Keto Zucchini Fritters – Crispy, Gluten-free
Keto zucchini fritters are easy cheesy, crispy patties made of cheese, eggs, and grated zucchini. They are a delicious light keto dinner or side dish.
Bonus, these zucchini fritters that are very similar to pancakes are also gluten-free and ready in 20 minutes so keep reading to learn more!
Are Zucchini fritters keto?
Yes! In fact, not only are zucchini fritters low-carb, but they are perfectly keto-friendly with as low as 2.7 grams of net carbs per serving!
How to make crispy keto zucchini fritters?
This easy zucchini fritters recipe is crispy, delicious, and ready in 20 minutes using only a few wholesome ingredients.
Let me explain what you need and how you can adapt this recipe, just in case there are a few ingredients you are missing to make these low carb zucchini fritters:
- Grated zucchini – the key to making crispy zucchini fritters is to use drained, pat-dried grated zucchini to extract all their juice. The less zucchini water you leave, the crispier these keto zucchini fritters will be. You can also use this recipe with other keto vegetables like spaghetti squash.
- Eggs – the recipe doesn’t work without eggs, you need large eggs to make crispy zucchini fritters.
- Grated cheese – I tested a lot of different cheese. The best is a combo of hard shredded mozzarella and grated Parmesan cheese. Mozzarella adds the best chewy texture to those zucchini fritters, but it is not very flavorsome. That is why I recommend using half mozzarella and half strong flavor cheese like Parmesan, old cheddar, or french Emmental.
- Almond flour – or the same amount of sunflower seed flour for a nut-free fritter recipe. Learn how to choose the best keto flour.
- Whole/ground psyllium husk – you can use either whole or ground psyllium husk in this recipe. This is the magic ingredient to make the best crispy fritters. In fact, the husk is mostly made of fiber, and it absorbs all the water that the zucchini will release after being in contact with salt.
- Parsley – fresh parsley adds a delicious Italian flavor to these fritters. It is optional but highly recommended.
- Salt
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Italian herbs
- Avocado oil or coconut oil to fry these keto fritters. The key is to use an oil with a high smoke point to avoid burning the oil.
This keto zucchini fritters recipe is not only gluten-free, low carb, and keto, it is also vegetarian!
Prepare the zucchini
Zucchini is a wonderful keto vegetable to make so many keto casseroles like my alfredo zucchini casserole or pizza casserole.
However, zucchinis are 95% made of water, and therefore, they can release a lot of liquid into your dish if you don’t prepare them well. This would ruin your keto fritters!
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Let me explain the 4 simple steps to follow to make crispy zucchini fritters that are not watery.
Grate the zucchini
First, choose firm, fresh zucchini, green or yellow squash are perfect. For this recipe, you need about 2 small zucchinis or 1 large one.
Then, grate the zucchini as finely as you can. You can use a food processor with the thinnest grater attachment or a hand grater.
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Drain the zucchini in a towel
That is the most important step to create crispy fritters. There are many techniques to drain a zucchini. Some people like to press the grated zucchinis in a sieve or simply squeeze them with their hands.
But let me tell you something, this is not enough to extract all of the 95% of water in the zucchinis.
The best method, the one that results in crispy fritters, is the towel method. Place the zucchini in the center of a clean towel. Then, gather the four corners of the towel with one hand and hold the zucchinis with the other hand.
Turn and squeeze as hard as you can, placing a bowl under the towel to gather all the liquid. You can discard the liquid or reuse it as a vegetable broth.
Measure the zucchini
Always measure the zucchini after squeezing all the water out. You can pack the grated zucchinis into a measuring cup or weight with a scale.
Shape and fry the patties
On a keto diet, we like to know exactly how many carbs each keto zucchini pancake contains. The best way to make even patties is to scoop the batter using a measuring cup.
One zucchini fritter uses 1/4 cup of fritter batter and contains 2.7g net carb.
First, scoop the batter with the measuring cup. Then, transfer the batter into your hands and shape a lovely round patty. It would not be thin at this point. That is fine.
Drop the patty into the hot oil. After 1 minute, start to gently flatten the fritter with a spatula.
Finally, when the sides of the fritters are dry and set, flip the fritter with a spatula. Keep pressing the fritter with the spatula to flatten into a thin disc of 0.5 mm (0.02 inches).
How to make crispy keto zucchini fritters
There are 6 necessary steps that make these zucchini pancakes crispy:
- Drain the vegetable before adding it to the batter.
- Add flour into the batter to absorb excess water released by the vegetable. For keto low carb fritters, any keto flour can be used like almond flour, coconut flour, psyllium husk, or a combination of them.
- Fry in hot, high smoke point oil using a non-stick frying pan. Surprisingly, olive oil is not the best to fry food. Avocado oil and coconut oil have a higher smoke point.
- Fry only 2 or 3 fritters at a time – too much batter added at once decreases the oil temperature quickly. As a result, the fritters soak the oil and would not fry instantly.
- Press the fritter many times while frying – a thick fritter stays very moist and watery. Press it to make it crisp.
- Drain the fried fritters into paper towels – removing the frying oil on the surface of fritters is a quick and easy way to prevent the fritters from softening after frying.
How to serve keto fritters?
