What’s the secret to making your air fried fish breading super crunchy, while keeping the fish inside perfectly tender, flaky and juicy? Double dipping.
By double dipping, I don’t mean the kind where you’re dipping your fish into a sauce again and again when you are sharing that dip with friends/family. I mean you dip the fish in an egg mixture, coat it with crunchy crumbs. Then dip it AGAIN in the egg and add a second layer of crunchy coating. If you take care not to disturb the breading as you go, you’ll have a nice thick crunchy coating of breading when you’re done.
That said, it’s NOT necessary to double dip your fish before you air fry it. You’ll still get a nice crunchy coating if you dip the fish just once. It’ll just be a little lighter. It all depends on how much breading you want on your fish.
It’s fishing season!
Are you into fishing like we are? Going fishing is one of the top summer activities for my extended family. Either from the dock or going out on the boat on a nice summer day. Then tossing in your line and then waiting for a bite. The excitement that ensues when you feel that little tug on the line. You hook the fish and begin to reel it in. Everyone’s eager to see what you’ve caught. Someone grabs the net in case it’s needed as you fight with the fish to get it into the boat.
When the fish are biting, you can bet my family has lines out on the dock. And they’re out on the boat as soon as they can, fishing poles and bait on the ready. But the BEST part is after the fish are caught and cleaned. THEN it’s time for the fish fry! No fish tastes quite as good as when it’s fresh caught.
Fish fry used to mean just that for us: frying up the fish in a beer batter and a bunch of oil. But we’ve pretty much given up on the fried part. Partly for health reasons, but also because it’s just messy. We “oven fried” for a while. While that worked fine, it just didn’t have the same CRUNCH factor. But now that air frying has entered our lives, we’re back to something very close to the traditional fish fry! Except it’s healthier AND easier.
And believe me, we all want to get to the EATING with less effort. While the recipe below might LOOK complicated, I took time to explain all the steps. You can boil it down to this: dip wet, coat with crumbs, do it again, air fry. Enjoy!
What to serve with air fried fish?
The number one thing everyone wants with fried fish is a good creamy, pickle-y tartar sauce! You don’t have to buy it either. Because you can whip up as much tartar sauce as you want in just a couple minutes. While the fish is cooking is the perfect time. To make the perfect tartar sauce, simply mix together:
- Mayo (or a mix of half mayo, half plain Greek yogurt)
- Chopped pickles (we like to use our Claussen-style pickles)
- Optional add-ins: mustard, chopped garlic, a splash of balsamic vinegar, smoked paprika
- For extra kick: add some creole seasoning, hot sauce or sriracha
Aside from that? If we’re using my dad’s air fryer oven and it’s asparagus season, we cook a big pan of air fryer asparagus (with our without mushrooms) while the fish is cooking. Other things I love with fried fish are a good salad like this basil chive cucumber & corn salad and/or some oven baked steak fries.
People also love coleslaw with fried fish. My pineapple mango coleslaw goes SO good with fried fish! This cilantro pesto slaw or basil blue cheese coleslaw is wonderful too. The cooling herbs are so nice with hot fresh fish, especially if you’ve kicked up the spice.
You can’t go wrong with cornbread, either! Especially in single-serving muffin form. My Bacon Cheddar Jalapeno Corn Muffins are just the thing.
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Super Crunchy Double Dipped Air Fried Fish
Ingredients
- 6 –12 raw fish fillets, deboned, no more than 1/2 inch thick
- Salt & pepper
- 1 cup crushed Rice Chex or Rice Krispies cereal
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1/2 teaspoon EACH: onion powder, granulated garlic, lemon pepper, dill (plus optional 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning)
- 3 eggs
- 3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon prepared mustard (optional)
- Avocado oil in air fryer sprayer (or pressure based 100% avocado oil spray)
Instructions
- Pat dry both sides of the fish fillets on a paper towel or clean kitchen towel. Sprinkle both sides with salt & pepper.
- In a large, flat bowl, stir together the crumbs, cornmeal and seasonings. Then, in a small smoothie-sized blender cup (or in a bowl with a whisk or hand mixer), blend together the eggs, mayonnaise and mustard until fluffy. Pour into a second flat bowl.
- Spray a large plate with avocado oil (or simply oil it well). This plate is for your raw breaded fish- the oil on the bottom will eliminate the need to flip the fish again. Arrange your workstation: fish on the left, next the egg mixture, then the crumbs and the large plate on the right. Preheat the air fryer to 370 F – 375 F.
- Take a fillet and dunk it in the egg mixture to completely coat. Using your left hand, move the fish to the crumb bowl. Use your right hand to sprinkle the top with coating, then flip the fillet over and make sure the bottom is completely coated as well.
- Gently set the fish fillet back in the egg bowl and then carefully flip it over with your left hand. Don’t worry if your fillet isn’t completely re-coated. Take your left hand and carefully lift it to the crumb bowl. Use your right hand to again sprinkle the breading over top, flip and sprinkle the bottom. Set on the oiled plate.
- Repeat until you have 4 – 5 fillets breaded (enough to almost fill your air fryer). Gently spritz the tops with avocado oil. Set them in the hot air fryer, leaving little gaps between fillets for air flow. Cook the fillets for 8 – 15 minutes or until golden brown, checking halfway. While you are waiting, you can start on the next batch. You may need to re-oil the “raw fish” plate before doing the next batch.
- When the fillets are cooked, set them on a clean plate. You can keep them in the oven at the lowest temp to keep them warm until the rest of the fish is done. Or if you are lucky enough to have an oven with air fryer setting, you can cook a big batch of fish all at once.
Notes
You do NOT need to flip the fillets while cooking. Flipping in the air fryer adds one more risky step of scraping off the breading from the fish. The air from the air fryer should cook both sides evenly.
If you do happen to accidentally scrape off some of the breading while setting the fish in the air fryer, just put it back on. It should stick to the fish as it cooks.
You can use tongs or a long pokey fork to do the dunking in the egg to keep your left hand from getting full of eggs.
Leftovers can be re-heated for just a couple minutes in the air fryer, just enough to warm them up. You can also freeze the cooked fish, then thaw it and air fry it again briefly to re-crisp the coating and warm the cooked fish.
RECIPE SOURCE: Sumptuous Spoonfuls – https://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/ … © Copyright 2022, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
2 comments
Cant wait to try these they look fantastic!
Thanks, Claudia! I think you’ll love them. 🙂