Zucchini Flower Fritters – Frittelle di Fiori di Zucca
Zucchini flowers
Longtime readers might remember my zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta, spinach, and prosciutto crudo as well as fried zucchini flowers.
Well this time when I picked up some zucchini flowers at the market, P asked if I would make some fritters, which is the usual way they’re made in this area of Calabria.
P’s aunt has made them for us many times, but I had never asked for the recipe or technique. As luck would have it, the day I bought the flowers, she happened to be walking by the house when I took the dogs out for their lunchtime walk.
The recipe she gave me on the spot is below; of course there are no measurements, but I have faith in you!
Seriously if you’re afraid of working with zucchini flowers, it’s time to conquer the fear. I was right there with you, but these fritters are amazingly simple and delicious. Enjoy!
Zucchini Flower Fritters – Frittelle di Fiori di Zucca
Frittelle di fiori di zucca
- Bunch of zucchini flowers
- Flour
- Water
- Pinch of baking soda
- A few pinches of salt
- Oil for frying
1. Clean the zucchini flowers by snapping out the stamens (assuming you have male flowers, the ones attached to stems).
2. Chop roughly into pieces and place in boiling water for about a minute.
3. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Fiori di zucca
4. Mix together flour, water, some salt, and a pinch of baking soda so that you get the consistency of pancake batter. Fold in the flowers. This part, by the way, is completely up to your tastes. When P’s aunt makes them, to be honest, I don’t taste much of the flowers because there’s so much, well, flour. I like mine bursting with zucchini flower flavor — they also look prettier, I think, as the flower colors show through. So use your own taste to determine how much batter to flowers you should make.
5. Heat oil for frying (I use last year’s olive oil) in a shallow pot or pan. You’ll want enough in there so the batter can sink to the bottom and then have a little way to rise and dance at the top, and you also don’t want your fritters crowded. The pan I used fit three fritters at a time. Zia also told me to throw in a pinch of salt when ready to fry.
6. When the oil is hot, take a large spoonful of batter and drop it in. As mentioned above, it will sink at first but then rise as it fries. Turn them a bit until you see all sides are browned, remove with a slotted spoon, and place on paper towels to drain.
Zucchini flower fritters
Buon appetito!
26 Beans of Wisdom to “Zucchini Flower Fritters – Frittelle di Fiori di Zucca”
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[...] over at BleedingEspresso.com recently posted an excellent recipe for Fried Zucchini Flowers and it inspi... deltainnovations.com/delisafe/?p=310
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Love them! Too bad we can’t buy flowers here. The recipe sounds like one of my grandmother’s or my mother’s. My wife worked with the both of them and wrote some recipes out for my sisters and cousins. A palm of flour depends on the size of the hand!!!
Haha indeed, Gil…recipes like this are hard to write down but certainly worth passing on!
never tasted them , so something new to try 🙂 well done for trying to cook them too 🙂
Hope you can find some to try, Anne!
There is a restaurant that we go to for special events that stuffs them and then either steams or bakes them. I have been trying for two years to reproduce the recipe at home but as of yet haven’t been too successful.
I like them fried like this when other people volunteer to do the clean up 😉
Yes, frying anything is a commitment 😉
I LOVE zucchini fritters!!! I remember, as a child, going to the vegetable patch with my grandmother to gather zucchini and zucchini flowers…then we’d go back home, and she’d prepare the fritters…delicious!
Such lovely memories, Cristina; thanks for sharing 🙂
We picked up some Zucchini blossoms from the market a couple of weeks ago as well. I had never had them before so Nico, my husband, fried them up whole for me. Like you I think I prefer them that way as well.
His mother makes fritters out of the left over flour whenever she is frying something like asparagus or even just the egg and flour mix and yes it can be a bit floury… 🙂
I figure that’s a throwback to days when food was scarcer…perhaps we’re just spoiled now, but I just *love* that flowery flavor shining through!
my god, I can taste my childhood…..
