Southwest Zucchini Patties
with Charred Corn Salad, Lime Crema & Hot Sauce
- Eggs
- Milk
- Wheat
It’s hard NOT to love any ingredient when it’s fritter-fied, aka covered in batter and cooked until perfectly golden. Tonight’s patties star zucchini mixed with Monterey Jack cheese and Southwest spices to create the ultimate batter. They’re shallow-fried pancake-style until crispy, then laid over charred corn salad (aka your favorite Mexican street food-inspired side) and topped with a drizzle of lime crema and hot sauce. Now comes the most challenging part of the meal: stacking a little bit of everything on your fork at once to create the perfect bite!
Ingredients
2 unit
Eggs
(Contains: Eggs)
4 tablespoon
Sour Cream
1 unit
Zucchini
1 teaspoon
Ancho Chili Powder
¼ cup
Monterey Jack Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
1 unit
Tomato
1 unit
Lime
2 unit
Scallions
2 tablespoon
Southwest Spice Blend
1 teaspoon
Hot Sauce
½ cup
Flour
(Contains: Wheat)
1 unit
Corn
Not included in your delivery
4 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
2 tablespoon (tbsp)
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry all produce. • Trim and grate zucchini on the largest holes of a box grater. Place grated zucchini in the center of a clean kitchen towel or a couple layers of paper towels and toss with a big pinch of salt; set aside. • Drain corn and pat dry with paper towels. Zest and quarter lime. Dice tomato. Trim and thinly slice scallions, separating whites from greens.
• Heat a drizzle of oil in a large, preferably nonstick, pan over medium-high heat. Add corn and half the chili powder (you’ll use more in the next step); cook, stirring occasionally, until corn is charred, 4-6 minutes. TIP: If corn begins to pop, cover pan. • Turn off heat; transfer to a large bowl. Stir in 2 TBSP butter (4 TBSP for 4 servings) until melted. Set aside to cool. TIP: To help cool your corn down quicker, refrigerate until ready to use in step 3.
• While corn cools, in a small bowl, combine sour cream with a squeeze of lime juice and lime zest to taste. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in water 1 tsp at a time until mixture reaches a drizzling consistency. • Once corn has cooled to room temperature (or colder if you like), stir in tomato, scallion whites, a squeeze of lime juice, and remaining lime zest to taste. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add another pinch of chili powder to taste if you like things spicy. Toss to combine.
• Gather towel with zucchini into a tight bundle and squeeze over sink to remove any excess moisture. Repeat until zucchini is very dry. • Transfer zucchini to a second large bowl. Crack one egg* (two eggs for 4 servings) into bowl. Add Monterey Jack, Southwest Spice, and flour. Add 1 tsp oil, ½ tsp salt, and pepper. (For 4, use 2 tsp oil and 1 tsp salt.) Stir until flour is fully incorporated and batter is thoroughly combined. TIP: Batter should be thick but not dry. Add water 1 TBSP at a time as needed.
• Heat a large drizzle of oil in pan used for corn over medium-high heat. Place two ¼-cup scoops of batter into hot pan. Gently press each to flatten. Cook until lightly browned and crisp, 4-6 minutes per side. • Transfer zucchini patties to a paper-towel-lined plate. • Repeat process with remaining batter, adding a drizzle of oil between batches if necessary.
• Divide corn salad between plates. Top with zucchini patties. Drizzle with lime crema and hot sauce to taste. Garnish with scallion greens. Serve with remaining lime wedges on the side.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the zesty Southwest spices and lime crema, though some found the patties bland and wanted more cheese.
- Ease of prep: Several found it time-consuming to dry the zucchini and cook the patties evenly; charring corn was tricky for some.
- Suggestions: Consider adding black beans or peppers to the corn salad; use fresh corn if possible for better flavor.
- Portions: Some felt it wasn't filling enough as a main dish; adding a side like rice could make it more substantial.
- Texture: A few found the patties dense or mushy inside; cooking on lower heat or making them thinner may help crisp them up.
Reviews from our home cooks
Incredible flavor and texture! The bed of corn salad was delish. The creama was a nice acidic touch to tie every bite together. A great summer meal because we didn't have to use the oven!
Soooo good. I thought the corn salad was awesome, and I hadn't made something like that before. I just left it out while cooking the patties, and it was room temperature when I finished. I also added my scallion greens to the batter, to give it a little pajeon moment. And I skipped the sour cream, out of personal preference - I hate sour cream. But this was fantastic!!
Awesome meal. The patties turned out much better (and easier to make) that we expected. Ingredients were fresh. We didn't quite char the corn because my husband is not a big fan of charred dishes. The dish was still delicious.
Our first time making zucchini fritters/patties. So delicious with the charred corn! Next time I'll know to make 4 patties instead of just 2, because I think they'll cook faster and more evenly that way.
A new favorite! I have learned though that i need to season lightly and taste as you go along.... The southwest seasoning is super-spicy, i typically use less than 1/2 the recommended recipe amount for it to be edible.
We typically don't like the creamy sauces but this dish was surprisingly good even without. I added some of the seasoned corn into the patties to keep it from getting too dry. Even my son who hates zucchini enjoyed it.
This is one of our favorite recipes EVER. My kids and I said we were going to have to set up a cage fight for the leftovers. I won :). We would, however, reduce the corn and add some sweet peppers or black beans or avocado to the corn salad. Amazing flavor...just a few too many starchy carbs. Excellent, though!!!
Good flavors but the zucchini patties were a little difficult. It was hard to get the zucchini to dry and it made a mess. The cooking of the patty was a little tough too. The inside of it was a little mushy while the outside was charred even after thurning down the heat.
I thought this meal would be too small, but it was just right! The zucchini patties turned out crispy, which is exactly what I was looking for!
These were very good. Zucchini patties are hard to not make eggy and these certainly were not.
