Well seasoned moist fish fillets with a crunchy cornmeal crust. Ready to eat in less than an hour. Excellent with coleslaw, hush puppies, and fries. I like fried fish with homemade tartar sauce.
Fried fish is a popular meal on Fridays. This is true in Georgia where I was born and raised. In fact, the fish featured was fried on a Friday for dinner. Also whipped up home homemade tartar sauce. How cool is that?!
Before frying, the fish fillets are soaked in buttermilk for 20 minutes to decrease odor. This also makes fried fish fillets moist and tasty.
Batter contains fine grind yellow cornmeal provided by Bob’s Red Mill. Seasoned with salt, black pepper, and paprika.
These hacks help get rid of the fishy odor:
*Open kitchen window (summer or winter) while frying fish.
*Fill a medium sized pot with water. Add 3 tablespoons of distilled white vinegar. Boil while frying fish. Helps to drastically decrease fishy odor.
*After cleaning, spray a favorite air freshener. I use Glade’s Lavender & Peach Blossom.
Enjoy this easy recipe!
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 4 minutes |
| Servings |
servings
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- 2 large fish fllets I used tilapia.
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup fine yellow ground cornmeal I used Bob's Red Mill.
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided See recipe notes for seasoning alternatives.
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
- 1 teaspoon paprika, divided optional
- 1 cup vegetable oil for frying
Ingredients
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|
- Rinse fish. Shake off excess water.
- Place fish fillets in shallow dish. Pour buttermilk over fish. Cover dish with foil or lid.
- Soak 20 minutes. Shake off excess buttermilk.
- For seasoning, combine salt, black pepper, and paprika (if using). Season both sides of fish fillets with 1 teaspoon of mixture. Use more or less as preferred.
- Combine fine yellow cornmeal with remaining seasonings.
- Coat both sides of each fish fillet with cornmeal mixture. Set aside.
- Heat 1 cup of vegetable oil in a medium sized saucepan until sizzling hot, but not smoking.
- Carefully add coated fish fillets. Cook 4-5 minutes on each side. Thick fillets will require longer cooking time.
- Flip and cook another 4-5minutes (or longer if necessary) until golden brown. When done, inside of fish will be solid white.
- Drain on paper towels.
- Serve hot. Excellent with homemade tartar sauce, hot sauce, ketchup, or mustard.
If you want to fry more fish, this recipe is easily increased. Excellent seasoning alternatives are Old Bay and Season All Salt. Use either one instead of salt, pepper, and paprika.