Meatless Friday: Zucchini Pancakes

Betsy Kerekes gets creative with overabundant zucchini. Check out the step-by-step photos and download the printable recipe for this meatless dish.

Friends with an overactive zucchini plant meant we were blessed frequently with their excess.

First, we peeled, sliced, breaded, and fried the zucchini in the bacon grease left from Sunday brunch. This is always a winner.

Another time I cut the zucchini into small chunks and threw them in with ground beef as it cooked. The zucchini soaked up the juices and were delicious, though not necessarily the healthiest.

Zucchini bread in all forms: with and without nuts, with and without milk chocolate chips/white chocolate chips/butterscotch chips (don’t knock it till you’ve tried it), were also made and were an easy crowd pleaser.

But the zucchini kept coming.

I branched out into “zucchini taco boats,” cutting the zucchini in half, hollowing them out, and filling them with taco meat, tomato sauce, onion, and cheese. This was incredible.

But the zucchini kept coming.

Then I learned of …

Zucchini Pancakes

INGREDIENTS

2 cups grated zucchini
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch dried oregano
1/4 cup your favorite cooking oil, or as needed

DIRECTIONS

Peel the zucchini, slice it in half, and scrape out the seeds. Note that a peeled zucchini is kind of slippery when grating. Grip firmly.

I grated directly into a paper towel-lined colander to soak up and potentially drip out the excess water. I smooshed them a little more with paper towels from the top too. Who knew zucchini were so juicy?

Next, stir the zucchini, eggs, and onions in a large bowl, the dry ingredients in a smaller one. Then stir the small bowl into the zucchini bowl until moistened.

Heat oil in a frying pan on medium to high heat, depending on how hungry and impatient your troop is, and how attentive you’re able to be at the stove.

Drop big spoonfuls of batter into the pan and flatten them with your favorite spatula (we all have one). Watch for the edges to get crispy, roughly two minutes, then flip. When both sides are done, move them to a paper towel-lined plate.

Note that this only made about a dozen small pancakes, so you may want to double the recipe for a larger family or make this a side dish.

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Everyone agreed they tasted like hashbrowns. We ate them with applesauce and sour cream. A little weird, but so yummy.

Other variants can include garlic or pepper, sweet onions instead of green onions, a different variety of cheese, chives or dill instead of oregano, ditching the onion and oregano for cinnamon, serving with yogurt instead of sour cream, dipping them in marinara sauce ... So many possibilities depending on what’s in your pantry and what your people like.

This delicious, healthier alternative to standard pancakes and/or hashbrowns was a unique treat. The preparation is fairly simple. Children can help stir ingredients, and the variations are seemingly endless.

If you don’t have zucchini, try squash. Grab a gourd from your grocer and have fun with this.