Golden brown and crispy, these simple zucchini fritters are naturally gluten free—and naturally, everyone loves them! Flavored with onion, garlic, and fresh herbs, these savory little cakes cook quickly on the stove and are welcome at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Serve with a creamy, tangy, and refreshing herb yogurt sauce for amped-up flavor.
One reader, Gabriele, commented: “Great recipe. They turned out wonderful—even my husband, who is not a zucchini enthusiast, loved them. Great way to use my mega harvest of zucchini. This will be my go-to all summer… ★★★★★“
Meet your new favorite way to enjoy zucchini! (After zucchini bread and zucchini cake, of course.) These savory pan-fried zucchini fritters make for a tasty light meal or side dish.
Unlike many zucchini fritter recipes that use flour or breadcrumbs to bind the shredded vegetables, my recipe uses cornmeal, which keeps the cakes gluten free. Plus, the cornmeal lends an unexpected crispiness that I haven’t found in other recipes. I use it when making zucchini sweet potato fritters, too!
More Reasons to Love These Zucchini Fritters
- Quick & very easy
- Hot & crispy, served with refreshing garlic herb Greek yogurt sauce
- Bursting with flavor, thanks to fresh herbs and garlic
- Vegetarian, healthy, & gluten free
- Makes an excellent light main dish or side dish, or enjoy at breakfast instead of hash browns
- Sauce can be made in advance
- Wonderful way to enjoy a summertime bounty of zucchini
And if you still have zucchini left after making these fritters, here are all my favorite zucchini recipes—both sweet and savory. This peanut butter chocolate chip zucchini bread is a personal favorite!
Best Ingredients to Use & Why
- Zucchini: You need about a pound of zucchini. Shred them on a box grater.
- Onion: You can use whatever kind of onion you prefer, but make sure to chop it really fine (unless you want large pieces of onion in your fritters, in which case, don’t listen to me—follow your heart!).
- Salt: For flavor, and also does the important job of drawing out moisture from the zucchini. You’ll need some pepper, too.
- Egg: 1 beaten egg helps bind the fritters together so they don’t fall apart. I use an extra egg when making the zucchini sweet potato fritters, and that’s because sweet potato has less moisture than zucchini.
- Garlic: I recommend fresh garlic, but the jarred kind or garlic powder work in a pinch.
- Fresh Herbs: Chopped parsley, mint, and dill give so much fresh flavor to these savory fritters. You’ll use the same herbs in the sauce.
- Fine Cornmeal: The cornmeal adds a wonderful, almost unexpected, crunch, and a hint of sweetness. Using cornmeal instead of flour or bread crumbs keeps these zucchini fritters gluten free.
- Cornstarch: Helps to thicken up the mixture, while also soaking up some liquid.
- Baking Powder: Provides a little lift when cooking, so the fritters aren’t super flat.
- Olive Oil: For cooking.
Success Tips: How to Prevent Soggy Zucchini Fritters
Zucchini is the wettest vegetable around. Close to it at least, right? Well, the moisture is great for baking zucchini muffins, apple zucchini bread, chocolate zucchini bread, and chocolate zucchini cake. Not so great for fritters, though. Moisture strips these fritters of their crisp texture. They’ll be wet, gooey, and soft. So, what’s the solution? Get as much moisture out of the zucchini as possible, just like when we make zucchini biscuits. This is what I recommend doing with pumpkin puree when making pumpkin oatmeal cookies, too!
The amount of liquid you drain will make or break your fritters. Take the time to draw out as much moisture as you possibly can, even more than when you make zucchini casserole. Use a large-hole box grater to shred your zucchini. Mix the shreds with the chopped onion and a teaspoon of salt. The salt helps to draw the water out.
Wrap it all up in a paper towel-lined bowl (or use a clean kitchen towel, or cheesecloth), lift it out, and begin squeezing over the sink. You will be amazed how much moisture you draw out. Use additional paper towels if needed.
