Mucver Recipe (Turkish Zucchini Fritters)

We have several delicious mezze recipes in Turkish cuisine and mücver is just one of them. You have the best mezze platter when you have mucver, kisir, hummus and cig kofte on your plate.

What's your favorite food during summer? A savory food you are addicted to? One of ours is mucver, Turkish style zucchini fritters with crumbled feta cheese. They are perfectly golden on the outside and moist on the inside.

We love them with cacik, Turkish yogurt and cucumber dip. They make a perfect summer lunch/dinner together for everyone.

Oh and are you looking for more zucchini recipes? Check out our zucchini chips and zucchini tomato casserole too!

What is mucver?

Mücver is the name given to vegetable fritters in Turkey. You can create your own mucver recipe with any vegetable you want, but zucchini (courgette) is the most preferred one. It is very similar to making pancakes. 

A batter is made with grated or finely chopped vegetables, eggs, flour, herbs and feta cheese. Then you drop tablespoonfuls of the mixture in hot oil in a frying pan and fry the patties until golden brown.  

Zucchini fritters (kabak mücver) are very much like Greek kolokithokeftedes. They are a staple for almost everyone during summer months. They make a great light dinner, appetizer or even picnic food. It is such a versatile recipe that you can substitute zucchini with any other seasonal vegetables. 

Some examples could be carrots, potatoes and cauliflower. We have tried leek fritters, tomato fritters and corn fritters so far and we love them all.

Why Should You Make This Recipe

• Kids never refuse to eat zucchini in this form. 
• It is a great way to use up the zucchini pulp whenever we make stuffed zucchini. We scoop the center of zucchinis and store the pulp in the fridge to make mucver the next day.
• You can make mücver ahead of time.
• It tastes even better the next day. So having leftovers is great. Keep them in the fridge.

About The Ingredients

To make a classic mucver recipe, we need only a few ingredients. But you are always welcome to create your own version by adding more. 

• Zucchini: Any type of zucchini or courgette works fine. Just make sure to drain the juice well after grating them.
• For the batter base: We need eggs, flour and salt. We also use a little baking powder to have a bit of fluffiness in our mucver, but it is completely optional.
• Cheese: Use feta cheese  or Turkish beyaz peynir (white cheese) to have the authentic mücver recipe. If you can't find these, you can use salty and crumbly goat's cheese. We haven't tried but cottage cheese or ricotta might work too. If you have leftover feta cheese after making this courgette fritters recipe, make sure to store it properly in feta brine.
• Herbs: It is almost a must to use fresh dill in this recipe. But you can use fresh parsley or fresh mint too. If you can't find any of these, just use dried dill, parsley or mint. Also, you can add some green onions too.

Alternative add-ins:

More vegetables: We love our mucver to be colorful, so we often combine grated zucchini and carrots. Also, we add some finely chopped sweet red pepper in the batter. If you want even more flavor, you can add some grated onion or garlic as well.

Spices: If you want, you can add some spices like black pepper and pul biber (red pepper flakes), Aleppo pepper or paprika too.

How To Make

It is very easy and straightforward with a few steps. Prepare the veggies, make a batter and fry the Turkish fritters.

1. Drain the water of grated zucchini and carrots: Put them in a large bow or in a colander. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt over them and let them sit for 5 minutes. You will see that they will release their juice. Now you can simply squeeze them in batches using your hands. Or put them all in a cheesecloth and squeeze well. Make sure you remove most of the water.

2. Make the fritter batter: In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Add in squeezed carrot and zucchini, finely chopped red pepper, salt, crumbled feta cheese and chopped fresh dill. Then add in flour and baking powder. Give it a stir, just until everything is combined. If you think it is still runny, add an extra tablespoon of flour.

3. Fry your mucver patties: Heat oil (olive oil or vegetable oil) in a frying pan over high heat. It should be covering the base of the pan. Drop tablespoons of the batter into the hot oil but don’t overcrowd the pan. Gently flatten the batter you drop in the pan using the back of the spoon but don't worry too much about their shape.

4. Fry both sides until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer onto a paper towel lined plate to remove excessive oil. 

Tips

• Don't skip draining the water of grated zucchini and carrots. Try to remove as much water as you can.
• You can leave the baking powder out if you want. It gives just a bit of fluffiness and we love it.
• If you want your fritters thinner and crispier, make sure you drop the batter in the pan in a thin layer. You can gently press on the batter with the back of a tablespoon so that you have flat and crispy fritters.
• Test the oil in the pan and fry the fritters only if it is hot enough. You can check it by propping a pinch of flour in the hot oil. If it starts to sizzle immediately, it is ready. 
• Don't overcrowd the pan. They won't fry well otherwise.

Variations

If you are after an easier and healthier version, you can bake mucver in the oven. To do this, preheat your oven to 400 F /  200 C. Drop 2-tablespoon mounds of batter onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Spray their tops with oil and bake until golden, about 20-25 minutes.

How To Store

You can make these mucver ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Just let them sit on the counter for 15 minutes before serving.

To freeze, let the mucver patties completely cool down. Freeze them on a baking paper lined plate or baking sheet for an hour. Then transfer them into freezer bags and keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months.

To reheat, place them on a lined baking sheet and heat in the oven at 325 F / 160 C for about 10 minutes.

Serving Suggestions

You can serve zucchini mucver in several ways. It tastes great when served warm, at room temperature or cold. 

As an appetizer: You can pair it with any sauce you like. Our favorite way to serve them is with plain yogurt or homemade Greek yogurt. The flavors together are perfectly balanced.

In a mezze platter: Mucver is one of the best meze foods and always served with other mezes like haydari, fava dip, baba ganoush and many more.

As a side dish: You can serve it as a side dish paired with any chicken dish or meat dish like kofta kebab.

As a main course: You can serve mucver paired with a bowl of tomato salad or piyaz on the side just like we do when serving meatballs. These zucchini fritters could definitely be considered as vegetarian meatballs.

Picnic food: You can take mucver to a picnic. If you are preparing a vegetarian picnic menu, you might also want to check our lentil "meatballs" (mercimek koftesi). Both of these are very popular finger foods in Turkey.

More Meze Recipes

• Roasted Eggplant Salad
• Acili Ezme (Spicy Turkish Style Salsa)
• Imambayildi
• Stuffed Artichoke Bottoms
• Grilled Halloumi Cheese

More Zucchini Recipes

• Zucchini Stew
• Cheesy Zucchini Casserole
• Zucchini Balls

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