towels and using up all of your kitchen towels.
Can you omit the potato or do I need to change ratios?
Hi Andrea, Simply use 1 extra cup shredded zucchini instead of the sweet potato. Enjoy!
Going to try this recipe tonight! I have tons of fresh zucchini from our garden. Has anyone tried these in an air fryer?
I’m wondering if I could bake these instead of frying them. Has anyone tried this? Would I need to alter the ingredients in order to bake them?
Hi Debbie, you could certainly give it a try. We haven’t tested baking these instead of frying, but my thought is to keep all of the ingredients the same and bake at 375 degrees until crispy. If you try it this way, let us know how it goes!
I made this recepie with carrots instead of zuccini and it turn out amazing! Love it! For sure one to keep on my favorites. Regards from Brasil.
★★★★★
These fritters were incredible! I’ve been following your recipes for a long time now and I have yet to find one I don’t like. I made a garlic dipping sauce to go along with it and they came out perfect!
★★★★★
These are probably my favorite fritters ever! I’ve been making zucchini cakes (as my kids like to call them) for years, but most recipes use breadcrumbs and cheese, which tend to obscure the flavor of the veggies. I love the freshness the sweet potato and cornmeal bring to your version. I rarely have mint in the house and they’re still delicious without it. I usually have to double the recipe so there are leftovers for lunch!
★★★★★
For the sauce, can I substitute sour cream for the yogurt?
Definitely!
I threw in a tablespoon of chia seeds and it sucked that wetness right out! Good source of protein and fiber too. Nice and crunchy, even when reheated. Plus it picks up the flavor nicely, as I subbed a shallot for the onion
Can you use frozen shredded zucchini? I have some in the freezer?
I recommend thawing and blotting it first.