Removing so much moisture reduces the volume of vegetables, and that’s ok. Mix with the remaining ingredients, and measure 2 Tablespoons (1/8 cup) per fritter. Do you have an 1/8 cup measuring cup in your collection? It’s incredibly useful.
Another trick for keeping your fritters crisp? Pan-fry in a little olive oil until they are golden brown on both sides. You only need enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. That’s plenty. I cook these for about 3 minutes on each side.
Creamy Herbed Yogurt Sauce
Like my recipe for easy corn fritters, I like to whisk up a quick and easy sauce/dip to serve alongside these crispy zucchini fritters. It’s the same sauce I serve with zucchini sweet potato fritters… because it’s cool, creamy, and absolutely delicious. I add dill to today’s version. It would be great with quinoa patties, too.
Similar to a tzatziki sauce, this garlic herb yogurt sauce is the perfect accompaniment. It reminds me a little of the Greek yogurt herb dressing I use on my chicken pasta salad. You probably already have most of these ingredients in your kitchen, and some are repeated in the fritter mixture (herbs, salt, pepper).
Whisk everything together and store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve it.
Mix the shredded zucchini and chopped onion with salt, which helps draw moisture out. Wrap it in a couple paper towels, thin kitchen towel, or cheesecloth and squeeze it over the sink. Give your hands a rest, then squeeze again! You’ll be amazed how much liquid comes out.
There’s likely too much moisture in the mix, or they’re under-cooked. Be sure to wring out as much liquid as you can over the sink. Cook the fritters until golden brown on both sides.
You can serve zucchini fritters at breakfast instead of hash browns, or enjoy as a light lunch or dinner alongside fresh green salad, cornbread, grilled vegetables, or pasta salad. Or roll them up in a wrap with some chopped tomatoes and cucumber, and dip in the yogurt sauce. (My favorite way to enjoy them right now!) You can also serve them as a side dish with baked lemon garlic salmon or baked chicken meatballs, or these spicy turkey burgers or caprese chicken burgers.
Yes, absolutely. Yellow summer squash is a 1:1 replacement for zucchini here.
Don’t forget dessert! Here are 40 favorite gluten free dessert recipes that everyone always enjoys.
Zucchini Fritters (with Creamy Yogurt Sauce)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 10-12 fritters
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Enjoy warm and flavorful zucchini fritters with cool, creamy, and refreshing yogurt sauce. This recipe is really easy, and makes for a wonderful vegetarian meal or side dish. Squeezing liquid out of the shredded zucchini in step 2 is the most important step. Use a box grater to shred the zucchini.
Ingredients
Creamy Yogurt Sauce
- 1/2 cup (120g) plain Greek or regular yogurt (or sour cream)
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh dill
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) olive oil
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Fritters
- 3 cups (about 360g) shredded zucchini (2 medium zucchini, about 3/4–1 lb.)
- 1/3 cup (45g) finely chopped yellow onion
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
- 1 large egg
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh dill
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup (40g) fine cornmeal
- 1 Tablespoon (8g) cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) olive oil
Instructions
- Make the yogurt sauce: Whisk all of the yogurt sauce ingredients together except for the salt and pepper. Taste, then add salt/pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, or up to 3 days.
- Make the fritters: Line a large bowl with a few paper towels or a clean, thin kitchen towel. (You can also use a cheesecloth for this step.) Place the shredded zucchini and onion inside. Add 1 teaspoon salt, and gently mix together. Top with another paper towel and press down so the paper towels begin absorbing some liquid. Lift everything up using the bottom paper towel and, over the sink, wring/squeeze out as much liquid as you can. The goal is to remove as much moisture from the zucchini as possible. Give your hands a break if needed, then return to squeezing out more liquid. You will be amazed how much liquid you wring out!
- Whisk the egg, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, garlic, parsley, mint, dill, and pepper together in a large bowl until combined. Fold in the vegetables, and then whisk in the cornmeal, cornstarch, and baking powder until everything is combined.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, scoop up around 2 Tablespoons of the zucchini mixture. Place the mixture onto the hot skillet and gently flatten with a spatula. Repeat with a few more, making sure not to overcrowd the skillet. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Flip, then cook for 3 more minutes on the other side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate, then repeat with the remaining zucchini mixture.
