Woman's hand dipping a cooked vegetable fritter into sour cream in the middle of three other fritters on a square white plate with a white and brown towel behind all on a wooden surface (with logo overlay)

Vegetable Fritters: A Sneaky Way to Eat Your Vegetables

Vegetable fritters make a great side dish or snack for kids and adults to try to sneak in some vegetables for everyone.

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I’ll be the first to admit, I have a hard time eating my veggies. As such, it’s hard to force my boys to eat them since I don’t either. That’s where I rely on recipes like these vegetable fritters.

They are a tasty way to sneak in a lot of vegetables and I can even trick myself into eating these! I made them with zucchini and carrots. But you could add in any other similar vegetables. 

The first attempt went well, but after practice, I was able to make them even better the second time. I don’t fry very many foods, so I wasn’t sure what I was doing when frying these. 

Since then, between making vegetable fritters and other recipes, I’ve learned a few things. You have to make sure there is enough oil in the pan and it’s hot before adding the food. I try to be stingy because I don’t like waste but there has to be enough oil to make sure it will cover half of the height of the food. If it isn’t hot when the vegetable fritters are added they will start to fall apart as they heat.

Vegetable Fritters Step by Step

Ingredients

  • 2 large zucchini (shredded)
  • 2 cups carrots (shredded)
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs (beaten)
  • 1/2 cup green onion (chopped)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • Sour cream

Preparation

When making almost any recipe with zucchini in it, you’ll need to make sure to get most of the moisture out of the vegetable slices first. I used a mandolin slicer to shred the zucchini, but you can also use a box grater. Then put it in a mesh strainer and sprinkle a bit of salt and mix it into the zucchini and let it sit for about 10 minutes to drain. 

Meanwhile, use the same shredder to shred the carrots and mix those in a large mixing bowl with the garlic, flour, eggs, and scallions. Squeeze as much liquid out of the zucchini as possible and add that to the bowl then stir it all together. Mix in some salt and pepper, to taste. 

In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Meanwhile, scoop about 2-3 tablespoons of the mixture and form it into patties and place that on a plate. Continue until you use all of the mixture. NOTE: If they are falling apart, add a bit more flour to the

Place the patties in the hot oil. Cook for about 2-3 minutes. Carefully flip the patties and cook for another 2-3 minutes, until they are brown on both sides. 

Remove from the pan and place on a plate with a napkin or cloth to absorb some of the oil. Continue with all of the patties until they are done. Serve immediately with sour cream to dip in if desired.

Vegetable Fritters Leftovers

Storage: Store leftover vegetable fritters in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. Because of the oil, I like to put a layer of paper towels in the container to help soak up excess oil.

Reheating: The best way to reheat fritters is in a frying pan or in an air fryer to keep them crispy.

Recipe

Originally Published On: September 1, 2018

Last Updated On: June 30, 2023

Woman's hand dipping a cooked vegetable fritter into sour cream in the middle of three other fritters on a square white plate with a white and brown towel behind all on a wooden surface

Vegetable Fritters

Vegetable fritters make a great side dish or snack for kids and adults to try to sneak in some vegetables for everyone. 
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course:
Main Dish
Cuisine:
American
Keyword:
carrots
|
fried
|
vegetable
|
zucchini
Servings: 16 fritters
4.88 from 8 votes

Ingredients

  • 2 large zucchini (shredded)
  • 2 cups carrots (shredded)
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs (beaten)
  • 1/2 cup green onion (chopped)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • Sour cream

Instructions

  • Place the shredded zucchini in a colander and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt
  • Let sit for at least 10 minutes
  • Squeeze zucchini to release as much liquid as possible
  • In a large bowl, combine zucchini, carrots, garlic, flour, eggs, and green onion
  • Add in remaining 1/2 tsp salt and pepper
  • Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.
  • Meanwhile, scoop about 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable mixture and form into patties and place on a plate
  • NOTE: If the patties don't hold together add a bit more flour to the mixture
  • Continue with the rest of the mixture until all patties are formed
  • Place patties in oil and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until browned
  • Flip and cook another 2-3 minutes or until browned
  • Continue until all patties have been fried
  • Once finished, transfer to a cooling rack to let the excess oil drip off
  • Serve immediately with sour cream to dip
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Nutrition Facts
Vegetable Fritters
Amount Per Serving (1 fritter)
Calories 102 Calories from Fat 72
% Daily Value*
Fat 8g12%
Saturated Fat 1g5%
Cholesterol 20mg7%
Sodium 168mg7%
Potassium 182mg5%
Carbohydrates 7g2%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 2g2%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 2815IU56%
Vitamin C 9mg11%
Calcium 20mg2%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.

42 thoughts on “Vegetable Fritters: A Sneaky Way to Eat Your Vegetables”

  1. Yum, this looks really delicious. This is definitely something I can make for the boys and I! I can trick the boys into eating vegetables in this fried fritter LOL. They wont know what hit them!

    1. Hah, that’s exactly what I do! My boys are getting old enough that they are starting to recognize the carrots in them, but they like carrots so I just don’t tell them what the rest is!

  2. Yum, this looks so good. I love the combination of zucchini and carrots. I have made these before with corn, carrot, capsicum and sweet potato – that was also very yummy!

  3. 5 stars
    I love this recipe! Vegetable and especially zucchini fitters are my favorite. Here in Greece during summer we serve them with tzatziki, this combination is amazing, so so tasty and fresh!

  4. Most of the kids they don’t like vegetables. instead you need to tell them that the vegetables are healthy. This recipe looks perfect for dinner Looks yummy!!

  5. These look like they would be so delicious. Vegetables are hard to get into our diet around here so I need to give these a try.

  6. 4 stars
    I’ve done something similar before but without frying them in oil. I think I would rather do this way than the way I did, as it was really hard to keep them together. These look delicious!

    1. I hadn’t thought about it (because we don’t do teatime here) but they would be a great snack. I guess it’s probably similar to my boys having these as a snack after school.

  7. This is such a great recipe. I can use it as an appetizer when my friends come and the kids could enjoy their veggies that way as well.

  8. 5 stars
    I love these because they are easy to make, popular with kids and healthy too. My kids loved them when they were younger and we tried all sorts of veggie combos.

    1. It’s definitely a great way to get more veggies into the kids. I’d like to try with other veggies at some point, too. But right now, my kids eat these so I don’t want to change it too much!

  9. Transfer the cooked fritters to a plate lined with kitchen roll, in order to soak up any excess oil. Serve at once with a side salad or mash and vegetables.

    1. Transferring to a plate works, too! I use my wire rack, but both do the same thing. We’ve only had them as a snack, but those would be great sides to go along with these. Thanks for stopping by!

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