Zucchini and Sweet Potato Fritters for a Light Meal
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Perfect for lunch or a light meal, these zucchini and sweet potato fritters are tasty, frugal, and a great way to add extra veg to your day.
Tasty, easy, and packed with veg, fritters are an absolute winner when it comes to whipping up a cheap and healthy meal.
Whether you’re after a quick lunch, a light dinner, or a creative way to use up leftover zucchini and sweet potato, these fritters tick all the boxes.
They’re crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, and ridiculously versatile—perfect for dipping, stacking, or just devouring straight from the pan.
My kids love these fritters and they’re a great way to sneak extra veg into your day. Even when they were picky toddlers, I could rely on them eating fritters—maybe it’s the grated vegetables that makes them palatable. Now they are teenagers, they still love the fritter, but can make them themselves.
These fritters can even make great lunchbox additions!
This recipe does not give specific cup or gram amounts for the vegetables on purpose. By giving weights or volume measurements, the question then becomes ‘what do I do with the rest of the zucchini?’ Instead, use what you have and add an extra egg if needed to bind. Frugal cooking is also flexible cooking! See below for leftover ideas.
Ingredients
With just a handful of simple, budget-friendly ingredients—many of which are pantry staples—you can create fritters that are satisfying and delicious.
Ingredients
sweet potato
zucchini
parmesan cheese
garlic
spring onion
egg
dried breadcrumbs
salt and pepper
dried herbs
oil for cooking
Substitutions
As frugal cooking is flexible cooking, here are some substitution ideas for the ingredients.
Parmesan cheese
Parmesan is great because of the flavour to volume ration—a little bit of parmesan has a lot of flavour. Substitute with other flavourful cheeses like vintage cheddar or tasty cheese.
Garlic
You can leave the garlic out or substitute with garlic powder or garlic in a jar.
Spring onion
Substitute the spring onion with very finely chopped or grated onion (red, brown, white), shallot, chives, dried onion, or onion powder.
Breadcrumbs
I like using the Panko breadcrumbs for crunch, but you can use regular dried breadcrumbs, fresh breadcrumbs or plain flour. The texture will be different but the taste will still be good.
Dried Herbs
I like using dried mixed herbs or a combination of thyme and oregano, but you can use whatever you have on hand—Italian herbs are another option. Alternative, add some fresh herbs!
Eggs
I haven’t tried it myself (if you have, maybe you can leave a comment below!) but egg alternatives include ground flaxseed or chia seed mixed with water to help bind the fritters.
Loaded Fritters – Topping Ideas
We often like to ‘load’ our fritters for something a bit extra. While you can load them with a simple dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of herbs, there are a whole load of toppings you can load on your fritters:
- a dollop of sour cream
- a dollop of mayo
- tomato sauce/ketchup
- chopped avocado
- chopped fresh tomato
- chopped pickled jalapeno
- tomato relish
- chutney
Making the Fritters
Step 1:
Wash and grate your zucchini. Wash, peel, and grate the sweet potato. Finely chop the garlic, spring onion. Grate the parmesan cheese.
Step 2.
Squeeze out the excess moisture from the zucchini and sweet potato. I like to use just my hands, but you can also wrap everything up in a clean tea towel and wring the veggies out. Place the squeezed veggies in a bowl.
Step 3.
Add all the other ingredients to the bowl and give it a good mix. The number of eggs will depend on how big your zucchinis and sweet potatoes are so add one, mix well and if the mixture is dry, falling apart and doesn’t look like it will stick, add another egg.
Step 4.
Heat some oil and a little butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add dollops of mixture to the pan, bring together in a circle and press down. Fry until golden before flipping and frying the other side.
Set aside and keep warm until the desired number of fritters are cooked.
If you have a food processor, you can speed this recipe up by using the processor to grate the vegetables and cheese. Personally, I prefer the texture of the hand-held box grater, but when speed is of the essence, a food processor comes in handy!
Make it a Meal
Fritters make a great light meal on their own, but you can bulk them up with a few additions (besides the loaded topping ideas above) to round them out for a complete and filling meal.
Some ideas include:
- a side salad
- a fried or poached egg
- fried mushrooms
- a rasher of bacon
- leftover roast meats
- leftover pulled pork
Leftovers
Leftover cooked fritters or fritter mix can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days. They are great for a quick and easy breakfast (I like mine topped with an egg) or lunch.
Reheat in the pan or microwave or sandwich press until warm.
Fritters can also be frozen separately on a tray with parchment paper before placing in an airtight bag or container for up to 3 months.
Reheat from frozen in the pan, microwave, or sandwich press until hot through.
More Zucchini Ideas
Zucchini and Sweet Potato Fritters
Enjoy these healthy and full-flavoured vegetable fritters for a light lunch.
Ingredients
- 3 medium zucchini, grated
- 2 small sweet potato, grated
- 2 small green onions (shallots), finely chopped
- 2 small garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp. herbs according to taste (we like thyme or oregano or mixed herbs)
- 1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1-3 eggs*
- 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp. olive oil, for frying
Instructions
- Heat oil in a fry pan over medium-hot heat.
- Squeeze the extra liquid out of the grated zucchini and sweet potato and place in a bowl.
- Add all other ingredients and mix well to combine.*
- Place spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot pan and fry on each side until golden.
- Serve hot with your favourite toppings.
Notes
*The number of eggs needed will depend on how big your veggies are. Start by adding one egg, mix well, and if the mixture is too dry and not coming together, add another. It's lest wasteful to add another egg if needed rather than measure out exact weight/volume of vegetables.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 185Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 52mgSodium: 197mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 3gSugar: 5gProtein: 7g
Nutritional information is calculated automatically using the Nutritionix database. Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, serving size or the source of nutrition data. We strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy. We encourage readers to make their own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
My grandsons love these kind of fritters with a dipping bowl of tatziki, quick and easy to make. These sound delicious, I will give them a try.
Yum! That would be a nice way to eat them!
Hi. I’m gluten free. Do you think it would work without the bread crumbs?
You could use almond meal or a gluten-free flour instead. It will work if you don’t add anything, the mixture tends to be a bit wetter and therefore a bit fiddlier to work with and doesn’t hold together quite as well.
It would be great if there Was a Print Recipe button. Am I missing it somewhere?
No print button, sorry.