- Serve warm fritters with yogurt sauce.
- Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Reheat in the microwave, or use an air fryer at 375°F (191°C) for 3–4 minutes. You can also place them on a lined baking sheet and bake at 375°F (191°C) for 8–10 minutes.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the creamy yogurt sauce up to 3 days in advance. See step 1. You can also prepare the zucchini fritter mixture up to 24 hours ahead of time. Cover tightly and keep refrigerated. Liquid will begin to pool at the bottom of the bowl during this time. When ready to cook, stir in a sprinkle of cornmeal if needed to help absorb some of the liquid.
- Freezing Instructions: Cool fritters completely, then place in a freezer-friendly container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw before reheating. See step 6 for reheating instructions.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Box Grater | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk
- Yogurt: You can use plain nonfat, low-fat, or full-fat Greek or regular yogurt. You could also use sour cream.
- Mint: Feel free to skip the mint in both the yogurt sauce and fritters. (Though it does add lovely flavor!) You can replace with more parsley and/or dill, or another herb of choice.
- Can I Make These Without Cornmeal & Cornstarch? Yes. Skip both and use 1/2 cup (62g) all-purpose or whole wheat flour instead. For a GF option, you can try using 6 Tablespoons (about 45g) of ground flaxseed.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 fritters (with sauce)
- Calories: 147
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 218.8 mg
- Fat: 10.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 11.2 g
- Protein: 3.7 g
- Cholesterol: 31.7 mg
Reader Comments and Reviews
I worry about using dry cornmeal. Usually cornmeal is part of a bakingrecipe or breading on something to be fried. Isn’t the fritter a bit gritty from the cornmeal and also couldn’t not cooked enough cornmeal hurt people sensitive to fiber? Just wondering.
We’ve never had an issue with it, Joan!
I’ve made these a couple of times when the zucchinis are growing in overtime mode! Delicious!
I make a different dipping sauce though, using mayo, honey mustard and a bit of hot sauce.
Tasted good but don’t like the corn meal. Too greedy. Next time it will be flour ou bread crumbs
I used the wheat flower in the fritters as suggested as an option. I may have gotten to much moisture out of the zucchini. My batter was very dense and very sticky. The flavors were good. The sauce was delicious
Absolutely delicious! Savory, worth the effort. Thank you for a new idea what to do w all that zucchini from the garden!
Can I substitute semolina for the cornmeal?
Hi Margaret, we haven’t tested it, but you can certainly give it a try. The fritters may have a bit of a “grittier” taste since semolina is coarser. Let us know if you try it!
Do you measure the zucchini before or after straining?
Love all your recipes!
Hi Lynn, yes, measure before straining. Enjoy!
Can I use frozen zucchini for this recipe or will it be too watery?
Hi Sally, you can. We would measure 3 cups after thawing and then wring out.
Nice recipe. Changed nothing. Used a potato ricer to remover excess liquid.
Taste good but it only made 4 baby sized fritters so it was a waste of time and ingredients
Hi Hannah, were any ingredients left out by chance? If you only had 4 fritters, they would be quite large. The yield is 10-12 fritters using 2 Tablespoons of mixture for each.
None ingredients was left out. They were small like two or three bites size
As a chef I love to enjoy new recipes. I cook every night.
Now just a home cook but love the nuance of herbs and spices.
Thanks. looking forward to zucchini fritters.
I squeeze the liquid out before frying using Greased oil.XO
Hi ,
Can you omit the egg in this ?
Hi Vidya, the egg helps bind everything together. We don’t recommend omitting it.
I modified this recipe A LOT, so I’m not going to leave a rating. I made this recipe at about 1/3 scale since I was working with zucchini leftover from a loaf I had made earlier this week. Thanks to the recipe instructions and detailed measurements I was able to successfully modify this recipe and made zucchini fritters that tasted delicious. 1/3 recipe yielded 4 fritters. I topped them with a herbed tahini sauce that tasted yummy. I will definitely make this again as written when I have more zucchini!
can these be done in an air fryer?
