The Best Corn and Zucchini Fritters

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Pan-fried corn and zucchini fritters, an easy recipe combining two delicious vegetables and cheddar. The patties are perfect as an appetizer or a light vegetarian main meal.

I love pan-frying fresh zucchini in any way, and this corn and this zucchini fritter recipe is just another version of the pan-fried veggies. A totally delicious and cheesy one. Soft on the inside and crisp outside and served with addictive garlic and Greek yogurt dip.

And if you like this kind of patties, you might want to try our Falafel; they are delicious and so easy to make.

Why is this a great recipe for fritters?

• Simple recipe: It uses just three main ingredients (plus pantry ingredients) and takes about 30 minutes to make.
• Healthy: Great way of getting your kids to eat lots of veggies without one word of complaint.
• Adaptable: You can use different cheeses or other spices.
• Serving possibilities: You can have these easy zucchini corn fritters as an appetizer with dip, as a main dish with rice or potatoes, as a side dish for soup, you can take them to work, or on a picnic, you can make sandwiches or burgers with them.

Recipe ingredients

• Zucchini: about 1 lb/ 450 g – 500 g. I had two small ones, one yellow and one green. The yellow one was nice looking; otherwise, it tasted exactly like the green one, so you are OK with using only green zucchini.
• Corn: pre-cooked sweet corn on the cob. I had to small cobs; after cutting the corn off them, I had about 2 cups/ 8 oz/ 230g corn.
• Cheese: Cheddar cheese is perfect. Otherwise, you can use Gouda, Parmesan, feta cheese, or a mixture of mozzarella and Parmesan. Using only mozzarella might make the fritters too bland. Or use any other kind of cheese you would use for such a dish. I always buy cheese in pieces and grate it myself; I think the quality and taste are far better than those of already grated cheese.
• Other ingredients: onion, eggs, dried oregano, sweet and hot paprika, garlic, all-purpose flour, and vegetable or olive oil for pan-frying the zucchini corn fritters.
• Ingredients for the dip: Greek yogurt, garlic, chili, sweet paprika, dried mint, salt, and black pepper.

What could you add?

• Add fresh herbs to the batter. I often add chopped chives, dill, or parsley. If I don’t have fresh herbs, I add dried oregano, thyme, summer savory, or a touch of mint.
• You can also add a finely chopped green onion, red onion, jalapeno pepper.
• Add more spices. You can make the fritters hotter by adding finely chopped chili or dried red pepper flakes.
• Replace the fresh garlic with 1 teaspoon garlic powder.
• Make the dip with sour cream instead of yogurt. Or serve them with another dressing, for instance, Ranch dressing.

How to make corn and zucchini fritters?

Batter:

• Grate the zucchini on the large holes of a box grater (1). Place in a sieve, mix with ½ teaspoon fine sea salt and let stand for about 10-15 minutes.

• Squeeze well to remove the excess water before adding to the fritter mixture (2,3).

• Cut the corn kernels off the cobs (1). Place in a large bowl.
• Add the shredded zucchini, grated cheese, onion, eggs, oregano, paprika, grated garlic, flour, salt, and pepper (4).
• Combine well. You should have a thick batter (5).

Fry:

• Heat 1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large skillet non-stick pan.
• Take spoonfuls of the fritter batter and place the dollops into the hot pan. Flatten them with the spoon (6).
• Fry the small patties for about 3 minutes on medium-low heat, checking after two minutes to ensure that the corn and zucchini fritters are not getting too dark on the underside. If so, reduce the heat even more.
• Flip, press gently again, and cook on the other side for 2 minutes. They should be golden brown and cooked through (7).
• Add a little more oil to the pan and fry the remaining batches.
• Place the cooked corn zucchini fritters on paper towels after pan-frying to remove the excess fat.

Expert Tips and FAQ

• Squeeze the zucchini very well to remove all excess moisture. There are two ways of doing that. Either squeeze them in your hand, by the handful. Or place them all in a clean kitchen cloth, close the material around the zucchini to make a bundle, and squeeze well over the sink.
• Grating onions is not enjoyable, but I do it when making fritters. The cooking time is not long and chopped onion will not have the time to get soft. Using grated onions makes sure that you will not bite on pieces of rather raw onion. Use the fine side of a box grater for this task.
• Add only a little salt to the batter at first; the zucchini are already salted. Add about ¼ teaspoon sea salt (less if using table salt) and adjust as needed.
• If you think the batter is too wet, you might add a teaspoon or two extra flour. However, I never need to do it; I do squeeze the zucchini well.
• Fry the zucchini in batches; I had 3 batches. My pan has a 30 cm/ 12 inches diameter so that I can cook 5-6 patties per batch. Add a little extra oil between the batches, not too much.

Recipe FAQ

How to serve?

• You can serve the zucchini fritters immediately or cooled.
• They are great as appetizers, served with the yogurt dip or another dip you like, for instance, this Best Hummus without Garlic. Sweet chili or hot chili sauce are great as well.
• To make a whole meal, serve with rice, bread or potatoes, a dip, and a salad.

More snacks or appetizers

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