Vegetable Fritters

These easy and delicious vegetable fritters are packed with carrot, corn and peas and make a great lunch or snack. This simple fritter recipe can be adapted to use whatever vegetables you have on hand making it a perfect, budget-friendly recipe that the whole family will enjoy.

Fritters are not a fancy food, but they are easy, versatile and a great way to enjoy vegetables in a delicious way. Plus this is one of the best budget-friendly recipes because not only does it allow your veggies to go further, it’s a great recipe to clean out the fridge at the end of the week and avoid waste.

Oh and they are so delicious! It’s truly a challenge to not eat them all, especially when they are hot and crispy straight form the pan.

I originally posted this recipe back in 2020 when we were stuck at home without access to a lot of ingredients but I think it’s just as relevant today as the cost of living, and groceries in particular, is increasing.

We all need easy recipes that we can turn to that make the most of low cost ingredients that not only stretch them further, but helps make them so delicious you actually get excited to make and eat them.

These fritters make the perfect lunch or snack when you want something easy that tastes great and can be made with whatever you have on hand.

If you like these fritters, make sure to also try my classic zucchini fritters or these gluten free corn fritters.

Key Ingredients

Once you understand the basic batter to mix-ins ratio of these easy vegetable fritters, you can start to customise them to what ingredients you like and have on hand.

Note all ingredients and their quantities are laid out in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Plain flour – also known as all purpose flour in the US. I haven’t tested it myself but these should also work with a 1-1 gluten free flour substitute.
• Baking powder – helps the fritters puff up when cooking. You can omit and simply use self-raising flour instead of plain flour.
• Spices – I like the flavour of smoked paprika and garlic powder, plus these are spices I always have in my pantry. You can get creative here though adding onion powder or even curry powder for a bit of spice.
• Herbs – to keep things easy I use dried mixed herbs but you can use a combination of oregano, parsley, or dill. This recipe also works great with fresh herbs if you have them!
• Egg – helps bind the fritters together so they don’t fall apart while cooking. I haven’t tested this recipe with a vegan alternative.
• Dairy free milk – I usually use oat milk as that is what I keep on hand but almond milk, soy milk or even regular milk if you’re not dairy free, will work fine in this recipe.
• Vegetables – my go to combination is carrots, peas and corn as I usually have carrots in the fridge, peas in the freezer and corn either canned or frozen as well. But you can really get creative here and just chop up any vegetables you have leftover into small pieces.

Not vegetarian? Feel free to add any leftover roast meat, cooked chicken, ham, corned beef or literally anything else that you want to use up.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Making these vegetable fritters is really quite simple and you don’t need any fancy equipment, just a whisk, a spoon, and a mixing bowl. And of course a large frying pan.

Start by prepping your vegetables. This step will depend on if you’re using fresh, leftover or frozen vegetables. If using frozen, you want to cook these first in a pot of boiling water for a couple of minutes until soft as they wont cook through in the fritters otherwise.

Fresh carrots can just be grated, they don’t need pre cooking, and canned vegetables can just be drained. For any other veggies, just chop them up into small pieces.

Next, in your large mixing bowl, make the batter. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, herbs and spices. Add in the egg and milk and whisk to combine until a thick batter forms.

Add in the prepared vegetables to the batter and mix through with a spoon until well combined.

When cooking fritters, you want to make sure you get that delicious crispy exterior while still being cooked all the way through and not soggy. The key is to make sure your oil is hot before you add in your batter. You don’t want the oil so hot that it spits as this will cause your fritters to burn and not cook through, but you want a nice sizzle when you add the batter. If the oil is too cold it will just soak into your fritters and make them soggy.

To your large frying pan, add just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Add in large tablespoons of batter and press down to create a round, fritter shape.

Once the bottom of your fritter is golden brown and crispy use a large spatula to flip it like a pancake and cook the other side until golden brown and cooked through. A few minutes each side should do it. As you repeat with all of the batter, make sure to monitor your heat and turn it down if it’s cooking too quick. Add a little more oil if needed to the pan.

Set the fritters on a plate with some paper towel over it to absorb any excess oil before serving.

Serve these vegetable fritters with a simple salad for a light lunch or a poached egg and some avocado for a café style breakfast. And of course make sure to serve with some aioli, Greek yoghurt or my tomato and capsicum chutney for dipping.

Recipe FAQs

More recipes highlighting vegetables:

Vegetable Curry Pies
Roasted Vegetable Bowls with Green Goddess Sauce
Vegan Spiced Chickpea + Veggie Bowls
Vegetarian Curry Puffs
Healthy Vegetable Soup with Lentils and Barley
Roasted Vegetable Salad

Vegetable Fritters

These crispy vegetable fritters are packed with carrot, corn and peas and make an easy lunch or snack. This simple fritter recipe can be adapted to use whatever vegetables you have on hand making it perfect for the whole family to enjoy.

4.67 from 18 votes

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Course: Light Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: Australian

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 fritters

Author: Sally

Cost: $1.84 per serve

Equipment

• mixing bowls
• large frying pan

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Ingredients

• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 medium sized carrot grated
• ¾ cup plain flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried herbs such as parsley and oregano
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 egg
• ½ cup milk
• 1-2 tablespoons canola oil

Instructions

• Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and add the frozen corn and peas and cook for 1-2 minutes. Alternatively, cover the frozen peas and corn with water in a microwave safe bowl with a lid and microwave for 3 minutes. Once cooked, drain and set aside.
• In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, herbs and spices. Add in the egg and milk and whisk to combine until a thick batter forms. Add in the grated carrot and cooked peas and corn and mix through.
• Heat a large frying pan on the stove with approximately a tablespoon of oil. Once the oil is hot add ¼ cup of batter to the pan per fritter. Depending on the size of your pan you may need to do this in batches. I usually cook 3 at a time. Once the bottom is golden (about 3 minutes) flip and cook the other side for about 2 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate with a paper towel to absorb any excess oil to prevent the fritters from becoming soggy. Repeat until all batter has been used.
• I prefer to eat them straight away while hot, but you can also eat them cold if you want. They will last in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Video

Notes

You can also use canned corn for these however I would just skip the cooking step. I’ve also just cut off the kernels from a cob of corn and cooked them as per the instructions for frozen and it’s that has also worked fine.

Instead of the combination of baking powder and plain flour, you can simply use ¾ cup self-raising flour.

This recipe makes 8 fritters which will serve 2-3 people as a meal depending on if you serve any additional sides with them such as egg, avocado and salad. 

Nutrition

Calories: 109kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 259mg | Potassium: 166mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 3053IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 76mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutritional information is provided as a guide only and is calculated using automated online tools, therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy. We encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe.

Have you made this recipe?Leave a comment and a rating below and tag your creations with #eightforestlane on Instagram!

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This post was originally published on the 10th May 2020. It has been republished to include better instructions, more helpful information and new photos.