These Cauliflower Fritters are made with riced cauliflower, cheddar, and ranch seasoning! These are perfect for dunking in ranch or ketchup and my kids love them just as much as I do.
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One of the things that I love about eating low carb is the freedom to enjoy ranch dressing without the guilt.
As you may have noticed, I have a bit of a thing for ranch.
I’m from the Midwest, you know. Ranch flows through my veins. 😉
These cheesy ranch cauliflower fritters are a total hit with my ranch-obsessed family. I mean…how can you go wrong?!
Obviously, I’m a bit of a ranch connoisseur, so I hope you’ll give my keto ranch dressing a try. It’s unbelievably good and the perfect thing to dip these cauliflower fritters in!
The edges of the cauliflower fritters are nice and crispy while the inside melts in your mouth. These make a great side dish that you can eat with your hands or with a fork!
What are Cauliflower Fritters?
A fritter recipe is a type of fried or shallow-fried food made with a variety of ingredients including vegetables and sometimes meat or seafood that’s been combined into a batter or binding mixture and shaped into patties.
The patties then get fried until they are golden brown and crispy, like our keto crab cakes! Most fritter recipes make use of flour or breading, but not these low carb cauliflower fritters!
These fritters make a great side dish, appetizer, or snack. They’re nice and cheesy and the ranch seasoning adds lots of flavor.
Cheesy Ranch Cauliflower Fritters
Ingredients
- 12 ounces riced cauliflower
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup shredded cheddar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- ½ teaspoon dried chives
- oil for frying
Instructions
- Add the cauliflower to a microwave safe bowl along with 2 tablespoons of water. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and microwave for 3 minutes. Carefully remove the plastic wrap and drain the liquid from the cauliflower. Let cool for 5 minutes.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients aside from the oil to the cauliflower and stir well to combine.
- Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a large skillet over medium heat.
- Once hot, use a cookie scoop to scoop out the cauliflower mixture and drop the mixture into the hot skillet. Use a spatula to slightly flatten the fritter. Repeat with remaining mixture, being sure not to overcrowd the pan. You’ll likely need to work in batches.
- Cook for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Flip and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Serve with extra ranch for dipping, if desired.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Ingredient Notes:
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Cauliflower Rice – I’m ricing my own cauliflower with a food processor. It’s fresh and easy but you can still use the pre-riced kind from the store. I have not tried this with frozen riced cauliflower, but I think it’d work fine.
Cheese – I’m using shredded cheddar for these cheesy cauliflower fritters. You can grate your own from a block for the best flavor or you can also use other varieties like Parmesan cheese.
Eggs – The egg will help bind everything together.
Herbs & Seasoning – This is pretty much just a simple ranch seasoning mix. You’ll need garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, dried dill, and dried chives. You could also just use a tablespoon or two from a dry ranch seasoning packet instead of mixing your own!
Oil – I recommend using avocado oil, because of the neutral flavor and high smoke point. It’s a healthier oil than vegetable or canola oil, but those will work if that’s what you have on hand.
- Texture: We love the crispy exterior you get when you fry these cauliflower fritters up! It’s got just the right amount of crisp with the softer cauliflower interior.
- Cheese: Ranch and cheddar were made for each other and these cheesy cauliflower fritters don’t skimp on the cheddar.
How To Make Cauliflower Fritters:
- Cauliflower Rice – This recipe comes together really easily! I start with a head of cauliflower or chopped cauliflower florets and then rice it in the food processor.
- Steam – Add the cauliflower rice to a microwave safe bowl with a tablespoon of water, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave for 3 minutes. Drain the water and let the rice cool a bit. I have NOT tested this with frozen cauliflower rice, so I can’t say how well that would work but my guess is that it will work great.
- Combine- Stir the steamed cauliflower rice together with some freshly shredded cheddar and the eggs.
- Seasoning – Prepare a simple homemade ranch seasoning by mixing together the garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, dill, chives, and salt. You could use a packaged ranch seasoning but I wanted to keep this recipe a little more clean for my keto friends! Add to the cauliflower mix.
