These Healthy Zucchini Fritters with Avocado Crema are a healthy remake of a childhood classic my mom used to make growing up. They’re packed with veggies, gluten-free, and paleo as well. Instead of processed ingredients, these fritters are made with whole food ingredients like almond flour and flax meal. They cook up with soft centers and crispy edges. Enjoy with the avocado crema, basil aioli, sour cream, or your favorite sauce.
My mom used to make zucchini pancakes often in the summer for us growing up. They’re a great way to add some extra veggies to dinner and use up the abundance of zucchini in mid-summer. We used to eat them for dinner with savory toppings, and sometimes with homemade sausage too.
Somewhere along the line, I forgot about this simple recipe for a quick and easy dinner. But I came across it again and knew I had to remake it. From that time forward, these have been a new summertime favorite!
Replacing the all-purpose flour with almond flour turned out to be the best thing that’s happened to zucchini pancakes. They turned out so much crispier, that I re-named them zucchini fritters.
I also added a small amount of flax meal to soak up the excess moisture you always get with zucchini, and it improved the overall texture. It often seems to be the case when you substitute in the name of ‘healthier’, the flavor and/or texture suffers, but this is not one of those times.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Zucchini – this is the main ingredient and it’s a great way to add more veggies to any dinner because these fritters work well as a side dish or main dish. Zucchini varies in moisture, and because of this, the texture of your fritters may vary. Doing the salting step you’ll read about below, ensures the most even result each time.
- Almond Flour – this helps all that zucchini come together and also adds a nice nutty flavor to those crispy edges.
- Flax Meal – is your second ingredient to help keep all that zucchini from falling apart. It also adds a good dose of fiber to the mix as well.
- Egg – this is essential in combination with the almond flour and flax meal to make a fritter that holds together.
- Sea Salt and Pepper – the salt and pepper are of course for flavor, but the salt does double duty by extracting moisture from the zucchini.
- Garlic – just a touch of minced garlic makes a world of difference in the addictive savory flavor of these fritters.
Make these Healthy Zucchini Fritters step by step
Step 1: First up you want to grate your zucchini with a box grater or food processor.
From here you have 2 options
- You can mix the freshly grated zucchini right into a batter. You will have a zucchini pancake texture with crispy fritter edges.
- Or you can place the grated zucchini into a colander. Place that colander in the sink and sprinkle with sea salt. Let the zucchini sit and the excess water drain out of it for 20 minutes. Then just firmly press the zucchini with your hands to remove any more excess water and proceed with the batter.
Tip: By removing the excess water, you ensure a much crispier fritter. However if you’re in a hurry, you can also make these as described above because a zucchini pancake texture is very good as well!
Step 2: Add the grated zucchini to a bowl with the rest of the fritter ingredients.
Step 3: Stir together until a thick batter forms.
Step 4: Pan fry the zucchini fritters in cooking oil in a skillet leaving room in between so they brown well. Also it helps to keep these small so they’re easier to flip.
Ways to serve these
- As written we love these with the cherry tomatoes and Avocado Crema or the Basil Aioli as a vegetarian meal.
- The fresh tomatoes are an optional topping, but I rather like them. And in the height of summer, there’s no better way to eat these, especially along with fresh herbs like chives and/or basil.
- My mom used to serve these with sour cream which is tasty as well.
- These are also delicious with pretty much any kind of meat off the grill. Andouille, Bratwurst, grilled chicken, steak, or pork chops are all good. It seems impossible to think of something that wouldn’t go with these fritters!
Tips & Tricks
- I pan-fried mine in a cast iron skillet because you get the best crispy edges that way. It’s best to keep them small, about 4″ in diameter. These are on the delicate side, so it’s much easier to flip small fritters.
- I have tried cooking these in my enameled cast iron. It’s a little more finicky, and you need to make sure the pan is properly hot first. The batter should sizzle when it goes in. Otherwise, you’ll find it sticks. This is true with regular cast iron too, but much less so, and overall I found it much easier to work with!
Cooking these for a family
- To speed things up, you can cook these in 2 cast iron pans. Then just serve them as fast as you can cook them!
- Or you can cook all the fritters with 1 or 2 pans, and keep them warm in a 200ºF oven until you have all the batter cooked.
Also, there are my 35 Healthy Zucchini Recipes and 5 Ways to use up large amounts of Zucchini.
I hope you enjoy these Healthy Zucchini Fritters! If you do get a chance to make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Healthy Zucchini Fritters
INGREDIENTS
Fritters:
- 1 pound zucchini - ends cut off and grated, 1 large or 2 small
- 1/2 tsp sea salt - plus more to taste if desired
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup fine almond flour
- 2 tbsp golden flax meal - or regular ground flax meal
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 clove garlic - minced
- 2 tbsp avocado oil - or cooking oil, more or less may be needed.
Avocado Crema:
- 1 ripe avocado - pitted and peeled
- 1/2 cup coconut milk - from the can
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp sea salt - or to taste
Optional Toppings:
- 1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
- Thinly sliced basil - or any other herb you love
- Thinly sliced green onions - or chives
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place the grated zucchini in a colander, and place the colander into the sink. Or you can place something underneath it to catch the liquid.
- Sprinkle the zucchini with the salt and let it sit for 20 minutes to shed the excess water. After 20 minutes, press the zucchini with your hands to remove any additional water.
