Vegetable Pancakes

Zucchini, green onion, and carrots are packed into these delicious pancakes. Drizzled with a savory gyoza sauce, even your most veggie-adverse eaters will gobble them up.

Jul 18, 2023

In my never-ending quest to eat more vegetables, I’m always on the lookout for delicious ways to sneak them in my diet. So today, I’m cooking up vegetable pancakes. These savory little cakes are super simple to make and work well as a side dish for a variety of entrees. They pair nicely with fish, pork, and chicken.

This recipe is very similar to one my mother-in-law shared with me many years ago. Thankfully it came with hands-on instruction, since no written recipe existed. She called them zucchini fritters and I remember as she was making them, I was feverishly writing it all down. The ultra-precise term “scant” (just kidding) describes the amount of flour and salt in her recipe. The use of that measurement term is rather uncommon today, but basically means “a tiny bit less.” So, she used a “little less” than a 1/4 cup of flour and “not quite” a 1/2 teaspoon of salt in her fritters.

The great thing about this pancake recipe is that you can use a variety of vegetables (corn, cabbage, broccoli, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, or spinach to list a few). While her recipe only featured shredded zucchini, I really like the flavor combination of zucchini, green onion, and carrot.

To give these humble pancakes a little “wow” factor when serving, I garnish them with thinly sliced green onion and finely diced red bell pepper. I also like to drizzle them with gyoza (ghee-o-za) sauce. This savory sauce is a dipping condiment often served with Japanese dumplings. The best flavor description I can give you is a slightly sweet soy sauce with a hint of heat. For more information on gyoza sauce, check out my recipe post for Unrolled Egg Roll Bites.

To your health,

Darlene

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VEGETABLE PANCAKES

Yield: 6 servings

Serving Size: 3 pancakes

Prep: 15 minutes

Ready: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
3/4 cup thinly sliced green onion (whites and greens)
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/3 cup 1% milk
1 large egg
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion (whites and greens)
2 tablespoons finely diced red bell pepper
2 tablespoons gyoza sauce

DIRECTIONS

Squeeze grated zucchini to remove as much moisture as possible. Place zucchini, sliced green onion (3/4 cup), and grated carrot in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.
In a separate bowl, whisk together milk and egg. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and black pepper and whisk until just combined (consistency will resemble a slightly lumpy, thick pancake batter). Pour batter over vegetables and stir until just combined.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Using a tablespoon measuring spoon, pour batter into pan, spreading batter into 2-inch circles. Cook until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Remove cooked pancakes from pan and place on a paper-towel lined plate. After preparing 9 pancakes, add remaining tablespoon oil and cook remaining pancakes (recipe yields 18 pancakes).
Arrange pancakes on a platter and garnish with sliced green onion (2 tablespoons) and diced red pepper. Serve with gyoza sauce. Each serving consists of 3 pancakes drizzled with 1 teaspoon gyoza sauce.

Nutrition Information per Serving

127 Calories, 6 g Total fat, 1 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 30 mg Cholesterol, 293 mg Sodium, 15 g Total carbohydrate, 1 g Dietary fiber, 4 g Total sugars, 2 g Added sugars, 3 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 41 mg (4%) Calcium, 1 mg (6%) Iron, 140 mg (2%) Potassium