Easy Zucchini Fritters Recipe
This easy zucchini fritters recipe is a quick and easy side, plus they are great for making ahead. Veggie fritters of any kind make a tasty light lunch and it is a delicious way to get more vegetables into your diet.
I’ll give you variations and substitutions where I can, plus helpful tips and tricks for success. Read on for this info as well as the recipe. If you’d like to skip straight to the recipe, use the jump to recipe button at the top of the post.
You may also be interested in my original veggie cakes and my crispy lentil patties recipes. For ease of browsing, you can find all of my veggie cake recipes in one place.
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Zucchini fritters recipe
The simplicity of this recipe should also count for something. We normally refer to these as zucchini cakes or zucchini pancakes, but lots of folks call them fritters. If you live across the pond, they are courgette fritters. Whatever you call them, they’re delicious.
I wrote an entire post on How to Make Veggie Cakes to give you simple tricks and helpful tips so you can make your own vegetable fritters from scratch. Watch the video to see how easy it is! Anything that has “fritter” in its name, like these three sisters squash fritters, sign me up.
What you need to know
The most important part of this zucchini fritters recipe is starting out with well-drained zucchini. To do this, place your grated zucchini in a colander over a bowl. Set a small plate on top of the shredded zucchini and weigh it down (I usually use a large can of crushed tomatoes). Drain for at least 20 minutes, longer if you are able.
This is a good task to do ahead of time. Often I’ll let it hang out in the fridge to drain for a few hours to make sure my zucchini pancakes aren’t soggy.
Ingredients
To make these zucchini patties, you’ll only need a handful of ingredients.
- Flour – Regular all purpose flour.
- Substitutions: You can swap the AP flour with your favorite gluten-free flour or almond flour.
- Lemon – We will use both the zest and the juice for this zucchini fritters recipe.
- Eggs – The eggs will help bind the mixture and they will provide a bit of lift to make them fluffy.
- Olive oil – A couple of tablespoons are needed to sauté the fritters. You can use whatever oil you prefer.
- Zucchini – We can’t make these fritters without it. Look for firm, bright green zucchini.
- Shallots and garlic – These will give the fritters flavor. Zucchini is a very mild tasting vegetable, so the addition of garlic and shallots is a welcome one.
- Cheese – I like parmesan, but you can use feta if you prefer.
- Salt and pepper – Everything needs to be seasoned.
How to make zucchini fritters
Here’s a quick summary of how to make this easy zucchini fritters recipe. Please see the card at the bottom of this post for the full recipe.
- Drain – Place shredded zucchini mixed with a teaspoon of salt in a strainer set inside of a bowl and let it drain for 20 – 30 minutes. Once your zucchini is drained, I suggest wrapping it up in a clean kitchen towel and squeezing every last bit of liquid out of it. This may seem like overkill, but trust me, even more liquid will come out.
- Mix – Combine all of the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. If you find that your mixture is too wet, place the zucchini fritter batter back into the strainer set over a bowl. You can scoop the batter from the strainer to keep it away from the extra liquid.
- Cook – Drop scoops of batter into a hot pan with a bit of olive oil, and cook until golden brown on both sides. I portion the fritters with a cookie scoop to ensure they are all the same size.
- Serve – Top with additional herbs and lemon zest, if desired, and a dollop of sour cream.
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Zucchini fritter FAQ’s
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
If your zucchini pancakes are a bit soggy, odds are the zucchini was too wet when you started. This is the number one culprit. I cannot stress enough the importance of removing as much liquid as possible from the zucchini before you mix up the batter. If you’ve squeezed out as much as you can and it’s still too wet, add an extra tablespoon of flour to help bind the mixture.
How to freeze zucchini fritters
They freeze like a dream. I put parchment paper squares in between each fritter before I wrap them up tightly in plastic wrap. I store little bundles of them in freezer zip-top bags, which makes it really easy to pull out a few and heat them up for a quick dinner side or a healthy lunchbox addition.
If you have a machine for sealing foods, you can use that too!
Variations and substitutions
- Spicy – Add in a pinch of chipotle or ancho chili powder to give it a spicy, smoky kick.
- Cheese – I like parmesan cheese in zucchini cakes, but feel free to swap it out for ricotta or feta. Both of these cheeses will work nicely with lemon and shallots. Consider adding in a pinch of dill if you use feta cheese. You can swap out herbs and/or cheeses to give them an entirely different flavor.
- Keto – Swap in almond flour or chickpea flour (besan) in place of regular flour.
- Gluten-free – Swap out the regular all-purpose flour with your favorite gluten-free flour. Depending on the brand you use, you may have to adjust by a tablespoon or two. Not all almond flours are the same, so if it is too wet or too dry, you may need to make a slight adjustment.
Still looking for more? You can find additional recipes in my veggie cake e-book!
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Easy Zucchini Fritter Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb. zucchini grated, about 2 medium / 454g
- 2 eggs
- 1 shallot minced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice fresh
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese grated / 60ml
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour 80ml
- 1½ teaspoons salt divided / *I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Grate zucchini on the large side of a box grater, or put in a food processor and shred.
- Mix the shredded zucchini with a teaspoon of kosher salt and set inside a fine mesh colander over a bowl to drain. Place a small plate on top to weigh it down. Let zucchini drain for at least 20 minutes.
- Wrap zucchini in a clean dish towel or cheesecloth and squeeze excess water out (there will be a lot of it). This will prevent your fritters from being mushy.
- In a medium bowl, combine eggs, shallot, garlic, lemon zest, remaining salt, pepper, and cheese. Whisk together with a fork, then add zucchini and lemon juice. Stir in flour and mix until combined. (If mixture is too runny, transfer to strainer, then scoop. See note)
- Heat olive oil in a medium heavy bottomed pan over medium to medium-high heat.
- Carefully drop scoops of batter into hot oil, about 2 inches in diameter.
- Cook for 3 – 4 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and place on paper towels to absorb excess oil.
- Serve with sour cream, chopped parsley, and additional lemon zest, if desired.
Video
Notes
- Put the zucchini cake mixture in the fine mesh strainer you used to drain it while you’re working. As you have a batch cooking, the mixture won’t sit in liquid, so your cakes won’t be soggy.
- When I make potato pancakes, I add about a 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder. I didn’t add it here, but if you want a very fluffy fritter, add baking powder with the flour.
Nutrition
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Recipe originally published 7/31/2012, most recent update 4/30/25.
They look luscious, like zucchini latkes.
Thank you so much! They were incredibly good actually