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You will love these delicious gluten-free keto zucchini fritters. Serve the low-carb patties as an appetizer or a side to compliment your meal. They even make a tasty and filling breakfast!
Do you ever find yourself swimming with zucchini at the end of the summer? It’s been another great year for summer squash so I’ve been going back and making some of my older recipes with them.
I love spiralizing these summer vegetables into noodles for an easy meal. They go great with my low carb meatballs and marinara sauce.
But this weekend I decided to try an old recipe for gluten-free keto zucchini fritters instead. I made them for breakfast to serve with some eggs as an alternative to hash browns.
Although I have a recipe for radish hash browns, some of my family refuses to eat radishes. They do like zucchini so these yummy low-carb patties were a hit with them.
Making Gluten-Free Zucchini Fritters Keto
The recipe only requires a few simple steps. However, you will need to give the zucchini a little time to drain to remove excess moisture.
- Remove excess moisture from zucchini. Set the grated zucchini in a strainer for 10 minutes then squeeze out any excess moisture using a kitchen towel.
- Combine all the batter ingredients. Mix grated zucchini, eggs, parmesan cheese, coconut flour, parsley, and garlic powder together until well blended.
- Drop batter into heated oiled pan. Divide the batter into eight equal portions and press into round patties into frying pan with hot oil.
- Brown both sides of patties. Once the bottom side is browned, flip and brown the other side.
That’s all there is to making these tasty keto fritters!
Tips for Crispy Fritters
It’s important to follow these steps in order to make crispy zucchini patties:
- Remove the excess moisture. Salting the grated zucchini will help pull out the water. Squeezing the zucchini after allowing it to sit in the colander will remove any excess liquid that didn’t drain out.
- Include an absorbent ingredient Coconut flour is used in the fritter batter because it’s very absorbent. That way, any additional water released from the vegetable during cooking will be absorbed. Psyllium flour, flax meal, or chia seeds would also work.
- Use a hot non-stick pan. The oil needs to be very hot to sear the outside of the patties so be sure to use one with a high smoke point. But it’s also important to have a non-stick surface so those crispy outsides to get stuck in the pan.
- Press the fritters as they cook. Adding pressure to the bottom of the patty as it cooks will ensure the surface gets a nice brown sear.
- Drain on paper towels after frying. If the oil settles on the cooked fritters, they can get soggy. That’s why the patties should be placed on absorbent paper towels to soak up any excess oil after cooking.
Serving Suggestions
Keto zucchini fritters are filling enough to be served alone for breakfast or a light lunch. But they are usually a side to a main meat dish or eggs.
You can also dip them in low-carb veggie dip or sugar-free ketchup as an appetizer. And they taste great topped with sour cream!
Other Recipes to Try
There are so many ways to enjoy zucchini! If you need a few more ideas for using up your summer crop, these are some of my family’s favorites:
- Turkey Zucchini Meatballs are a great alternative to ground beef meatballs.
- Keto Zucchini Fries smell like regular fries when baking and taste just as good.
- Zucchini Cupcakes are moist and delicious mini spice cakes topped with cream cheese frosting.
- Keto German Chocolate Cake is so good most people don’t even realize it’s a low-carb dessert.
- Apple Fritter Bread uses pieces of zucchini instead of apples to reduce the carbs while maintaining all the flavor.
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Keto Zucchini Fritters (Gluten-Free, Low-Carb)
Recipe Video (Click on Image to Play)
Ingredients
- 2 cups zucchini grated
- 1 teaspoon sea salt or more to taste
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup parmesan cheese grated
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1 tablespoon parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
- Grate the zucchini into a colander, toss with the sea salt and allow to drain 10 minutes.
- Dump zucchini into a clean kitchen towel. Wrap towel around zucchini and gently squeeze over sink to remove excess water.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine zucchini, eggs, parmesan cheese, coconut flour, parsley and garlic powder with a spoon. Set batter aside.
- Heat about 1-2 tablespoons olive oil in large skillet. Drop spoonfuls of zucchini fritter batter into hot oil. Fry each side until browned, flattening with spatula as you go.
- When both sides are nicely browned, about 2-3 minutes per side, remove from pan and drain fritters on paper towels.
Notes
Low Carb Sweeteners | Keto Sweetener Conversion Chart
Nutrition
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Note on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
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First Published: November 9, 2015… Last Updated: September 12, 2020 with new photos and additional recipe information.
Dolly Proctor
Would love the recipes for the fritters. Thanks!
Lisa MarcAurele
You can jump right to the recipe using the button at the top of the page.
Tom
Looks like a great recipe! I wonder why so many recipes use onion and garlic powder instead of the real thing? At least consider listing the fresh ingredients as an option — or list the powders as an option.
Lisa
For me, it’s convenience. I find it easier to use. However, you always have the option to use fresh.
Tom
Thanks Lisa. Convenience is always appreciated !
Monica
It’s a mouth feel thing in my family. Kids like the taste, but not the texture ?
Tom
With respect to kids and their texture preferences – that makes total sense!
Jen
I made these for lunch today. So quick, came out perfectly and were absolutely delicious! Thank you!!
Lisa
So glad they worked out for you!
