You know what happens when you have an over abundance of zucchini in the fridge? You pick up more at the store because you forgot that you already had an over abundance in the fridge. That way you can be left with a fridge that is overflowing with zucchini. Now that you’re in the predicament that I was in you now have to make a bunch of fun things with zucchini. Well, okay you don’t have to do it like I did, but you can definitely do a lot of really great tasting and quite gorgeous recipes with zucchini.
In fact zucchini may just be the most powerful vegetable in the world. It needs a little cape and everything because you can make just about anything out of zucchini. Zucchini noodles, zucchini bread, zucchini spread, im even considering zucchini ice cream and maybe even zucchini infused coffee. I may be getting ahead of myself here with the coffee. But the point is that zucchini is awesome.
Especially in fritter form. They are a lot like potato latkes that I used to have when I was really little. There was this awesome deli when I lived in California called Morts Deli. Man that place was amazing. Me and my mom would always go down there for a quick lunch and usually meet up with my nanny Chachi. To which I wish to express to you who that is, but I’m going to save it for another post.
That deli was like a second home for us, whenever we would go there they would know what I wanted to order every time and treated me and my mom like family every time we went in there. This is the place where I discovered potato latkes. My mom basically taught me how to eat them too. If i remember correctly the process consisted of centering the latke on your plate, then placing a dollop of sour cream on said latke but not in the center on an area that your ready to cut off, then place a slightly smaller dollop of applesauce over the dollop of sour cream and then cram it in your mouth.
My first thought was disgust but once I ate it I was hooked. But with the way I eat now I’m not all that into potatoes. Sure I love the taste of them but they are just too starchy and sugary. Sure I could just have 1 or 2 but to be honest I want like 4 or 5. So with my overabundance of zucchini in the fridge and my knowledge of zucchinis versatility as a mega vegetable I decided to do some research. And It turned out quite a lot of people have made zucchini latkes.
So it was somewhat of a miracle when I saw all of these recipes. Although as I looked I started finding several recipes for zucchini fritters which were pretty much the exact same thing just with a different name. And in my opinion zucchini fritters fits these better than zucchini latkes.
Plus it would be total sacrilege to call these actual “latkes” since they don’t have traditional ingredients you would find in a latke. So we will stick with fritters.
- 2 medium zucchini (about 350-400g)
- 2 green onions thinly sliced (12g)
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup (about 1 ounce or 28g) fresh grated parmigiana reggiano (packed down)
- 2 eggs
- salt and pepper to taste(make sure its fresh ground black peper)
- Optional: 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- oil for frying (I used 2 tablespoons of walnut oil. Avocado oil or coconut oil would work great too)
- Grate zucchini with a medium sized grater so you get decent shreds of zucchini.
- Add salt and place shredded zucchini in a clean dishtowel and squeeze to get as much liquid out of it as possible. (It doesnt have to be perfect but do try to get as much as you can)
- Once squeezed place back in bowl and add beaten eggs, thinly sliced green onions, almond flour, parmigiana reggiano, and fresh ground black pepper and mix thorougly.(this is where you would add the lemon juiceif you choose to use it)
- Heat 2 tablespoons of yoru choice of cookign oil over medium heat and wait for that pan to get super hot.
- Once oil is shimmering add spoonfuls of mixture in hot oil and fry until golden brown on each side. About 2-3 minutes per side.
- Place on platter lined with paper towels to soak up any grease that sticks to the fritter and serve with sour cream and extra green onions on the side. And if you want to be really traditional you could serve it with sour cream and applesauce both on the side so each person can control how much sour cream/applesauce goes on.
I made zucchini fritters, too! I second your opinion in the hot chocolate post that it’s too cold in Texas right now… it’s 43F in Dallas right now and I. Am. Not. Happy.
Yeah. It finally started to warm up but then I guess texas decided that was a bad idea.
ZUCCINI FRITTERS WERE THE BEST SO DELISIO! CAROLE
These look so simple and yet soooo good! What a great idea! I have a posting in the hopper where I had to use up one lonely zucchini and wish I had tried this. Next time 🙂
Thanks Danny! Let me know if you try them and how it goes!
Oooo, this sounds amazing! I’m going to try these tonight! ~ L
PS: Love the blog! Can’t wait to read more recipes!
I have an abundance of zucchini in my fridge! I was wondering what to do with it, and I definitely plan to try this 🙂
That’s awesome Laura. Please let me know how it goes and if you like them, you can also post any pictures of them when you make them on my Twitter or Facebook if you like!
I just made these and they are awesome! My whole zucchini disliking family even liked them. Thank you!
