Baked Zucchini Fritters Recipe

Baked Zucchini Fritters placed on a plate served with yogurt sauce on the side

Baked Zucchini Fritters Recipe

These Baked Zucchini Fritters are flavored with feta cheese, fresh dill, and scallions. In my version, instead of using flour I used Panko breadcrumbs and ground oats as well as eggs to bind all the ingredients. You can serve them with fried eggs or as a side dish with any of your meat and vegetable dishes.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Turkish

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 25

Total Time 40

Servings fritters

Calories 107kcal

Author Aysegul Sanford

Ingredients

For the Zucchini Fritters

2 medium-sized zucchini (1 1/2 pounds) - 2 1/2 cups after shredded, peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 large eggs
¾ cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
2 scallions chopped thinly
2 tablespoons fresh dill chopped – plus more as garnish

For the Yogurt Sauce: (optional)

1 cup Greek yogurt
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 tablespoon lemon juice freshly squeezed
½ teaspoon Kosher salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Prepare the zucchini: Shred the zucchini using the large holes of a box grater. Place the shredded zucchini in the middle of a clean kitchen towel, collect it from the sides and squeeze as much liquid as possible. You should have about 2 to 2 1/2 cups of zucchini. Set it in a bowl.
Mix together the grated zucchini, garlic, olive oil, baking powder, black pepper, eggs, feta cheese, Panko bread crumbs, scallions, and dill in a bowl.
Using a spoon or medium-sized ice cream scoop, scoop out about 2 tablespoons of the batter and drop onto the baking sheet. Continue until you run out of the batter. Gently press each fritter with your fingers to make flatten.
Bake for 22-25 minutes or until golden. Take it out of the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes before serving.
To make the yogurt sauce: Whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl.
Serve zucchini fritters with the yogurt sauce and more dill on the side.

Video

Notes

If you watch the how-to video above, you will see that I placed the shredded zucchini in a colander and sprinkled it with salt to get its juices out. You can use both the cloth method or the colander method. The reason why I changed it is that I want to make sure I am not adding too much salt into the recipe, especially because I am using feta cheese.
While you can use both methods to get the juices out, I highly recommend giving a taste to your feta cheese and adjusting the amount of salt you put in the recipe accordingly.
Make ahead: You can prepare all the ingredients in advance to save on time. However, I recommend mixing the batter right before baking so you won't end up with soggy fritters.
Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can serve them cold or warm them up in a low-heat 280-300 degrees F oven for 5-7 minutes.
Freezing Thawing: While I personally liked the freshly baked version the most, you can freeze these fritters. Before freezing, be sure to bring them to room temperature. Then place in an airtight container and freeze for up to a month. Thaw in the fridge overnight and warm up in a low heat oven until warmed thoroughly, 5-10 minutes.
Can I pan-fry these zucchini fritters instead of baking them in the oven?Yes, you can. Heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large 12-inch non-stick skillet. Scoop 3-4 fritters at a time making sure not to overcrowd the pan. Cook 3-5 minutes on one side and flip to cook the other side. Store the cooked zucchini pancakes in low heat (200 F oven) while working on cooking the rest by adding more oil to the skillet after each batch.
An earlier version of this recipe listed 2 tablespoons of ground oats in the list of ingredients. After testing the recipe a few more times, I decided that this recipe can also be made without oats. You can still add them but it is an optional ingredient.

Nutrition