Description
Enjoy delicious, pub-style crispy beer battered fish at home! This recipe uses white fish fillets coated in a light, super-crispy batter made with rice flour and cold beer, fried to golden perfection. Serve with tartare sauce, lemon wedges, and crispy fries for an authentic fish and chips experience.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Fish
- 700g / 1.4lb white fish fillets (skinless, boneless; e.g., flathead, snapper, whiting, cod, tilapia)
Dusting
- 1/4 cup rice flour
Crispy Fish Batter
- 3/4 cup plain/all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup rice flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup very cold beer (avoid dark beers; substitute: ice cold soda water + 1/4 tsp extra baking powder)
Cooking
- 4–5 cups peanut oil (or vegetable, canola, or cottonseed oil, for frying)
Serving
- Tartare Sauce
- Lemon wedges
- Homemade Crispy French fries
- Baked Potato Wedges
Instructions
- Prepare Fish: Pat the fish dry thoroughly using paper towels or a clean tea towel. Cut into 7 x 3cm (3 x 1 1/4 inch) batons or larger fillets as preferred. If fillets are thick, slice horizontally so they cook evenly.
- Dust Fish: Place 1/4 cup rice flour in a shallow bowl. While oil is heating (see next step), sprinkle 3-4 pieces of fish with a pinch of salt, then coat in the rice flour, shaking off excess. Leave them like this for up to 10 minutes if needed.
- Heat Oil: Pour 6cm (2-3 inches) of oil into a large, heavy-based pot and heat over medium-high until it reaches 190°C/375°F.
- Mix Batter: Just before frying, whisk together the plain flour, rice flour, baking powder, and salt. Add cold beer and gently whisk until just combined—do not overmix. Batter should be thin enough to coat the back of a spoon; add extra beer 1 tsp at a time if needed.
- Batter the Fish: Dip each piece of dusted fish into the batter, letting the excess drip briefly off.
- Fry Fish: Carefully lower fish, one piece at a time, into the hot oil away from you. Do not overcrowd the pot. Fry in batches for 3 minutes, flipping after about 2 minutes, until fish is deep golden and crisp.
- Drain: Remove fish and drain on paper towels. Repeat frying process with the remaining fish.
- Serve: Serve immediately while hot and crisp with tartare sauce, lemon wedges, and your choice of fries or wedges and a leafy green salad.
Notes
- Use only cold beer or water—keep in the fridge until just before making the batter.
- Rice flour is the key to extra crispiness; can be substituted with cornstarch or potato starch if needed.
- Best fish: white, flaky fillets like cod, flathead, snapper, hoki, barramundi, tilapia, haddock, or ling. Avoid very oily or meaty fish.
- Recipe makes extra batter to ensure proper fish coating; enough for up to ~1kg fish.
- For large batches, double fry: first batch 2.5 mins at 190°C, second fry 1 min at 200°C for ultimate crispiness.
- Fried fish should be eaten fresh—does not reheat well.
- Strain and reuse oil up to two more times for savory dishes.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
- Calories: 322
- Sugar: 1g
- Sodium: 112mg
- Fat: 17g
- Saturated Fat: 3g
- Unsaturated Fat: 14g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 11g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 28g
- Cholesterol: 65mg
