This baked corn and zucchini fritters recipe is easy to make! The best summer produce comes together to make a light and healthy appetizer, side dish or meatless main dish that’s made in 1 bowl and ready in less than 30 minutes.
These baked zucchini fritters are a delicious summer side dish or appetizer! And served with a giant salad they make an amazing meatless main dish!
The best summer produce – sweet corn & zucchini – join forces to make these delicious zucchini and corn fritters. They are baked and not fried – making them a healthier option!
Plus this zucchini fritters recipe takes less than 30 minutes to make. And they are freezer-friendly, so you can bake a batch, freeze some and enjoy them all week/month long!
Baked Zucchini Fritters: Ingredients & Substitutions
- All-purpose flour. These healthy zucchini fritters are easily made gluten-free by substituting the flour for your favorite gluten-free, all-purpose baking flour.
- Milk. Make these zucchini and corn fritters dairy-free by using plant-based milk. I recommend unsweetened, plain almond milk.
- Corn. Fresh corn cut from the Cobb or frozen corn kernels that have been thawed work perfectly in this recipe.
- Granulated sugar. Organic cane sugar can be used in place of granulated sugar. You technically can omit the sugar all together, but I think it brings out the flavor of the corn so well. You could also increase the sugar by up to 2 TBS if you want sweeter zucchini fritters.
How to make Zucchini Fritters
These Baked Zucchini Fritters are so simple to make, but as always we’ll walk through the steps together and don’t forget to watch the video!
A note about picky eaters:
If you have picky eaters who will turn up their nose at eating something with green flecks in it, feel free to blend the zucchini with the milk until it’s smooth. This will cause the zucchini corn fritters to be slightly green in color, but for some strange reason my kids are OK with eating green food, but not food with flecks of green inside! Mom life.
Combine dry ingredients
Begin by combining the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Add wet ingredients
Next, add the wet ingredients on top of the combined dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
Add Corn & Zucchini
Next, gently fold in the corn and shredded zucchini until evenly dispersed throughout the batter.
Portion Batter onto Baking Sheet
Generously grease a baking pan with olive oil to prevent sticking. I recommend measuring out 1 TBS of olive oil and using your fingers to spread it all over the pan.
Use a 1 TBS measuring spoon or cookie scoop to scoop batter onto the greased cookie sheet. The batter is slightly runny, but trust the process. It will bake up nicely and be easy to flip.
Bake
Bake in the preheated oven for 7-8 minutes or until the side touching the baking pan is golden-brown.. Remove from oven, spray the uncooked side gently with cooking spray or brush with olive oil.
Carefully flip each fritter and sprinkle the browned side with a touch of sea salt. Bake for an additional 5-7 minutes or until second side is golden brown.
Serve
There are so many ways to serve these corn & zucchini fritters. Here are a few suggestions:
- I love to smear a dollop of homemade tzatziki sauce on top.
- Serve them with some homemade guacamole or homemade blender salsa.
- Enjoy on top of a salad with a drizzle of homemade balsamic vinaigrette.
- If you want more of a sweet cornbread vibe, you can slather them with cinnamon honey butter (my kids like this)!
Baked Corn and Zucchini Fritters Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour use a gluten-free all-purpose flour for GF
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 2 TBS granulated sugar*
- ½ cup milk for dairy-free use unsweetened almond milk
- 1 egg
- 1 cup corn
- 1 cup zucchini shredded
- Extra sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Generously grease a baking pan with olive oil, spreading it around with a spatula or your fingers until the entire surface is well-coated. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and granulated sugar.
- Add milk & egg and stir until the mixture is smooth and there aren’t any lumps.
- Add corn and zucchini and stir until evenly mixed in.
- Drop 1 TBS portions of batter onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 7-8 minutes. Remove from oven, spray the uncooked side gently with cooking spray or brush with olive oil.
- Carefully flip each fritter (they should be light/golden brown on the first side) and sprinkle the browned side with a touch of sea salt.
- Bake for an additional 5-7 minutes or until second side is golden brown.
- Serve warm over a salad or as a side dish for your favorite BBQ fare!
Video
Notes
Ingredient substitutions
- All-purpose flour. Make this recipe gluten-free by using a 1:1 gluten-free, all-purpose baking flour.
- Milk. Make these zucchini fritters dairy-free by using plant-based milk. I recommend unsweetened, plain almond milk. You can also use half and half.
- Corn. I recommend fresh corn cut from the Cobb or frozen corn kernels that have been thawed. I do not recommend canned corn.
- Granulated sugar. Organic cane sugar can be used in place of granulated sugar. You technically can omit the sugar all together, but I think it brings out the flavor of the corn so well. You could also increase the sugar by up to 2 TBS if you want sweeter zucchini fritters.
Nutrition
Photos in this post are taken by the talented Jamie from Dishing Out Health
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase a product through a link you clicked on here, I receive a portion of the sale. Thank you for supporting JoyFoodSunshine!
Corrine
I was looking for a “lighter” version of cornbread or corn muffins to go along with a 15 bean soup and found this recipe. I was pleasantly surprised at how flavorful and easy to make these are! I love zucchini in anything and the corn adds so much flavor and sweetness. I only had white corn meal, so I used that instead of yellow cornmeal, but they were still delicious. I will be making these again!
Gina
Do you have to bake them or could you cook them on a cast iron skillet?
Laura
Yes you can cook them in a skillet, the batter is just kind of liquidy so you have to make sure they are all the way cooked on one side before flipping. I recommend cooking over medium-low heat.
Dave
Whole wheat flour should work well. My spouse is allergic to corn meal, but sweet corn, so I plan to try this with WW.
Shanna Selsor
Looks so good? Anything you recommend that I can sub the corn meal out for? Thanks! Can’t wait to try these!
