I admit it…originally, I was going to take my zucchini and pull out my handy-dandy Cusinart food processor and make some more gluten-free zucchini bread. Why? Because I love my family recipe for zucchini bread (which very successfully bakes up gluten-free from the original not-gluten-free recipe). I was so tempted.
But…I’m going out of town this weekend…and need to use up produce without having too much left just sitting around in the crisper drawer or in the fridge and freezer. So…I hunted down other ideas. And thanks to the magic of Pinterest…I stumbled across a recipe that would not only use up the zucchini in my crisper, but also one of my two sweet potatoes. It was from the blog Averie Cooks and I had everything necessary to make these that night for dinner. I sent the link to my roomie and she mightily approved. I gave her the option of two sweet potato recipes…and she went with this one. And so…dinner was decided…just like that.
Upon returning home from the office on Friday, I set myself to work in the kitchen, cleaning and shredding up a large sweet potato and a large zucchini. And when all was said and done, these baked up to be a soft, but delicious treat for dinner. Honestly, I can’t wait to make it again. The flavors are amazing and they even go well in a skillet and served up like a veggie burger on a bun (that’s what I did with the leftovers!).
Check out this easy recipe:
Recipe: Baked Chipotle Sweet Potato Zucchini Fritters
Servings: 6
Time: Prep 10 minutes; Bake 50 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (or vegan butter)
- 1 large egg (or egg replacer or flax egg)
- 2 teaspoons chipotle seasoning (I used ancho chili powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (I used Trader Joe’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose)
- about 3 cups coarsely grated sweet potato (1 medium to large sweet potato, peeled and grated)
- about 2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (1 large or 2 small zucchini)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F and line two baking trays with parchment paper. Sp with cooking spray; set aside.
In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
To the melted butter, add the egg and beat with a fork to combine.
Add the chipotle seasoning, salt, pepper, and stir to combine.
Add the flour and stir to combine.
Add the sweet potato, zucchini, and toss to combine.
Mixture will be loose and a bit soggy.
Using a 1/2-cup measure, form fritters by transferring one heaping half-cup of vegetable mixture from mixing bowl directly to baking trays. They will be about 4-inches in diameter.
Bake fritters for 10 minutes at 375°F and if fritters have “leaked” or released any liquids, either from the zucchini releasing water, or the butter-egg mixture, just “push” the liquid back into a fritter using a spatula.
Lower oven temperature to 350°F and bake for about 15 minutes. Carefully flip fritters over (they will be soft and delicate, so be careful to flip them without breaking them) and bake for about 15 more minutes, or until browned. Fritters will be browned but soft upon removal from oven. Allow them to cool and firm up on the baking trays for at least 10 minutes before moving or serving them.
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Really, really fantastic flavor!! Honestly. My roommate raved about them. They are still quite soft, but they are delicious and amazing. I fell in love with these at first bite. And so did the roomie. In fact, we were thrilled to come home tonight and eat the two leftover patties as veggie burgers. The night I made these, we each had 2 fritters each (about 100 calories per fritter), and I baked up some gluten-free zucchini fries with the leftover zucchini. One of my favorite dinners to date.
I encourage you to give these fritters a shot. They are definitely worth the time they take to make and eat. Trust me…you’ll love them.
The Celiathlete 