These delectable morsels perfectly blend the heartiness of a classic potato cake recipe with the freshness of zucchini fritters. They can be either baked or fried, and are completely delicious either way.
Equipment | Oven or Single Burner |
Difficulty | Easy |

If you need a simple potato side dish then try these potato cakes!
So dip-able! And who doesn’t love a delightful crunch? These potato cakes are so flavorful and completely satisfying! It’s like taking your grandma’s classic potato cakes and giving them a twist with some zesty zucchini fritters. This zucchini recipe is also a great recipe to hide veggies if you need help eating more. The potatoes beautifully integrate the zucchini and the finished fritters can be eaten plain or doused in sauce.
The best thing about this recipe? It is very forgiving!
It is simple even for beginners to makes this easy side dish with relatively low effort. So don't worry too much about messing up! This is a great recipe for beginning cooks who are just beginning to learn. As long as the ingredients stick together it should be fine! Both fresh and dry dill work for this potato recipe. Don’t have any dill? Experiment. Remember when I said this recipe is forgiving? Don’t be afraid, get creative and try several spice combinations and sauces! The world is your potato fritter!
Substitutions.
Substitute for dill: Don't have fresh or dried dill? No worries! Feel free to experiment. You could use ranch seasoning mix, garlic powder, Italian seasoning mix, or even leave the herbs and spices out altogether and just pair the cakes with flavorful sauces instead. Trust me, these zucchini potato fritters will still turn out delicious.
Substitution for baking powder: If you're in the unfortunate situation of being out of baking powder you can use ½ tsp of lemon juice and ¼ tsp of baking soda instead. Mix the ingredients into the batter as normal, do not mix them together first or you may accidentally make a mini children's volcano experiment.
Substitute for ground flax: Instead of making a flax egg with the 1 Tbs flax and 3 Tbs warm water you can use 3 Tbs of aquafaba. Aquafaba is the liquid from canned or boiled chickpeas and makes a wonderful egg substitute. If you are not vegan and do eat eggs you can substitute the 1 Tbs ground flax seeds and 3 Tbs warm water for one egg.
What kind of potatoes work best for this potato cake recipe? It is best to use starchier potatoes for this recipe. The easiest ones to use would be yellow potatoes or russets. Do not use red potatoes, without the extra starch they won't help hold everything together in this recipe.
Can I leave out the salt? Unfortunately the salt is very important for this recipe because it is necessary for pulling the water out of the veggies to prevent the potato cakes from becoming soggy. Some of the salt washes off with the water pulled out of the veggies, so you won't be consuming the full amount in the recipe, but you can't leave it out. Not adding the salt will cause the recipe to fail.
Money Saving Tip |
Use russet potatoes. They are the cheapest potatoes by weight and work really well for holding together these potato zucchini fritters. |
Let's begin.

Gather your ingredients. Mix the 1 Tbs flax and the 3 Tbs warm water together in a small bowl and let it sit for 15 minutes to make the flax egg. While the flax egg is sitting and congealing, preheat the oven to 400F/200C and continue on to the next steps.

Grate the 1 zucchini and 2 potatoes into a colander set into a mixing bowl. Add the 3/4 tsp salt and mix well. The salt is absolutely necessary here. It pulls water from the zucchini and potatoes so that they cook nicely and aren't soggy and falling apart. Grate the half onion into the colander and mix it in as well. Let everything sit for 10 minutes while the salt gets to work.

Prepare the baking sheet by adding a few drops of water on it then lay a parchment paper on top. The water drops are for holding the parchment paper in place. Brush or spray oil onto the parchment paper in a thin layer.

After the zucchini mixture has set for 10 minutes, squeeze the moisture out with your hands. You can also push the mixture against the edges of the colander to get the water out. The goal is to squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Dump the water from the mixing bowl as necessary. You may notice that starch from your potatoes is settling in your mixing bowl. The starch is good, so don't worry about trying to dump it out. Starch will aid in the cooking, so save it if you can and just pour the water off the top. Once you have gotten most of the moisture out of the mixture pour out the remaining water and dump the squeezed veggie directly into the mixing bowl. It should look like the photo above.

Add the flax egg, ½ a cup of flour, ½ tsp of dill, ¾ tsp of salt, 1 tsp of baking powder, ¼ tsp ground black pepper (or to taste) and stir everything together until combined.

