Crispy Beer Battered Fish

For the lightest, crispiest fried fish, you can’t beat Beer Battered Fish. The yeast and carbonation in beer makes the fish batter delicate and puffy, like at good fish ‘n chip shops. Meanwhile the shock of ice-cold batter hitting hot oil makes it super-crispy – and what’s more, it stays crispy for ages.

Don’t believe me? Just LISTEN to the crunch in the recipe video!

While the rest of the world is resolving to eat healthier and lose more weight right now as the New Year kicks off, I thought it would be funny to start out 2021 with a deep-fried recipe instead. But then earlier this week, many of you told me you wanted more healthy meals this year … so now it’s not so funny. But if I don’t laugh, I’ll cry. So I’m laughing!! 😂

Crispy Beer Battered Fish

When it comes to fish, a fry batter made with beer yields the best result for a light, puffy, ultra crispy coating that stays crispy well beyond the time it takes to serve and eat it.

It’s the fish batter used by all the best fish ‘n chips shops. Here’s what makes beer batter so good:

• Yeast and carbonation in beer acts like yeast in bread, making the batter go puffy as it cooks so it’s thin and light rather than thick and greasy. It’s like Japan’s famous tempura;

• Ice cold beer is used to make the batter cold. The shock of cold batter hitting the hot oil makes it go super-crispy. This concept is fairly common knowledge these days in the culinary world, a technique deployed in all my batter-coated fried foods such as everybody’s favourite Honey Chicken; and

• Rice flour for a stay-crispy batter. Just using normal flour doesn’t cut it – it goes soggy within minutes. We need to use a combination of rice and normal flour. This is a proven technique deployed in many Asian fried recipes, such as Honey Chicken and Sweet & Sour Pork.

This battered fish has a light crisp coating that stays crispy for over 15 minutes!

What goes in Beer Batter

All you need for beer batter is cold beer, flour, rice flour, baking powder and salt. For a non alcoholic version, just substitute beer with soda water.

Beer Batter Dry Ingredients

Rice flour – Key for a fish batter that doesn’t go soggy before it hits the table! If you use only wheat flour, it will only stay crispy for a few minutes. Why not use all rice flour? Because rice flour doesn’t go golden when cooked. Nobody wants a pale, white beer battered fish! So we use a combination of wheat flour (which goes golden) and rice flour.

Flour – Just plain/all purpose wheat flour which, as noted above, is what makes the fish go a beautiful golden colour as well as helping the batter rise and puff when combined with the baking powder (which doesn’t happen with rice flour); and

Baking powder – To make the batter puffy. The yeast and carbonation in beer alone isn’t sufficient to achieve that airy-textured batter shell you get at the best fish ‘n chip shops.

Best beer for Beer Batter

You can use any beer other than dark, heavily flavoured beer like stouts or porters as they will discolour and flavour the batter excessively. 

Pale ale and lagers are most commonly used, but I’ve used all sorts in my time and they’ve all worked out fine. You can only barely taste it – the beer is mostly to make the batter crispy and puffy, not for flavour. Also, the alcohol cooks out in the hot oil.

Whatever you use, it needs to be ice cold – cool for 2+ hours in the fridge. It’s key for a crispy batter!

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Best fish for frying

You can use virtually any white fish fillet such as: snapper, barramundi, cod, flathead, tilapia, hake, haddock, whiting and ling.

My favourite is flathead – but it’s pricey! See list below for what fish shops use in different countries.

I recommend avoiding:

• Fish that dry out easily when cooked – Like swordfish, tuna, bonito, kingfish, marlin. They work fine, but they will be too dry inside. These fish are (mostly) better in raw/rare form such as Ceviche, Poke Bowls, Tartare or carefully grilled;

• Delicate and thin-filleted fish – Like flounder or sole. Again, it will work fine and actually, it is delicious but the texture of the flesh may be a bit too delicate for frying (ie you bite into it and the flesh kind of “crumbles”). Also these fish tend to be very thin fillets;

• Oily fish – Like salmon, trout, mackerels, mullet and sardines. You do see these fish in fried form, but it’s not so common with a batter. It’s just a bit too rich.

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What fish and chip shops use

Choice of fish varies between countries and regions, depending on what’s available. Most common:

• Australia – Basa, hoki, flake (gummy shark!) and hake are seen at everyday suburban fish ‘n chip shops because they are economical options with good flavour and flesh characteristics. Better places will also offer more expensive options such as snapper, barramundi, cod, whiting and flathead (my favourite!);

• US – Cod, halibut, tilapia, haddock. In the Southeast, catfish is used frequently; and

• UK – [updated thanks to reader feedback!] Cod and haddock are firm favourites, but other varieties offered include hake, pollock, whiting and plaice.

How to make beer battered fish

Oil heating aside, beer battered fish takes 5 minutes to prepare, and each batch takes 3 minutes to fry. Terrifically fast!

1. Dry & cut fish – Dry fillets well, especially if using thawed frozen fish because it will leech water while defrosting. This is key to crispy fish, so don’t shortcut this!

   Cut into desired size. I like “fish cocktail” size – 7 x 3cm / 3 x 1 1/4″ batons – because it’s easier to handle for frying plus has a larger surface area to volume ratio = more crunch! Whole or larger fillets work just fine as well, ie. traditional fish ‘n chip shop format.

   If your fish is very thick (3cm / 1.25″+), slice horizontally to make thinner pieces, otherwise the fish may not cook through by the time the batter is golden and crispy. Also, there will be too much fish and not enough crispy batter!

