There are a few meals meals on which my husband and I can always agree. One of the easiest decisions: fritters. There's something wonderful about fritters. It might be the ability to make fritters out of almost anything or the fact that you can toss in herbs, grains, and cheese. I think it's the fact that fritters are perfectly crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. These carrot fritters are a riff on these cheddar cauliflower cakes. We always have carrots on hand, making these fritters an easy dinner win!
Add the that, a creamy vegan sauce. I love using sunflower seeds as a base because they are usually cheaper than cashews but make for a just-as-creamy sauce. This chipotle sauce is a staple for fitters, noodle bowls, and even tacos.
Brown Rice Carrot Fritters with Chipotle Sunflower Sauce
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Cuisine: dinner
Ingredients
Carrot Cakes:
- 1 cup uncooked short grain brown rice
- 1 clove garlic
- ¾ cup rolled oats
- 3 tablespoons cilantro
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups shredded carrots, squeeze of moisture
- ½ cup ricotta, drained if needed
- 4 large eggs
- 1 to 2 tablespoon olive oil, for cooking
Sauce:
- ½ cup soaked sunflower seeds
- ½ cup water
- 1 Chipotle in Adobo sauce
- 2 to 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons minced cilantro
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Cover the rice with 2” of water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook until the rice is cooked; 45 minutes or so.
- In the food processor, pulse the garlic into small pieces. Add the oats, cilantro, salt, and pepper until the oats are in fine pieces. Add in the brown rice and carrots, followed by the ricotta and eggs. Pulse the mixture a few times to combine the mixture. The carrots and brown rice should still be visible but broken down slightly.
- Place mixture in the refrigerator and allow to sit for 30 minutes.
- Warm the olive oil up over medium heat in a large skillet with lid. Wet your hands and form the mixture into patties that are roughly 1" thick and 4" wide. Place in the skillet and cook for 4 minutes, until browning and crisp. Flip, cover, and cook for another 4 minutes until crisp and warmed through.
- To make the sauce: combine the ingredients for the sauce in a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth, taste, and add more salt as desired.
Notes
Tips & Tricks: Use with leftover brown rice- it speeds up the cook time quite a bit!
Stock up: get the pantry ingredients you will need: carrots, brown rice, sunflower seeds
Nutrition: see the information.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 carrot cakes
- Calories: 460
- Sugar: 3.7
- Sodium: 501
- Fat: 19.3
- Saturated Fat: 5.5
- Carbohydrates: 56.1
- Fiber: 5.4
- Protein: 17.3
- Cholesterol: 201
Carrot Fritters
variations
One of the great things about vegetable fritters is that it's hard to go wrong with what kind of vegetable you use or the herb/spices you might toss into the mix. A few ways to update these carrot fritters include:
Root Vegetables: try shredding parsnips, rutabagas, or sunchokes to add or use in place of the carrots.
Sauce: use cashews or almonds in place of the sunflower seeds. Any nut or seed can be soaked and pureed- experiment to find your favorite.
Herbs: go in a different directions and ditch the cilantro for thyme, rosemary, chives, or parsley. Experiment with a mix of herbs.
Explore Carrots
Carrots are the perfect transitional produce. They help to add a pop of color during the spring and fall months when produce starts to transition. I love their slightly sweet flavor when paired with earthier ingredients. Also, I rarely peel carrots- just give them a good scrub!
Curried Carrot Soup
Ginger Brown Rice with Carrots
Grilled Carrots with Chermoula
Cristina says
Hi Erin, lovely recipe, I am going to try it. How long would you soak the sunflower seeds? A couple of hours will suffice?
I always appreciate that you are making unusual combinations to help me using up ingredients that sit forgotten in my pantry.
Are you planning to write another book in the future? I love your first two ones and I use them regularly, so I was just wondering if they're going to be in good company sometimes soon.
Have a nice day!
Erin Alderson says
I usually soak them for about an hour- they are pretty soft to begin with so they don't need long.
And thank you! I have a couple of book ideas I'm toying with but nothing solid right now- just hopefully more content for the site 🙂
Maria says
I have been known to throw health out the window when confronted with an amazing creamy chipotle sauce. Usually full of mayo and goodness knows what else. This version looks amazing!!! I literally cannot wait to try it! We are currently moving and have half of our stuff included high powered blender in storage. Do you think I could substitute cashew butter or sunflower seed butter for the soaked seeds and possibly adjust the h2o accordingly? Easy is the only name in the game for me right now;)
Erin Alderson says
I think you could! Probably just a touch less water and I'd probably halve the recipe as well.
Maria says
Thank you, Erin! Will give this method a try:)
Josh Bardi says
This recipe is amazing! I just made it at home to bring for the kids at home and they LOVE it!!! The whole dish was gone in less then 10 minutes. The kids now think I am an expert chef. Shhh... dont tell them I got the recipe from here.
Katy says
Hi Erin!
Have you tried freezing these? Just curious if they are sturdy enough before I make a mega batch later.
Love your site! 😉
Erin Alderson says
That's a good question! I have not but I think what might make the most sense is to use a tray covered in wax paper, spoon/smash the fritters, freeze on the tray, then transfer to a container after they've frozen!
Rachelle says
Hello! Question, does "1 chipotle in adobo sauce" mean that we should use 1 chipotle pulled out of the can, 1 whole can of chipotles in adobo, or 1 (measurement) of the adobo sauce that comes in the can with the chipotles?
Thanks!
Erin Alderson says
Good question! 1 chipotle with about 1 tablespoon of the sauce. If you're not a fan of heat, I'd recommend starting with about 1/2 the chipotle and increase as desired.