Turn Tired Vegetables into Crispy Fritters | Cook's Country (2024)

FAQs

Why are my fritters not crispy? ›

The most common causes for soggy fritters are too much batter (basic flour and egg batter like used in pancakes will never cook up crispy), and whatever you're frittering leeches too much water when cooking.

Lucky for you, I've dealt with my fair share of disappointing fritters, so I've come up with some crafty ways to stop this. If your zucchini fritters are falling apart, it's likely because the fritters are sticking to the skillet or the batter was too wet.

Why Are My Vegetable Fritters Soggy? The most common reason that fritters get soggy is due to cooking them in oil that isn't hot enough. So first make sure that you use just enough oil to cover the surface of your skillet.

Add flour to your wet batter! Large veggies have a high water content (which we know equals soggy fritters). But don't stress! Adding flour to a wetter batter will give you the thick consistency you want.

Use Cornstarch or Rice Flour

Michael says that cornstarch or rice flour in combo with flour will give you the crunchiest batter. Even cake four will cook up crunchier than all-purpose flour because it doesn't have a high gluten level.

Rice flour and cornstarch work particularly well because they fry up crispier than wheat flour. They also absorb less moisture and fat during the frying process, making the products less greasy. This is why rice flour is often used when making tempura because it produces a very thin and crispy, dry crust.

Batter consistency is key to good fritters. If too runny, add a touch of extra flour (otherwise fritters soggy inside). If way too thick, add a touch of water. It does come down to how juicy / how well the water was removed from the zucchinis.

If your potato fritters are soggy, it's likely because too much liquid remained in your vegetables or the oil and skillet weren't hot enough. A hot skillet with hot oil is how you keep potato pancakes crispy.

Vegetables need to roast in a single layer without overlapping one another on the baking sheet. This will allow the air to circulate and crisp the outsides (otherwise, the veggies will steam and not crisp). Use Enough Olive Oil. Oil is necessary for the vegetables to caramelize.

Is baking soda or powder best for frying? A pinch of baking soda can help produce crispy fried foods. It reacts with the acid in the batter to create carbon dioxide bubbles. These lead to an airy batter and a crisper, fluffier result.

How to stop fritters falling apart? ›

Here are some frittering tips:

Chop everything to small dice so that the fritters stay together when frying, you are just adding enough egg and flour to barely coat the ingredients, and large chunks have a tendency to make the fritters fall apart.

You can also use cornstarch/cornflour, or tapioca flour, instead. Of course, you can certainly just use all-purpose flour, but the fritters will not be as crispy.

Soggy batter prevention that works every time

Mix batter until just combined — no more, and no less. You might also be making the mistake of adding warm water. It's not totally clear why cold water works, but some say ice-cold water makes better batter.

Keep the oil temperature up for crispy fried food

When it comes to battered foods, according to Bon Appétit, the lower the temperature, the longer your batter is sitting in the pot absorbing oil, which can lead to a dark, unappetizing oil-laden crust.

It's usually just oil temps. A trick I learned to get decent fried chicken and such without a thermometer was to put a chopstick into the oil to the bottom. If it starts bubbling at the tip then the oil is ready. If bubbles come from higher than just the tip of the chopstick, it's too hot.