Without fail growing up every summer there would come a time when the zucchini in the garden would grow out of control, almost too numerous to keep up with. At that point you end up with a lot of zucchini bread and, if you’re lucky, a lot of fried zucchini, too. Thanks to my mom we never had to go without lovely, tasty, savory, fried zucchini.

This Southern treat is best when made with cornmeal and I won’t hear arguments to the contrary. The cornmeal offers a little bit of crunch to the breading and gives a subtle flavor.

Mixed in the cornmeal are plenty of savory spices and some all-purpose flour. While it is technically possible to make a breading without cornmeal, it’s just so much better with it!

For the wet part of the dredge, you want a mixture of both egg and milk. I find that too much egg not only makes the bowl of dry ingredients gloopy faster, it also doesn’t fry up as well. The best mixture is one egg with some milk in it. This keeps the dry ingredients sticking, but doesn’t add too thick of a texture to the various elements of the recipe.

The amounts listed in the recipe below are for 2 zucchini, but if you have some really big ones then you might need to double both the egg mixture and cornmeal mixture.

As for a dipping sauce we often have ketchup and I’ve included a pepper-spiced version in this recipe. But, if you prefer ranch dressing or dijon mustard then have at it. Any of these work really well with the fresh flavor and crisp texture of fried zucchini.

This is a dish that’s perfect all year ’round but which will always remind me of summer.