Fried courgette flowers (in beer batter)

You’ll love this recipe for courgette flowers fried in beer batter because they’re so wonderfully crispy on the outside while remaining mouthwateringly soft on the inside! They’re perfect as a starter or first course on any summer dinner menu. Alternatively, you could serve them to your guests as finger food, along with a good bottle of wine. Fried courgette flowers taste divine, especially when fried in beer batter.

The ingredients are simple: just beer, flour, a little oil and salt. Unless you’ve lived in Italy or have been lucky enough to have eaten them in an Italian restaurant, it might strike you as strange to eat flowers. But believe me, they’re quite a delicacy for the Italians. And the Italians know their stuff when it comes to cooking! In Italy, they are called fiori di zucca in pastella or fiori di zucca fritti and they are often served as an antipasto.

This battered courgette flower recipe is quick and easy to make. Wash and trim the flowers, mix the batter, dredge the flowers through the batter, and then fry until golden and crispy! Below, you’ll find instructions for both shallow and deep frying.

What do courgette flowers taste like?

Well, they’re like nothing else I’ve ever tried, so it’s difficult to describe the taste. Courgette flowers are quite delicate in flavour – it’s the batter that brings out the best in them. If you can get your hands on some fresh flowers, try this recipe, and you’ll find out for yourself! Be careful, though – they’re addictive!

How to cook courgette flowers? In a delicate, crispy batter!

Without a doubt, the best way to cook courgette flowers is to batter-fry them. Maybe it’s not the healthiest dish in the world, but if you’re going to eat courgette flowers, you might as well do it properly! I rarely eat fried foods, but when I do, I don’t compromise – no trying to do them in the oven or the air fryer. Some things just have to be fried. If you can’t eat fried foods, there’s not much point in making these – it’s probably better to choose another, healthier dish.

Where can you buy courgette flowers?

This depends on where you live. In Italy and Mediterranean countries, they are found in abundance during the summer months. You’ll find them at markets, greengrocers and supermarkets. In Northern Europe and America, they might be a little harder to find. If you have a vegetable garden, you could grow your own. If courgettes will grow in the climate where you live, those courgette plants will produce the flowers you want. With the added bonus of being able to eat the courgettes afterwards too!

Which courgette flowers are edible?

All of them! As the name suggests, courgette flowers are the flowers that the courgette plant produces. They are also known as zucchini flowers or zucchini blossoms in America. In Italy, they are called “fiori di zucca“, even though “zucca” means squash or pumpkin. In fact, it’s not only the courgette plant that produces flowers. Also, marrow plants and pumpkin or squash plants yield edible blossoms. In the Mediterranean, they are all used culinarily. So, if you’ve got courgettes or pumpkins growing in your vegetable garden, don’t let the flowers go to waste!

Male vs female courgette flowers

Both the male and female flowers are used culinarily, and all parts of the bloom are edible. It’s best to remove the stigma on the female flower because it has a rather bitter taste. It doesn’t matter whether you use the male or the female flowers for this (or any other) recipe. They taste the same. However, if you are growing your own and you want to eat the courgettes too, it would be wise to only eat the male flowers. Harvest them all, leaving just one or two for pollination. After pollination, they would just wither away and die anyway, so it’s a shame to waste them. The female flowers have a swelling at the base, which would eventually become a courgette, whereas the male stems are straight.

I eat the female flowers too. But I wait until the flower has fully opened and started to close again before picking them. By this time, the growing courgette will be about 10 cm long, and the flower will drop off in a day or two anyway – its job is done, and the courgette will carry on growing nicely on its own.

Tips for cooking courgette flowers

1. Keep the recipe simple.

2. Use the flowers on the same day as you buy or pick them – they deteriorate quickly.

3. Use a light batter like the one I use for this recipe. Make sure the beer is ice cold and that you mix the batter well so that there are no lumps in it.