That is awesome Christina! I’m so glad that you all liked them, you are very welcome!
I just love your blog. I made these today and they were oh soooooo good! Thank you!!!
GREAT RECIPE!! My kids (8 and 6 yrs old) loved these fritters. Thanks for sharing!!
This looks great! I want to try this tonight and am cooking for 5. About how many would this serve?
Sorry for the late response Jenny, this serves 2-4 people.
No problem. I made just one recipe last night, but I’m sure I had more than enough zucchini. It was more than enough for everyone. My daughter, the photographer, took pictures and hopefully will post them to you. I served it with a roasted chicken. They were wonderful! Even my picky, not so happy that we’re switching away from the things he likes 15 yr old liked them.
Excellent! Please share the pics on my Facebook or send them to me in an email I would love to see them.
Well, you certainly got me on this one!!!! My, oh, my – I never thought zucchini could taste so good unless it was in a bread or cake, etc. These fritters are the best and my husband who makes fun of zucchini and doesn’t like it at all — gave me the mmmmmmmmm these are delicious! Hope you are having fun creating – ’cause I’m having fun eating!!!!
Thank you so much Terry. I’m glad your zucchini disliking husband enjoyed them.
My 2 1/2 year old picky son ate them. Delicious! Thanks!
I just made these with frozen zucchini I had grated last fall and thought I better start using it up! I swapped the almond flour for coconut flour because I live in the boonies and it’s what I had. Used coconut oil to cook and they stuck a little bit but they’re yummy!!!!! I’ve been gluten free for 3 weeks now and these helped ease this craving I have to chew some bread!
Was it an even substitute for the almond flour? Or did you use less coconut flour? These sound so yummy, but I don’t have any almond flour and I have lots of coconut flour that’s begging to be used for something good!
Hey Saige, I wouldn’t recommend substituting coconut flour. Coconut flour is very, very absorbent and works very differently to almond flour. If you don’t have almond flour and really want to try these I recommend this brand or you can make your own almond meal which would work okay for this recipe by grinding up some almonds in a food processor until you get a fine grind but not to the point that it’s nut butter. Also I only currently have one recipe that is using strictly coconut flour that you could use that coconut flour in which is my Lemon Chia Seed Muffins. I plan on getting more coconut flour recipes up as well.
This is so me!! >> “You know what happens when you have an over abundance of zucchini in the fridge? You pick up more at the store because you forgot that you already had an over abundance in the fridge.” I have thrown away so much zucchini.
I’m about to try this recipe. Sounds great!
What is it with zucchini building up in the fridge? And I eat it pretty often so I don’t even know how it happens.
thanks so much for this recipe! I made this and added chopped bacon (2 strips cooked). SO good!!
I like the bacon substitution. There is never a problem with adding a little bacon.
Amazing!!!!!
So zucchini season is upon us, and with three plants in the yard we will soon have more zucchini than we know what to do with. I made zucchini fritters last summer and they were a hit. Now I’m trying to get healthy ( 53, over weight, arthritis…), been eating low carb. I’m going to try this recipe and your cauliflower tortillas, because they look great! Awesome job on your weight loss, and your blog is great!
Great recipe… made them for dinner tonight! The fritters browned but didn’t get that crispy. Did I do something wrong?
Sounds like you might need to up the heat under your pan a little bit.
I just made these right now. And they are DIVINE, and so filling. You will be solely responsible for my successful weight loss and conversion to the paleo lifestyle. Thanks again, Joshua!
I have enough for two more meals and making this could not have been easier either.
Where did you learn how to cook like this???! Truly amazing!
Excellent, so glad you liked them. I’m self taught in my cooking, although it all started with a simple teaching from my mom when I was a kid but the rest I learned on my own.
Some feedback.
After I made the first batch – where I followed your ingredient amounts very loosely – I added too much onion and didn’t fry/cook the fritters enough, meaning the onion wasn’t thoroughly fried.
I suffered from eating this volume of onion that I had added. I am still learning my way through paleo/healthy, and have only just discovered that I can’t eat large amounts of raw onion without feeling strange afterwards. I realised then that when I fried these fritters up, the onion didn’t cook as much as I needed.
I’ve made a second batch now, and I pre-fried the onion in macadamia nut oil. And now I can eat as much as I want without it affecting me.
This is (as mentioned before) the most delicious vegetable recipe that I know how to cook! Really awesome.
Just made these and love them! Thanks for the recipe.
I’m excited to try these – but can someone please tell me roughly how many fritters the recipe makes??
also – can you do it without the cheese? do i need to change the quantities of anything else?
