Take advantage of your backyard weeds for free, delicious, and healthy wild food with these easy dandelion flower fritters.

Like most delicious recipes, these dandelion fritters come together with simple pantry ingredients. The only slightly unusual thing would be the foraged dandelion flowers.

As spring settles in and the dandelions bloom, be sure to harvest some for a different and fun side dish that can complement most any meal.

Harvesting Dandelions

For this recipe, you’ll need approximately 2 cups of freshly picked dandelion flowers.

You want to cut the dandelion heads when they are fully open.

Simply snip where the base of the flower connects to the step. You’ll be using the entire flower top for this recipe.

Give the dandelions a quick rinse under cool water or wipe with a damp cloth, like one would do with mushrooms.

Don’t get them too wet. But do remove any dirt, bugs, or anything else you might not want to ingest.

Let the surface water dry a bit – but also not terribly long. Don’t let the flowers close up.

Batter Options

This is a pretty straightforward deep fry batter. Nothing fancy but there are likely a few options to switch it up.

I didn’t test it, but I don’t see why a 1-to-1 gluten-free flour couldn’t replace the all-purpose flour in this recipe. A whole grain flour could also likely work.

A fine corn meal could likely replace the masa harina.

One bit of caution – different flours absorb liquid differently so add more or less milk as necessary.

Any milk – cow, goat, non-dairy will work go with your favorite or what’s on hand.

Honestly, this is a very easy recipe with which to make personal and experiment with to find what your family enjoys most.

Additional Flavor

Feel free to add up to a half teaspoon of dried spice to the batter (more or less to taste). Think, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, taco seasoning, etc. for a different kind of flavor profile.

Don’t skip or skimp on the salt and pepper. The flavor will be incredibly bland without the salt and pepper.

Make Them Sweet

Fritters can be savory as the recipe is written below, but they can also be sweet donut-like treats.

Because dandelion flowers do have a faint honey-like flavor, these fritters can lend themselves to the sweet variety.

Add a couple Tablespoons (more or less to taste) to the batter and fry as usual.

Dust with powdered sugar while still warm and serve.

Alternatively, serve with maple syrup for dipping.

Deep Frying

Use your favorite fat to deep fry the fritters.

Any vegetable oil would likely work. I opted for lard as I generally have some that I’ve rendered in the freezer and it’s inexpensive. It also does a fabulous job.

I used a cast iron skillet to the do the deep frying but any pot could likely work.

Do get the oil hot, around 350 degrees Fahrenheit for frying. Add just a few fritters at a time being sure not to crowd the pan and drop the oil temperature too much.

After frying, keep the cooked fritters on a towel to drain and in a warm oven while you finish frying so that they all stay hot for serving.

How to Serve

Serve the fritters while still warm for best flavor and crunch.

Plate them along with favorite dips like ranch dressing, honey mustard, salsa, etc.

Use fritters as a side dish alternative to things like french fries or chips.

These do not make good leftovers so be sure to eat them up in one sitting.

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Thanks for sharing!