Description

This Crispy Beer Battered Fish recipe delivers perfectly golden, light, and crunchy fish fillets with a delicate, airy batter. Using ice-cold beer and rice flour creates an irresistibly crisp coating that stays crunchy for up to 20 minutes. Serve with tartare sauce, lemon wedges, and crispy fries or baked wedges for a classic and satisfying meal perfect for a quick weekday dinner or casual lunch.

Ingredients

Scale

Fish

700 g white fish fillets (flathead, snapper, whiting, cod, tilapia) skinless, boneless

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 (lager or pale ale, avoid dark beers)

Cooking

4 to 5 cups peanut oil (or vegetable, canola, cottonseed oil)

Serving

Tartare sauce
Lemon wedges
Homemade crispy French fries or baked potato wedges

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Instructions

Dry and cut fish: Pat the fish fillets dry using paper towels or a clean tea towel. Cut into 7 pieces of about 3 cm by 1 1/4 inch batons, or use larger fillets if preferred. If fillets are thick (more than 3 cm), cut in half horizontally to ensure even cooking.
Dust the fish: Place 1/4 cup rice flour in a shallow bowl. Sprinkle salt on 3 or 4 pieces of fish, then coat them evenly in rice flour and shake off the excess. Let them sit like this for up to 10 minutes while the oil heats.
Heat the oil: In a large heavy-based pot, heat 6 cm (2 to 3 inches) of peanut oil over medium-high heat until it reaches 190°C (375°F).
Prepare the batter: Just before frying, whisk together the plain flour, rice flour, baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. Pour in the very cold beer and whisk gently until just combined, keeping some lumps for a light batter. The batter should be fairly thin and coat the back of a spoon. Add beer 1 tsp at a time if batter is too thick.
Dredge fish in batter: Dip each piece of dusted fish into the batter, allowing excess to drip off briefly.
Fry the fish: Carefully lower the battered fish into the hot oil, one piece at a time, away from you. Fry in batches without crowding the pot. Cook for 3 minutes in total, flipping the pieces after about 2 minutes, until the batter is deep golden and crispy.
Drain and serve: Remove fish with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining fish. Serve immediately with tartare sauce, lemon wedges, and a leafy green salad with vinaigrette. Accompany with homemade crispy French fries or oven-baked potato wedges.

Notes

Keep the batter cold between batches to maintain crispiness, especially in warm environments.
Rice flour is key for crispiness; substitute with cornstarch or potato starch if needed, but rice flour gives the best results.
Use ice-cold beer (lager or pale ale) chilled for at least 2 hours to ensure a light and crispy batter. Avoid dark beers like stout or porter.
Do not over-mix the batter; lumps in the batter help create a light texture.
For larger batch cooking, consider double frying: first at 2 ½ minutes at 190°C, then a quick 1-minute second fry at 200°C to reheat and crisp.
Oil can be strained and reused up to three times for frying savory foods.
Fish types suitable include hoki, whiting, snapper, barramundi, cod, flathead, tilapia, hake, haddock, and ling. Avoid oily or thin, delicate fish.
Fried fish is best eaten fresh; reheating can make the batter soggy.
Nutrition values include a conservative estimate of 1/3 cup oil absorption across the recipe.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 450 kcal
Sugar: 1 g
Sodium: 450 mg
Fat: 23 g
Saturated Fat: 4 g
Unsaturated Fat: 17 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Carbohydrates: 35 g
Fiber: 1 g
Protein: 30 g
Cholesterol: 70 mg