Holidays
Apple & Pumpkin Fritters
Prep
10 minutes
Cook
15 minutes
Yield
10 fritters
These apple and pumpkin fritters are sweet and savory. They're so perfect paired with your Thanksgiving or holiday meals as a side or appetizer.
If there are two ingredients that have fall written all over them, it’s apple and pumpkin. There is something so warming and comforting about these fall flavors with the cinnamon. However, I’ve got a fun twist on these fritters that you may not expect to taste so good together. We’ve made these into a sweet and savory concoction. You get the sweetness from the Cosmic Crisp® apples, pumpkin, and cinnamon, combined with the savory fresh herbs, red onion, and garlic. Just trust me on this one, it pairs so perfectly for fall.
❤️ Why You’ll Love These Apple & Pumpkin Fritters
- Quick: This recipe is so easy to make and will take only 10-minutes to prep, and under an hour to make from start to finish
- Sweet & Savory: This pumpkin fritters recipe combines both the sweetness of apples and pumpkin, with the savoriness of the herbs, garlic, and onion
- Holiday-Friendly: This fritter recipe would be so good as an appetizer or side dish for a holiday meal like Thanksgiving or Christmas
🍲 Ingredients
Apples – For this pumpkin fritter recipe, I used Cosmic Crisp® apples. These are the perfect apples for a sweet and savory recipe like this. This type of apple is a cross between the Enterprise and Honeycrisp varieties. They’re large, juicy, and are so firm and crisp. It”s the perfect balance of sweet and tart which pairs nicely with a sweet and savory recipe
Pumpkin – There is so much to do with a can of pumpkin puree, and it can seriously go so far. You can add it to oatmeal, and smoothies, make pumpkin spice lattes, cook with it, and bake with it, the options are endless. It’s also so good for you. It’s rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
👩🍳 How to Make Pumpkin Fritters
- Grate the apple on the large side of a grater and add to a medium bowl. Next add in the pumpkin puree, diced onions, fresh herbs, feta cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, cinnamon and mix.
- Beat the eggs with a fork or whisk and once combined, add to the apple mixture and stir.
- In a small bowl mix together the flour and baking powder, set aside.
- Finally add in the flour and baking powder mixture. Stir together until the mixture is combined and set in the fridge for 30 minutes before frying – this helps keep a more formed fritter when you fry.
- Once the mixture has been in the fridge for 30 minutes remove and give it another stir.
- When ready to cook, add olive oil to a non-stick frying pan, covering the entire bottom of the pan. Turn to medium-high heat.
- When the pan is hot, turn the heat to medium and start cooking the fritters in batches. Add the apple pumpkin fritter mixture, 3 tbsp at a time (for one fritter) into the pan and gently press down with the back of a spoon once in the pan to flatten slightly, the fritter should be about 1/2 inch thick. Fry for about 1 1/2 minutes per side, and then another 1 minute per side until golden brown on each side – you’ll know the fritter is ready to flip if the spatula can slide underneath the fritter easily.If the pan is getting too hot, continue cooking on medium-low.
- Add olive oil in between each batch if needed and wipe out any overly browned bits from the pan.
- Fry in batches until all of the dough is used. Serve with Greek yogurt.
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- Apple Mixture: If you find the apple mixture too loose, set it in the fridge for 30 minutes before working with it. You can also add 1 tbsp of flour at a time and stir to make it thicker
- How do I serve pumpkin fritters: I love to top these with Greek yogurt. You can serve these as a first course, an appetizer, or a side dish at your holiday or fall meal
🗒 Substitutions
- Gluten-Free: This recipe is naturally gluten-free. If you do need to add flour to thicken your apple mixture up, as mentioned above, then make sure to use gluten-free flour and you’ll be golden
- Vegan: If you want to make these pumpkin fritters vegan, substitute the feta with a vegan option, and serve with a plant-based yogurt or sour cream vs. the Greek yogurt
🗒 Best served with
- Pull Apart Cheese Bread: Great served as another appetizer with your meal
- Holiday Cheese Board: Another appy idea for the holiday season
- Winter Chopped Salad: A great apple recipe, and salad full of fall flavors that pairs nicely with these fritters
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Store in a sealed container in your fridge for 3-4 days, however, these are best freshly fried. When you’re ready to reheat, you can pop them into your toaster or toaster oven so they maintain a crisp.
🤔 Common Questions
I strongly advise that you use fresh. You can totally substitute these fresh herbs with other ones you have on hand, but fresh is best as it’ll give the best flavor to your fritters.
Put the mixture into the fridge for 30 minutes before forming and frying the fritters so they stiffen and stay together.
There are so many options. You can make homemade pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin pasta sauce, and pumpkin chocolate chip bread.
Apple & Pumpkin Fritters
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups Cosmic Crisp apples shredded
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup red onion diced
- 1/4 cup fresh mint chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh dill chopped
- 1 cup feta cheese crumbled
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- olive oil for frying
- greek yogurt for serving
Instructions
- Grate the apple on the large side of a grater and add to a medium bowl. Next add in the pumpkin puree, diced onions, fresh herbs, feta cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, cinnamon and mix.
- Beat the eggs with a fork or whisk and once combined, add to the apple mixture and stir.
- In a small bowl mix together the flour and baking powder, set aside.
- Finally add in the flour and baking powder mixture. Stir together until the mixture is combined and set in the fridge for 30 minutes before frying – this helps keep a more formed fritter when you fry.
- Once the mixture has been in the fridge for 30 minutes remove and give it another stir.
- When ready to cook, add olive oil to a non-stick frying pan, covering the entire bottom of the pan. Turn to medium-high heat.
- When the pan is hot, turn the heat to medium and start cooking the fritters in batches. Add the apple pumpkin fritter mixture, 3 tbsp at a time (for one fritter) into the pan and gently press down with the back of a spoon once in the pan to flatten slightly, the fritter should be about 1/2 inch thick. Fry for about 1 1/2 minutes per side, and then another 1 minute per side until golden brown on each side – you'll know the fritter is ready to flip if the spatula can slide underneath the fritter easily.If the pan is getting too hot, continue cooking on medium-low.
- Add olive oil in between each batch if needed and wipe out any overly browned bits from the pan.
- Fry in batches until all of the dough is used. Serve with Greek yogurt.
Video
Notes
- If the apple mixture is too loose once it’s sat in the fridge for 30 minutes, add 1 tbsp flour at a time and stir after each addition for a thicker fritter dough.
- If you love this recipe you’re sure to love Easy Greek Zucchini Fritters (Kolokithokeftedes) or our Greek Tomato Fritters (Tomatokeftedes)
this recipe does not say how many eggs to use .
it’s now been updated! Thanks for flagging that. Please let me know if you try this recipe.