These zucchini fritters are light and crispy, never soggy or heavy! Made with zucchini or summer squash, feta cheese, green onions, and dill, they make a great starter, side dish, or vegetarian entree!
Here is one of my favorite zucchini recipes! If you are like me, you’ve probably come close to your fill of zucchini and summer squash for the season. My farmer’s market box is filled with so much zucchini it’s sometimes hard to get through it!
When we get to this point at our house, I know it’s time to whip up this delicious zucchini fritter recipe- I’ve discovered that my husband will eat pretty much anything that comes in the form of a fritter! It’s a useful tactic!
Why you’ll love them!
Great Mediterranean Flavor! My recipe is infused with Mediterranean flavors and makes for a delicious vegetarian meal alongside a hearty green salad. Topped with creamy Tzatziki Sauce, they are dreamy!
After a couple of decades of experimenting with this recipe both in our restaurant and my catering business, I’ll show you how to make light, crispy, and fluffy zucchini fritters instead of heavy, eggy, or soggy ones. Your whole family will love these!
Zucchini Fritters Recipe Ingredients
- Zucchini: You’ll need about 4 medium zucchini. Feel free to use a mix of zucchini and summer squash!
- Scallions: Add an aromatic bite and fragrant flavor, while contributing to the beautiful green color.
- Fresh dill: Dill has such a distinct summery taste that really elevates the overall flavor of this dish. You can sub half of the dill with parsley if you wish.
- Crumbled feta: Or sub another grated cheese like jack, mozzarella, or cheddar.
- Large egg: The egg is essential for binding the ingredients together to form a fritter.
- All-purpose flour: Forms the texture of the patty. Feel free to sub gluten-free flour if needed.
- Baking powder: To help the fritters rise and become light and fluffy.
- Fresh nutmeg: Our secret ingredient that adds a warm, nutty taste!
Zucchini Fritters Instructions
Step one: Grate the zucchini using a hand or box grater or food processor with a grater attachment. Gather 4 cups of grated zucchini and place in a medium bowl.
Sprinkle a teaspoon of kosher salt over top, mix, and let sit for 15 minutes. Toss occasionally. This step is essential for releasing excess moisture and resulting in light and crispy zucchini cakes!
Step two: While you wait for the zucchini, prep the remaining ingredients and make the Tzatziki Sauce if using it.
Tip: If you are swimming in zucchini, Tzatziki can also be made with zucchini instead of the traditional English cucumber.
Step three: When the zucchini is ready, transfer it to a colander over the sink to drain. Squeeze with your hands or use a spatula to press down firmly to release as much liquid as possible. Do not rinse. Use paper towels to pat dry.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Step four: In a large bowl, mix together the grated zucchini, fresh herbs, green onions, feta, nutmeg, and egg. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the zucchini mixture, incorporating well. The batter should be fairly thick.
Step five: Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil (or butter) in a large skillet over medium heat. Once warm, spoon ping pong sized balls of the batter onto the pan. Sear until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Flip and repeat, pan-frying another 3-4 minutes.
Transfer to a warm oven on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan to allow them to cook through and puff up without getting too brown.
Tip: Prepare the fritters in batches, letting them finish in the oven for at least 10 minutes. They will puff up a bit when done in the middle!
Step six: Serve warm with a dollop of Tzatziki Sauce and a dill sprig. Freshly cracked black pepper, lemon zest, and parmesan cheese are all delicious garnishes too!
Meal Prep, Storage & Reheating
To meal prep, make the fritters, then store in the fridge for 3 days before reheating in the toaster oven directly on the rack.
Leftovers can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for 5-7 days. Reheat uncovered in a toaster oven. They will surprisingly get crispy again!
Store in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge before reheating.
Every time I make zucchini fritters, I often wish I would have made a double batch. They tend to go very quickly!
Serving Suggestions
Tzatziki, a Greek-style yogurt sauce is a really refreshing and cool topping for the crispy warm fritters, or sub a little Greek yogurt or sour cream.
Zucchini Fritters can be served with a salad to make a light dinner or hearty lunch. Try them with our Little Gem Salad, Spring Greens, or Raw Beet Salad.
Or serve as a fun appetizer or side dish! Make much smaller fritters (1 1/2 inch in diameter) and top with tzatziki and a fresh sprig of dill. Pierce a mini fork down through the top, for the perfect appetizer bite.
FAQs
The number one reason why your fritters are probably soggy is not drawing out the as much moisture as possible from the vegetable. The easiest way to do this is to salt the veggie, let stand 15-30 minutes, strain, then press the remaining water out, patting dry. This will prevent soggy fritters and give you light, crispy fritters that plump up when cooking!
Baking powder prevents the fritters from turning out thick and heavy, resulting, in light, airy patties with crisp texture on the outside.