- Scoop – Once the batter is well stirred, use a cookie scoop to drop scoops of the mixture into a frying pan with a bit of hot avocado oil.
- Cook – Let the cheesy ranch cauliflower fritters fry in the hot oil for about 5 before flipping and cooking for another 5 or until the fritters are crispy with a nice golden brown color!
- Serve – These cheesy cauliflower fritters are best served hot with some ranch dressing for dipping!
Tips & Tricks:
You’ll notice that the cauliflower mixture doesn’t hold together super well after stirring.
To keep the fritters together, I use a cookie scoop to scoop out a portion of the mixture and pack it in so that it holds together a little better.
After dropping the mixture in the oil, use a spatula to gently flatten into patties. If the fritter falls apart, just use the spatula to shape it all back together.
FAQ’s:
You can keep any leftover cheesy ranch cauliflower fritters stored in an airtight container in the fridge for about 4 days. You can also freeze them for up to a month, but the crispy texture won’t be quite the same after reheating.
Although I have not tried it with this recipe I think that it would be fine to use frozen cauliflower rice!
MORE FAVORITE RANCH RECIPES!
As I said, ranch dressing is a staple here in the Midwest and I add it to many things! Try out some of my other favorite ranch recipes:
- Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza
- Keto Crackers (with Bacon Ranch Cheese Ball!)
- Grilled Ranch Chicken
- Broccoli Fritters (For dipping in ranch!)
- Ranch Wings
- Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza
Be sure to try this buffalo chicken pizza drizzled with ranch too!
sherry mendoza says
I made them and they were soooo good. I did use frozen rice cauliflower. I thawed it out and squeezed the water out of it!
Karly Campbell says
Thanks for sharing! I’m so glad these turned out with frozen cauliflower!
Sally says
Why does the broccoli fritters use almond flour and these have no flour?
Karly Campbell says
They’re two different recipes. I didn’t just swap the broccoli for cauliflower. 🙂
Sally says
i figured it was a different recipe, just wondering why no flour in one fritter, but is in the other….thank you for the response….
Karly Campbell says
Hi Sally – it’s just different methods. One is made in the food processor, one is left with bigger chunks. 🙂
annette says
I am going to try and bake these in the oven…anyone else tried that?
Karly Campbell says
I tried once and didn’t have much success.
Tami says
Do these keep in fridge and how do you reheat
Karly Campbell says
We’ve only made these fresh. They would probably reheat fine in the oven, but we haven’t tried. 🙂
Ofelia says
DID NOT WORK … they were good but definitely didn’t look like the picture and I expected so much more 🙁 on to the next recipe …
Karly Campbell says
I’m sorry they didn’t work for you. What exactly went wrong?
Debbie Rohrback says
I didn’t see where the recipe actually called for ranch. The comment was use it as a dipping sauce if desired. Why are they called ranch fritters?
Karly Campbell says
The seasonings in the fritters are a homemade mix of ranch seasoning.
Ginny Moore says
Can you use the frozen riced Cauliflower
Karly Campbell says
I haven’t tried, but I think it would work fine.
Patty in CO says
Has anyone tried making these in a mini waffle maker? I may try it and see if it holds together once the cheese melts.
Sandy says
Pooh! Please let us know how it goes!!
Connie says
Would love to know if that works. Update when you do please!
Karly Campbell says
Great idea! Let us know how it goes.
Melanie says
Has anyone tried these in an air fryer? If so, temp and for how long ?
Sandy says
I’d love to know that too!!
Jane Clifton says
Me too
Lynndene Way says
Could the recipe for Cauliflower Fritters be made in an Air Fryer?
Karly Campbell says
I’ve never tried.
karen says
I LUV fritters of any kind1 so thank you for this recipe. As for ranch seasoning: since i am single I picked up a ranch seasoning recipe and use that whenever I want the dressing or just the herbs as in this recipe. It is very convenient. Like having an italian or Mexican or curry spice mixture ready to hand.