Butternut squash fritters put a fall spin on the classic Southern fritter. We jazz shredded butternut squash up with sharp cheddar and crumbled bacon before frying it to golden brown perfection and serving it with a drizzle of ranch!

Fritters are such a staple in the South during summer.

And to be honest I’ve never met a fritter I didn’t immediately love.

I’ve made quite a few too.

Carrot zucchni fritters, cheesy corn fritters, zucchini fritters with a chili lime mayo…

And now one of my new favorites- cheddar bacon butternut squash fritters!

These combine sweet, mild butternut squash with sharp cheddar cheese and crispy bacon for a side dish or an appetizer that everyone absolutely loves.

Especially when you serve them drizzled with ranch crema.

Yum!

What are fritters?

Fritters generally are a veggie, fruit, or even seafood dipped in batter and fried to golden brown perfection.

In the South, you see a lot of veggie fritters and apple fritters are a popular sweet fall fritter pretty much throughout the US.

Ingredients

To make these you’ll need:

Butternut squash– A small one peeled, chopped, seeded and shredded
Eggs– Beaten
Flour– All purpose
Cheese– Shredded sharp cheddar
Bacon– Either real bacon bits or crumbled cooked bacon
Salt and pepper– To taste
Canola oil– For frying
Ranch crema ingredients– Ranch seasoning mix, sour cream, lime juice, and water

How to Make

Making butternut squash fritters is pretty easy!

To do it, stir all the fritter ingredients together in a large mixing bowl with a spatula until a batter has formed.

Heat a large skillet up with a 1/4″ of oil over medium high heat.

When the oil’s hot, drop 1/4 cup fulls of the fritter mixture into the pan in batches of 3 to 4 fritters at a time.

Gently press each one down with a spatula to slightly flatten them.

Fry the fritters until they are just golden, and then flip them over and repeat on the other side.

Once both sides are golden, use a slotted spoon to remove the fried fritters from the oil and transfer them to a paper towel lined plate to drain.

Repeat until all the fritter batter is gone.

When the fritters are all made, whisk all the ingredients for the ranch crema together in a small mixing bowl until it is smooth.

Drizzle the ranch crema over the warm fritters just prior to serving.

Enjoy!

How to Shred Butternut Squash

Shredding the butternut squash is probably the most difficult part of making these fritters.

You could either peel the squash, cut in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds before shredding each half with a box grater.

Or you could cube the peeled, shredded squash and shred it in the food processor with the shredding disc.

Storing Leftovers

Store leftover butternut squash fritters in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or so.

Reheat in a hot oven or in a frying pan on the stove until warmed through.

Tips and Tricks

If you know you will be using a food processor to shred the squash, save yourself some work and buy the cubed butternut squash from the grocery store.
You could also buy pre-peeled halved butternut squash from the grocery store that you could shred in a box grater.
Be careful not to overcrowd the pan while you are frying your fritter. Cooking too many at once will drop the temperature in the oil and will prevent them from browning properly.

Other Fritter Recipes

Butternut squash fritters are a favorite fall twist on classic Southern veggie fritters.

Make them and enjoy!

Looking for other fritter recipes?

Try these:

If you’ve tried these BUTTERNUT SQUASH FRITTERS, or any other recipe on the site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and whatever else we’ve got going on!