You will know they are done on the inside when they start to puff up slightly. This “puffing up” is basically the egg inside telling you, “I’m fully cooked through“! Keep this in your back pocket. 😉
Transfer seared fritters to a warm oven so they continue cooking through. This will also help them maintain their crisp versus being transferred straight to a plate.
I’m so excited for you to try this Zucchini Fritter recipe with Tzatziki Sauce! So tasty! Let us know how you like them in the comments below!!
More Favorite Zucchini recipes
Zucchini Fritter Recipe video
Zucchini Fritters Recipe
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 12 fritters
- Category: Appetizer, vegetarian dinner,
- Method: pan-seared
- Cuisine: Greek
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
These zucchini fritters are light and crispy, never soggy or heavy! Made with zucchini or summer squash, feta cheese, green onions, and dill, they make a great starter, side dish, or vegetarian entree!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs zucchini (about 4 medium zucchini)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup chopped scallions
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill (or sub half with Italian parsley)
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta ( or sub another grated cheese- jack, mozzarella, cheddar)
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (or GF flour)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp fresh nutmeg
- ——-
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Serve with Tzatziki Sauce, sour cream or a dollop of plain yogurt. For a and extra kick, Zhoug yogurt is a great option too!
Instructions
- GRATE AND SALT ZUCCHINI: Using a hand grater or food processor, with grater attachment, grate the zucchini. You need about 4 cups grated, placed in a med-sized bowl. Sprinkle with 1 tsp kosher salt, stir well, and let sit for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. (This will release the water and give you light and crispy zucchini cakes!)
- In the meantime, prep the other ingredients and make the optional Tzatziki Sauce.
- After 15 minutes, place the salted zucchini in a strainer, and using your hand or a spatula, press down firmly to remove as much water as possible. Do not rinse. Pat dry with a few paper towels. You really want to get these fairly dry.
- Preheat oven to 350F
- MAKE THE BATTER: Place the grated zucchini in a bowl, adding dill, scallions, feta, nutmeg, and one egg. Mix well. In a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder together. Add flour mixture to zucchini, incorporating all. This will be a fairly thick batter.
- SEAR: In a heavy bottom skillet, heat 1-2 T olive oil or butter over medium heat. When the oil is hot, spoon ping-pong sized balls of the batter. Lightly sear each side until golden brown about 3 minutes each side, and place in a warm oven-either on a wire rack or on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Putting these in the oven will allow them to cook all the way through and puff up, without getting too brown in the skillet.
- Make these in batches, letting fritters finish at least 10 minutes in the oven, or until they puff slightly.
- Serve with a dollop of Tzatziki Sauce and dill sprig.
Notes
These and be cooked ahead, refrigerated for 3 days and reheated in a toaster oven ( right on the rack). Great for meal prep!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 fritters
- Calories: 191
- Sugar: 1.2 g
- Sodium: 774.9 mg
- Fat: 12.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 14.4 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 6.3 g
- Cholesterol: 63.2 mg
This8 is my goo to in Zucchini season… They taste like spinach pies and are so much easier to prep… Also. You can sub corn starch for flour to make them gluten free… Yummy
Thanks Cynthia, that is a great idea!
We made these tonight. I didn’t have any dill (dislike it) so used fresh thyme and added a little grated parmy. Fried in butter, they were SO fantastic! Thank you for all your wonderful recipes. I love them all x
Oh good! Great to hear Jane!
What a delicious addition to Sunday brunch!! I think next time I make them I will either try your Tzatziki sauce, or just go with yogurt with a squeezed of lemon. I bought Cedar Tzatziki sauce at Whole Foods, and we all agreed that it overpowered the delicate fritters.
Ah yes, I can see how that could happen. Glad you enjoyed!
I am so excited to try these tonight! All of your recipes are amazing, and I am sure this will be no exception. I was wondering what pan you used in the video, is it enamel? I have been thinking about buying something like that for frying, so as not to have sticking.
Thanks, it think this a ceramic non stick pan from Crate and Barrel.
I reallyt love these…I added a bit more salt and an extra egg because I only had small eggs. Fritters were great! Next batch I will double for sure!
Awesome to hear Sarah!
Yum – great simple recipe that tastes great – I served with salad and sour cream and lemon juice
Sounds perfect Sharmayne! Thanks. 😉
These were amazing! However, I felt mine were not as “crispy” as maybe they should’ve been. As another reader stated her batter was very dry and mine too (I did not add another egg). Can you take too much water out of the zucchini? They seemed light on the inside. Tzatziki was also wonderful. I will certainly try these again.
Hummm, I wonder! So your batter was dry to begin with?
Very nice. My batter was a bit dry, so I added another egg. Perhaps did to good a job with drying out the zucchini.
Thanks Johan- glad you were able to adjust this!
Can these be frozen?I’ve made several times & it’s a dynamite recipe!!
Yes, I think they would freeze well!
We enjoyed the fritters and tzatziki today using zucchini, cucumbers, scallions and dill from the garden. Quite a tasty meal! Thank you.
Perfect Jafa!