4. Use fresh, good-quality frying oil, like sunflower seed oil, which doesn’t burn easily.

5. Make sure the oil is hot enough. If you’re not sure, test it by putting a drop of batter in the pan.

6. After frying, place the courgette flowers on 2 or 3 layers of kitchen paper. This will soak up the excess oil.

7. Serve them immediately.

How to make battered courgette (zucchini) flowers

You’ll find the exact quantities of each ingredient as well as step-by-step instructions with photos in the recipe card at the bottom of this page.

How to clean and trim courgette flowers

If you grow your own courgettes and you pick the flowers in the morning, they’ll be open. Take advantage of this to check for any insects. I once had a bumble bee drop out of the fridge when I opened the door. I took it back to the garden, but all that could have been avoided by checking the flowers first. Bees sometimes take a rest in them. Shop-bought flowers will be closed.

Some people leave the stems on. Personally, I don’t because it means you have to prise each flower open and remove the stigma with your fingertips, which is tricky and takes longer. The flowers are delicate and tear easily. So, rather than trying to cram my hand in there, I prefer to slice off the base of the flower near the stem. That way, the sigma drops out of the stem end, and the flower remains intact.

Remove the five flower sepals that surround the base near where the stem was. Wash the flowers carefully and gently pat them dry. Water will cause them to spit in the pan. Some people don’t wash them. It’s a matter of personal preference.

Beer batter

Beer batter gives an amazing taste to these fried courgette flowers. No water, no milk, no eggs. Just flour, oil, salt and beer. All-purpose flour will do the trick here. For a gluten-free version, use your favourite gluten-free flour blend. Beer batter is very quick and simple to make and doesn’t need to stand before you use it. For an even crispier result, you could do what I did and substitute a fifth of the normal flour with rice flour. If you don’t have rice flour, don’t worry – they’ll turn out fine if you use just normal all-purpose white flour. If you don’t want to use beer, you can substitute the beer with freezing-cold sparkling water. Still water also works, but it must be very cold.

What type of beer for the batter?

You would be better off using a light beer, like a lager, for this recipe. Darker beers, like English bitter beers, are a little too intense in flavour. The strong beer flavour would end up masking the flavour of the delicate courgette flowers. I recommend using lager in this recipe.

A little word about salt

Don’t skip this thinking “salt is just salt” because it’s not. I only ever use one kind in the kitchen. Natural unrefined sea salt. I use Guérande grey sea salt, which is hand-harvested in the Guérande region of France. In appearance, it looks a bit grey and slightly damp. These are its natural characteristics because it hasn’t been stripped of its minerals like the devitalised white table salt most of us have in our kitchens. If you compare common white table salt and natural unrefined sea salt by putting a bit on your tongue, you’ll find that the latter has a milder and more pleasant taste.

Because unrefined sea salt contains dozens of naturally occurring minerals and elements, the sodium chloride content is lower. Manufacturers refine salt to make it “clean” and white and to increase its shelf life. To do this, they use chemicals. Our foods were not meant to be stripped of some things or to have other things added to them. Foods should be eaten as close to their natural state as possible. So change the salt you use in the kitchen today – you’ll be really glad you did! If you don’t like the grey colour in your transparent salt mill on the table, you can use Himalayan salt for that purpose. Pink is undoubtedly prettier if you have guests, and Himalayan salt is still better than supermarket table salt.

How to make vegan beer batter

I use 1/5 rice flour and 4/5 plain all-purpose flour because I love the extra crispiness that rice flour gives to the batter. You can use 100% plain all-purpose flour – the results will still be perfect. Mix the two types of flour. Add the salt and the oil, and the ice-cold beer last. Working quickly, beat the mixture with a manual hand whisk until thick and smooth and there are no lumps left. Don’t use an electric blender! And don’t overbeat the mixture – it will activate the gluten, and you don’t want that!

You’ll find the exact quantities of each ingredient for the beer batter as well as step-by-step instructions with photos in the recipe card below.

