Gluten-Free Zucchini Fritters with Garlic-Herb Aioli. This easy zucchini fritters recipe results in the perfect crisp. The perfect appetizer or side dish for using up your favorite summer squash!
I first shared this easy recipe for gluten-free zucchini fritters back in 2014.
While I adore the original recipe, I enhanced it slightly by cutting out some of the ingredients and making the fritters even easier to prepare.
For instance, the original recipe called for almond flour, gluten-free flour, and flax seeds. While I found this to yield a wonderful result, I have also found that just using gluten-free all-purpose flour is sufficient for an amazing fritter.
Zucchini fritters are a delicious appetizer or side dish to celebrate zucchini season! When combined with that garlic-herb aioli, they simply are undefeated!
Easy to make, perfectly crispy, flavorful and an amazing way to use up zucchini!
If you grow a garden and it is overrun with zucchini or summer squash, here is your solution to using up all your extra squash.
You can even make a huge batch of these fritters and freeze them for later. They save very well for up to 3 months!
I had half a mind to slap a thick slice of ham and cheddar cheese between two of the fritters and make a fritter sandwich out of them, but they lasted all of 3.2 seconds, so the sandwiches will have to wait until the next batch.
Let’s discuss the ingredients list for zucchini fritters.
Ingredients for Zucchini Fritters:
Zucchini Squash: Fresh zucchini squash get grated up and turned into these delicious zucchini fritters. You can also use any type of summer squash you have on hand, such as yellow squash, patty pan squash, etc.
Egg: One large egg helps bind the ingredients together so that the fritters hold together nicely and
Fresh Garlic: A large clove of fresh garlic brings delightful flavor to the zucchini fritters. You can replace if with one teaspoon of garlic powder or onion powder if you’d like.
Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour: In order to keep the fritters held together and to generate some crisp, we use gluten-free all-purpose flour.
I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, which I find gives the fritters great texture. Any brand of GF flour should work as long as it is designed to be a 1:1 replacement for regular all-purpose flour.
Parmesan Cheese (optional): Adding freshly grated parmesan cheese to the fritters results in a delightful tangy, creamy flavor that we all love.
You can easily skip the parmesan to make dairy-free zucchini fritters, or you can replace it with a different cheese like gruyere, gouda, or cheddar cheese.
Sea Salt: Be sure to add sea salt to the zucchini fritter mixture to ensure they are nice and flavorful!
Avocado Oil (Or Cooking Oil of Choice): We need a good high-temperature cooking oil like avocado oil, because we’re going to be pan-frying the zucchini fritters to crispy perfection.
I like using avocado oil because it has a high smoke point and it is comprised of healthy fats.
Because we are cooking at a higher heat, I don’t recommend using olive oil because it has a lower smoke point.
Garlic-Herb Aioli:
The aioli is a combination of mayonnaise, fresh garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, fresh herbs (pick your favorites. I use parsley and basil but fresh dill and sage work too), sea salt, and black pepper.
The aioli ingredients come together in a rich and creamy yet vibrant and light dipping sauce (or spread), which really levels up the whole experience. Feel free to finely chop some green onions and add them to the aioli (or the zucchini fritter recipe, or both).
Recipe Adaptations:
- Use chickpea flour, regular flour, or wheat flour in place of gluten-free flour.
- I use avocado oil mayonnaise for the dipping sauce but you can pick your favorite mayo or use Greek yogurt.
- For spicy zucchini fritters, add 1/4 to 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes or 1 to 3 tablespoons of hot sauce.
- You can easily skip the aioli or make your own homemade dipping sauce or tzatziki sauce if you’d prefer.
- Use lime juice and lime zest in the aioli instead of lemon.
Now that we’re familiar with the simple ingredients for this great recipe, let’s make these easy zucchini fritters!
How to Make Gluten-Free Zucchini Fritters:
Combine all ingredients for the garlic-herb aioli in a small bowl and stir together well. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Rinse, trim, and grate the zucchini using a box grater. You can also grate zucchini using the grater attachment on your food processor.
Place the zucchini shreds in a colander and sprinkle salt over the shreds. Place the colander over the sink and allow zucchini to drain for 1 hour in order to remove any excess liquid.
Note: if you want to skip this step, you can squeeze the excess water out of the grated zucchini using paper towels or cheese cloth. You may need to use 1-2 tablespoons of additional flour (if necessary) as this method won’t get out quite as much liquid.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the gluten-free all-purpose flour, parmesan cheese, and sea salt.
In a separate large bowl, whisk the egg and minced garlic together, then add in the shredded zucchini and mix well until combined. Pour the dry flour mixture into the bowl with the zucchini and stir to combine.
Heat 2 to 3 tablespoons of avocado oil (or high-temperature cooking oil of choice) over medium heat in a cast iron skillet (or medium-high heat in a regular skillet), enough to generously coat the surface.