Yolandi Strydom
Can’t wait to try these!!! Yum. And THANK YOU. XX
One thing though…. The calories amount to 150 cal per fritter (without the sugar, with almond or 2% low fat milk) I don’t get 90 calories. Tried switching the ingredients to healthier options…
Laura
I will look into that!
Alyssa
These corn fritters with the zucchini in them is FABULOUS. Okay y’all, simple tasty. Perfect crunch and filling yet DELICIOUS side. I had avocado and shredded buffalo chicken with this and I can’t wait to make it again for my hubby when he comes home, Thankyou for this recipe!
Laura
I’m SO glad you enjoyed them Alyssa!!!
Miz Helen
Congratulations!
Your recipe is featured this week at Full Plate Thursday. Enjoy your new Red Plate and have a great weekend.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
Laura
Thank you so much Miz Helen!
Miz Helen
Just pinned your fabulous Fritters, they look so good. Hope you are having a fantastic day and thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday!
Come Back Soon,
Miz Helen
Laura
Thank you Miz Hellen! 🙂
Angela
These looks amazing!!! Thanks for sharing at Sunday Fitness & Food…Pineed 🙂
Laura
Thank you Angela! Love Zucchini season!
Emily Weir
These look SO tasty! My husband will love these; I’ll have to work them into our next salad night.
Laura
I always serve these with a giant salad! 🙂
Ilka
Such a fun meatless dish! Pinning!
Kristy from Southern In Law
This looks SOOOOOOOO good! I love zucchini fritters and I love corn fritters so combining the two is a winning idea! Especially if you smothered them with avocado! <3
Laura
hank you Kristy! I agree! Corn fritters are awesome! and YESSS, avocado smothering must happen!
Gina
I would love a stack of these right now! I’m so starved because it’s just about dinner time. Haha! I really should be making dinner instead of looking at delicious food blog posts. I’ll be getting zucchini soon and I KNOW that I will be trying these. They look so amazing! Pinned for later!
Laura
LOL that happens to me SO much! I look at all these amazing food posts then I just end up making scrambled eggs for dinner! LOL the struggle is real!
Sarah @ Happy + Healthy Taste Buds
You’ve introduced me to something new–I’ve never had corn fritters before! 🙂 But now is definitely the season for ALL THE ZUCCHINI RECIPES, so I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks!! 🙂
Megan
Wow that is a beautiful rainbow…it is so bright!
I love restful weekends that leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy. I’ve never tried baking fritters but it sounds like such a great idea!
My favourite boyband is Westlife haha playing their songs now brings back so many memories.
Sonali- The Foodie Physician
These are brilliant! I love corn fritters and I love zucchini fritters (I have recipes for both on my blog) but I’ve never thought to combine the two!! I can imagine how delicious these are 🙂
Chelsey
These look SO good!! My boyfriend saw me reading your post and requested them, so I’m off to buy cornmeal! YUM!
EA-The Spicy RD
How did you know I was looking for a recipe to use up my zucchini?? This is perfect! Sounds like you had a fabulous weekend 🙂 I am swooning over your rainbow photo!!
Laura
Thank you! 🙂 That rainbow was seriously gorgeous!
Kathryn @ Family Food on the Table
Yes, yes, yes to these gorgeous fritters! Love that they are lightened up, full of fresh veggies and baked. So yummy! I’m pretty sure I’d eat on those for breakfast, lunch and dinner 🙂 Pinning and can’t wait to give them a try!
Laura
Amen Kathryn! Fritters all day, fritters every day!
Jenn - a traveling Wife
Yes! Yes! Yes! These have my name written all over them Also, that rainbow is just beautiful.
Laura
Isn’t it incredible Jenn?! Living in the mountains is so amazing because the weather is completely different from one side of the valley to the other. Which means sun and rain often collide and produce amazing sights…like this rainbow! 🙂
Dear C.
Looks just delicious! Stopping by from the Sunday rounds-up to say hi! Have a great week!!
Laura
Thank you Debra! Have a wonderful Monday!
Emily
So happy that your garden is doing well Laura! It’s always so amazing to see when God revives a garden and causes it to grow! And my cup is so full too. You just reminded me of that, when I was feeling a bit of self-pity and fear right while reading your post. God is good! These delicious little corn fritters look so delicious, and zucchini is in abundance right now. I’m going to have to put this on the ‘to make zucchini list.’
Laura
Thank you Emily! It is so fun growing a garden with the kiddos! 🙂 <3 I'm so glad that God spoke to you through my post! I love the way He uses the body of believers to uplift and encourage us!
Jamie @ Dishing Out Health
OMG that rainbow is truly incredible!! I’ve never tried making corn fritters before, but you have made this baked version seem pretty simple! Thanks for the great recipe, Laura – looking forward to giving it a try!
Laura
Isn’t it amazing?! We were all blown away by it! Seriously we stood outside forever, until we were certain it wasn’t coming back! 🙂
Russell Ryan
Going to do these tonight as part of our Meatless Monday meal!
Laura
OOoOo let me know how ya’ll like them! 😉 They would be super good with some sort of delicious dipping sauce. I was thinking something avocado-based. Guac but maybe something different!
Rusty Ryan
These were yummy! Great texture…and I am a corn meal lover.
Laura
Glad you liked them! <3
rachel @ athleticavocado
perfect side dish right here! I’m terrible at frying too so I’m glad they are baked, they look delicious! Pinned 🙂
Laura
LOL Rachel! My husband says I just need to use more oil…but then it kind of grosses me out! It’s ok if a restaurant does it for me…but I’ll stick to baking in my kitchen…for now! 🙂 I did have some amazing lightly fried veggies at a restaurant on a date with Ritch a couple weeks ago that were amazing. Made me think (just think) about trying it!