Baked Corn & Zucchini Fritters
Posted Jul 09, 2020, Updated Mar 31, 2024
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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.
- Whole Milk. 2% milk, half and half or plant based milks all work well.
- 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!
PIcky Eater Tip
If you have picky eaters who will turn up their nose at eating something with green flecks in it, you can blend the zucchini & milk until 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.
Begin by combining the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Next, add the wet ingredients on top of the combined dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
Then, gently fold in the corn and shredded zucchini until evenly dispersed throughout the batter.
Then, generously grease a baking pan with olive oil to prevent sticking. I recommend using 1 Tablespoon olive oil and using your fingers or a spatula 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 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)!
Store/Freeze
Cool the corn & zucchini fritters completely, then store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up 5-7 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Zucchini Corn Fritters Recipe FAQs
If your fritters are soggy it’s likely that they weren’t baked long enough – try baking them longer next time. Another reason could be that the zucchini was really wet, you can always wring the water out of it before using it in this recipe to ensure the fritters don’t get soggy.
Wrap the shredded zucchini in a tea towel and squeeze the water out of it (my preferred method).
No! Keep the nutrient-rich skin in tact when you shred the zucchini.
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Baked Corn and Zucchini Fritters Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- ¾ cup yellow cornmeal
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar*
- ½ cup whole 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
- All-purpose flour. Make this recipe gluten-free by using a 1:1 gluten-free, all-purpose baking flour.
- Milk. 2% milk, half and half or plant based milks all work well.
- 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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 🙂
These look SO good!! My boyfriend saw me reading your post and requested them, so I’m off to buy cornmeal! YUM!
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!!
Thank you! 🙂 That rainbow was seriously gorgeous!
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!
Amen Kathryn! Fritters all day, fritters every day!
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.’
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!
Yes! Yes! Yes! These have my name written all over them Also, that rainbow is just beautiful.
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! 🙂
Looks just delicious! Stopping by from the Sunday rounds-up to say hi! Have a great week!!
Thank you Debra! Have a wonderful Monday!
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!
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! 🙂
Going to do these tonight as part of our Meatless Monday meal!
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!
These were yummy! Great texture…and I am a corn meal lover.
Glad you liked them! <3
perfect side dish right here! I’m terrible at frying too so I’m glad they are baked, they look delicious! Pinned 🙂
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!