Using your hands, form patties out of the fritter mixture that are roughly ¼ cup each. Gently place the zucchini patties on the hot cast iron and allow them to cook until the sides begin to firm up, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Carefully flip to the other side and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until fritters are cooked through and are golden brown.
Serve the fritters fresh from the skillet with herb-garlic aioli.
Store leftover zucchini fritters in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can also freeze fritters in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
The way I see it, these easy fritters are the perfect appetizer or side dish for special occasions or weeknight meals alike. They are a great way of getting in some extra veggies with flavor and style!
Recipe Tips and Troubleshooting:
If you find your zucchini fritters are falling apart, this could mean one of three things (or a combination of the three).
First, your oil may not be hot enough.
Second, you may not be using enough oil. You want there to be a generous coat of oil on your frying pan.
Or third, there may not be enough flour in your fritter mixture. Because zucchini squash can vary in the amount of liquid they hold, you may not use the same amount of flour every time you make them.
Some zucchini may not hold much water, which would mean you will need less flour. On the flipside, zucchini with more stored water will require a little additional flour.
The fritter mixture should be fairly wet and sticky but should hold together nicely once it heats up in the frying pan.
Similarly, if you’re finding your fritters aren’t turning out very crispy, it could be that you aren’t cooking at high enough temperature or that you aren’t using enough oil.
Soggy fritters may also be the result of not having removed enough excess moisture from the summer zucchini.
For the crispiest fritters, be sure to include the parmesan cheese. You can always add some Panko breadcrumbs or gluten-free bread crumbs to get some extra crispy fritters.
Also be sure you are using the large holes of a box grater to grate the zucchini rather than the small holes. The larger holes will result in the correct size of zucchini shreds.
Add ¼ teaspoon of baking soda to the zucchini mixture get some extra crisp as well.
Lastly, for the best results, be sure your crispy zucchini fritters are golden brown on both sides before they leave the frying pan.
If you have huge zucchini growing in your garden, feel free to make a double batch or triple the recipe based on the amount of zucchini you’re using.
Looking for more appetizer recipes? Try out these reader favorites.
More Healthy Appetizers:
- Gluten-Free Crab Cakes
- Crispy Cauliflower Cakes
- Sesame Garlic Air Fryer Salmon Bites
- Feta Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers
- Air Fryer Steak Bites
- Maple Spiced Pear and Walnut Baked Brie
- Ground Beef and Feta Stuffed Mushrooms
- Crispy Cauliflower Cakes
Grab these fritters with your face.
Zucchini Fritters with Herb-Garlic Aioli
Ingredients
Gluten-Free Zucchini Fritters:
- 1 ¼ lbs zucchini squash about 2 medium-sized zucchini, grated
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 1 large clove garlic minced
- ⅓ cup gluten-free all-purpose flour*
- ½ cup parmesan cheese optional**
- ¾ tsp tea salt to taste
- 2 to 3 Tbsp avocado oil for cooking
Garlic Herb Aioli:
- ½ cup mayonnaise****
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp fresh herbs finely chopped****
- ½ tsp sea salt to taste
- ¼ tsp black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the Gluten Free Zucchini Fritters
- Rinse, trim, and grate the zucchini using a box grater. You can also grate zucchini using the grater attachment on your food processor.
- Place the zucchini shreds in a colander and sprinkle salt over the shreds. Place the colander over the sink and allow zucchini to drain for 1 hour in order to remove any excess liquid. Note: if you want to skip this step, you can squeeze the excess water out of the grated zucchini using paper towels or cheese cloth. You may need to use 1-2 tablespoons of additional flour (if necessary) as this method won't get out quite as much liquid.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the gluten-free all-purpose flour, parmesan cheese, and sea salt.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk the egg and minced garlic together, then add in the shredded zucchini and mix well until combined. Pour the dry flour mixture into the bowl with the zucchini and stir to combine.
- Heat 2 to 3 tablespoons of avocado oil (or high-temperature cooking oil of choice) over medium heat in a cast iron skillet (or medium-high heat in a regular skillet), enough to generously coat the surface.
- Using your hands, form patties out of the fritter mixture that are roughly ¼ cup each. Gently place the zucchini patties on the hot cast iron and allow them to cook until the sides begin to firm up, about 3 to 5 minutes. Carefully flip to the other side and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until fritters are cooked through and are golden brown.
- Serve the fritters fresh from the skillet with herb-garlic aioli.
- Prepare the Herb-Garlic Aioli:1. Combine all ingredients for the garlic-herb aioli in a small bowl and stir together well. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Notes
Nutrition
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
I originally published this recipe on September 17, 2014. I updated the recipe with slight changes, added more information and updated the photographs.
Hi!
Have you tried this in an air fryer?
Hi Lynn! I haven’t myself, but I’m betting it can be done successfully! I just googled an air fryer zucchini fritters recipe and it looks like 375 for 10 minutes, flip and air fry for another 5 minutes should do the trick. Let me know if you try it! 🙂
Wow, looks delicious! I’m going to make to tonight.