This is my Mississippi fam’s fried catfish recipe. I dredge the fish in a seasoned cornmeal then fry until they are as golden on the outside but tender on the inside. My family fried more fish than I can count so trust me when I tell you this recipe is the only one you will ever need. Served along with hush puppies, hot sauce and remoulade, this recipe is as authentic as it gets. Plus video tutorial!
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Video Tutorial
How to Fry Catfish
Prepare the Seasoned Cornmeal and Egg Mixture
Step 1: Shake up your cornmeal, flour, and all the seasonings (salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon pepper, and paprika) in a brown bag or zip-top bag.
Step 2: Next, whip those eggs and hot sauce together a large shallow dish.
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Dredge the Catfish
Step 3: Give each catfish fillet a nice egg bath.
Step 4: Then toss them in the seasoned batter. Let them chill on a baking sheet. Put the catfish in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
Fry it up
Step 5: Heat your oil (about 4 inches deep) in a dutch oven, pot or deep fryer over medium-high heat until you hit 350 – 375 F (170 C to 190 C). Fry in batches until golden brown.
Step 6: Remove and let the excess oil drip off on racks or paper towels. Let it rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Fried Catfish Recipe
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2-3 tsp seasoned salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp lemon pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper go up or down depending on your heat preference
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp hot sauce
- 1 lb catfish fillets patted dry with paper towels, you can also cut into smaller pieces
- lemon wedges, tartar sauce and hot sauce for serving
Instructions
- In a brown bag or ziploc bag, add cornmeal, flour, and spices and shake together.
- In a deep pie plate or large shallow bowl, whisk together eggs and hot sauce.
- Add each filet into beaten eggs on both sides then add to the cornmeal breading and shake liberally to coat well. Shake off excess coating and add to a parchment covered baking sheet. Repeat with each fillet.
- Let fish set for about 10-15 minutes before frying.
- In a large dutch oven, pot or deep fryer, pour in about 4 inches of oil and heat over medium high heat until the temperature reaches approximately 350-360 degrees.
- Working in batches, lower a few fillets into oil making sure not to overcrowd the dutch oven. Fry fillets until golden brown or about 2-5 minutes on each side depending on size of fish before turning over. Then remove and drain on a wire rack with a baking sheet with paper towls beneath.
- Cool for 5-10 minutes then serve with lemon wedges, hot sauce in a bottle on the side and hush puppies and a couple sprigs of parsley.
Video
Notes
How to Store and Reheat
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- Fridge: Just be sure to put your Southern fried catfish in an air-tight container or ziploc bag. It will keep about 2 days.
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- Freezer: f you would like to store your fish for longer, you can freeze the leftovers for up to a month.
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- Reheating: Allow the catfish to come to room temperature while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the catfish on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes (or until heated through). Either use the oven or the air fryer so you can keep that crispy exterior.
Ingredient Substitutions
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- Catfish Fillets: Go for fresh farm-raised fillets which are available in most grocery stores too! You can grab whole, catfish steaks or nuggets too. Also if fresh isn’t available, frozen works great too!
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- Yellow Cornmeal: Grab fine so the grit doesn’t become too hard to chew.
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- All-Purpose Flour: Replace that all-purpose flour with a 1:1 ratio gluten free flour if you need.
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- Salt: Back in the day, we used seasoned salt but I find that using kosher salt instead allows me more freedom in building my spice blend myself.
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- Cayenne Pepper: Feel free to lower this amount if you want. If you don’t have cayenne, just a few red pepper flakes will work just fine.
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- Paprika: Smoked is my preference. No smoked paprika? Grab regular.
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- Large Eggs: If you run out of eggs, you can easily use buttermilk.
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- Hot Sauce: Feel free to leave out if you don’t want too much spice.
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- Oil: Any neutral oil like vegetable, peanut or canola works here. They have high smoke points so they won’t burn at high temps. Don’t you dare grab the olive oil. It ain’t fit for this.
Nutrition
Recipe Tips
- Fresh is Best: Avoid any fish that has a fishy odor y’all. Fresh catfish should smell like clean water and be firm. Trust me, the odor is an indication of old, ill-tasting fish, and it tastes just as bad as it smells.
