This fish fry is great with your favorite fish! Use this process to create a crispy layer over the tender fish fillet. Add some chips for fish and chips, some coleslaw for a bit healthier version and a tarter or cocktail sauce and you are ready for a great meal! We served our fish with our Crab Mushroom Bisque and it was delicious!
What Fish to Fry?
We tend to choose white fish with this recipe. Because this is a Minnesotan method for coating and frying the fish, they would have easy access to walleye and pike. It does work with trout or salmon as well, and we really like it with ocean fish. For this video, we’re coating some ling cod that Rene caught off the coast of Newport, Oregon!
Canola Oil vs Vegetable Oil
Vegetable oil isn’t quite as healthy as Canola oil. Canola can also cook at a higher temperature before reaching its smoke point. Because it has the higher smoke point, I can cook the fish at 350F to really get the crispy shell from the breading over the fish. If you do choose vegetable oil, you should lower temps to 300F. Because it cooks at the lower temperature, it will take an extra minute or two for the fish to cook through.
Fish Fry Tips
Rinse the fish in cold water and pat dry on a paper towel. This helps remove the external oils from the fillet which can cause the “fishy” taste.
To make the outer coating, smash the saltine crackers into tiny pieces. We prefer to use a food processor or coffee bean grinder to get a very fine powder. You can also smash these in a bag with a rolling pin and have great results. Because large chunks can fall off as you’re frying, make it as fine as possible. For 1-1/2 to 2 pounds of fish, you’ll use a full sleeve of crackers and possibly more.
Dip the fish fillet into the flour mixture and coat it completely. Next, let it swim in the egg wash for another full coating. Finally, dip into the saltine crackers for the final layer. I like to coat all of the fish before moving on to the frying stage. If you have a helper and a lot of fish, you can start frying while they coat the rest of the fish.
After coating the fillets, we use a deep fryer to cook them. If you don’t have access to one, use a deep pan and make sure the fillets submerge fully as they cook. Please consider a splatter shield to protect yourself (and your kitchen) from the popping oil. In addition, a slotted spoon is a must to not transfer too much of the oil with the fillets when they are done.
Wine Time
Traditionally, fish is white wine territory, and you’re pretty safe sticking to a Chardonnay. If you prefer red, a Pinot Noir can play into the breading and fried flavors. If you serve with cocktail sauce instead of tarter sauce, you can actually pair some bigger reds as well, such as a nice Zinfandel. Or, you can follow the lead of the Brits and the Irish and just pour a nice pint of ale to go with these… hard to beat a beer with fish and chips!
Fish Fry
Course: Entrees, Recipes, SeafoodCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy4
servings30
minutes15
minutes585
kcal45
minutesCrispy breading around the flaky fish of your choice. Delicious!
Ingredients
2 pounds fish
1 sleeve saltine crackers – crushed
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Canola or vegetable oil for frying
2 eggs
Directions
- Cut fish into small fillet size pieces
- Mix flour, salt and sugar together in a bowl
- Beat eggs together in a separate bowl
- Crush the full sleeve of saltine crackers and place in a third bowl
- Rinse fish in cold water and pat dry with a paper towel
- For each fillet, first coat with the flour mixture, then dip into the egg wash, and finally coat with the saltine crumbs
- Heat oil to 350F
- Slide fish into oil one at a time and give each fillet a few seconds to cook so the outer layer can crisp a bit. This keeps them from sticking together. You can probably cook 2-3 fillets at a time depending on how big your fillets and/or fryer are
- Remove fillets from fryer when fish is done (usually 4-6 minutes). Fish should be flaky and coating should be browned and crispy. Place on a paper towel to allow excess oil to drip from the fillets