Carrot & Onion Fritters

Name: Carrot & Onion Fritters
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 12-16
Cuisine: Holidays Savoury
Ingredients: large carrots, peeled; large white onions, peeled; large russett potato, peeled; tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour; tablespoon garlic powder; teaspoon kosher salt; teaspoon black pepper; pinch of cayenne; oil for frying, like vegetable, canola, peanut or sunflower; chopped green onion; chopped dill; chopped parsley; sour cream; smoked salmon; WATC Garlicky Sun-dried Tomato Dip; capers; sea salt flakes

Ingredients

For the fritters:
2 large carrots, peeled
2 large white onions, peeled
1 large russett potato, peeled
4 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
pinch of cayenne
oil for frying, like vegetable, canola, peanut or sunflower
To serve:
chopped green onion
chopped dill
chopped parsley
sour cream
smoked salmon
WATC Garlicky Sun-dried Tomato Dip
capers
sea salt flakes

Takes 40 Minutes, serves 12-16.

Instructions

Thinly slice the potato and carrots into matchsticks using a vegetable mandoline or a food processor fitted with fine grater attachment.
Thinly slice the onions using a vegetable mandoline or a food processor fitted with a blade attachment set on the smallest setting.
Sprinkle potatoes and onions onto a clean dishtowel. Gather and squeeze to remove excess liquid. Transfer to a large bowl with the carrots, tossing gently to combine.
Stir flour, garlic powder, salt, cayenne and black pepper together in a small bowl then sprinkle over veggies, tossing lightly to coat. Take 1/4 cup portions of mixture and shape into mounds.
Cook fritters: Place a heavy-bottomed frying pan or skillet on stovetop set to moderate-high heat. pan on medium to high heat. Add about 3/4 of an inch of vegetable oil, heating until oil is shimmering. Drop 4 balls into the oil then tamp down using a fork or potato masher. Fry fritters until golden and the edges are crispy. Flip and cook for 1 minute more.
Transfer cooked fritters to a paper towel-lined baking tray. Cook remaining fritters.
Serve immediately or transfer to warm oven until ready to serve.
Serve with one or more of the garnishes listed.

Perfect as a simple side dish or fancy party snack, these CARROT AND ONION FRITTERS always impress.

So there I was, standing in a won’t-be-named deli in Toronto, looking for a pre-made party snack, when packages labeled “latkes” caught my eye. Latkes are typically made from grated potatoes fried in hot oil until crisp and golden brown, but these ones were anything but. Suddenly, the thought hit me: what if we did an upgrade? Instead of latkes using just potatoes, what if we made something similar, adding carrots and onions into the mix? And then, what if we served them still hot from the pan, dressed with flavourful toppings? That’s when I knew these crispy, crunchy CARROT AND ONION FRITTERS would be just the thing I was looking for.

While crafting the recipe, my focus was on finding the best way to cook fritters perfectly. But during testing, I realized there’s more to this story: how to enjoy them. As you read on, remember you can craft large CARROT AND ONION FRITTERS to serve as a side dish, or dress them to the nines as dainty little crunchy party snacks. Either way, these fritters are fabulous!

Here’s how to make the best CARROT AND ONION FRITTERS:

INGREDIENTS

The first of two ingredient photos proves delicious fritters just require a few choice ingredients. You’ll need carrots and onions, a large russet potato, a neutral oil like vegetable, sunflower, or canola, and some seasoning. Also included in the seasoning mix is some unbleached all-purpose flour, which coats the veggies and helps them fry up crispy. The takeaway on these ingredients: everything is readily available at your local grocery store. Yay!

Carrots, onions and a russet potato displayed on a wooden cutting board.

CARROTS AND ONIONS

We used locally grown carrots and onions for this recipe. We love supporting local farmers and also find that buying veggies grown locally tastes better. Low in calories, carrots are an excellent source of beta-carotene, converted in the body to vitamin A, and a source of folate and fibre. Then we have onions, which are low in calories and rich in flavonoids like quercetin, supporting heart health. Even the potato added into this fritter recipe gets props for having a good amount of carbs and fibre as well as vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium and manganese.

A vegetable mandolin with the various blade attachments displayed.

VEGETABLE MANDOLINE

We’re presenting you with two options to cut the vegetables: a food processor or a mandoline, one of our favourite culinary tools. Consisting of two flat surfaces divided by a flat, straight blade, mandolines are adjustable, allowing you to choose the thickness of your cuts. A textured embedded blade can also be added to shred or julienne fruits and vegetables in a specific style, as we did in this fritter recipe. We recommend using a mandoline, but a food processor fitted with an adjustable blade attachment or a fine grater attachment will work too, as will a box grater.

MATCHSTICK CARROTS

This next photo shows the results of cutting the carrots with the vegetable mandolin. By adjusting the height and inserting the medium julienne blade, we end up with perfect matchstick carrots. See that pale blue device resting on the carrot? That’s the hand guard. Use it; those blades are sharp!

Matchstick potatoes sitting next to a vegetable mandolin.

We also cut the russet potato into matchsticks using the same blade and settings. Hey, look at that! The same hand guard appears in that photo too. We’re serious about always using the hand guard whenever you cut vegetables or fruits on a mandoline.