OMG these are delicious! I’m always looking for something to eat for breakfast, besides the same old stuff. Thank you for this recipe.
Thank you for posting this recipe. The fritters are delicious!
These are great! Taste very similar to a potato pancake. I used regular onion minced fine – a strong onion at that – added zing :-). These are VERY delicate – keep that in mind when trying to flip them. I used 2 spatulas – and when I make them again I may add some all purpose flour to help them adhere – of course then they aren’t gluten free – and would add some carbs.
Can you replace the eggs with Egg Replacer or ground flaxseed gel? I am allergic to eggs. Thanks.
I haven’t tried so I do not know, sorry for the inconvenience.
I made the fritters last night, totally awesome. Thank you so much for posting.
Dont know about the egg replacement – I’d do a search for egg replacement in, say, fritters or pancakes. These are very similar….
Made these this afternoon and they were amazing! I added several different spices & a couple tablespoons of leftover canned salmon & they were soooo yummy! Such a quick and easy meal!
Yum! Made these for dinner tonight and they were fantastic. Thanks!
These fritters were AH-mazing! Just discovered your blog mad read your story! I hope that my kids will see your story to be as inspiring as I do! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Maggie
From FREEZING Calgary, AB Canada!
I didn’t have any parmigiana so I substituted it for more almond flour. I’m thinking’ the parm. would have added a lot of flavor! I’ll have to pick some up and try this again because it sounds like everyone’s loving it!
The parmesan also provides a specific structure.
Doesn’t the inclusion of cheese make this recipe non-Paleo?
Technically yes, but it depends on who you’re talking to. I used raw grass-fed cheese which I’m almost certain most Paleo people even those mildly sensitive would approve of since it’s better tolerated.
I have been looking for some easy make ahead school lunches for the kids, but to be acceptable for school it needs to be nut free, what can I substitute the almond meal for? I normally substitute sunflower meal for other things I make for them i.e. bliss balls or granola bars, what do you think?
I could certainly see sunflower meal working just fine as a substitution Tess.
I used garbanzo bean flour with great results
Made these for dinner tonight and I loved them. The kids were mixed in their response (2yo was yuck, 4 yo ate the required bites but didn’t ask for more). They love parmesan, but I may try these with a bit of mozzarella to give them a milder flavor. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Can you make these with whole wheat flour instead of almond flour?
Thankyou! So good. I made them for a picnic lunch, everyone wanted the recipe.
They work well when made the day before and eaten cold too.
We are hooked on these babies!
I tried it with Eggplant, I used roughly the same quantities, but the eggplant really took in the salt.
Salty and yummy.
Oh I cooked with olive oil instead.
My family has just started on a paleo journey, I found your site and am very excited! I have four children ages 11, 13, almost 15, and almost 16. I think your story will really inspire them. I wanted to mention here that we have always fixed a zucchini crab cake using OldBay Seasoning and a horseradish based sauce. I haven’t tried it without wheat flour. Your recipe looks like it would work just perfect!
So I made these, but they fell apart and stuck to the pan. Wondering if I’m doing something wrong? I excluded parmesan and added more almond flour…. but other than that, everything was the same 🙁
Sounds like a binding problem. Possibly because you excluded the parmesan or added too much almond flour and ended making them too crumbly.
You could definitely see your enthusiasm in the work
you write. The arena hopes for even more passionate writers like you
who aren’t afraid to say how they believe.
Always follow your heart.
New name – Better Than Sex Zucchini Fritters ( hubby disagrees!).
Seriously awesome.
Used Garbanzo Bean Flour – it worked great.
Made the recipe as written. Loved them. So nice to not feel deprived during mealtime.
I was so disappointed in these! In case anyone is wondering, if you leave out the cheese they taste like nothing. Dairy isn’t kind to me so…next time I will add some spice blend
Plenty of people have made them without the cheese and have enjoyed them. Perhaps you didn’t season them enough?
OMG – they look amazing and your recipe sound really tasty. thx a lot for sharing.
I made these last night but used feta cheese instead. This is the second time I’ve tried them, but they don’t stay together and fall apart! While the taste is still good, it made a mess in my pan and it didn’t make patties. I used coconut oil to fry them. Not sure why it didn’t work? Is the difference in cheese really the problem? I used to make these with feta cheese and wheat flour with no problem, but haven’t had much luck since going gluten free.
This is one of my all time favourite snack recipes. My friends love it too! Thank you.
These were great! Thank you! This was my first time using walnut oil. I’m going to remember these for Chanukah and make them instead of potato latkes! But it is nice to make them now, in the summertime, with so much fresh garden zucchini available. Thanks for sharing your recipes and your awesome story. You are an inspiration.