   Just remember the batter puffs up when cooking to double the thickness it was wet so don’t make giant fish pieces! 😂

2. Start heating oil – Heat oil to 190°C/375°F. Hot oil is key to ensure the fish doesn’t end up soggy and greasy. Use a large, heavy-based pot for safety purposes, for even heating of oil and better heat retention. You can of course use an electric fryer if you have one!

3. Rice flour coating – Dust fish with rice flour, shaking off excess. This is an additional crispiness insurance policy, which will soak up any residual moisture on the flesh of the fish. I use rice flour because it cooks up more crisp than flour.

4. Make batter just before frying so it’s as cold and fizzy as possible. If it’s a hot day, take extra precautions such as chilling the bowl and dry ingredients until required.

   The other reason batter should be made fresh is the batter will noticeably thicken as gluten begins to forms if left to sit too long.

   At this stage the fish can sit there while the oil comes to temperature.

   Note: Recipe makes more batter than you will need. But it’s hard to dredge properly if you don’t have enough. It can cause a dragging action that wipes off too much batter. However, recipe will coat up to around 1kg/2lb of fish.

5. Minimum of whisking – Only whisk for 5 seconds, just to incorporate the beer into the dry ingredients – some lumps are fine, even desirable. Over-whisking activates gluten and will compromise crispiness.

Batter viscosity is also important. If the wet batter is too thick (in consistency) your cooked batter will be thick (in depth) around the fish and tends to soak up too much oil. Too watery on the other hand and it won’t coat the fish properly, and will go soggy quickly. Aim for a batter that runs but fully coats the back of a spoon – see video.

6. Dredge fish – Hold fillet by one end and dip in batter, letting the excess drip off for a second or two. The batter should fully cover the fish but not be a thick coat as mentioned – this batter puffs up a LOT!

TIP: Keep batter chilled. If you’re a capable cook and it’s mild weather, the batter can stay out while you cook the fish (3 – 4 batches). If you’re new to frying or it’s a stinking hot summer day, pop the batter back in the fridge while frying.

7. Fry 3 minutes – Gently lower fillet into the hot oil, dropping it in away from you, not towards you, so any splash doesn’t come towards your hand. I use my hands because I have more control, but you can use tongs for safety if you prefer.

Cook for 3 minutes until deep golden. There’s no need to turn, though you can push down and submerge each piece under the oil briefly once the batter has set. Fillets often refuse to roll anyway as they become buoyant on one side only!;

8. Drain well on paper towels or a mesh rack, and repeat with remaining fish.

How longer the fish stays crispy for – It will stay crispy for 15 to 20 minutes, even after it goes cold. But obviously, best served hot!

Handy large-batch cooking tip

Using a 1-minute, higher temperature, Asian double-fry method used in things like Honey Chicken and Sweet & Sour Pork, you can make big batches of beer battered fish and serve it all up piping hot! Here’s how:

1. First fry: Only cook the fish for 2½ minutes until it is golden and crispy, but not deep golden like pictured. Leave to drain, continue with remaining fish;

2. Second fry: This is to reheat, as well as make it deep golden and stay-crispy. Increase oil temperature to 200°C/390°F. Add fish and fry for 1 minute until deep golden. For Fry #2, you can crowd the oil more (ie. if you cooked fish in 4 batches, you can do this in 2 batches). Drain and repeat with remaining fish. Voila! All fish are piping hot!

“Where are the chips???“

You will probably be annoyed to read that I haven’t included the recipe for the crispy chips you spy in the photos. 😇

Sorry folks, but this is because I haven’t finalised it yet. My approach a little different to the usual recipes because the idea is you can cook chips WITH the fish, so you can cook up a serving of fish and chips in one go. Ordinarily, chip recipes call for a double fry which takes up to 8 minutes total, then you have to keep it warm in the oven – inevitably it loses crispiness. It’s also a lot of juggling and takes forever if you’re cooking for more than 2 people.

So I’m on a mission for chips you can cook at the same time as the fish so you get BOTH piping hot and crispy.

It will be worth the wait, I promise! In the meantime, use my baked wedges (also handy because they’re made in the oven).

Sauces for fried fish

Many options – and don’t let anyone tell you what is right or wrong!

• Lemon wedges – A squeeze of lemon is always welcome and many people are happy with just this;

• Tartare sauce – I like to make mine extra lemony when using it for fried foods;

• Any seafood dipping sauce – Find all my favourites here;

• Aioli (garlicky mayonnaise);

• Yogurt mixed with lemon – For a lighter option, though somewhat ironic when making fried fish!

• Ketchup or Aussie tomato sauce;

• Malt vinegar and a sprinkle of salt – The British way!

Though frankly, if you’ve got really good fish and you season every layer lightly, then you’ll munch it plain and won’t even think about a dipping sauce!

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If, like me, you don’t fry much – oil wastage, clean up and all that jazz – and are on the fence about whether it’s worth making homemade fried fish, remember this: crispy battered fried fish is one of those things that you simply cannot buy in frozen convenience packets.

And it’s one of those things you cannot convert into an oven version – or an airfyer!.

So, is it worth making? YES, a thousand times over!!– Nagi x

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Watch how to make it

And LISTEN to the CRUNCH!

Life of Dozer

Waiting to be asked to check if it’s crispy enough. See recipe video above for his assessment…….