Pull a small handful of the mixture and form it in your hands into a round patty about 2 1/2in in diameter and about 1/2in thick and place it on your baking sheet. Continue forming patties until you have used all of the mixture. Gently brush or spray oil on top of each. The oil will help the top cook and achieve the browning while cooking!

Bake at 400F/200C for 25 minutes until golden brown.

They're ready to serve with your favorite dip or drizzle! Enjoy them warm and they will be nice and crunchy with wonderfully gooey centers.
Would you rather shallow pan fry instead?
That’s fine too! After assembling your zucchini potato cake mixture heat a pan on medium-high heat. When you can hold your hand 3 inches above the pan and feel the heat then it is hot enough and ready for the oil. Pour 2-3 Tbs of high smoke-point oil into the pan. When the oil is glossy and slides easily around the pan it is ready.

Pull a small handful of the mixture and form it in your hands into a round patty about 2 1/2in in diameter and about 1/2in thick and place it into the pan. Place as many patties as you can in your pan without crowding them. Depending on the size of your pan this will be about 3-4. Cook each patty for about 4-5 minutes before flipping.

Cook each patty until both sides are golden brown. Remove finished patties onto a plate prepared with two paper towels or an old flour sack towel to absorb any extra oil. Repeat until all the mixture has been used and cooked, replenishing oil in small amounts as necessary. If you add too much oil at once it will lower the temperature of your pan and negatively affect the cooking.
Serve the fritters with your favorite sauce or dip and enjoy!
What goes well on zucchini potato cakes?
This makes for a great side dish that can be jazzed up with several different sauces. This is another part of the recipe that you can really customize to your preference. Use your favorite dips or drizzles keeping in mind whatever spices or herbs you added to the recipe. If you need ideas here are some of my recommendations;
Crispy Chili Oil
Franks Hot Sauce
Ketchup
Sriracha Mayonnaise
Barbeque Sauce
Etc!
Dig around in your pantry and see what you have. You could also put out two or three sauces on the dinner table and let people choose sauce for themselves! A sauce flight, if you will. My personal favorites with this recipe are crispy chili oil, sour cream, and ranch. But to be perfectly honest I like crispy chili oil on everything, so I don't know if that's saying much about that specific pairing!
What to serve with zucchini potato cakes?
As with most potato side dishes, these go wonderfully with the majority of savory, hearty main dishes. Think about the basic idea of "meat and potatoes" when trying to decide what to serve. Here are some meal ideas to help you get inspired;
Lentil Loaf
Cabbage Rolls
Pierogis
Barbeque
Burgers
Cauliflower Wings
Chicken Pot Pie
Stew
Etc.
Not only are these good as an easy side dish for lunch and dinner, but you could also use them as a vegan brunch idea or even with breakfast! They aren't that dissimilar to hashbrowns and would go a long way to filling out a full breakfast selection. If serving them for a vegan breakfast consider serving them with Vegan "Cinnamon Roll" Bread Pudding, Fresh Fruit Salad, Biscuits, Vegan Breakfast Sausage, English-style Breakfast Baked Beans, etc.
Storage.
Store these fritters in the fridge in an airtight container and they will remain good for 4-5 days. They reheat nicely and can make a quick snack if you need something between meals.
Can I freeze them? You absolutely can! Freeze them in a single layer first you can then stack them together. They will be good in the freezer for 1-2 months. When reheating them from frozen place them on a cookie sheet that is either lightly oiled or lined with parchment paper and cook them in a preheated oven set at 400F/200C for 15 to 18 minutes until hot through. To speed up the process you can thaw them gently in the microwave first, but be sure they get enough time in the oven or toasted oven to crisp up.
Can I reheat them? Absolutely. They are best if they're reheated in an oven or toaster oven, especially if you're cooking them from frozen. If you're feeling lazy you can use the microwave, but the result won't be as good, and won't have a crunchy exterior. Do not reheat them fully in the microwave from frozen without finishing them in the oven or toaster oven or else they will become cardboard. And no one enjoys eating cardboard.
What about you?
As I mentioned earlier, I absolutely LOVE crispy chili oil. I drizzle it on everything! And Sriracha too, especially when it is mixed with mayonnaise. Anytime I have a food that I wish had a little more oomph then I grab the chili oil or sriracha. Or Cholula. Or Valentina. Or really any hot sauce. What about you? What's you're favorite sauce? Do you have a preferred go-to for dipping or drizzling? Let me know in the comments what your favorite flavor is! Maybe there will be something new that I absolutely must try! We could all use a little more sauce variety in our lives! Let's up our sauce game together!
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