Feta-Scallion Zucchini Fritters in Tomato Sauce
This recipe was originally posted May 2015. Recipe and text have been updated.
I came up with this recipe during the summer of zucchini.
A few years ago, the hubs was heading up a community garden for his sustainability group at work, and they accidentally bought a few too many zucchini plants. My husband, never one to waste, decided to bring home the 20 extra zucchini plants in our backyard garden.
Little did he know how prolific zucchini plants are. We were swimming in zucchini all summer! I swear, I would go two days without harvesting and all of a sudden I had zucchini the size of my arm. I remember going out to happy hour with friends and literally bringing a full recyclable grocery bag of zucchini for everyone.
This recipe made me excited to eat zucchini again after a month of sauteed zucchini side dishes, zucchini bread, stuffed zucchini, zucchini on pizza, grilled zucchini...you get the point. It was adapted from a recipe by One Ingredient Chef.
I served it over a Hodgson Mill ancient grain packet, but you could also serve it over rice or pasta. I bet this would also be tasty with winter squash too!
Feel free to use any jarred tomato sauce you like in this recipe. I like it with a bit of spice, so I'm partial to arrabiata sauce, but any marinara sauce you like will work just fine. If you like to make extra fritters, just freeze them separately from the sauce. Same goes for leftovers - the sauce will make the fritters soggy!
Feta-Scallion Zucchini Fritters in Tomato Sauce
Makes 12ish fritters
Ingredients
2 large zucchini, grated
1/2 cup flour (all-purpose, whole wheat, gluten free, etc)
1/2 cup crumbled feta
3 green onions, sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 egg
Extra-virgin olive oil, for pan frying
1 24-ounce can tomato sauce
1/3 cup kalamata olives
1/4 cup basil, chopped
Instructions
First, make the tomato sauce. Combine tomato sauce, olives, and basil and capers in a medium pot and bring to a simmer. Cook 15 minutes until flavors have melded.
Meanwhile, combine zucchini, flour, feta, scallion, and lemon juice. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Stir in egg and mix until thoroughly combined.
Heat enough olive oil to coat a large skillet on medium-high heat. Scoop 1/3 cup of zucchini mix and form into a ball. Drop into the hot oil and press down lightly with the back of a spatula. Repeat with remaining zucchini mix, cooking about 4-5 minutes per side, frying in batches so not to overcrowd the pan. You may need to add more olive oil between each batch. Transfer cooked fritters to a plate lined with paper towels.
Serve fritters in or topped with tomato sauce.
Enjoy these zucchini recipes:
Grilled Zucchini and Gruyere Panini
Easy Spicy Zucchini Turkey Meatballs with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Epic Vegetarian Nachos
