This easy to make Beer Battered Fish is perfectly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Fresh cod fillets are dipped in a seasoned batter and fried until golden brown. Add some fries, and you have the perfect fish and chips platter made right at home!
My husband is a huge fan of fish and chips and so it’s no surprise that this dish makes an appearance on our dinner table from time to time. A classic Beer Battered Fish dinner is popular for a reason. It’s pretty hard to resist a plate of crispy battered fillets with French Fries and tartar sauce. It’s a delicious meal that is so well loved by many that there are entire restaurants that only specialize in making it.
This beer battered fish recipe is an easy one to make. You can use fresh or frozen (thawed) fish, which I love since frozen fish fillets are always in our freezer.
I opted to make this fried fish recipe with cod fillets since March 25th marks a special celebration for Greeks involving a delicious fried cod meal (made with salted cod) served with skordalia (a garlicky potato puree). That said, I have made this battered fish recipe year round with a number of different fish including halibut, haddock, or whatever fillets we happen to have on hand.
Be sure to check out my tips below for how to ensure crispy, delicious beer battered fish.
If you love fish meals as much as we do, you should also check out my Crispy Oven Baked Fish Recipe, Psari Plaki (Greek Baked Fish), Basa Fish Fillet with Lemon Brown Butter Sauce, or Almond Crusted Salmon recipes for some other fun and delicious ways to enjoy this versatile protein.
Ingredients in Beer Battered Fish
- Flour: a combination of all purpose flour and rice flour is used for the batter. The rice flour helps to crisp up the batter.
- Seasoning: salt and black pepper.
- Egg
- Beer: You can use any type of beer that you like. If you want to make this without alcohol, you can sub club soda.
- Fish fillet: Cod, halibut, haddock, or similar.
- Oil: for frying
**Note: Ingredient quantities and full instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.**
How to make Beer Battered Fish
- Make the batter. To make the batter, mix the all purpose flour, rice flour, and season it with salt and pepper. Then add the egg and beer and whisk together, working out most of the lumps.
- Prep the fish. Prepare the fish by patting it dry and seasoning it with salt and pepper. Coat the fish in the flour. This will help the batter stick to the fish better.
- Batter and fry. Heat a deep pan with oil (enough to cover the fish) over medium high heat. Dip each piece of fish into the batter and carefully place it into the hot oil to cook for a 3-5 minutes until it is golden brown and the fish is cooked through. Cook time will depend on the thickness of your fish portions. Cook in batches if the pan does not fit all of the fillets. Place the cooked fish on a plate lined with paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Serve.
Tips for getting the perfect Beer Battered Fish
Making beer battered fish is easy enough but ensuring it is crispy is not always easy. The batter can sometimes become soggy and that’s less than ideal.
- Use rice flour!
My trick to getting the perfect beer battered fish is using rice flour in my batter. It really is that easy. The rice flour helps get that crispiness and prevents the batter from getting really soggy.
I learned this a while back when I was on a gluten-free diet. I made this recipe using a gluten-free mix and was impressed with the results! You don’t need to use a gluten-free mix though. I do a mix of regular all-purpose and rice flour and it does the trick!
- Flour the filets first before dipping them in the batter.
If you have ever tried to batter fish (or anything else really) and found that the batter slides off and doesn’t coat it nicely, flour it first! Dip the fish in some flour and then the batter. The flour will help the batter stick.
- Make sure your oil is hot enough.
You will also need to make sure your oil is the right temperature. I cook mine on medium-high heat but you may have to adjust it. You don’t want the temperature too high and your batter cooks while the fish is still raw inside.
The oil temperature also shouldn’t be too low and the filet just sits in the pan absorbing oil and getting soggy.
Test out the oil temperature by adding a little bit of batter to the oil to see how it cooks. You could also try cooking one filet first to see if it is cooking too fast on the outside.
What to serve with Battered Fish
- Tartar sauce or skordalia (a Greek garlic-potato puree)
- French Fries are a classic but I also love serving with these Baked Potato Wedges for a baked option. You can also play around with healthier sides like Baked Green Bean Fries or Air Fryer Zucchini Fries.
- Coleslaw
- Turn the fried fish into tacos! Top them with a creamy coleslaw or pico de gallo.
- Salad. I love Radish Cucumber Salad, Easy Corn and Red Pepper Salad, or Traditional Greek Salad.
Storing leftovers and reheating
Leftover fried fish can be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated once it is cooled.
To reheat the fish, place it on a baking sheet and pop it in the oven at 350F, flipping it over to ensure even heating. While the fish won’t return to the same crispness as when it is freshly fried, baking it like this can help prevent it from getting soggy.
Hope you give this recipe a go and love it as much as we do! Bon appetit!
-Cathy
You may also like:
Basa Fish Fillet with Lemon Brown Butter Sauce
Sheet Pan Honey-Mustard Haddock and Roasted Vegetables
Panko Crusted Fish
Chili Lime Baked Fish Tacos
Beer Battered Fish
Ingredients
For the Batter:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup rice flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 large egg beaten
- 2 cups beer (can sub club soda if you like)
For the Fish:
- 4 fillets cod or haddock, halibut, or similar
- 1/4 cup flour
- salt and pepper
- oil for frying
Instructions
- To make the batter, mix the all purpose flour, rice flour, and season it with salt and pepper. Then add the egg and beer and whisk together, working out most of the lumps.
- Prepare the fish by patting it dry and seasoning it with salt and pepper. Coat the fish in the flour. This will help the batter stick to the fish better.
- Heat a deep pan with oil (enough to cover the fish) over medium high heat. Dip each piece of fish into the batter and carefully place it into the hot oil to cook for a 3-5 minutes until it is golden brown and the fish is cooked through. Cook time will depend on the thickness of your fish portions. Cook in batches if the pan does not fit all of the fillets. Place the cooked fish on a plate lined with paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Serve.
Notes
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
