Kate mentioned that we both just got home from big summer trips, and one of my favorite things about being gone for a while in the summer is coming home to see how much our garden grew. You don’t notice when you stare at something every day, but head out for a week or two and bam! We had a major heat spell while we were gone and all of our plants went crazy. We had loads of strawberries, my herbs are 4 feet tall, and we even found our first ripe tomatoes on the vine (we’ve never, ever had red ones this early in the season). Our cucumbers and zucchini are in full force, too. So I’m entering that phase of the summer when there is literally a pile of zucchini on my kitchen counter every single day.
We have lots of yummy zucchini recipes, and honestly if it were up to me, I’d make Chocolate Zucchini Bread every single day, but my thighs contest. So I’m always looking for new ways to use it. Fritters are super quick and easy, and although they taste all crispy and fried, I’ve cut down on extra stuff so these are mostly zucchini, and pretty darn healthy! At under 30 calories each, these are such an awesome snack or side dish because they taste so, so yummy.
Use a large-hole box grater and shred your zucchini. I’ll tell you right now, the degree to which you remove the moisture will make or break your fritters. Put the shredded zucchini in a strainer over a bowl or in your sink and toss it with a little salt, letting it sit for about 10-15 minutes. This step will draw out moisture, which if left in, will make your fritters gooey and mushy. You’ll notice a lot of liquid dripping out of the strainer, so just use your hand to press as much out as you can. After you’ve pressed it, transfer it to several layers of paper towels. Put more paper towels on top and just press the heck out of it, like you would for thawed frozen spinach, removing as much liquid as you can.
Once that’s done, add the rest of the ingredients. You can really be flexible here; that’s one of the great things about a fritter. Toss in fresh herbs, additional seasonings, some hot sauce if you like, whatever. I add green onions,
bottled minced garlic (I always keep a jar of garlic in my fridge, and I prefer it for things like this because it lends plenty of flavor without being too overbearing like fresh garlic can be, since these aren’t cooked for long, but feel free to use fresh,) a little Parmesan cheese, black pepper, and to bind them all together: an egg white and just a touch of flour. The flavors are clean and simple, but oh so good.
At this point, imagine me stirring this mixture up, and dropping them into a skillet on the stove top that’s been drizzled with our Garlic Oil instead of me looking at the clock realizing I need to leave in 10 minutes and having to finish making and photographing fritters. You’ll just pan-fry them in a little bit of oil (just enough to cover the bottom of the pan- we’re not deep frying here) until they’re crispy and golden on one side and then flip until they’re crispy and golden on the other side.
If you have a really large non-stick skillet (I’ve seriously never made these in my stainless pans and had them not stick like concrete) it’s nice to cook them all at once so they’re done at the same time.
You can serve them with a little sour cream or plain yogurt and a sprinkle of green onions if you want them to be pretty. That golden brown crispy part seriously tastes like fried hash-browns, and the little bits of melty cheese throughout make them feel naughty.
They make a yummy appetizer, or a great side dish to a summer meal. Bonus score: my kids totally devoured this batch, and I didn’t tell them it was zucchini until after. Let them dip them in ranch. Boom.
{Healthy!} Zucchini Fritters
Recipe by Our Best Bites
4 cups grated zucchini
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 egg white (reserve the yolk)
olive oil (I recommend our Garlic Olive Oil)
Place shredded zucchini in a strainer over a bowl or in sink. Toss with salt and let sit for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Press zucchini down with hands to expel liquid through strainer. Transfer zucchini to several layers of paper towels and place another layer of paper towels on top of it. Press and squeeze to remove as much moisture as possible.
Place zucchini in a bowl and add remaining ingredients. Toss together. If needed, you may add a bit of the yolk as an additional binder.
Heat a large, non-stick skillet to medium-high heat. Add 1/2 tablespoon Garlic Olive Oil (or enough to lightly coat bottom of pan). Drop zucchini batter by 2-tablespoons full into pan and lightly spread/flatten. Cook for 2-3 minutes until golden brown and crisp on one side and then flip. Continue cooking until golden and then transfer to a wire rack with a paper towel on it. *note cooking time greatly varies due to pan type, stove, etc. Go by color and cook until they’re nice and golden-crisp. Serve with a small dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt if desired and garnish with green onions. Yields 12.
Nutritional Info (per 1 fritter): Cal: 27, Fat: 1, Carb: 2, Pro: 2, Fib: 0
Questions & Reviews
Made these tonight and they were fantastic!!!! Definitely worth all the effort getting the water out of those zucchini.
Loved these! Have made them twice in a week. First time I grated the zucchini by hand and then squeezed the heck out of them. They turned out super awesome!! Tonight I used the food processor to grate and noticed they were slightly bigger shreds (if that’s a word?) and had a much tougher time getting all the water out. They were soggy
Yeah, I hate zucchini, but these were delicious! I’m even considering planting zucchini in my garden next year for these. My mom used to make something similar and serve it with malt vinegar. Yummy!
