Light & perfectly spiced Curried Carrot Fritters. Quick, simple & delicious and perfect for when you have an overabundance of carrots! Naturally vegan, egg-free, gluten-free & oil-free.
Enter my bright and cheerful-looking Curried Carrot Fritters! Carrots are a vegetable that I always have in my fridge. No matter what's going on you will find some lurking in the drawer. They get used so often and as with onions and garlic, if I run out I feel a mild sense of panic, so I make sure it never happens.
Despite being used a lot, carrots don't often play a starring role in my meals, at least not since my Creamy Carrot Soup, but I can never resist the fluffy, fronded bunches at my local greengrocer and often end up buying way more than I need.
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So a few weeks ago, in an effort to use up my overabundance of carrots before they got droopy, these Curried Carrot Fritters happened.
You can feel really good about making and eating these Curried Carrot Fritters because they are:
- Filled with vegetables
- Made with healthy, protein-packed & gluten-free chickpea flour
- Completely oil-free
- Extremely low in fat
- Only 84 calories each!
How to make carrot fritters
These Curried Carrot Fritters are extremely easy to make. If you have a food processor be sure to utilize the grating attachment as it makes light work of preparing the vegetables.
Once everything is grated and chopped it's just a case of combining with the chickpea flour, spices and a drop of water to make a thick, droppable batter. Let it rest for 10 minutes then cook in a frypan, on a griddle or in the oven.
What to serve with carrot fritters
Colourful, crisp and perfectly spiced carrot fritters are so versatile! Here are some ideas for how to serve them:
- Serve as an entrée or lunch with a salad or fries
- Use as a veggie burger substitute in a bun
- Serve as an appetizer with some mango chutney, vegan mayo or green sauce
- Stuff in pita bread or no yeast flatbread with some fresh salad leaves for a light lunch
- Eat cold for a snack
- Add to lunchboxes
Variations
The finished fritters are absolutely packed with flavour and are really versatile.
Grated potato can be used in place of some or all of the carrot, and as for the spices, I use a combination of many different spices to give maximum punch but these are totally customizable. The blend listed in the recipe is how I like my fritters, using what I regularly have in my pantry but in this recipe, you have complete control.
If you don't have one of the spices or if there is one you don't care for, omit it. You can use something else instead or not. They are good with just the curry powder and none of the other spices if that is all you have.
Sometimes I add cilantro, sometimes I add parsley and sometimes I use the finely chopped green carrot tops. Play around with what you like best.
A long as you keep the carrot, chickpea flour and water at the same ratio the fritters will work.
Storing Leftovers
- Storage: Leftover carrot fritters will keep in the fridge for 4 or 5 days.
- Freezing: Separate them between layers of parchment paper and freeze for up to 3 months. Allow to defrost overnight in the fridge or cook straight from the freezer.
- Reheating: Cook them straight from the freezer or defrost them first. Reheat in a dry frypan/skillet on medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side (7 to 8 minutes each side if frozen), or pop them on a baking tray in the oven until they are slightly crispy and heated through. 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes, 25 minutes if frozen.
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Recipe
Curried Carrot Fritters
Author:Ingredients
- 300g / 3 large carrots
- 1 medium onion
- 2 cloves garlic , finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- 100g / 1 cup chickpea flour , sometimes called besan or gram flour. A garbanzo fava bean blend flour works well too.
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 big handful / ½ cup fresh cilantro, parsley or carrot tops , chopped finely
- ¼ teaspoon ground coriander (see notes for spice alternatives)
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds , or ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds , or ¼ teaspoon ground fennel
- 60mls / ¼ cup water
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes , optional
INSTRUCTIONS
- Grate the onion and the carrot. The grater attachment on a food processor does this job quickly and easily.
- In a large bowl add the onion, carrot and garlic and mix well.
- Add everything else except the water and stir together really well making sure all the spices are distributed well then add the water and stir again. You should have a really thick batter.
- At this stage leave it to sit for at least 10 minutes but longer is fine.
- If cooking in the oven preheat to 400 °F (200°C). Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a Silpat and drop the mixture in roughly ⅓ cup amounts then flatten them evenly to about ½ inch thick. Cook for 20-25 minutes flipping them at halfway through the cooking time.
- If cooking on a griddle or in a fry pan, heat over a medium heat, add a little oil if you don't have a greta non-stick pan, then add roughly ⅓ cup amounts, flattening them evenly to about ½ inch thick. Cook for 5 - 6 minutes each side or until golden brown. You can keep them warm in a low oven while you finish them all.
NOTES
Storage: Leftover fritters will keep for up to 4 days in the fridge. They also freeze well. Allow to defrost then warm through in a frypan over medium heat or bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until heated through. They are also good cold!
NUTRITION
This recipe was originally published on May 23rd, 2017. I've updated the post and now I am republishing it for you. The recipe itself remains the same. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for following A Virtual Vegan!
Karen Taylor says
Absolutely delicious! Packed with lovely flavors. Love they are so healthy too.
Emma says
The idea is great but the amount of curry the recipe required unfortunately ruined it. The mixture was so bitter, it was inedible. I ended up throwing it all away.
I’ll try it again with 1/3 of the curry powder recommended, see if it’s any better
Tracey says
I agree about the bitterness from the heavy spices.. but I adjusted the curry, cumin & fennel to taste & serve these with raita and they are delicious.
Kay says
Loved this recipe. I froze a bunch of carrots and then used them for this. Works really well. I ended up making mine in an air fryer because that's what I had available at the time, but it worked really well.
Patricia Giannelia says
Hi Mel;
Haven't tried the recipe yet, but will soon - looks great, and I like that it can be baked or fried. You mentioned changing up the spices - I wonder what it would taste like if you completely changed them to a "carrot cake" suite of spices - ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc, to become a kind of breakfast or even dessert fritter?
I will try it at some point and let you know, but wonder if you already have....
A Virtual Vegan says
I wouldn't personally try it like that. I think chickpea flour has a really distinctive flavour that works for savoury recipes but not so well for sweet. Good luck to you if you give it a try though. I hope it works out!
Ruth w says
You refer to using flax seed but I don’t see it listed in the ingredients.
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm sorry, I retested the recipe and removed the flaxseeds. They turn out just as well without. I thought I'd caught all of the mentions of them but obviously not! It's all been corrected now. Thank you for bringing it to my attention!