Beer-Battered Zucchini Fries
41 comments » 
Beer. Battered. Zucchini. Fries.
I loooooove vegetables. Okay, not really. You know that, plus I don’t have a poker face (ask my mom, sister and Chief Culinary Consultant about my card-playing antics) and I can’t lie to you. I pour zucchini into baked goods. I stuff squash and peppers with sausage and cheese. I bake corn with copious amounts of cheese. Now I’ve discovered the world of beer-battered vegetables. This may have become my favorite way to eat any vegetable. Obviously, whoever the poster child is for eating your vegetables is in absolutely no danger of losing their job to me. But, oooooh boy, is this some crazy delicious zucchini.
I’ve had fried zucchini in a number of different ways before… battered, breaded and fried, straight-up fried like onion straws, in planks… You name it, I’ve tried it. These by far take the cake. I love them cut in the traditional French fry shape, which allows for much more batter per fry than something like a plank or a thicker cut. Less vegetable, more beer batter per bite? I’m sold. I also really enjoyed the beer batter versus a breaded version. It’s crispier and lighter and all-around amazing.
My mom had my aunt and uncle and cousins over yesterday for some family dinner time, and I made these zucchini fries for us all to munch on while we visited and let the grill heat up. Once they hit the table, they disappeared almost immediately. The batter stayed crisp and the zucchini inside was perfectly tender. Everyone raved about them and we all agreed that zucchini fries definitely need to happen again soon. And so they shall.
I need to eat my veggies, after all 
One year ago: Two-Ingredient Ice Cream: Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream
Two years ago: Mocha Cupcakes with Espresso Frosting
Three years ago: Pistachio Nut Ice Cream
Five years ago: Pasta Carbonara Florentine
Beer-Battered Zucchini Fries
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients:
2 to 3 medium zucchini, cut into ½-inch-thick fries
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 egg yolks
1 cup beer
2 quarts vegetable oil, for fryingDirections:
1. Whisk together the flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and vegetable oil. Drizzle the egg and oil mixture over the flour and mix together with a fork to create a shaggy dough. Slowly pour in the beer while constantly whisking, until a smooth batter forms. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (up to 4 hours) before frying.
2. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven until it reaches 375 degrees F. Working with one batch of zucchini fries at a time, drop them into the batter, making sure each one is coated. Using tongs, gently add them to the oil and fry until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel-lined pan. Allow the oil to come back up to temperature, and then repeat until all of the zucchini has been fried. Serve with ranch dressing or a spicy mayonnaise.
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These are the only way I will eat vegetables, too! I have to “hide” them
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Yum, these look delectable!! Love zucchini fires!!
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Anything beer battered is awesome in my mind! Love this!
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These look so yummy but I just can’t bring myself to fry things at home. It just doesn’t seem worth the fat calories. I save occasional special fry treats for dinner out and feel less guilty
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Wow…this looks fantastic. I like them very much. Beer batter is very special, I might try to use this batter to deep fry some other foods such as mushroom, sweet potato, shrimps, squid and more. Beer is really a great idea.
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It’s 8am and beer-battered fries sound great to me! Wish I was kidding
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what an awesome idea!! Definitely the best way I’ve seen to eat zucchini
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These are going onto our football-season-snacks list!
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Yum!! Great photo – and what a pretty platter
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Michelle on August 18th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Haha, yes! A successful shopping trip
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I like the looks of these. I wonder if I can get a similar result by baking them. Thanks for sharing.
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Absolutely insane! Is it lunch time yet? …and I’m supposed to be on a wellness kick-
rigggght.
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Oh my gosh I can almost taste that crispy coating…!
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Frying veggies is the best way to make sure you get your serving
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Michelle on August 18th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Amen!
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I love fried zucchini, but it’s so hard to find good fried zucchini, or anything for that matter, and yours definitely looks amazing. Wish I had some right now.
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I guess the zucchini bounty is getting to all of us! This weekend I made Tracey’s baked zucchini fries coated with panko–also very yummy. I loved the simple dipping sauce that went with it: 3 tbl. mayo, 1 to 1 1/2 tsp. sriracha sauce, and 1 tsp. of lime. Went really well with the zucchini. Will be posting it soon. I’m crazy about beer-battered anything, so will try this soon!
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Michelle on August 18th, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Hi Fran, I need to try that dipping sauce! So easy and sounds delicious! Thanks for reminding me of it, I did see it on Tracey’s site too!
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I actually really am a veggie lover although I admit to have a weakness for them when their battered and fried.
These look sooooo good.
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I’ve had zucchini fries before, and I adore beer battered regular fries so I can put two and two together to realize this must be great!
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These look amazing, what’s a girl to do with a garden full of zucchini well I usually make jelly but there’s only so much jelly a family could eat! These look great if I wasn’t I fried food ban this would be breakfast.
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Spanky on May 18th, 2013 at 1:01 pm
Lindsey: The zucchini jelly sounds so good. I think we are going to have a bumper crop of zucchini this year so I would love to have your recipe for jelly.
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I will definitely try this… I really love your pictures as well!
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I am all over anything with beer batter! I love zucchini on its own, but I would eat it by the pound this way!
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These look amazing! I love zucchini fries
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Yum, yum, yum
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Yum! I love the beer battered batter on these zucchini fries. Another great way to use up the zucchini
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I want a big plate full of these right now! With a side of honey mustard.
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Mmmm, these were so yummy! Thanks for posting.
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luv it thankxxxxxxxx
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Um, I’m with ya on the veggies. They’re generally only good when they’re fried, covered in cheese, or floating in heavy cream. <— Truth.
Adding beer to veggies and then frying them? Pure genius.
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I made these zucchini fries this weekend – they were AWESOME
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Did your oil bubble over? I tried making zucchini fries that used a wet batter before and my oil bubbled up and over my fryer. It was a mess!
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Michelle on October 5th, 2012 at 11:28 am
Hi Kim, My oil did not boil over. Make sure that you are using a big enough pot. I use my 7.25-quart Dutch oven for all of my frying and have never had an issue with spills.
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Neat! I’m wondering about baking them too-think it would work?
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Michelle on November 13th, 2012 at 9:18 pm
I have not tried baking these; I’m not sure how it would work with batter. Usually when foods are battered they are fried; you might want to try breading them – that would probably work much better in the oven.
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Michelle,
My gluten allergic Mom loves zuchinni so how would you substitute rice flour in this recipe? I was thinking rice flour and beer would be a really crispy match ? Your insights?
Thank you and we live very nicely on your recipes and suggestions. Best to all of you in 2013.
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Michelle on December 28th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Hi Suz, I don’t have any experience using rice flour in place of all-purpose, but it seems like it should be a fine substitution. You may need a little more of it if it’s lighter than regular all-purpose flour. Enjoy!
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Hi Michelle,
These are a perfect summer side! Would you be open to us featuring these on CraftBeer.com? I think they’d be super popular! Thanks! Meghan
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Michelle on April 11th, 2013 at 12:38 pm
Hi Meghan, Sure! Feel free to use the photo with a link back to the original blog post.
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I also throw in onion rings and yellow squash. Might try it with green beans. Am thinking seriously about doing baby beets this way. Think of the look on a person’s face when they bite into one of those! Of course they would have to be pre-cooked.
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