Mangia mangia 🙂
Those look so good! Don’t you just love it when things are meant to happen: like P’s aunt walking by….so funny!
I have never had these, but both ways sure look yummy and pretty!
Enjoy!
xo
Haha, yes it saved me a phone call!
Mmm. How timely. I planted zucchini in my fall garden and they are beginning to bloom. Must give these a try.
Enjoy Leigh!
And, if you can’t get zucchini flowers, this same recipe works with thinly sliced zucchini also. Good eating either way!
Zucchini is just an amazing creation 🙂
…and on the eighth day, God created deep fried zucchini flowers. And He saw, there were no leftovers. And that was a good thing indeed.
🙂 my very favorite ever.
Unless we’re talking deep fried acacia flowers. But that was day nine.
baci
Hahahaha love it 🙂
We love these, round here the restaurants often put anchovies inside them.
Hmm we have similar things here, but they are actually zeppole (anchovies, no zucchini) 🙂
I do these as well but use chick pea flour and add a bit of Indian spices (astefadia and some garam masala)
Sounds great!
Thanks for this recipe!!!! I am bookmarking this. Zucchini blossoms are my new favourite!
Thanks Jen!
My first taste of these was at my grandmother’s house, so when I went to Italy, I was prepared to find them and was never disappointed. YUM!
I’ve never been disappointed either 🙂
When I lived in Wales, I grew my own zucchini just to make the fritters, because I missed them so much. We once harvested eight (smallish) flowers in one go: what a feast! A week later, we went on holiday in Calabria, and our dear friend there gave us a full plastic bag bursting with zucchini flowers, thick and huge, just because she did not know what to make with them… I was really happy for that, but my gardening attitude changed. I don’t grow them anymore, just drool over your pictures…
Hopefully you’ll get to enjoy some soon, though!
I wonder what the salt in the oil does-I’m going to try that next time! Thanks!
I don’t know if it’s any more than a flavor thing, but enjoy!
YAY!!! More yum!
I first saw this discussed in 1000 days in Tuscany, and thought it was fascinating and sounded so good! Unfortunately, my local grocer doesn’t carry them, so I’ll be bugging my gardening friends to see if anyone has them. Gotta try these!!
XO
Scarlett & Viaggiatore
SO tasty; hope you can find some!
I love fried zucchini blossoms, they are just so hard to find here and pretty time consuming to fry! But I love when someone else makes them for me 😉
The more practice you get, the faster it goes! 😉
My Grandma still makes these today! She grows Zucchini in her yard and I think the flowers pop up in the Zucchini plant. Never found zucchini flower in stores but try growing zucchini. You should get the flower in the plant.
Surprised to find this on the internet it’s an old Italian recipe. I love going to my grandma’s! She’s such a great cook! Probably because she’s fully italian. Italian’s Know how to cook! If you wan’t try adding zucchini.
Yes, they are great with zucchini also added; thanks Jake!
How fun and delicious! Thank you for sharing…
Glad you enjoyed, Chef Chuck!
I made stuffed zucchini blossoms for the first time just last week, although I’ve been hearing about them from my grandmother for years. I’d love to try these fritters next time. Thanks!
Hope you enjoy them, Mary!
I’ve been home from Puglia for a week, and reeeeeally miss my fior di zucca! i use mineral water (frizzante) which makes them come out extra light and fluffy. i managed to pick 5 flowers from my zucchini plants here at my house, but sadly that’s all i’ll get in Vancouver! Till next year! Cristina
Till next year indeed! Seasonal eating does have its downsides sometimes hahaha 🙂
I know what I’m having later today. The zucchini flowers are abundant in the garden right now and these look fantastic! Thanks for sharing Michelle.
Enjoy Barb!
Perfect! I have a small garden and very few bees. Without pollination (I have done it by hand with success) I have very few Zucchini’s but lots of flowers!!! I will try this with dinner tonight, yum!
michelle Reply:
September 10th, 2012 at 6:53 pm
Hope you enjoy!