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How To Fry Fish Without Flour
First, to fry fish without flour, dip the fish pieces in an egg. Now pour some oil into a deep fryer and add fish pieces to it. Fry until golden brown. Remove from oil when it’s done. You can also substitute groundnut or sunflower oil for regular oil.
To bake the fish without the flour, coat the fish with salt, pepper, and bake in the pan with the oil. Fry the fish in oil 6 to 10 minutes, turning once, until fish is easy to break apart with forks and is browned on both sides.
After you have finished your fry, always remove immediately and strain on paper towels to remove excess oil. Do not move it around until the oil has released naturally: most fish filets will initially adhere to the pan as they begin cooking (unless you are using so much oil that you are essentially frying them in a shallow-frying fashion).
You should allow a skillet to warm up nicely as you dry out the skin side of your fish with a paper towel, and let that sit there for a couple minutes. Cook the fish for a few minutes, then turn it over after one side is cooked, so the other side is cooked too. Once it is opaque, around half way through, I turn the fish over and allow it to finish cooking on the other side. I will be checking the sides of the fish as they are grilling on the first side to see how much they are becoming opaque.
No matter how you are cooking the fish, you know the fish is done when it is easy to break apart and is not translucent anymore. The secret to a perfect fry lies in the oil and temperature used for cooking and in the seasoning used on the fish. Do not miss out on the flour coating, as it provides a delightful crunchy texture, keeps the fish from sopping up too much oil, and keeps the filets together.
Used more often than not in frying, the flour coating adds flavor and helps to seal in the juices. Pan-frying is the most common use for flour coating, which provides flavor and seals in the juices in the pan. The flour coating speeds the frying process, but does not overcook the fish, making it dry and flavorless. A coating of breadcrumbs, cornmeal, or flour helps to ensure that the fish remains whole when frying or grilling.
| Ingredients | Steps |
| Salt | Coat the fish with salt and pepper |
| Pepper | Bake in the pan with the oil |
| Oil | Fry the fish in oil 6 to 10 minutes until fish is easy to break apart with forks and is browned on both sides |
| Fish | After you have finished your fry, remove immediately and strain on paper towels to remove excess oil |
You can easily substitute cornstarch instead of flour for a coating on chicken, fried fish, or other fried dishes. While the common usage is flour-cornstarch combo for fish fry, you may also choose to bake it with just cornstarch. While cornmeal does indeed add some nice crunch, and it definitely has its place among the top choices for frying fish, it is not necessary to get that crispy fish. In my own testing at home, cornmeal and flour were both perfectly fine, though the cornmeal tended to turn a more even shade of gold on a freshly caught fish filet.
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For thickness, you can coat your fish even further by immersing in milk and beating eggs, then coating with cornmeal. Allow any excess liquid to drain out, and then cover the filets or pieces with the flour, which has been seasoned with salt and pepper, as well as with whatever herbs or spices are to taste. Cover the fish on both sides with the flour, pressing firmly to stick, but shaking gently to remove excess.
Also, you should dust your fish only lightly with the flour, because coating the fish heavily with the flour interferes with the fishs flavour. Adjust your method to get light crusts or heavy ones, and cook your seasoned fish for dinner by frying, frying lightly, or baking. Regulate the approach for lighter or thicker crust, and prepare dinner the fillet or ghowjon fish by deep-frying, shallow-frying or baking it.
While this technique is probably not a new one, and a lot of folks are familiar with pan-searing, here in the Caribbean, when we roast fish, it is always a breaded fish, or one coated in a kind of starch that is either dust/flour; either shallow-fried or deep-fried. Pan-frying fish with its skin left on is an easy, no-fuss method of preparation that, done right, results in tender, succulent meat with the textural contrast of crisp crust. Coating fish in flour before cooking improves its naturally tender texture, creating a crisp, golden-brown exterior crust while maintaining the pliability inside. Once you have cooked the fish, lay it out on soaking paper towels and pat it gently on each side, which can help keep it crisp.
Gently turn over the filets using your fish spatula, and continue cooking until cooked through, approximately an additional 30 seconds to 3 minutes. When the 3 minutes are up, use the fish slicer to pick one of the fillets up, if it is golden, turn it with the slicer, as well as the fork to help hold it down, to prevent oil from splashing. Cook until fish is browned on one side (adjust the heat if needed to ensure that it does not begin burning) about 30 seconds to 3 minutes depending on fillet thickness.
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Using a deep-fryer or frying pan set at 375 degrees or medium-high, deep-fry the fish in hot oil until it is browned. Simply coat the fillets or steaks in flour or cornmeal, then brown in the skillet in a minimum of 2 tablespoons of oil. I have cooked fish in this manner in cast iron pans, a nonstick pan, and stainless steel pans on different occasions — all, or any, of which are found in most kitchens.
The first time I cooked fish this way and presented it to my friends who are palate testers, they could not believe that the fish was not fried even lightly. Not only did it nicely sear a few good browns, just as it does when traditionally fried, but the crust on the skin will win over anyone who does not like fish skins, or does not like eating them.
Actually, smoking it warm is equally good, as by the time you have added various types of fish or pieces of fish into a pan that has been coated in butter, the temperature has dropped. Heat up your pan before adding the oil — I never had any problems with the fish sticking to my pan after adopting this technique. To make sure, simply heat the pan dry, and once you start seeing little smoke plumes, add oil, swirling it around to cover the bottom, and then immediately add fish. If you are looking to do some flavorful stir-fry, you could simply add salt and pepper to flour, but you could also use some other spices, such as garam masala, to get that Indian-style flavor.
Can fish be fried without flour?
If you have celiac disease and fear you’d never be able to eat fried fish again, there’s some good news for you: you can, and you don’t have to spend money on expensive flour alternatives to dust or powder fish before frying.
What can you use instead of flour to fry fish?
If you are restricted in using flour to fry fish due to health concerns or lack of required equipment, you can easily switch to alternatives like cornstarch, baking soda, potato starch, or egg yolks to fry your fish. These substitutes will also help enhance your fried fish’s flavor.
Is cornstarch a better alternative to flour for frying fish?
If you do not have flour to fry your fish, you can use cornstarch, which happens to be a better alternative as it gives a crispier finish than flour. It can also absorb moisture from the fish, resulting in a puffier and crunchier coating.