Hi Linda, we’ve only reheated them in an air fryer, and need to test actually cooking them in one to see the difference. We’re hoping to do so soon and will share results then, but in the meantime, let us know if you try it out!
What are your thoughts on adding corn kernels to the fritters, and if so, how much would you recommend to maintain the intended structure?
Hi Michelle, sounds delicious! We haven’t tested that before, but if we were to try we’d start by replacing some of the zucchini with corn. It will likely take a bit of trial and error. Let us know what you try! You might also enjoy these corn fritters instead.
They are delicious! I only had green onion for fresh herbs but nonetheless they were very flavorful and crispy! Going to get some more zucchini and make more of these fritters!
Superb recipe, thank you!! I also added some cilantro which blends nicely with the mint.
This recipe was AMAZING and the dip was fantastic. We all loved them in my picky eater, hard to please family.
Hi can I bake the fritters
Hi Joyce, you can bake these if desired, but you will lose a lot of flavor and texture. They will also taste a bit dry. If you decide to try it, we would drizzle each with a little olive oil before baking. We’re unsure of the best bake time and temperature, but would try 400°F (204°C) to start.
Hey Sally
I love your recipes! Can I substitute cornmeal with something else?
Yes, absolutely. I recommend skipping both the cornmeal and cornstarch (because I use cornstarch to help bind in addition to the cornmeal). Use 1/2 cup (62g) all-purpose or whole wheat flour instead. For a GF option, try using 6 Tablespoons (about 45g) of ground flaxseed.
So good! The cornmeal makes these so tasty. My 5 and 2 year old loved them too!
These look yummy! What could I use in place of the egg?
Hi Kathy, we haven’t tested this recipe with egg substitutes, but flax egg should work. Let us know if you try it!
Very good! My 240 g zucchini made 8 fritters (about 1.5 tbsp each). I only had dried dill and was out of parsley and mint but the flavor was still excellent. Cheesecloth worked well to squeeze out the excess moisture. I found that about a tbsp oil was sufficient for frying this amount using a nonstick pan.
Great recipe, but I feel it has too much salt. I only used 1 teaspoon of salt in total and thought it was perfect. Tip for the lazy – I don’t bother using towels to wring the moisture out of the zucchini. Just add salt to shredded zucchini and leave for 30mins to let the liquid leech out. then I just squeeze out the liquid with clean hands. I’ve made many different zuchini fritter recipes and this method is totally sufficient.
I followed the recipe and the fritters were delicious! I never would have thought of cornmeal, but it added to the flavor. Love your recipes!
Love this recipe and so many others. Sally’s Baking Addiction is my go-to spot for recipes online. Can you start a monthly subscription program so I can see the recipes without ads? I would totally pay for that!
Hi Claire, thank you! You are not the first person to ask/request something like that. I’m humbled knowing that there are readers who would pay for my content in an ad-free environment.
I am doing Weight Watchers is there a way to know how many points each zucchini patty is?
You can run the ingredients through the Recipe Builder and fiddle with servings to get your best estimate.
Another great way to get water out of zucchini is to grind up the zucchini when fresh in a food processor. Then freeze it. When you thaw out the zucchini, just do so in a strainer and most of the liquid will separate out for you!
Great recipe to use up extra zucchini! I even love them for breakfast. Made them several times over this past summer.
I made this using cabbage instead of zucchini n it was just as good! I’m shocked how much liquid came out of cabbage after salting it! I did, however use 2 eggs to help keep fritters together.
I love this recipe and I don’t usually eat zucchini! Can this be made with cabbage?
Hi Ali, we haven’t tried this with cabbage, but let us know if you do!
This recipe is delicious. The first time I squeezed the zucchini in a towel. It took a while but did a good job. I read where someone used a salad spinner. I tried this and disaster. Too hard to get all the zucchini out of the nooks and crannies. I get four fritters out of this recipe. Is there anyway to get more? Maybe I will just have to double the recipe. Thanks for this tasty recipe.