Sarah
Just made this— delicious!!! I really squeezed out the water hard, not lightly, to remove as much water as possible. I also used regular old park in the shake plastic container (shelf stable), not fresh Parm. I used about half a cup, and upped the coconut flower by a heaping TB. I too added a small amount of diced garlic.
Mine held together beautifully! I used my ceramic pan, at med-high (a little higher than medium), and the browned beautifully and cooked through- you do need to flatten them after you drop them onto the pan.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Lisa
Thanks for the tips!
Marie
Made this today. They were delicious!! i added 1/4 tsp psyllium seed powder to help with the binding and 1/4 tsp Braggs Seasoning., b/c we love it! Herbs de Provence would also be delicious….whatever your family likes, right? Big hit! I’m thinking of making a big batch of these and bake them on parchment paper. . . I used a newly seasoned cast iron so sticking was a little problem so I just left them alone till they formed a crust and used a better spatula( NOT silicone) to flip. I added all the dry ingredients and mixed the squeezed zucchini and egg together first, then I added the dry ingredients. Letting the coconut flour in the recipe soak up the moisture for about ten minutes probably would also help with consistency. Cooked them in ghee. Thank for a great blog!
Lisa
Thanks for sharing your tips Marie!
Marie
We made these again adding canned salmon[15oz]. Added bay seasoning. Just great. No parm. It’s no dairy week around here… for some, anyway!
Lisa
Sounds great! I’ve been avoiding dairy myself.
JonM
I tried a similar recipe today (adapted from a wheat flour version with 100g of wheat flour replaced by 40g of coconut flour and a couple of additional eggs. The recipe specified more zucchini, half a red onion and a different cheese.
Even though coconut flour sponges up a lot of liquid, the result was too wet to cohere very well unless fried on a low enough heat to dry the mix out without burning the surface. It also helped keeping early batches in a warming oven while the later ones were fried.
The parmesan is a really smart idea (much drier cheese) – I’ll give this recipe a go!
Lisa
Hope it works out for you! You can usually adjust the coconut flour and or liquid as needed to get the batter just right with this one.
Lisa
There are many views on what healthy is. The small zucchini are typically about 8 inches long and not very wide around. I’ve started to use weight and cup measurements. Will fix that.
Elizabeth
i had a really hard time with this recipe , they did not stick together at all.
Lisa
It’s the egg and coconut flour so maybe a little more of both is needed? Mine just cooked by the spoonful in a pan.
July
These were awesome! No dairy for us so I left out cheese. I added sweet corn because I had leftover on the cob. I didn’t even add all the salt and it was plenty! Subbed green onion and fresh garlic for seasoning ’cause it was on hand. Plenty of oil for frying. Thanks for the recipe!
Lisa
Thanks for sharing how you enjoyed them!
Anthea
Had these last night and they were delicious. I have a glut of zucchini so can I make up fritters, freeze them and cook up when needed or would it be better to cook first and then freeze?
Lisa
Yay! Happy that they worked out okay for you. 🙂
Marie
I would cook first…
Kate
This was a big mess. These didn’t stick together at all. I’ve made zucchini fritters before and they turned out fine. Not sure what was wrong with this recipe but the lack of measurement may have been an issue. I had a large zucchini and tried to figure out how much of it to use to equal 2 small zucchini. I think giving the recipe in cups would have been a lot better.
Lisa
It’s held together by the egg. A large zucchini is likely equal to more than 2 small zucchini. Will consider measurements.
Shirley Brush
Good but way too salty. Next time I will only use 1 t.
Lisa
I can add a note to salt to taste as it’s a personal preference.
Atiya
These are so simple and so delicious! To make them dairy-free, I used a common homemade vegan Parmesan cheese substitute consisting of ground cashews and nutritional yeast. They turned out great – I had to control myself from eating them all at once! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Lisa
I’ve been wanting to try those dairy-free nut-based cheeses. Glad this recipe worked well with the homemade vegan parmesan.
Veronca
Can these be made without the floor? The only flour I have is flax.
Lisa
It’s not a lot of flour, but does help with texture. So, it may work, but texture will be different.
Lisa
These are amazing! Thank you so much for the great recipe. We had them as a side to pesto chicken fingers tonight and we were amazed at how satisfying and filling they were.
Lisa
Thanks Lisa!
Kerri
We are dairy free so will these taste okay without the parm cheese?
Lisa
You may want to add in a little more seasoning, but otherwise should be fine.
Melody
They all stuck. Now I have an unusable mess. Did I do something wrong? Followed to a tee.
Lisa
What kind of pan did you use? Mine was a seasoned cast iron.
Nusrat
Can this be baked? At what temp and how long?
Lisa
You could probably bake it at 350-375F until browned.
sherri
Having difficult time figuring out how much grated zucchini needed. 2 small zucchini about a cup after draining and squeezing?
Lisa
You don’t need an exact measurement for this. I’d say a little over 2 cups of shredded zucchini before draining and squeezing.
Molly
Can you use almond flour instead of coconut flour? I am out of coconut and I would rather not pack the kiddos up to go to the store. Thanks! These look delicious!
Lisa
I believe you can, but you’d need to adjust for it.