Baked Crispy Fish Fillets
Buy our air fryer e-cookbooks today After making a batch of homemade baked crispy fish fillets, it’s hard to eat it any other way. Our crispy and easy baked crispy fish fillet recipe is simply cooked on a sheet pan. Within minutes, you get fresh, warm and crispy fish for dinner and leftovers for lunch!
Why it’s an Easy Baked Crispy Fish Fillet Recipe
We try not to make this recipe complicated or fussy. The last thing you want is to have to deal with complicated steps for making crispy fish fillets. Our steps are simple as 1-2-3. But what makes these fish fillets delicious is the seasoning options. You don’t have to use our exact choice of spices and seasonings. If you have favorite spices then certainly add them to the fish fillets before coating them and baking. Customize the flavors with your go-to spices and you’ll have a batch of crispy oven baked fish fillets that your whole family will enjoy.
Best Types of Fish for Baking
There’s so many fish options for making oven baked fish. But the best one is what you normally like to eat. White fish fillets are best like tilapia, halibut, cod, catfish or grouper. The flesh is flaky, lean, tender and quick to bake. Salmon is much richer and fattier. But if you like crispy salmon fillets, you can certainly use salmon.
How to make keto or low carb fish?
Instead of using regular bread crumbs or Japanese panko bread crumbs, there’s other options that are low carb and keto friendly. Use these for the crust and coating on the fish:
- crushed pork rinds are great for making fish keto friendly.
- almond flour is another alternative that’s more plant based friendly. If you don’t like pork, then use almond flour
- sesame seeds are low carb and make a nice crust with sesame flavor
Video: Baked Fish Fillets Recipe
Tips for Baking Crispy Fish Fillets
- The thickness of different fish fillets vary so much. That means timing will vary too. Use our base timing and if you want your fish crispier or if it’s still raw on the inside, then cook it a little longer.
- Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of your fish. It should read about 145 degrees Fahrenheit
- Like we mentioned above, try using different spices. Even meat or steak marinades are great because they’re so flavorful. These meat marinades are made for seafood too if you want big bursts of flavor.
- All baked fish fillet recipe details are in the recipe box below.
Baked Crispy Fish Fillets
Ingredients
- 1 lb. (454 g) white fish fillets , fresh or if frozen, thawed
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) kosher salt , to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) black pepper , to taste
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) paprika
- 1 cup (100 g) breadcrumbs (or panko, crushed pork rinds, almond flour – you may need more for larger flaked breading)
- 1 large egg , or more if needed
- oil spray for coating breaded fish
Equipment
- Parchment Paper or foil
- Oil Sprayer optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F/205°C. Place a sheet of aluminum foil or parchment paper on baking sheet pan and set aside.
- Cut fish fillets in half or into desired strips. Make sure they are even sized so they’ll cook evenly. The thicker they are, the longer they will take to cook.
- Pat the fillets dry then lightly spray with oil spray. Season with the salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika.
- Add breading to a shallow bowl. In another bowl, beat the egg. Dip a fillet in the egg, allowing excess egg to drip off. Place the coated fillet in the breadcrumbs (or breading of choice) and then sprinkle more breadcrumbs on top of the fillet. Gently press the breadcrumbs into the fillets to help them stick onto the fish. Repeat this process for all fish pieces.
- Generously spray all sides of the breaded fillets with oil spray to coat any dry spots. Gently place coated fish on prepared baking sheet pan.
- Bake at 400°F/205°C for 10 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your fillets. Gently flip the fillets.
- Continue to bake at 400°F/205°C for another 5-8 minutes or until the fish is cooked through and the outside is crispy.
- Serve with your favorite dip: tartar sauce, ranch, mustard, aioli, etc.
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Why Use Skinless Fish?
We prefer using skinless fish because the skin doesn’t get too crispy. Even when it’s battered, it still feels soggy and soft and that’s just not our thing to enjoy. But if you like this type of soft skin texture on your fish, then totally go for it! cook it the way you like and don’t let our opinions of soggy skin get in your way. 🙂
Freezing Leftover Fish
You can certainly freezer your leftovers. Store them in airtight bags or containers for up to 2-3 months. We don’t like to freeze our leftover fish for too long because it can get freezer burn and dry out. Ideally, we’ll freeze it for about 1-2 months and eat it sooner than later. When serving again, allow the fish to thaw completely. Then cook it in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 5-7 minutes or until the outside is crispy and inside is warm. If you have a thicker fillet, it might take a few minutes more.
Serving Suggestions and Sauce Ideas
We love serving the fish with different sauces. You can also serve it in so many different ways. Here’s some ideas with this easy baked fish:
- Tarter sauce, kewpie mayo, hot sauce, thousand island dipping sauce, bbq sauce, hot sauce, chili garlic crunch. Try our homemade chili crisp recipe with your fish.
- For healthy options, serve the fish with some fresh steamed veggies, air fryer vegetables or on a bed of green lettuce. A fish salad is fantastic.
- Simple pasta with some fish is great. We love pasta and fish night.
- Make a fish sandwich! Add your favorite tarter sauce on top with some lettuce and tomato. It’s better than a restaurant fish sandwich.
- Fish fillets are great as an appetizer too. Just make the fillets a little smaller. Bite sized pieces are perfect on an appetizer platter.
Why is the baked crispy fish fillet dry?
It’s probably because it was cooked too long and the fillet must have been too thin or small. Also, the tail portion of the fish is always thinner and quicker cooking than the center cuts which are the thicker parts of the fish. Next time if you’re using the same fillet size and thickness, just reduce the cooking time.
Easy Air Fryer Fish Fillets Recipe
Hey friends! Do you like air frying? If so, try our air fryer fish fillet recipe. They’re even more crispy when cooked in the air fryer. The hot circulating air in the air fryer makes the fish really super crispy. Give it a try if you happen to have an air fryer. It doesn’t hurt to try it so you can see the difference in how crispy the fish gets in the regular conventional oven vs. air fryer method. And if you don’t want the breaded version, here’s our air fryer white fish with garlic and lemon pepper. It’s still tender and moist without the breaded crust.