How to fry courgette flowers – Shallow frying method

• Make sure the courgette flowers are dry. Otherwise, the oil will spit when you put them in.
• For frying, I use good-quality sunflower seed oil or deodorised coconut oil. A few millimetres of oil in the bottom of a shallow frying pan is perfectly adequate. You can always add a little more oil if necessary.
• Dredge the flowers through the batter, making sure you coat them well. Hold them vertically for a couple of seconds to drain off the excess batter.
• Ensure that the oil is hot but not smoking before placing the battered flowers in the pan. Don’t overcrowd the pan, or the courgette flowers will end up sticking together.

• When the fried courgette flowers are golden brown on both sides, lift them out with a slotted slice and place them on a couple of sheets of absorbent kitchen paper. For the recommended frying temperature and cooking time, see the details below in the recipe card.

How to fry courgette flowers – Deep frying method

• Use a fryer or a pan with high sides.
• You can use any kind of oil that is suitable for frying, i.e. oils with a high smoke point. I don’t fry foods very often because it’s not healthy, but when I do, I use sunflower seed oil. Avocado oil is also good, but it’s far more expensive.
• The easiest and safest way to check whether the oil is hot enough is to use a thermometer. If you don’t have one, stick the end of a wooden spoon into the oil. If you see a lot of bubbles form around the wood and they start to float up, your oil is ready for frying. If it is bubbling hard, the oil is too hot – let it cool a bit and check the temperature again. No bubbles dispersing around the spoon? Then it’s not hot enough. Try it again after a minute or so and keep testing until you get bubbles.
• It’s best to fry the flowers in batches in a single layer. Don’t overcrowd the pan.
• Make sure the flowers are dry. Then, one at a time, dredge them in the beer batter, coating them well. Hold them vertically for a couple of seconds to drain off the excess batter, and lower them into the hot oil. Fry for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown, turning them once.
• Once the courgette flowers are golden brown and crispy, remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon and place them on absorbent kitchen paper to drain off any excess oil.

The best way to serve beer-battered courgette (zucchini) flowers

Serve your battered courgette flowers whilst they are still hot! Transfer the fried courgette flowers to a serving plate lined with clean sheets of kitchen paper and serve immediately. In Italy, they are served as an antipasto (appetiser or starter) or as an aperitivo. They need nothing more than a good glass of wine, preferably a sparkling white or prosecco, and good company! Buon appetito!

How to keep leftover fried courgette flowers

Battered courgette flowers are best enjoyed piping hot as soon as they come out of the pan. I struggle to imagine anyone having any left over. At our place, they’re gone in a flash. Fried courgette flowers don’t keep that well, unfortunately. If you do have some left, you can keep them out on the counter for a few hours, after which, if they haven’t disappeared, it’s best to put them in the fridge. Leave them on the absorbent kitchen paper on the plate and place them covered with another sheet of kitchen paper in the fridge. Finish them off within 24 hours.

Can you freeze fried courgette flowers?

Yes, you can freeze fried courgette flowers, but there are some things you should bear in mind. Firstly, allow them to cool completely to avoid excess moisture when freezing. Take care to freeze them in a single layer and make sure the flowers aren’t touching each other. That way, once frozen, you can transfer them to a zip-lock freezer bag. Properly frozen, the flowers should maintain their quality for up to 1-2 months. While you can freeze courgette flowers, the texture of the batter won’t be as crispy as when freshly fried, but it can still be a good way to preserve leftovers.

To reheat

When you’re ready to eat them, get them out of the fridge or freezer (allow them to defrost partially) and reheat them in the oven on a sheet of baking parchment at a high temperature to help restore their crispiness. Another option would be to heat them up gently in a frying pan (no oil required). In just a couple of minutes, they’ll be nice and crispy again. Avoid microwaving, as it may make the batter soggy.

I’m sure you’ll love this recipe for beer-battered courgette flowers! If you try it, I’d love to hear about it! Let me know in the comments below, or take a quick pic and share it on social media. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram or Facebook @vegan_hot_stuff – I love seeing your re-creations!

I hope you enjoy this recipe! If you try it and like it, leave a comment below – I’d love to hear from you!

Before you go, why don’t you check out some other delicious vegan recipes…

:

Would you like to receive my recipes as soon as I publish them? Subscribe below!