Air Fryer Zucchini Corn Fritters

Homemade zucchini corn fritters make a healthy vegetarian side dish with a ton of flavor. Vegetable fritters crispy cooked on the stovetop or air fryer like our air fryer zucchini fritters.

Zucchini Fritters Vegetarian

If you want to serve these as a complete meal without any animal products you could. There are egg white alternatives out there to use as a binder. We use them as an easy side dish with chicken for dinner and my kids just love them. Especially in the summertime when our plant goes crazy, we eat these often.

You may be in the same boat. The sun is shining and OMG what am I going to do with all of these veggies? Well that is where I was a few years back and started making (and sharing) all the savory zucchini recipes I made along the way.

How to Make Zucchini Fritters Crispy

Let’s talk about the biggest tip you need to remember when you are baking or cooking with this liquid filled squash. If you have ever shredded it to make your favorite moist zucchini bread recipe you know that it is wet, like very wet.

I will show you what I mean by removing the moisture above. It takes a whopping 2 minutes and makes all the difference. This will seriously change the way you make other air fryer zucchini recipes and desserts from here on out. Breads come out fluffier, savory dishes bind together better, just because of this!

This is what you’re going to need to make this variety here. There are several options on what type of crispy vegetable fritters you can make, we will expand on that below.

Vegetable Fritter Ingredients

• Zucchini – rolled in paper towels to remove moisture
• Egg whites will bind things together
• Garlic powder or other seasonings
• All purpose flour or could use arrowroot flour for gluten free
• 2 tbsp parmesan cheese optional
• Panko breadcrumbs or you could use Italian egular if you’d rather
• Corn kernels canned, drained, dried on paper towels, optional. Or cut fresh corn kernels off cob like we do with our honey butter skillet corn, frozen corn works too
• Olive oil for pan frying and spray if you air fry fritter batter instead

Substitutions

You could use yellow squash instead if you prefer. Half and half is kinda’ a nice change too. Corn kernels are not a must and they turn out just as great without it but that adds a nice texture. If you are having a hard time getting your mix to stick together, you didn’t remove enough moisture from the zucchini.

Add a pinch of salt and pepper into the mix and season when done too. Top with a dollop of sour cream or cilantro lime sauce.

How to Cook Zucchini Pancakes in Air Fryer

• Shred your zucchini on paper towels
• Roll up and gently press down to eliminate all of the moisture you can
• Do the same with the corn kernels to dry
• Take an extra minute to make sure you really soak it all up ahead of time or you’ll have issues later on.
• Place bread crumbs in a shallow dish and set aside.
• Pour both into a bowl. Stir together the grated zucchini, corn and egg whites until both are well-coated.
• Stir in the garlic powder, salt, pepper, flour and grated parmesan until combined. Portion out the zucchini mixture in 2 Tbsp. lumps and press into the breadcrumbs, coating each side completely.
• Heat 2 cups of oil in a skillet over medium heat.
• Once it is nice and hot, add 3-4 zucchini fritters and fry until golden brown, flip over to other side and brown, then serve warm
• In an air fryer they will take 12-15 minutes depending on their size in a preheated machine that is 375 degrees F.

Can you make fritters out of any vegetable?

Once you get the hang of this you can use your imagination to make others. Keep in mind whichever you choose should cook at the same rate. Meaning broccoli cooks faster vs. cauliflower so you wouldn’t want to use them together. If you pulsed cauliflower into a rice though that would even the timing out.

• Zucchini carrot fritters would work well though
• Carrot corn fritters is a good choice
• Air fryer cauliflower pancakes work well if chopped into small florets and put into a food processor first
• Red onion, carrot and shredded sweet potato is a possibility too
• And the most common would be something like our air fryer latkes made with homemade air fryer hashbrowns

Great recipe, but no matter which produce you use though the same rule applies. After you chop, shred or pulse them into smaller pieces you need to dry them out. That way the egg and flour will stick nicely and the breadcrumbs will bind it together too without falling off and making you seriously frustrated.

How Do You Bake Vegetable Fritters?

If you wanted to use your oven you could as well. Follow the same instructions but lay on a baking sheet instead. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes flipping halfway thru. Remove and enjoy when they get as crispy as you’d like on the outside.

How to save leftovers

I always like to share how to save what is left because wasting food to me is an absolute no go. Growing up there was not much money to go around to throw away anything so leftovers were always a thing in the fridge. You will need to wait until these are cooled first. You don’t want them to get ooey so follow this;

1. Set each one on a small piece of paper towel
2. Stack what is left with paper in between each piece
3. Slide into a freezer bag
4. Zip close and suck all the air out to stay moist

Can I reheat fritters?

Absolutely. You can use a pan with just a tiny bit of oil to warm and crisp up again or lay into your air fryer basket at 360 F for a few minutes to make “new” again. They will certainly get softer while they sit in the fridge so first off you should enjoy within 24 hours ideally, but can keep for up to 3 days safely.

You wouldn’t want to microwave them unless you are okay with them staying and getting even more limp and wet on the outside, a no go for us. Best method is using your Ninja Foodi or Cosori to warm and crisp all at the same time. Plain is great but with some cool sour cream on top is even better.