I just made these for dinner last night and they were amazing. Definitely an instant favorite that I’ll be making them again!!
I put the zucchini threw a salad spinner. Then squezzed and squezzed out the water. They did not come out right. Recipe seems off. Would not recommend.
I just made these and I couldn’t stop eating them. I’ve always loved zucchini but I never knew how amazing it could be until I made these. Thank you!
I made these today and served them with a few dashes of Texas Pete and a drizzle of your creamy lime cilantro dressing. DIVINE!
Oh, man!!! I made these for lunch yesterday and they were AMAZING!!!! I got my garlic OBB Oil 2 hours before. It was meant to be!!!!
I love your site so far 🙂 I make something like this with zucchini, parmesan and 1 egg….shred and mix, put in muffin tins and back for 20 minutes at 350. SO GOOD! Its been hot here so I use my toaster oven. I also add some chopped up sausage sometimes!
Just made these for lunch. They are so delicious! Perfect for a light, healthy summery meal. Loved every bite!
I’ve never been a zucchini fan unless it is hidden in a baked treat, but these sound pretty good. My husband loves the squash in any form, so I think I’ll try these out tonight and see what everyone thinks.
Mmmm these look delicious!! I can’t wait to make them for breakfast topped with a runny fried egg and avocado 🙂 maybe with some bacon??
Definitely going to try these this summer! Thanks for the always-clear explanation, I totally would’ve been lazy and had soggy fritters 🙂
I love making zucchini fritters! I think they are much easier than latkas because they turn out good every time. My favorite add-in is leftover salmon. Sometimes I’ll brush them with soy sauce/ginger/brown sugar too which is awesome. I can’t wait until my friends start donating zucchini to me.
These sound so good!! I absolutely love stuff like this!
These sound great and your garden is beautiful!!
Wowee, these were mighty tasty. Super quick to make. I used a potato ricer to squeeze out moisture from the zucchini and that was effective and easy. Only downside is I should have doubled the recipe. Mmm, mmm -thanks!
ooh, nice tip about the zucchini ricer! So glad you liked them!
Going to be making these soon! Thanks for sharing. Do you happen to remember about how many zucchini you used to get 4 cups grated?
about 2 medium should do it 🙂
Great thanks:)
I think these would be delicious. I would put in a 200 degree oven while cooking the rest if you can’t cook all at once. I made your lime cilantro dressing for those wonderful chicken tosquittos(sp?) So since I have so much left, I might use this to put on top.
Any chance you know the poundage of the zuccini before grating, so I will have enough?
thanks.
No, I should have weighed them but I was in a hurry! I used about 2 medium zucchini. If you’re buying them at the grocery store, they’re often on the small side so I would probably get 3.
Do you think this recipe would work well with yellow squash? Long story but that’s all I was able to plant in my garden this year.
Yep, I’m sure they’d be great!
I imagine my copious amounts of frozen shredded zucchini would work well for this so long as I completely thaw and press all the moisture out. Freezing them brings out a lot of the moisture anyway but the zucchini doesn’t stay as firm. I will try it and report back. I personally don’t have fresh zucchini as I don’t have a garden I just get family/friends leftovers which usually ends up being a whole bunch at once.
With frozen (thawed and as much moisture removed as possible these were super mushy. So if anyone wanted to try with frozen zucchini I wouldn’t recommend it. I will definitely try them again with fresh though as the flavor was great.
Yum! My garden ( northern bc, canada) is a little behind yours but I’m adding this to the pile of recipes that I’ll make once it’s ” zucchini for every meal” here too! Thank you!!!
Yum, these look great! I just tried this month’s Cook’s Country version of zucchini fritters which includes feta. I like that these are a bit more wholesome using parmesan instead.
How did I not notice that there was a zucchini fritter recipe in this month’s Cook’s Country?? I should have taken a peek at those- I have to go look now! I bet feta AND Parm would be awesome.
I’m so jealous of your garden! Whenever we go on vacation in the summer we come back and find ours dead — even when we set water on timers or have friends water it. I did get one zucchini and 2 tomatoes this week and I’m sure I’ll get more tomatoes, but it would take a miracle for me to get enough zucchini to make these yummy fritters. Boo.
What a beautiful arbor! Herbs over 4 feet tall, wow, that’s almost taller than me!! well, almost.
I know, I have a huge garden and am always looking for ways to serve up zucchini because we have so many of them and I don’t want to waste them. Will be making these fritters!!!
Hi! Love your blog!! And, my folks gave me your cookbook for my birthday. Love it, too!! Thank you for ALL the wonderful recipes you give us. 🙂 Duck
(I don’t know if it is just me or my computer, but the font on your blog is very small, almost hard to read.)