Say hello to my new creation, zucchini balls! Another easy healthy appetizer recipe that you can easily eat with your fingers with no guilt ! Yum !
Another quick and easy appetizer recipe to enjoy this summer inspired by my popular spinach balls recipe. You will love those zucchini balls loaded with mint, garlic and crunchy zucchini. They remind me Greek food recipes. Those are delicious dipped into my homemade tzatziki sauce or in my sugar free tomato sauce.
Zucchini Balls Baked- An Easy & Healthy Appetizer
You are probably wondering why I an preparing so much appetizers recipes lately. Well, there is few reasons. First my house warming party is coming up within 2 weeks and then my family in law is flying from France to New Zealand to celebrate their first Christmas in summer. So I want to create easy healthy appetizers for those occasion. Last reason, my little girl is turning 3 very soon, my new challenge will be to prepare a daily lunchbox for pre-school!
Yes, it is a mum challenge to develop simple and veggie loaded snacks for kids lunchbox, don’t you think? I mean, food that they actually eat! Emma is already very good at eating veggie finger foods. She loves baked falafel, zuchini parmesan waffles and now those zucchini balls. Cold or hot, those baked zucchini balls (not fried ! I tried it is not as good) absolutely pass the test! I am also thinking about developing some healthy Christmas treats very soon so keep an eye on the blog for the sweet sugar free recipes! New desserts and treats recipes will comes out soon. But first let’s talk a little bit more about those zucchini balls!
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Overall I will say it takes less than 40 minutes to prepare, bake and clean all the dishes so a super easy and quick recipe to make for your next party. Also, I did not cooked the zucchini before incorporating them into the batter which is faster than the spinach balls recipe where you have to blanched the spinach in boiling water. The recipe makes 15 balls – golf size balls and feed my family of three at dinner.
I hope you guys enjoy all those recent appetizers recipes I shared and I promise, next recipe will be all about sweet! And as always please leave me a comment if you try this recipe and share your tricks to makes it even better! We all have to learn from each others! Carine.
Those Zucchini Balls Baked in the oven with no added fat is a great healthy appetizer recipe to use those extra zucchini this summer. An healthy zucchini recipe for kids lunchbox or as a snack anytime in the day.
- 1 1/2 cup raw zucchini ,not peeled, finely diced, (about 1 large zucchini)
- 3 eggs , size 6
- 1 garlic clove , finely crushed
- 1 1/4 cup Gluten Free Panko Crumbs or ground pork rinds if keto
- 3 tablespoon fresh mint ,finely chopped
- 3/4 cup grated cheese I used edam
- 1 teaspoon salt
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Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C).
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Wash the zucchini and remove the ends, keep the skin on for extra fibers.
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Finely dice the zucchini in small cubes of about 2 mm.
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Place the small zucchini cubes into a mixing bowl and using a spoon, combine with eggs, garlic, gluten free Panko crumbs, mint and cheese. Adjust salt and pepper regarding taste.
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It will form a moist batter that comes easily together. If too moist or stick too much to your hands, add slightly more crumbs, 1 tablespoon at a time until you can easily shape balls with your hands. You should not use more than 4 extra tablespoon of gluten free panko crumbs.
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Form golf size balls rolling the batter into your hands,.
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Place each balls onto a greased cookie sheet. I used 1 tablespoon of olive oil to rub onto the cookie sheet.
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Shape the balls until no more batter left. I made 16 balls with this batter.
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Bake for 20 minutes or until the outside is golden and crispy.
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Serve immediately with dip of your choice or serve cold in kids lunchboxes.
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Remove wrap and bake before serving.
Herbs: feel free to use dried mint if preferred. If you don't like mint the recipe works without herbs or replace by your favorite herb like parsley, cilantro, dill or basil.
Cheese options: this recipe works well with any hard grated cheese like cheddar, Colby cheese, emmental or mozzarella. Low fat cheese works as well. Use your favorite cheese flavor.
Crumbs: if you tolerate gluten, you can swap gluten free panko crumbs by wholegrain crumbs as well or regular panko crumbs
Make ahead/store/freeze: Can be prepared in advance, store the tray with the prepared zucchini balls in the fridge, cover with plastic wrap up to 24 hours before baking or freeze on the tray. After 2 hours in the freezer, the balls are hard enough to be transferred onto an airtight plastic box. Keep up to a month in the freezer. No need to defrost. Bake frozen following the usual baking instruction until golden brown.
Nutrition panel is for one zucchini ball. The recipe makes about 16 zucchini balls.
Sorry! Just re-read the ingredients and answered my own question. I’m an idiot!
no problem Carolina ! 🙂 you are welcome
I am making these as a Christmas app, and I’m so excited! If frozen about how long should I bake and at what temp to defrost/cook?
Thanknyou!
Don’t pre bake them before freezing then I recommend to defrost 2-3 hours before on a baking tray covered with parchment paper, at room temperature. This way they will be like fresh before baking and you could simply follow the same baking instruction, as if they were not frozen! Always check the color, when golden on the outside and crispy they are all good to eat! Merry Christmas and thanks for bringing my recipes on your table this year. XOXO Carine.
Do you know what the macros are per serving? Calories, Fat, protien, and carbs ?
