A Fritter With Real Substance
Most vegetable fritters are a side dish pretending to be a meal. Adding ground elk changes that entirely, turning them into a genuine high-protein breakfast that still eats light. The critical step is salting and draining the zucchini first — skip it and the fritters will steam in the pan instead of crisping.
Ingredients
Serves 4 | Cost: $8.25 per serving | Total: $33.00 | Ready in 25 min
- 350 g (12 oz) ground elk
- 3 medium zucchini, coarsely grated
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, for drawing out moisture
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 60 g (½ cup) almond flour
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, for frying
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
- Black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Draw out the moisture. Toss the grated zucchini with the teaspoon of salt in a colander and leave for 10 minutes. Then gather it in a clean tea towel and wring out as much liquid as you possibly can.
- Make the batter. In a large bowl, combine the drained zucchini with the ground elk, beaten eggs, almond flour, dill, cumin and plenty of black pepper. Mix until it just holds together when pressed.
- Rest the mixture. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes so the almond flour absorbs any residual moisture. If it still feels wet, add another tablespoon of almond flour.
- Fry in batches. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Drop heaped tablespoons of the mixture in, flattening each gently, and fry for 3–4 minutes per side until golden and cooked through. Do not crowd the pan.
- Drain and serve. Transfer the fritters to a wire rack rather than paper towel so the undersides stay crisp. Serve hot with lemon wedges and extra dill.
Nutritional & Dietary Notes
Dairy-Free
There is no milk, cream, butter or cheese in this recipe. Richness comes from the meat, the cooking fat and the aromatics rather than from dairy, which makes it a comfortable choice for anyone who is lactose intolerant or avoiding dairy altogether.
Gluten-Free
Every ingredient in this recipe is naturally free from wheat, barley and rye. If you are cooking for someone with coeliac disease, double-check any stock, sauce or spice blend you buy in, as gluten-containing thickeners and malt derivatives are common hidden additions in commercial products.
Paleo
This recipe sticks to whole, unprocessed ingredients: quality meat, vegetables, herbs, natural fats and spices. There are no grains, legumes, refined sugars or industrial seed oils, so it fits cleanly within a paleo framework.
Featured HOTRO.ca Product
This recipe is built around Ground Elk from HOTRO.ca. We source premium BC-raised and ethically farmed meats and slow-simmered bone broth, so the quality of the core ingredient does most of the work for you. Substituting a lesser product will change the result more than any other single change you could make to this recipe.
Crisp-edged fritters of ground elk and grated zucchini bound with egg and almond flour.