Thinly sliced sweet onions resting next to a vegetable mandolin.

THINLY SLICED ONIONS

For the sweet, pungent Ontario onions, we used the mandoline with its standard blade. To achieve very thin slices of onion, simply adjust the mandolin to a thinner setting. Still using that hand guard, even for these simple slices? You betcha!

SEASONING MIX

Think of the seasoning mix used to make these extra-crispy CARROT AND ONION FRITTERS as a batter. When making traditional latkes, the shredded potatoes are coated with egg and then dipped in either flour or crumbs made from crushed matzo. This same technique is also used when making vegetable fritters using grated zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, or pumpkin. For this recipe, we decided to use unbleached all-purpose flour blended with kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. This light dusting of a floury mix gets the fritters super crispy without needing a heavy fritter batter.

Matchstick carrots and potatoes tossed with thinly sliced sweet onions.

MIXED VEGETABLES

Make sure to watch the VIDEO we crafted for this recipe. Mirroring the instructions listed below, we also add a step where we wrap the thinly sliced onion and matchstick potatoes in a clean dish towel. The important step here is to squeeze the veggies tightly, causing excess moisture from the veggies to drain away. With that accomplished, the next step is to toss the carrots, onions, and potatoes together in a bowl to create a well-combined mixture.

A large bowl containing the seasoned carrot and onion fritter mixture.

BREADED VEGGIES

Once the veggies are mixed together, sprinkle with a bit of the seasoning mix, then toss gently to coat. Add more seasoning and toss again. For best results, the goal is to come away with a light and fluffy mixture of lightly seasoned veggies. This method helps the inside of the fritters cook too.

Mounds of carrot and onion fritters ready to be fried.

PORTIONING FRITTERS

Before heading to the stovetop to fry up the fritters, we suggest creating little mounds. The yield on the recipe is 12 smaller fritters, but you can also portion larger, side dish-sized portions yielding 8 total. The larger fritters will need to cook longer in the hot oil, so adjust timing accordingly.

Carrot and onion fritters resting on a paper-towel lined baking tray.

COOKING FRITTERS

The trick to cooking crispy fritters comes down to two key considerations: the type of oil you use and the temperature of the oil. We recommend using an oil that’s neutral-flavoured with a high smoke point like canola, vegetable, sunflower or peanut oil. You can also use grape seed or avocado oil, but we found they impart a slight flavouring on the veggies. Regarding the temperature, set the pan to medium heat. Ideally, you’re looking for the fritters to fry up without burning on the edges. Additionally, you can cook these veggie fritters in an air fryer too.

Once the fritters are done, taking on a rich golden brown with crispy edges, transfer them to a paper towel-lined baking sheet. You can then add toppings and serve straight away, or transfer them to a warm oven preheated to about 200°F to keep warm until ready to serve.

All of the various toppings for the carrot and onion fritters displayed on a work surface.

TOPPING INGREDIENTS

Here’s the second ingredient photo attached to this post. This image shows three different ideas for toppings that take the flavours of our CARROT AND ONION FRITTERS from simple to amazing. We’re sharing our personal favourites here, but a reminder that you can make this recipe your own. Here’s your chance to serve more than just a dipping sauce. Love an Asian-inspired flavour? Add wasabi, sesame, and soy sauce with pickled ginger. Feeling more like Mexican? How about guacamole, corn salsa, fresh herbs like cilantro, and grated cheese? Seriously, you can dress these fritters up in lots of different ways each time you make a batch. Here’s what we did:

A carrot and onion fritter topped with garlicky sun-dried tomato dip and fresh parsley.

FRITTERS WITH CREAMY DIP

The first option is to put one of our signature products, our GARLICKY SUN-DRIED TOMATO DIP, to good use. Following package directions, we stir up the dip mix with a bit of sour cream and a hit of mayonnaise. Dress the fritters with a dollop of the dip and a sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley. Yum!

A carrot and onion fritter topped with sour cream and chopped green onions.

SOUR CREAM AND ONION FRITTERS

A simple treatment with a dollop of sour cream, some chopped green onions or scallions, and a sprinkle of sea salt flakes. The result is something that tastes a heck of a lot like sour cream and onion chips. This topping is hugely popular.

A carrot and onion fritter topped with smoked salmon., horseradish, capers and dill.

FRITTERS WITH SMOKED SALMON

The last option is something akin to a favourite toasted bagel. The fritters get a few slices of smoked salmon, a dollop of extra-hot prepared horseradish, a few capers and some fresh dill. This option is the one we recommend for parties.

The condiment station for Carrot & Onion Fritters.

MAKE YOUR OWN FRITTERS

Actually, ending that previous section with “recommended for parties” brings this story full circle. Picture it: you’re hosting a casual get-together with friends. Could be a holiday or birthday fête, might be board game night, could be a sports game night or binge-watch party too. All you need to do is set out all of the toppings we just presented and, when friends arrive, offer cocktails and bevvies, cook up these CARROT AND ONION FRITTERS, and create a fritter station inviting guests to come up and dress theirs as they wish. What a great party idea!

PIN IT!

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Crunchy and crispy, these CARROT AND ONION FRITTERS are always a treat!

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