Fried Pumpkin Fritters

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Pumpkins are an amazing protein to cook at home. They’re super tasty, and so affordable for the sheer amount of food they produce! The one challenge with Pumpkins, however, is there is inevitably going to be some Pumpkin leftover in the house once you’ve used them to cook a meal. So, whether you’re making our awesome Pumpkin Soup or Risotto dishes, inevitably these dishes will probably have some spare Pumpkin. Well, what better way to make use of that spare Pumpkin than these delicious Fried Pumpkin Fritter! They are so easy to make and are ready to eat in just 15 minutes!

Fritters are sometimes an overlooked way to prepare Vegetables, yet they offer so much! The beautiful crunchy texture is always a treat to enjoy, and you can add so many different types of spices and ingredients into Fritters to give them a unique twist

This dish can be replicated using all sorts of delicious Vegetables. Basically, any kind of hearty Vegetable that can be grated can be turned into a Fritter. So, if you’re staring down a fridge filled with leftover Potatoes, Carrots, Parsnips, or Sweet Potatoes this recipe will also work for them

How to make the best Fried Pumpkin Fritters

For this recipe you’ll need to grate about 2 ½ cups of Pumpkin. This will equate to about 1 lb. or so of Pumpkin flesh, give or take. If you’re a little over or a little under on the Pumpkin ratio it’s ok. This is a dish that turns into a loose batter that is best judged by the eye before it is cooked

Once you have grated the Pumpkin, add it to a large bowl along with AP Flour and Parmesan Cheese. You want a little over ½ a cup of Flour and ½ cup of Cheese to start with. Along with the Cheese add 2 Eggs and give the ingredients a good mix through. The Egg serves as the binding agent to the dish, so it’s important it is well incorporated into the batter so that the whole thing will stick together when cooked

If the mixture is still a little bit runny then add another ¼ cup of Flour. What you’re looking for in terms of consistency is a slightly loose, slightly runny batter. It needs to be able to hold its shape and not break up, but still be runny enough that it’ll begin to fold flat if spooned onto a flat surface

Finally, add a dash of Baking Soda to the batter. Not too much, about ½ teaspoon is plenty. The Baking Soda plays a key role in helping to achieve a beautiful crispy texture for your Pumpkin Fritters. It is a commonly used ingredient for frying, in particular a key ingredient for crispy Fried Chicken!

Add some spices to really ramp up the flavor of the Fritters

There’s a load of different flavor combination you can add to this baseline batter that you have just created. For our Fried Pumpkin Fritters, we’re keeping the spices simple, with a classic combination of Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, and Salt. This combination works great in so many applications with its rich and bold flavors

Other spices you can try adding is really only limited to your imagination and flavor preferences. For a sweeter flavor you can try adding a dash of Sugar and some Cinnamon, both of which are classic pairings for Pumpkin

For a more unique flavor, try a combination of Fennel Seeds and Cumin. The flavors are a bit more uncommon, but the pairing of spices works great in this dish. Because this dish is a great way to utilize leftover Pumpkin, it feels like you can experiment a lot more with flavor combinations. The Pumpkin was otherwise likely going to be thrown away, so this makes for the perfect opportunity to try some unique flavor combinations to see what you like!

Frying the Pumpkin Fritters

For this recipe we are shallow frying. It’s a very easy form of frying and great because it doesn’t need to utilize a whole load of Oil. You’ll only need to add about ½ cup of Oil to a frying pan and get it nice and hot (around 300F should do the trick)

Any Neutral Oil that burns at a high temperature is what you want. Canola Oil and Vegetable Oil are great choices, as is Sunflower Oil. Try to avoid using any oil with overt flavors such as Peanut Oil as this will change the flavor composition of the fritters too much. Also avoid using Olive Oil, as it will burn before it reaches the temperatures needed for a perfect fry

Simply spoon a heaped teaspoon of the batter mixture straight into the Oil once hot. Be careful to not splash any Oil up when you do so to avoid burning yourself. The batter will start to sink a little bit into the Oil, which is exactly what you want. You can push the batter down gently with the back of the spoon to help from the familiar Fritter shape

Be careful when flipping the Pumpkin Fritters as Oil may splash again

After about 2 – 3 minutes frying on one side, they’ll need to be flipped and cooked for a further 2 minutes on their other side. This is the trickiest part in the whole dish, because the risk of the Oil splashing up is high

To prevent this from happening, the best technique is to carefully tilt the pan so that the Oil pools in one side of the pan. Move the Fritter you wish to flip into the area of the pan with no Oil. Then, carefully flip it into the oil-less section. This will avoid any splatter

You can then place the pan back at an even angle, allowing the Oil to hit the Fritter. Repeat this technique for the remaining Fritters in the pan to flip them all without splashing up the Oil

Once cooked, remove the Fried Pumpkin Fritters from the Oil and set them aside on a wire rack. Hit them immediately with another sprinkle of Salt and then they are ready to serve. You can serve these beauties with all sorts of sauces. We opted for Sour Cream and the combination of flavors was amazing

Fried Pumpkin Fritters Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups of grated Pumpkin
• ½ Parmesan Cheese, grated
• 2 Eggs
• ¾ cup of AP Flour
• ½ tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 ½ tsp. Salt
• ½ tsp. Onion Powder
• ½ tsp. Garlic Powder
• ½ cup of Neutral Frying Oil (eg: Canola or Vegetable Oil)
• 2 tbsp. Sour Cream
  
  

Instructions

1. Peel and deseed the Pumpkin and then cut it into large pieces. Grate the Pumpkin pieces to yield about 2 ½ cups of grated Pumpkin
2. Combine the Pumpkin in a large bowl along with the Parmesan Cheese, Flour, Eggs, Baking Soda, Salt, Onion Powder, and Garlic Powder. Mix the ingredients well to form a batter
3. Heat the Oil in a large frying pan. Once hot (temperature around 300F), scoop 3 – 4 heaped teaspoons of batter carefully into the Oil. Press down slightly on the batter and then cook for 3 minutes
4. Very carefully flip over the fritters, avoiding any Oil splashing onto you and fry the other side for a further 2 minutes. Once golden-brown, remove the Pumpkin Fritters and place on a wire rack
5. Pat down any excess oil then sprinkle a little more Salt over the Fritters. Serve with Sour Cream
   
   

Recipe Notes

• To avoid any Oil splashing on you, tilt the pan so the Oil separates away from the Fritter you are about to flip so you can turn it over onto a dry part of the frying pan
• You can sprinkle some finely chopped Chives over the top of the dish before serving. This is purely for a nice visual effect and does not really impact the flavor
  
  

That’s our simple recipe for delicious Fried Pumpkin Fritters. This is a great recipe to cook if you have leftover Pumpkin, and of course there’s no better time to be cooking with Pumpkin than in the Fall! It’s a great dish to serve to kids too. They’ll love the crispy fried texture, and it’s a great way to sneak some vegetables in there!

If you enjoyed this dish then we recommend you check out some of these other delicious fried recipes:

• Homemade Shrimp Toast
• Easy Crispy Coconut Shrimp
• Fish Croquettes
• Crispy Fried Chicken Bites
  
  

Happy Cooking!