- Pat it Dry: Before you dredge, pat the catfish with paper towels to remove as much extra moisture as possible. This will help create a perfect crispy coating.
- Shake it Off and Let it Set: After you dredge, shake off any excess batter and let it set so it doesn’t fall off in the oil.
- Heat it Up: A temperature of at least 350-375 F is ideal for frying y’all. If the temp is too low, the fish will soak up the oil and get soggy. If it’s too hot, the crust will burn before that fish even cooks.
- Don’t Overcrowd the Oil: Fry in batches so you don’t lower the temperature of the oil and make soggy fish. A deep fryer is great for deep fried catfish and or cast iron skillet is definitely the move for pan-fried catfish.
- Drain on a Wire Rack: Add a baking sheet lined with paper towels under the wire rack so it soaks up the grease that falls. It’s gonna keep it super crispy.
- Serve Right Away: Now don’t let it sit too long. It’s best served up 5-10 minutes after frying while its still super crunchy and hot.
Serving Suggestions
- Southern Fish Fry: Serve this up classic soul food style with french fries, coleslaw and sweet tea.. Add the lemon wedges, hot sauce and tartar sauce ready boos.
- Fry Feast: Once you get frying, you might as well keep going. Serve up a fried feast filled with fried shrimp, fried pickles, fried onion rings, and fried okra. That’s some good eatin!
- Chicago Style: Now y’all know Chicagoans will tell you that fried catfish and spaghetti go together like peanut butter and jelly. And they are right! Serve that garlic bread on the side too.
- Southern Sunday Supper: Serve this along with collard greens, candied sweet potatoes, Southern baked macaroni and cheese and Southern cornbread. And don’t forget the soul food sweet potato pie.
- Country Breakfast: Serve a fried catfish fillet over a bed of grits and flaky biscuits and get your entire life! Make the cheesy grits if you want something even more decadent.
- Cajun Vibes: My Louisiana folks can get down on fried catfish too. It’s got a whole new personality when you dip it in remoulade and serve along with red beans and rice, dirty rice, and beignets. Or serve it up like this po’ boy!
Recipe Help
You want your oil to reach a temperature of 350°F-375°F (175°C) degrees. You can also test your oil by adding the end of a wooden spoon to the oil. If it bubbles around the handle, it’s good to go. Also a tiny toss of breading into the oil can be an indicator. If it sizzles and rises to the top of the oil, its ready to fry in.
About 2-5 minutes each side will do it boos. But this will depend on the thickness of the fish fillets.
Yep boos! Just strain it once its cooled and store it in a sealed container. Use up in a few weeks.
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Im from the SouthSide of Chicago now a Cali Girl. This brings back memories of my mom. Thank you for sharing.
I made this last night. I cut the recipe for two servings. It was delicious. I grew up eating southern fried catfish and this was spot on. Thank you so much for sharing this.
My wife really loved the recipe thank you I cooked it by the way, I am 52 and I do all the cooking for my wife but I’ve always had trouble cooking catfish your recipe is great
This seasoning is delicious. I used a different fish and didn’t have time to let it sit in the fridge with the breading, but it still came out great. It has just the right amount of heat from the cayenne pepper, and it’s not too salty. I did add a bit of Old Bay seasoning since
I love that on my seafood, but me and my husband agreed that this recipe is a keeper.
Catfish is not as Seafood
This was the first time I made fried catfish and my husband and I LOVED it!!! I made your shrimp too. Both had flavor, was crispy but yet moist on the the inside, thank you for sharing!
Made this today never fried catfish since I’m the only one that likes it, it was awesome thank you for the great recipe
Girl J am from Chicago and ate Fried Fish and Spaghetti every Friday cannot wait try this tomorrow
Born and raised in Chicago eating fish and spaghetti. Now I live in the south try this recipe with some cheese grits. It’s great
I made used this recipe yesterday (10/24/20) but used 4 small, whole catfish instead of filets. Each turned out beautifully with the exact same measurements indicated. Best catfish ever! Thanks for this amazing and easy-to-follow recipe.
SO SO SO good! Second fish fry with friends and everyone LOVED the seasoning and texture. Winner! This is our new go to. We paired this with your remoulade sauce from your shrimp po boys.
We used to just buy a pre-made fish fry mix from the store, but I wanted to try making it instead and it turned out so good!