With summer in full swing, most people who have planted a vegetable garden have more squash than they know what to do with. After going through the gamut from sautéed zucchini to zucchini bread one summer, I came up with these light delicious fritters that make for a great snack or the perfect canapé for your summer cookout.
Since “zucchini” comes first in the name, I want more vegetable than batter in my fritters. Too much batter and you get a doughy mess on the inside, too little batter and they don’t hold together. That’s why I use a simple beer batter that just coats each strand of zucchini. This way you can get crispy brown strands of zucchini peaking out from a tender flavorful center.
To bump up the flavor a little I’ve added some Comté cheese and onions here, but these would be great with some garlic, herbs, or even a little shrimp.
When you make the batter, just make sure the beer is very cold so it fries up crisp. The cold liquid slows the formation of gluten chains allowing you to mix the batter without making it tough. Plus, you only need a 1/2 cup of beer, so drink the rest while you’re frying up the fritters!
Units
Ingredients
- vegetable oil (for frying)
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 20 grams Comté cheese (finely grated)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ground black pepper
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup beer cold
- 2 medium zucchini (shredded with a box grater, about 1 cup packed)
- ½ small red onion shredded
Instructions
- Heat 3-inches of oil in a heavy bottomed pot until it reaches 350 degrees F. Line a rack with 2 layers of paper towels. Combine the flour, cheese, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg until smooth, then add the beer and gently stir together. Pour this mixture into the flour and stir until just combined. It's fine if there are still a few lumps of flour. Add the zucchini and onion and stir to combine.
- Use two spoons to drop little balls of the zucchini mixture into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown and crisp then use tongs to transfer them to to the paper towel lined rack. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve immediately.
Dalya Dajani says
How many fritters does this recipe make please? Thanks!
Marc Matsumoto says
It depends on how big your zucchini is and how small you make the fritters, but I got about a dozen fritters out of this.
Erica says
so that’s the technique.. never used beer batter before. will try !
alyssa murphy says
Do these get really crispy on the outside?
Marc Matsumoto says
Yep, they get pretty crispy. Just make sure your oil is the right temperature.
Sharmila says
I’m making it right now as the recipe says. The batter is very runny. It’s sticking to to the bottom of the pan. I fried it even little bit more so I can flip it to fry the other side, inside is not cooked. Also, it is very greasey. What did I do wrong?
Thanks.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Sharmila, I’m sorry to hear it didn’t go well. Did you measure the temperature of the oil? If it’s sticking to the bottom of the pan it sounds like the problem may be with the oil temperature as the oil needs to be hot enough so it sets before it hits the bottom of the pan. Also, how many inches of oil did you add to the pan? I just realized I didn’t specify, but you should have at least 3-inches of oil for this as adding the batter will lower the temperature of the oil.
Sharmila says
Thank you, Marc, for your prompt reply. I think you are right. I don’t have a wok. I was frying it In a small skillet so that I can just experiment it and useing only half an inch of oil thinking I don’t want it to be too oily. Can the same recipe be made in the oven as oven fry but still be crispy? Love your recipes and they all look so yummy. I fell into your site just by accident but I’m going to consult this site more often. Please directone towards any of your low fat, low carb dishes you have on your site.
Thank you so much.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Sharmila, that’s most likely what happened. It might sound counterintuitive, but when deep frying, using more oil will make the end result less greasy. This is because deep frying relies on liquid in the batter turning to vapor fast enough to prevent the oil from entering the pores that form as the batter fries. If you fry in oil that isn’t hot enough there isn’t enough steam being generated to force the oil out and so it soaks into the batter like a sponge. The reason why using more oil is helpful is the same reason you use a lot of water when you boil vegetables or pasta. When you add food to the oil, the oil temperature drops, if you’re only using a little oil, it drops a lot, if you have a lot of oil it only drops a little. The batter for this fritter is similar to a beer batter in that it is runny, it needs to be deep fried so that the batter sets almost immediately. Since air doesn’t conduct heat as well as a liquid (why you can stick your hand in a 350 degree oven and not get burned immediately vs sticking your hand in 350 degree oil), if you use an oven for this, you’ll end up with a flat chewy mess.
As for low carb/low fat recipes, click the “recipes” tab at the top of this page. It will take you to the full recipe index and the column on the far right is organized by diet.
Sharmila says
Thank you, Marc, for explaining the sciences of the proper technique. I appreciate that you took the time to explain it in such a detail.
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S™III, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone
——– Original message ——–
Jordan says
It has taken me three years to finally make these, but so worth the wait! The beer batter is delicious, and having lots of veggies inside provides so much flavour. I didn’t go with the cheese, but I did add some garam masala to the zucchini before combining with the other ingredients. Awesome with a little bit of chutney!
Marc Matsumoto says
Love the garam masala and chutney idea!