Guess what? It’s National Corn Fritter Day! I love celebrating a comfort food this tasty, so I’ve come up with an easy vegan recipe that has all the elements of a classic corn fritter. I added in zucchini because extra veggies and flavors are never something I’ll say no to.
This recipe even has a spicy and tangy jalapeño cream to dip these bomb AF fritters in! You can thank me later! Since you’ll probably want a spicy sauce on all your appies now, try out my butternut squash tacos with jalapeño ranch the next time you have friends over.
corn zucchini fritters with jalapeño cream
Fritters are crispy, fun-sized, and packed with flavor. Try this version made with corn and zucchini, and dunk them into a zesty jalapeño cream!
Ingredients
jalapeño cream (makes about 1 cup)
- 1/2 C vegetable oil (sunflower or canola)
- 1/4 C unsweetened nondairy milk
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp pickled jalapeño slices (5-6 slices)
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 tsp ground mustard
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
corn zucchini fritter
- 2 C frozen corn, thawed and drained
- 1 1/2 C shredded zucchini (about 1 large zucchini)
- 1/4 C finely minced shallot
- 1/2 C all-purpose flour
- 1/2 C fine corn meal
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 C unsweetened nondairy milk
- 2 to 3 tbsp vegetable oil (for frying)
Instructions
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To make the cream sauce, place all the ingredients in a tall jar or container. Place an immersion blender into the contents of the jar and run it moving it slightly up and down for 30 seconds to 1 minute until slightly thicker and smooth. Alternatively, you can use a store bought vegan mayonnaise and combine finely chopped jalapeños, minced garlic, apple cider vinegar, ground mustard, ground black pepper and sea salt into it. Add a small amount of nondairy milk to thin it out if necessary. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. The homemade version will thicken a bit more once chilled.
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To make the fritters, place shredded zucchini in a strainer and coat with 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then squeeze the excess water out of the zucchini shreds onto paper towel or a tea towel.
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Break it up into shreds that should feel much dryer in a large mixing bowl and combine with corn, minced shallot, all-purpose flour, corn meal, nutritional yeast, another 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt, ground black pepper, smoked paprika, and nutmeg. Stir to combine well. Once all the vegetables are nicely coated, stir in nondairy milk and combine into a thick batter.
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Heat a nonstick pan or cast iron skillet over medium heat with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Use a scant 1/4 cup of batter for each fritter, and shape into a patty with your hands.
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Place 2 to 3 fritters in the pan at a time and fry about 2 minutes per side or until golden brown on both sides. Remove them from the pan and place onto paper towels to absorb any excess oil. You may need to add more vegetable oil to the pan once about half the fritters have been fried.
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Alternatively, you could bake these instead. I have not tested this but I imagine it work just fine! I'm thinking a preheated 400°F oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly spray it with vegetable oil. Then place the formed fritters onto the baking sheet.
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Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, flipping half way through bake time or until golden brown on the outside.
These look incredible! Can’t wait to try!
I made these last night for dinner, along with the butternut squash tacos. They were so good! I really liked the sauce too. My meat-eating boyfriend liked them and was impressed they stayed together without any eggs.
NICE! So happy you guys liked the recipes. Thanks for sharing!
I am going to buy your cookbook ASAP. Your recipes are the bomb!
I just made this recipe. The fritters turned out great! With that being said, the cream didn’t at all get thick and fluffy, no matter how much it was blended. It just ended up being as liquid as water. Even before starting the jalapeno cream dip, I was having difficulty seeing how oil and a non dairy milk can even get thick or fluffy. Do yo have any tips or tricks or is there something else that you may have done to get it somewhat thick or fluffy?
Hi Kim
A great tip is this. Don’t add the vinegar until after you have blended up the rest of the ingredients. This way it will thicken correctly, like mayo. After when you add the vinegar (or lemon/lime juice), it will thicken even more, then thicken a bit more after you place in fridge. I literally spent years trying to perfect this type of recipe, wasn’t until I came across ‘Connies Rawsome Kitchen’ also on Youtube, and found her mayo recipe…bingo..it worked!! Also, make sure the milk is really cold, room temp milk will not work as good.
Hope this is successful for you.
Cheers
I just made the fritters with gram flour instead of the normal flour and corn meal. They were delicious!
Just made them today they were delicious. I used green onions instead and I didn’t have nutmeg so I used ginger. Turned out great…
OMG Lauren!! Made this for dinner together with the sauce. Mindblowing!!
My non vegan boyfriend absolutely loved them (as a whole lot of your recipe). Next time I’ll double or triple the batch for sure. I’m posting the photo on my ig!
For those of you that have trouble with the sauce you’ve to make sure that your milk is just plain, made with water and the nut/seed, and you have to check the amount of protein; the more protein it has, the better it will whip
I Lauren, I have just make these for dinner and it was delicious ! My family that is not vegan loved it. We ate the with salsa and I replaced the corn meal with polenta and they turned out amazing ! I will definitely make these again !
I used the recipe for the jalapeno sauce, and it was amazing! We’re going to put it on everything!! 🙂
Tried the fritters and was like "wow this is really good, not sure how you could step up from this", but then I dipped it in the jalapeno sauce… so amazing!!
so happy you enjoyed them 😀
What kind of milk is everyone using? Almond, oat? Also, had anyone done these GF?
something thicker like soy or cashew is best!