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Why You’ll Love My Recipe
There’s just something so wonderful and delicious about combining beer and fried fish. The light airiness from the bubbles and the slightly malty, hoppy flavor of beer create a gorgeous, crispy batter that will leave you feeling like you’re at a seaside fish and chips shop with every bite!
Nothing tastes more like the seaside than some proper beer batter fish with tartar sauce. However, you don’t have to go all the way to the coast to enjoy it—you can make some yourself!
Why not pair this fish with some air fryer French fries or some air fryer sweet potato fries?
Reader Review
This recipe is totally the best I have ever made! I am a grandmother and believe me, I have tried many batter recipes! This one is light, crispy, flavourful and has the best crunch! Everyone just loved it! Thanks very much for sharing!
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This recipe is so easy to make you’ll wonder why you’ve only ever had fish and chips at restaurants before!
- Total Time: You only need 18 minutes to make enough crispy battered fish to feed your whole family!
- Variations: I use haddock fillets in this recipe, but feel free to use whatever kind of fish you can get! Some classics are cod, sole, and salmon; but you can also use shrimp, veggies like onion rings and button mushrooms—the sky’s the limit! For a little extra flavor, add seasonings like Old Bay or Cajun spice to the Flouring Mixture (or dredge) to trap them up against your fish under the crispy outer shell of batter!
- Tools For This Recipe: You’ll need mixing bowls, tongs, and a deep, heavy bottomed saucepan for deep frying.
What You’ll Need for Ingredients
Beer: For best results, stick to the kind of beers that you’d drink at a backyard barbecue—lighter, gentler ales like cream ales or lagers work well for this recipe. Anything with a good amount of carbonation, something that makes a really satisfying “Hiss” when you pop the top, will result in a light and crispy batter.
Corn Starch: You might be used to only using flour in your batters and dredges, but the addition of just a little cornstarch helps to absorb extra moisture and prevent gluten development, which makes your flour coating and batter crispier!
How To Make The Best Beer Batter
This is a quick overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients & complete step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Preheat 2-3 inches of oil to 375°F in a heavy saucepan, or preheat your deep fryer. Make sure to line a large plate or platter with paper towels for draining excess oil, and set aside. Combine the dry ingredients for your batter and mix thoroughly.
- Add the beer to the batter ingredients and mix until a smooth batter forms, ensuring that there are no lumps.
- Combine the “flouring mixture” ingredients in a small bowl, mixing thoroughly.
- Dredge your fish fillets in the flour mixture.
- Lightly tap your floured fillets to make sure that excess flour is knocked off.
- Cover each floured fillet with a thick coat of batter and place gently into the heated oil. Cook for approximately 4 minutes per side, or until a medium golden brown. Remove and drain the fish on the prepared paper towel lined plate, and serve.
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Beer Battered Fish
- Less Grease, More Flavor: The one real disadvantage of fried foods is how greasy they are. Though that greasiness gives them an intense flavor, it can be offputting to many. To help you end up with less greasy fried foods, make sure to use a slotted spoon or durable metal tongs to pick up and move your fish when it’s in the oil, and once it’s done cooking, transfer it to a plate lined with paper towels, which will absorb a lot of the excess oil.
- Batter Up: The trick to making sure that your batter really sticks to the food you’re frying is to dredge it in flour first. Not only does it help give the batter something to cling to, a quick dredge creates a moisture barrier between your food and the batter that helps everything stay crispy longer!
Storage Instructions
This dish is best eaten fresh, but leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container lined with paper towels for up to 3 days. To reheat your leftovers, put them in the air fryer or oven and bake at 325 to 350°F for 5 (air fryer) to 18 (oven) minutes, flipping halfway to make sure that both sides are evenly crisp.
I wouldn’t recommend freezing your battered fish, as there’s really no way to get that delicious, crispy and fluffy texture out of the batter after it’s been frozen and thawed.
More Delicious Fish Recipes
- Give my Salmon Patties a try for a delicious summery meal any time of the year!
- Love fish but don’t want to deep fry it? Give my tender, flaky Poached Salmon a try!
- Perfect as an appetizer over some salad greens, or as a delicious filling for a sandwich, give my Salmon Salad a try!