Keto zucchini fritters can be served as a side dish to grilled meat, fried eggs, or as a light dinner with some delicious toppings like:
- A dollop of sour cream or coconut yogurt for a dairy-free option.
- Mashed avocado
- Hot sauce
- Homemade sugar-free ketchup
How to store these zucchini fritters?
Any fritters leftover can be frozen in an airtight container or store in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can rewarm fritters in a sandwich press, hot non-stick frying pan, or oven at 180C (350F) on a baking tray covered with parchment paper.
Can I bake fritters?
Yes, you can bake fritters on a baking tray covered with lightly greased parchment paper. But be aware that this recipe would not be crispy if baked, and I do not recommend baking them for a crispy fritter.
If you really want to try this option, bake your fritters at 200C (400F) for 15 minutes, flip and bake for 15 more minutes.
More keto zucchini recipes
If you need more low carb recipes to use your summer zucchini, I have plenty of keto zucchini recipes for you to try:
Have you made these zucchini fritters yet? Share a picture with me on Instagram!
xoxo Carine
Recipe Card
Keto Zucchini Fritters
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup Grated Zucchini unpeeled, drained from their water, measure after the water has been removed: 1 cup + 1/4 cup or weigh 210 g/7oz)
- ¼ cup Almond Flour
- 1 ½ tablespoon Psyllium husk
- 2 large Beaten Eggs
- ¼ cup Grated Mozzarella
- ¼ cup Shredded Parmesan
- 2 tablespoons Fresh parsley finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon Onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian herbs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
To fry the fritters
- ¼ cup Avocado Oil or high smoke point oil like coconut oil
Instructions
- For this recipe, you need about 2 small zucchinis or 1 medium zucchini. Wash the zucchini, keep the skin on, and trim ends.
- Place the zucchini into a food processor with the grater attachment and grate finely.
- Wrap the grated zucchini into a clean towel, gather the corner of the towel, and squeeze hard to extract all the water from the zucchinis. This is really important to make crispy zucchini fritters.
- Now measure the amount of grated zucchini required by the recipe which is 1 cup + 1/4 cup or weigh 210 g/7 oz.
- Place the grated zucchini onto a large mixing bowl with grated cheese, almond flour, psyllium husk, beaten eggs, chopped parsley, salt, Italian herbs, garlic powder, and onion powder.
- Stir the mixture with a spoon at first, then squeeze with your hands to bring all the ingredients together and form a sticky wet batter. It shouldn't be runny, if so add up to 1 tablespoon extra psyllium husk, adding 1/2 tablespoon at a time. Squeeze the batter with your hands after each addition and wait for 5 minutes for the husk fiber to absorb the water. The batter should be wet but not runny.
- Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil under medium/ high heat.
- Scoop 1/4 cup of batter, shape a patty with your hands, it's wet but not liquid. Place the patty into the warm oil and fry for 2 minutes on one side, pressing gently the patty with the back of a spatula after 1 minute to flatten into a thinner disc. Don't press too hard at first to prevent the patty from breaking!
- When the borders are set, slice a large spatula under the fritter and flip on the other side. Fry for 2 extra minutes until crispy and golden. Keep pressing the fritter to flatten and expand. The flatter, the crispier, the best thickness is 0.5 mm (0.02 inches). Add more oil if needed as the fritters will absorb some, and the more oil the crispier it gets.
- Place each cooked fritter onto a plate covered with absorbent paper to absorb the extra cooking oil while you fry the following fritters.
- Repeat these steps until the 6 fritters are cooked.
- Serve hot with a green salad on the side and a dollop of sour cream on top.
Storage
- Store in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight box. Rewarm in a warm oven or in a frying pan.
- Freeze up to 3 months in an airtight box.
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Disclaimer
The recipes, instructions, and articles on this website should not be taken or used as medical advice. You must consult with your doctor before starting on a keto or low-carb diet. The nutritional data provided on Sweetashoney is to be used as indicative only. The nutrition data is calculated using WP Recipe Maker. Net Carbs is calculated by removing the fiber and some sweeteners from the total Carbohydrates. As an example, a recipe with 10 grams of Carbs per 100 grams that contains 3 grams of erythritol and 5 grams of fiber will have a net carbs content of 2 grams. Some sweeteners are excluded because they are not metabolized. You should always calculate the nutritional data yourself instead of relying on Sweetashoney's data. Sweetashoney and its recipes and articles are not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose, or treat any disease. Sweetashoney cannot be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or advice found on the Website.
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Hi, I haven’t made these yet as I am wondering about the psyllium husk. I’ve never used it. Should I use whole husks, flakes, or powdered? Help please!
Thanks,
Claudia
Both works, same amount, I prefer husk powder personally, make sure you don’t use Metamucil or health supplement husk, you need pure husk
Very tasty fritters! I made them several times already! I love to take them with me on a trip, as an energy snack! Very easy to make!
These look so easy and delicious. I just cut a big zucchini from the garden and trying this tonight.
First time preparing fritters, a bit time consuming “wrenching” fritters but was well worth the effort. Delicious! Bookmarked as Favorite.
do people really only eat two of these for a meal?
It’s a serving suggestion, most people eat fritters as a hash brown replacement on keto for breakfast as a side of their eggs
All I can say is YUMMMMMM! They were so good and easy to make.