Bursting with salty feta, tangy sun-dried tomatoes, and Italian flavors, these zucchini fritters are the perfect way to use up your abundance of garden zucchini!

Goodness it’s been awhile since I’ve had the opportunity to sit down with my laptop and work on this little blog! I had the most amazing time in Europe. Truly the trip of a lifetime, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to travel abroad for the first time and visit no less than SIX different countries (7 if you count a super short layover in Portugal…does that count?!) haha.

I’m working on a couple travel recap posts, including both food highlights and activity highlights of what we did in each country. I’m currently trying to decide how to best organize these posts…should I make one post for each country and include both food and activities? Or one giant post about food and then a separate post for each country?  Thoughts/opinions? The amount of pictures I took is a wee bit overwhelming ?. Anyways, stay tuned over the next few weeks for those recap posts! I’m so excited to share more about our trip.

Anyways, moving on to this recipe. I first made these zucchini fritters around the 4^th of July before the craziness of being gone most of July traveling. It took a couple times to get them from good to GREAT, and I’m truly so excited to share this recipe with you now!

Recipe Development

Cheese Options 

This recipe is inspired by this recipe which I made several times last summer. I’ve tried several different types of cheese in zucchini fritters, and I always come back to feta. It’s one of my favorite cheeses, so unsurprisingly it’s also my favorite cheese in the fritters. I’ve also used parmesan cheese with good success, so feel free to switch it up if you want!

What type of flour to use? 

I also really wanted to make naturally gluten and grain-free fritters for those who can’t tolerate gluten (my dad being one of them). The original recipe uses Panko breadcrumbs, which is delicious. However, I decided to use just a bit of coconut flour, which is unique in that a much smaller quantity is needed as it is much more absorbent than other flours. I haven’t tested this recipe with other flours, so if you don’t want to use coconut flour you may want to try using the ¾ cup breadcrumbs. I’m pretty positive you would need much more flour though if using all-purpose in place of the coconut. Oh, and a side note: you don’t taste even the slightest flavor of coconut in these fritters in case you were wondering. ?

Seasonings: Italian Flavor

I wanted to also switch up the flavor profile from the original recipe which uses dill. While I love dill and feta together , as usual I wanted to experiment and try something different. The second round of testing these fritters I used sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, and oregano for an Italian taste…and absolutely LOVED the results. I seriously can’t wait for you try these for yourself!

Cooking Method: To Bake or Fry?

I initially tried baking these fritters in the oven…but it took SO long for them to get cooked through, and the taste was just “meh.” Then I tested a batch frying on the stovetop in a little bit of oil….GAMECHANGER. Seriously, these are cooked in just a matter of minutes instead of 30-40 minutes in the oven…not to mention they taste much crisper and more delicious fried! We aren’t deep frying these…just about 2 tablespoons is needed for the entire batch, which really isn’t much when you divide it up per fritter.

How to Serve Fritters

These make an excellent side dish to any grilled meat. Although, one of my favorite way to eat these (especially if you have leftovers!) is in an omelet! They are seriously so good this way. Plus, if you reheat them in a skillet as opposed to a microwave they will retain more of their crisp exterior texture.

While I will always love sweet zucchini recipes, I have to say these zucchini fritters are honestly my favorite zucchini recipe I’ve made this year (at least so far!).  Let me know if you try them!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Italian Zucchini Fritters

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

Bursting with salty feta, tangy sun-dried tomatoes, and Italian flavors, these zucchini fritters are the perfect way to use up your abundance of garden zucchini!

Author: Audra's Appetite

Recipe type: Main Dish, Side

Cuisine: American, Italian

Serves: 24

Ingredients

• 1 lb (2 cups, packed) finely shredded zucchini, drained and excess water squeezed out (I had 2 cups after draining)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ¼ cup coconut flour*
• 4 ounces feta, crumbled
• 1.5 ounces (about ½ cup) sundried tomatoes**
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2-3 tablespoons oil, for frying

Instructions

1. In large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except for oil.
2. Use a cookie scoop (or spoon) to make 24 small uniform patties.
3. Heat large skillet over medium heat on stove and add 1 tablespoon oil.
4. When oil is hot, add fritters in batches (I usually cook about 8 at time for 3 batches total) and cook a couple minutes on each side until golden brown. Repeat with remaining oil and fritters.
5. Enjoy!

Notes

*original recipe called for ¾ cup Panko breadcrumbs. Note coconut flour is extremely absorbent with unique properties, so much less is needed. You could try this version using the ¾ cup breadcrumbs instead if you desire.
**I only had sundried tomatoes not packed in oil on hand; I haven’t tried using oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes. I’m sure those would work as well, but I’d definitely recommend draining the oil as you don’t want the mixture too wet or it won’t form together well in patties.
***Original recipe baked these instead of frying at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. I honestly found they took 40 minutes to get cooked through in the oven. I prefer both the time saved with frying as well as the taste/texture!

3.5.3251