- Then mix all the ingredients for the fritters, except the avocado oil, in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Make the avocado crema by blending the avocado, coconut milk, lemon juice, and sea salt in a blender until smooth. Transfer the crema to a serving dish and set aside.
- Prepare any of the optional fritter toppings and place them in serving dishes as well.
- Preheat a cast iron pan over medium heat. I used a 9" pan, but you can use a bigger one if you have it.
- Pour a small amount of avocado oil into your preheated pan, just enough to lightly coat the bottom.
- Place small dollops of fritter batter into the pan – about 4" in diameter. Lightly flatten/spread them out if necessary. You will be able to cook 3 fritters at a time in a 9" skillet.
- Cook for about 3-5 minutes, or until the fritters begin to set up and the bottom is golden brown. Turn the fritters over carefully, and cook another 3-5 minutes or until golden.
- Repeat this process, adding oil when necessary until all the batter is gone.
- Serve the fritters immediately as soon as they come out of the pan for the crispiest results.
- It speeds up the cooking process to have 2 pans going on the stove, especially if you're making this for more than 2 people. Or you can keep the fritters warm in a 200ºF oven until they're all cooked before serving.
Is this calling for coconut milk from a can or carton? I am so excited to try them!
I like to use coconut milk from the can because it has more flavor, and it has a thicker texture which makes for a better avocado crema. I’m glad you asked because I just updated the recipe to indicate which one I meant. I hope you enjoy the recipe, and be sure to let me know how it goes or if you have anymore questions!
SO excited that I came across your site!! I am totally making these tonight, and i’ll be searching around for some more fabulous recipes for our abundant produce! Thanks!!
I’m so glad you’re starting with these zucchini fritters because they’re a family favorite! I hope you find lots of new veggie favorite, and let me know how it goes!
Hi I am really excited to make your recipe but I’m wondering how many zucchinis make up 1 pound? Thank you!
Zucchini really vary in size, my best recommendation is to weigh them at the supermarket or Farmer’s Market. Zucchini from the supermarket usually are 2-4 per pound, but Farmer’s Market zucchini can be anywhere from a 1/2 pound each to a couple pounds each. I hope you enjoy the recipe, and be sure to let me know if you have anymore questions! 🙂
Hi Kari,
I came across your blog a week ago. Since then your website was my goto website for recipes based on the vegetables I had . So far I have made brownies, zucchini noodles and this morning I made zucchini fritters. I have made a similar dish called zucchini pancake a year ago, but something was missing, haven’t made that since. But your zucchini fritters are awesome, I see myself making this more often :). Thank you for your wondeful receipes.
You’ve absolutely made my day! It’s my goal to help people eat more fruits and veggies with super easy everyday type recipes! I hope you find lots of favorites, and I look forward to hearing from you again! 🙂
Thanks Kari!! Making them tonight for 6 kids! I think they’ll love them! And made the avocado cream and sliced up cherry tomatoes 🙂 got sour cream too as a back up!
I hope all goes well, and good thinking with the sour cream as a back up (you never know whether kids will think it’s cool or icky)!
I’m making these now and if my outside gets really crispy but the inside is still mushy…what am I doing wrong…?
Thanks!!
The inside of these fritters is soft with a crispy exterior, but if it’s mushy you can do a couple of things – 1) try turning down the heat a little, they may be cooking too fast on the outside and leaving the inside mushy 2) you can also spread the batter a bit thinner in the pan so there is more crispy to soft ratio! I hope this helps, and be sure to let me know if you have anymore questions! 🙂
Hi Kari,
I received an email from ZipList showing you as a new partner. I made zucchini fritters for years (called Zucchini Flips). Difference was after you made fritters, fritters were coated with a layer of undiluted cream of chicken soup with diced cook chicken breast, then sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. Several years ago, I stopped using canned soup, also gave up meat. I didn’t take the time to make up a substitute recipe, so I was please to see your recipe. I never would have thought to try avocados! I am interested in tasting this and will make it for tonight’s dinner. BTW, when I printed your recipe, I was pleased there was a little picture printed along with the recipe. Nice touch!
Thanks so much Allie! Let me know what you think when you make them, and since you don’t eat meat you might enjoy them as we do with a poached egg! 🙂
I have made these 3 times in the last week. I’ve used a gluten free flour instead of the almond flour. I love them!!! Such a simple and yummy recipe.
I make these like crazy through the summer months with all kinds of fresh salsas on the top, and sometimes fried/poached eggs to make a bigger meal out of it! So glad you enjoyed them!
Do you think coconut flour would work to soak up the extra liquid instead of flax? I’ve got to try this tonight, thanks for all the great recipes!
I’m not sure if coconut flour would work the same because it doesn’t bind the same way. If you try it, try adding a little at a time, the pancake batter should be a bit loose, and coconut flour absorbs a lot of liquid! If the first batch you cook isn’t holding together, try adding a bit more coconut flour, or you can just add a bit more almond flour instead of coconut flour. Let me know how it goes, and I hope you enjoy them! 🙂
BOOM! You make zucchini fritters, I make zucchini fritters/patties.
I’m starting to believe there’s some sort of telepathy going on here. I mean, the signs are all there. Don’t you think?
😉
I know, we seem to be on the same creative wave length! 🙂 I love that you added feta to yours – I’ll be trying that next.