Has anyone tried baking these? I have seen recipes for baked ones, but they all use regular flour. Otherwise, I love them!
Hi
Making them now! I am allergic to almonds so used Trader Joe’s Coconut flour instead. Taste relish!
Thanks!
I just made these after discovering some zucchini in the drawer of my fridge…had forgotten it was there, it was bought for another recipe but I excluded them…..anyway, last nite I made chocolate zucchini muffins using almond flour….and since I’m working on losing pounds, I didn’t want yet ANOTHER portion of almonds, so I subbed coconut flour I had also laying around.
Coconut flour is definitely more absorbant….and left my fritters a little dry…I would half the amount next time because even though they were a little dry, they were still yummy!
So my advice is, yes to coconut flour, just use less!
In the old days I would make these with white flour (omg) just the way mom made them. There was never any measuring, so next time I will use the good old technique of just sprinkling the coco flour until it looks right! Great recipe and thank you for the chance to experiment with these alternate “flours”!!
how many fritters does the recipe make?
Thanks!
mine didn’t bind together, any recommendations, i followed the recipe?
made these tonight and hubs and I both loved them. Very quick and easy. I cut the recipe in half for the two of us and it made six nice size pancakes. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
Looks tasty. Would it work with soy flour? Some of us have to avoid both gluten and all nut products (almond flour, coconut oil, etc.)? Thanks!
You could make it with ground sunflower seeds I bet!
Excellent recipe! I am using the Trim Healthy Mama system, and this was an absolutely perfect breakfast! I substituted whole plain yogurt for the sour cream.
Hi Joshua! Just found your site after looking for a receipe with almond flour. I halved your recipe and used a yellow zucchini (which only turned out to half after taking off most of the overripe peel) + small potato (omitted cheese). I added 1/4 of a carrot and used a chia seed egg (1 tablespoon chia seeds + 3 tblspoon water) and fried on our stovetop grill with avocado oil. They turned out delish!! Thanks 🙂
Could these be made without any type of flour or breadcrumb, etc.? I love the idea of these but prefer to not have that if at all possible.
I am dying to try these but my family and I are lactose and tolerante we cannot consume diary! Is there any modifications I can do to still make these? Thank you, they look divine.
I made these with the vegan parmesan cheese for my daughter and they tasted great.
These are great! Glad a Google search brought me to your site. Looks like there are lots of delicious recipes to try 🙂
My only comment on these is that the zucchini continued to release its juices after I had squeezed and put the rest of the mix together. So these probably wern’t as crispy as they could have been. Next time might let the zucchini ‘sit’ for 5 or 10 mins in the salt before making the big squeeze.
Flavour was perfect.. and with the sour cream.. YUM!
These were amazing! I’ve tried so many recipes for Zucchini Fritters that were yuck! Thank you.
RF
Cheese is not Paleo. Period. In any form. Please remove the paleo tag, the paleo community is rife with incorrect recipes. Stop contributing to this.
That entirely depends upon which brand of Paleo you choose to embrace! Cultured dairy can be a healthy addition to the basic Paleo template in moderation. There is no hard and fast, black-and-white ruling on what should/should not be Paleo these days. The best thing to do is consider a particular food’s effect on one’s own body.
These pancakes were AMAZING. I followed the recipe exactly. Enjoyed them with cultured cream and homemade applesauce. A new favorite breakfast. Will make again soon. Thank you!!
**update**
First, I must apologize for calling these wonders of creation “pancakes” in my earlier comment. Clearly, they are not pancakes. Second, I have appreciated this recipe so much that I make these fritters at least once or twice a week. I get so sad when the last fritter from each batch is gone!!
These turned out great. I appreciate that your recipe uses less flour than some of the others I was looking at. I used lemon pepper seasoning in place of the lemon juice.and also garlic salt.
I had trouble frying these. I don’t think it’s anything with your recipe, I’m just an inexperienced fryer. I made a few attempts but they were coming out blackened and our house was getting smokey. I ended up baking the rest at 400 for 30 mins.
My husband made a dipping sauce out of mayo, buffalo sauce, some ranch and garlic powder. It was all pretty good.
This is now my go to recipe for zucchini fritters. Have now made them many times and everyone loved them. I use gluten free flour in place of the almond flour and fry them in coconut or avocado oil in a cast iron pan and they turn out perfect. I did make them once with coconut flour but they were crumbly even though they tasted great. I use two spatulas for ease when turning them. They heat up well the day after too. A five star recipe for sure.