Fish and chips is a delicious treat, and it’s one of those dishes that is best when you can get it hot and fresh! With this recipe and a little practice, you’ll never have to settle for anything less than the perfectly crispy, piping hot battered fish of your dreams!
Try out my beer batter on fish, veggies, or anything your heart desires, and let me know how it went for you in the comments below!
Happy Cooking!
Karlynn
The Best Beer Batter Recipe
Ingredients
- 4-6 haddock filets or white fish filets of choice
Batter Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup beer
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Flouring Mixture
- ½ cup flour
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Combine the batter ingredients and mix until smooth batter forms, ensuring that there are no lumps.
- To deep-fry, preheat 2-3 inches of oil in a heavy saucepan to 375 degrees F, or preheat your deep fryer. Line a large plate or platter with paper towels and set aside,
- Combine the “flouring” ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Dredge the fish filets through the flour mixture first, lightly tapping them to sure there isn’t too much flour coating on them.
- Proceed to now cover the floured fish filets with the batter until covered with a thick coat of batter.
- Place gently into the heated oil.
- Cook two at a time in the hot oil, for approximately 4 minutes per side or until a medium golden brown.
- Remove and drain the fish on the prepared paper towels.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Jasen Shaw says
I use this batter. I add johnnys and old bay. One its dipped I lightly coat the pieces in rits crackers that i blended and made cracker crumbs out of. Batter does not spread in the pan and gives it a very crispy coating. Try it!!!
Mary Grace says
Delicious better than fish and chips we have had in Maine restaurants we used Cod instead of Halibut
Debbi says
No egg?
Charlene says
Excellent recipe. I had to add a little more beer to get the consistency right for coating our fish. Once I accomplished the right thickness it clung onto the fish and cooked up nice and crispy. This is the first beer batter recipe I have had success with. Thank you so much for sharing! I will be using this recipe for other deep fry delicacies. I can’t wait to experiment with it!
Becky says
I use this for fried “Frog legs” and onion rings!! Yummy, I use a New Belgium IPA called Juice Force for a different flavor twist. Sometimes I use a plain light colored ale for a lighter simple batter!
Marnee says
Love this recipe for beer batter Very successful for shrimp and deep fried veggies as well. I do have to add a little more beer though as it is a wee bit thick for most of the foods I like to fry up! It’s crispy and delicious with a no fail result!!
Joan Javernick says
Have made this twice now. First time was for Chile Rellenos! I know it calls for an egg batter, but neither I nor my husband eat eggs. This was perfect for them. I also fried little “crispies” from the batter that was leftover. Tonight I made chicken wings with it and added some balsamic vinegar to the batter. Fantastic! Thank you for the recipe.
Dianne says
This recipe is excellent!!!! I made deep fried sole fillets using this AWESOME batter! Tonight I’m making deep fried mushrooms using the same batter. Instructions are easy to follow & create the most crispiest light delicious non greasy batter. Thank you Kitchen Magpie!!
Karlynn says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Mark says
I really enjoyed this recipe. I surprisingly used it with chicken bites and onion rings. Whenever I get white fish again, this will be my go to. Thanks for sharing.
Karlynn says
Mmm onion rings are my favourite! Glad you enjoyed it!
Richard peterson says
No flour mixture needed
Karlynn says
The flour absolutely helps the batter stick! Don’t skip it!
Nancy says
What kind of oil do you use?
Dianne says
Hi Nancy! I used Canola oil & it worked great!
Marnee Bruneau says
This recipe is totally the best I have ever made! I am a grandmother and believe me, I have tried many batter recipes! This one is light, crispy, flavourful and has the best crunch! Everyone just loved it! Thanks very much for sharing!
Karlynn says
Yes canola! And thanks for your helpful answer Diane! <3
Mari says
I have not made this yet, but all of your recipes are “Delicious!!” I just ordered your Prarie Table cookbook from Amazon and get it tomorrow…I’m excited!
Also sending heartfelt thoughts and prayers to you and your family in and from Ukraine.
My grandparents were from Ukraine and Poland. Praying for peace for all.
Karlynn says
Thank you so much for the kind words!! I hope you love the cookbook!
Crunchie says
Definitely a great batter. I too added more beer and a splash of water. All beers are different. We battered dolphin fish🐟 fresh from a deep sea fishing charter. Delectable 👌