Hi K, I just updated the recipe with the nutrition panel. Here it is, Nutrition panel per zucchini balls. This recipe makes 16 zucchini balls. [Recommended serving size 3-4 balls per persons as a light dinner with green salad or as an appetizer] Calories: 62.6 kcal | Carbs: 7.5 g | Sugar: 0.5 g| Protein: 3.1 g| Fat: 2.9 g| Fiber: 1 g| Net Carbs: 6.5 g
I hope you will make some ! It is delicious. Carine.
Is this per 1 ball? Or 3-4?
Hi, The nutrition panel is per zucchini ball. The recipe makes 16 balls. I recommend to serve 3 to 4 zucchini balls per person. Enjoy the recipe. xoxo Carine.
Do you have any idea if I can freeze those? After baking maybe?
Hi Anna,
I do freeze those zucchini balls before baking them. Then, no need to defrost before baking. Simply lay the frozen zucchini balls on a baking tray covered with baking paper and bake as indicate until crispy outside and soft in the centre. It works like magic as a quick make ahead appetizer! Enjoy the recipe. Carine.
Hi Carine, I just wanted to let you know I featured this recipe in my Low Carb Gluten-free Zucchini Recipes roundup. I hope you’ll get some visits coming your way!
Hi Maya, thank you SO much! very appreciate 🙂
I don’t usually comment, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this recipe. I find most zucchini recipes like this one to be wet or very eggy. These were really good. Would make a great appetizer. Had it with a little yoghurt dip. Also, since I’m not a big fan of mint, I used half mint and half fresh basil. I also used cheddar instead of edam. Yummy!
Hi Emily, thank you so much for taking a minute to share your lovely feedback with this recipe. I must tell I love those zucchini balls too and all my friends are always surprised by their texture. Cheddar is a great substitute for edam I will give it a go next time. Thanks again for following the blog and for your kind comment. xoxo Carine.
Could something but substituted to remove the cheese?
Hi Julie, I never tried this recipe without cheese. I like the taste ad texture it adds to those simple zucchini balls. You may have to add more breadcrumbs until you obtain a consistency that makes balls easily. It will helps the batter to hold together but the result will be more dry. Let me know if you try to adapt this recipe ‘cheese free’. I am sure this will interest lots of others readers that don’t eat dairy. Thanks for reading my blog Julie. I hope you’ll find even more delicious recipe here – I have got plenty of others cheese free finger foods recipe, just browse! xoxo Carine.
I swapped the mint for parsley and these were delicious! Would pair really well with a marinara sauce…tasted like mozzarella sticks!
Hi, thanks for your lovely comment! Those zucchini balls taste great with any fresh herbs. Parsley is a great swap to mint! I hope you will find even more delicious recipe around ! Carine.
Ideas for dipping sauce?
Hi, We love to dip them in my homemade sugar free ketchup or homemade BBQ sauce. It is also a great recipe to pair with guacamole or spinach avocado dip. Enjoy them ! xoxo Carine.
Hi do you have to drain the water out of the courgettes?
Yes it is better to squeeze out any water from the grated courgette.
Do you know Howe much sodium is in pne?
Hi, based on the breadcrumb and cheese I bought in New Zealand you have got 54.5 mg of sodium per zucchini balls. I updated the nutrition panel for you but be careful or the breadcrumb and cheese you buy from the store! It will impact the sodium very much. That is why I usually don’t show the sodium information, it is not really relevant depending on each ingredients. For example emmental or mozzarella will contain less sodium than cheddar etc. Enjoy the recipe. XOXO Carine.
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I just made them and they’re delicious. I can’t wait to try out the spinach balls.
Hi Emily, Thnk you SO much for this lovely comment 🙂 You will definitely love the spinach balls as well I always have a batch of those in the freezer to serve as an appetizer or fill the kids lunchbox. So good! Thanks to read the blog and try my recipe. XOXO Carine.
Hi I just made these today and they came out very dry? Not sure what I did wrong? Any idea as to why?
The only thing I can think about is baking time. You probably overbaked them. I would recommend you to remove them from the oven as soon as they are crispy outside and golden. Pick with a skewer and see if it is set in the middle. If so, don’t bake longer. Also, grated mozarella makes them softer and cheesy – my kids prefer this cheese. Let me know if you try again ! Have a lovely time baking those. XOXO Carine.
Hi – these look good, but i’m doing keto. Do you have a recommendation for swapping out the panko crumbs (maybe some mix of almond and coconut flour)? Thanks
Many people report success using ground pork rinds. I didn’t try myself by I guess this will work well 🙂 Enjoy the recipe XOXO Carine.
Hello
Do you think I can use bread crumbs instead of panko crumbs? 🙂
Yes! Or even pork rinds if you ar eon low carb/keto diet. Enjoy the recipe ! XOXO Carine.
Thank you. My kids loveeee these and they don’t even like zucchini. 🙂
There is no better comment possible ! If kids are happy I am happy too 🙂 you made my day. I know how difficult it could be to sneak zucchini to your kids plate – mine are not big fan of this veggie but they love my zucchini balls too. Enjoy all the recipes on the blog. XOXO Carine.
Recommend flavor of dip?
Sure! I love to dip them into my sugar free ketchup or in a simple avocado dip. Other great sauce are mustard or sriracha. Enjoy the balls! XOXO Carine.