Fish and Chips Recipe

My 40-minute fish and chips is a crispy beer-battered plate of cod or walleye, dredged in a sparkling water and dark-beer batter and fried until golden. I love serving this with homemade tartar sauce, classic fries, lemon wedges, and malt vinegar. This will hands down rival any restaurant recipe out there!

Fish N Chips

Fish and chips is a British and Irish preparation of white fish, coated in a light flour and starch beer batter and deep-fried at high heat until the crust puffs up crispy and golden brown. Served with fries and malt vinegar, it’s the plate you eat sitting on a bench outside a chip shop in the UK with the parchment paper folded around it.

I really came into my own on this recipe cooking under my favorite chef, Chef Daniel Pliska. He taught me how to get the crispiest crust of all time. He’s where I learned that the whole plate rides on two things, the batter and the cook. Get either one wrong and the fish tastes like fried flour.

At the U Club we used whatever fresh whitefish the local monger had on sale that week. Some weeks it was cod, others halibut, others walleye. All of them were incredible in their own way, and all of them proved the same thing. Great fish and chips with a great batter fried at the right temperature.

This is how I prepare this classic step by step at home, exactly how we cooked it on the line but scaled down for a Friday night dinner. I always recommend making the tartar sauce first so it can sit in the fridge and pick up flavor. I next heat the oil up while the batter gets whisked to a hair thinner than pancake batter and seasoned well. From there the fish gets cut, patted dry, dredged in half batches, and lowered into hot oil. I wave it slowly back and forth until the crust is super brown . It’s mouthwatering just writing about it! Now, let’s start cooking.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Here’s what goes into the fish, the batter, and the plate, along with what each ingredient brings to the recipe and a few swaps that I’ve tested and trust.

• Fish, obviously the staple of the dish. Fresh wild-caught is what I go for first. Frozen works fine as long as it is fully thawed and patted very dry. My town is pretty small, so the local Whole Foods is the one spot I actually trust for fresh seafood. Plus they usually have a few options on sale. Cod and walleye are the classics, and halibut, mahi mahi, and sea bass all work.
• All-purpose flour – Gives the batter its structure and is what holds the coating on the fish through the fry. Bread flour is fine too, and gives a slightly chewier crust.
• Cornstarch cuts the flour with a light, airy starch that makes the crust puff up crispy instead of dense. Potato starch is a straight swap.
• Sparkling water – Lightens the batter and puts real bubbles in the crust from the carbonation.
• Dark beer – Gives the batter roasty flavor and the brown color the crust gets once it is fried. A lager works too, though the finished crust will be lighter in flavor and paler in color. This is one of my secret ingredients on this recipe.
• Sea salt and pepper – Diamond Crystal kosher salt is what I use most days, and I grind my own peppercorns. Salt and pepper season the batter, and the batter is what seasons the fish. Paprika, garlic powder, or onion powder are fine additions, though none of them are traditional to fish and chips.
• Oil for frying – Any good, neutral, cold-pressed oil at 350°F works. I use avocado oil most of the time now, and whatever is organic and on sale.
• Tartar sauce – Briny, fatty, and the exact counterweight to the fried fish. The homemade jar makes the plate.
• Fries – A solid starchy classic on the side. Thin-cut, wedges, or a bowl of my steak frites all work.
• Lemons and malt vinegar – Bright acid at the end that cuts through the fried batter. Malt vinegar is the classic in the UK for a reason, and I love it on the fries too.

How To Make Fish N Chips

Make the sauce first: Mix up a jar of tartar sauce and chill it in the fridge before the oil comes up to temperature.

Heat the oil: Bring a deep fryer or a heavy-bottomed pot with enough oil to fully submerge the fish up to 350°F on a thermometer. Below 340°F the batter drinks oil, and past 365°F the outside browns before the fish is cooked.

Whisk the batter: In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, sparkling water, dark beer, salt, and pepper until the batter is completely smooth and free of lumps. Chill the batter in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes while the oil comes up.

Portion the fish: Cut the fish down into 4-ounce fillets, roughly the length of your palm. Any bigger and they fall apart in the oil. Pat every piece completely dry with a paper towel before it goes near the batter.

Dredge and fry: Drop 1 or 2 fillets at a time into the batter and coat them completely. Lift them out and let the excess drip back into the bowl for a couple of seconds. Then lower each piece into the oil, waving it back and forth for the first 5 seconds so it does not stick to the bottom of the pot.

Work in half batches, cold batter and cold fish drop the oil temperature fast, so watch the thermometer. Crank the heat up on the burner to hold at 350°F. Fry for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes total, until the crust is golden brown.

Drain and hold: Lift the fish out with a spider or basket and drain on a rack set over a sheet tray. Paper towels work if a rack is not around, but the rack keeps the bottom crust crispy while the rest of the batches fry.

Make the fries: If you want to take this recipe up to the next level, replace the classic fries with my parmesan truffle fries recipe. Insanely delicious!

Plate and serve: Stack the fish on parchment paper with a jar of tartar sauce, fries, lemons, and malt vinegar.

Serving Suggestions

This is the dish I love putting down on a Friday night when I want a chip shop dinner without leaving the house. A pile of fries goes next to the fish, and I usually love pairing it with my steak frites recipe, or the potato wedges which is my daughter’s favorite. A small pile of vinegar coleslaw  is a must on the side for an acidic counter to the fried fish.

When I have friends over, I set a shared plate of coconut shrimp with orange dipping sauce as the starter, then the fish and chips comes out on parchment paper with homemade potato chips, lemon wedges, and vinegar next to it. Leftover fried fish, if there is any, gets flaked over a bowl of butter noodles like a seafood pasta style the next day for a lunch that reheats better than it has any right to.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Make-Ahead: I fry the fish up to 30 minutes before serving, then hold every piece on a rack over a sheet tray in a 225°F oven so the crust stays crispy while the rest of the plate finishes.

How to Store: Stack the leftover fish between layers of parchment paper in a sealed container and keep it in the fridge for up to 2 days. Any longer and the crust goes leathery.

Reheat: I set the fish on a rack over a sheet tray and bake at 350°F for 6 to 8 minutes, until the crust is hot and crispy again. A microwave reduces the crust to a wet washcloth in 20 seconds, so I never use one on this fish.

How to Freeze: I do not freeze fried fish. The crust that took all that oil-temperature control to get shattering-crispy goes spongy the second the plate thaws.

More Amazing Fish Recipes

• Coho Salmon Recipe
• Smoked Salmon Dip Recipe
• New England Clam Chowder Recipe
• Homemade Gravlax Recipe
• Grilled Salmon Recipe