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.

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.

If it is soggy, heavy or tough, then you made have made the batter too thick or overfilled the tin.

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.

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. Then wait until the oil is hot before you add the batter.

We want moist insides but not soggy and certainly not dry. Though if I had to choose from the lessor of two evils, I'd take dry over soggy insides – because at least I could douse them in inordinate amounts of yogurt or sour cream to make them palatable. However, soggy insides I cannot bear and they can't be salvaged.

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.

Why is my batter not 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.

Note: Some fritters recipes are more pancake than loosely-held-together fritter patty, one where it's important you eliminate a lot of water. For those pancake-style fritters, a loose, moist batter may be preferable. Most recipes will explicitly call for wringing moisture from ingredients if that's necessary.

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.

Larger eggs have more water from the egg white, resulting in wetter batter and soggy fritters. Add flour to your wet batter! Most veggies have a high water content (which we know equals soggy fritters). Adding flour to a wetter batter will give you the thick consistency need to make the perfect batter.

Soggy batter prevention that works every time

If you've gotten the dreaded limp fried coating, you might have over-mixed your batter, which forms more pesky gluten that readily soaks up the oil. Mix batter until just combined — no more, and no less. You might also be making the mistake of adding warm water.

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.