Zucchini Fritters with Bacon and Cheese

Zucchini Fritters with bacon and cheese are a fun simple way to use up summer’s favorite vegetable. You’ll be surprised at how easy they are to make and how nicely they go with other summer dishes.

Zucchini Fritters

Zucchini is one of the best vegetables of summer because you can turn it into no less than one million different things. Sweet, savory, healthy, butter loaded, and everything in between; you can do it all with zucchini.

These zucchini fritters are extra delicious because they have bacon and cheese added to them. Serve them as a side or the main dish, both work great.

How to make Zucchini Fritters:

1. Remove the extra moisture from the zucchini (salting it first is a trick to make sure you get lots of that water out!).
2. Mix all of your ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Press the mixture into patties.
4. Cook the patties in a little oil in a hot pan until they are perfectly crisp.
5. Serve warm and enjoy. It’s really simple!

Tips and Tricks for this recipe:

• Patty mixtures should be kept as cold as possible while preparing them, and kept cold until you cook them. The cold helps bind the ingredients together. Usually patties should be rested (about an hour) before cooking they “firm” up during this time, a good technique to use if your patty is soft. Always wrap patties they can dry out if left in the fridge uncovered.
• Don’t over-mix the ingredients the resultant mixture will be heavy and dense.
• Make all the patties the same size so they will cook at the same rate. To get even-sized patties, use measuring cups or spoons to measure out your mixture.
• Dampen your hands when shaping patties so the mixture won’t stick to your fingers.
• Do not overload the frying pan which allows steam to be trapped near the cooking food which might lead to the patties being steamed instead of fried.
• When the raw patty hits the hot cooking surface it will stick. And will stay so until the patty crust forms so causing a non-stick surface on the patty at this point you can lift the patty easily without sticking. So wait until the patties (with a gentle shaking of the pan or a light finger-twist of the patty) release themselves naturally from the frying pan surface (maybe a minute or two for meat patties maybe 3-6 minutes for a vegetable patty). If you try to flip it too early the burger will fall apart. The secret is to wait for the the patty to naturally release itself from the pan surface then flip it over once.
• Check the temperature of the oil by placing a few breadcrumbs into the pan they should take 30 seconds to brown.
• If you need to soak up excess oil place the patties on a rack to drain, do not place onto paper towels since steam will be trapped which can make the patty soggy, if you need to just press off the excess oil with paper towels then place onto a rack.

Frequently Asked Questions:

More Zucchini Recipes:

• Stuffed Zucchini Boats
• Farmers’ Market Tomato and Zucchini Quiche
• Chocolate Chip Chocolate Zucchini Bread
• Cinnamon Zucchini Coffee Cake

If you’ve tried this easy zucchini fritter recipe or any other recipe on Barbara Bakes, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some pictures of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories.

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5 from 7 votes

Zucchini Fritters with Bacon and Cheese

Simple pan fried zucchini fritters that are bursting with flavor thanks to the addition of cheese and bacon. These will be a hit all summer long.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time7 minutes mins

Course: Side Dishes, Vegetables

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bacon, cheese, summer, zucchini

Servings: 8 two inch fritters

Calories: 116kcal

Author: Melissa Griffiths

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going to sleep

Ingredients

• 8 oz. zucchini two medium
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup grated cheese I prefer sharp cheddar
• 5 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
• 2 large eggs lightly beaten
• 2 green onions finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon chili paste optional
• 1 teaspoon black pepper freshly cracked
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons oil for frying

Instructions

• Grate the zucchini with a box grater or food processor. Place into large bowl, add 1 teaspoon salt, wait 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes, wrap zucchini in a cloth and squeeze dry with as much force as you can (you will get a lot of liquid over ½ cup) discard liquid as it will be too salty to use.
• Return pressed zucchini to bowl add cheese, bacon, eggs, green onion, chili paste, and pepper and stir to combine. Add the flour and baking powder and stir to combine.
• If the batter is too thick you can add water or milk or another egg; if too wet add more flour. It should be thick and should not flow when placed onto the frying pan.
• Preheat a frying pan (cast iron is best) over medium heat, add ⅓ of the oil (1 tablespoon) and wait until it shimmers.
• Place dollops of batter (about 2 tablespoons each) onto the fry pan widely spaced out, with the back of a spoon smooth out each dollop to about 2 inches (5 cm) wide, do not make the fritters too thick. You should get three or four fritters in the average-sized fry pan.
• Fry for 3-4 minutes on the first side, flip, then fry the other side about 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Repeat for the remaining batter. Adding additional oil as needed.
• Place cooked fritters into a 200 degree F. oven on a baking dish to keep warm as you cook the other fritters.
• Serve hot with a little additional salt on top as needed.

Notes

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 116kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 367mg | Potassium: 102mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 160IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 74mg | Iron: 1mg