The BEST Oven Fried Catfish Recipe! Spicy and Crispy!
I’m not from the South contrary to popular belief (even mine sometimes). My roots are so deep in the South that I sometimes forget I was born in the urban city of Chicago and raised in the burbs. I’ve got Midwestern written all over me but Southern flavor flowing through my veins. It’s hard when both of your parents are from Mississippi and frequent time is spent there visiting my grandparents and catching up with family. One of the things I feel most connected to in the South are the fish fries.
We have them at family reunions and Thanksgiving and are even planning a fun family one this summer. We get the best fillets (my daddy loves bringing back as much as he can when he is down in the Delta), and we fry them up along with other fish, hush puppies and fries and serve with my garlic bread recipe. It’s a soul food feast for the ages if I do say so myself.
Oven Fried Fish Ingredients
A few years back, I started to crave my roots but with a healthier spin. That’s how I ended up creating this Spicy Oven Fried Catfish recipe. No frying is necessary for it, and you won’t even miss it, trust me!
The flavor is perfectly spicy, the breading is crunchy, and the fish is flaky and moist yielding the most spectacular results. Ingredients such as:
- Cayenne
- Paprika (smoked paprika is always a nice selection too!)
- Lemon pepper
- Hot sauce, you get all that Southern spice you crave without the guilt.
How To Make Oven Fried Fish Recipe
The reason why this recipe works so brilliantly is because it truly tastes like fried fish. This recipe achieves the crispy and crunchy exterior that we love along with the tender inside of the fresh fish. In order to create that, here are the methods that work so well:
Method 1: A mix of both flour and cornmeal helps with crunch! Combining both make a lovely exterior that gives that crispy bite.
Method 2: Using a dredge technique! By adding the fish into the cornmeal/flour mix into egg mixture and then back into the cornmeal/flour, it creates a lovely thick exterior which also creates a crispy bite. It bakes up golden as well!
Method 3: The oil spray! I use this instead of frying but the key is in liberally spraying the fish with this spray making sure that every area is completely covered.
If You Love Oven Fried Catfish, Check out these
Because this oven fried catfish recipe is so on point, I’m thinking about throwing my family’s first fish un-fry. And I might add this Grilled Catfish recipe to the mix as well. Wonder how THAT will go over!
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Spicy Oven Fried Catfish
Ingredients
- Non-stick olive oil spray
- 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2-2 teaspoons seasoned salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce
- 1 pound catfish fillets cut into smaller pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper liberally sprayed with non-stick olive oil spray.
- In a brown bag or ziploc bag, add cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon pepper, and paprika and shake together.
- In a deep pie plate or large shallow bowl, whisk together eggs and hot sauce.
- Add each fillet to the bag of cornmeal breading to coat then dip into beaten eggs on both sides, then lastly add back into the cornmeal breading and shake liberally to coat well. Place the fillet on the coated baking sheet. Repeat with each fillet.
- Liberally spray the tops of each fillet with non-stick baking spray coating the fish well until completely covered in spray. Bake for 25-30 minutes depending on thickness of fillets until golden brown but still juicy in the inside.
- Remove fish and cool for 5 minutes then serve with lemon and chopped parsley.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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This was SO delicious!! Even my picky eaters ate it all up! I’m so bummed there were no leftovers for today’s lunch! I will make it again!! My husband commented that it looked straight outta a restaurant, but tasted much better!! Thank you!!!!
Delicious; very moist catfish and crispy coating with great flavor. Baked catfish on wire rack placed on cookie sheet and sprayed both sides.
I’m so glad I found this recipe because I was planning to fry mine stovetop. Question: could the fish be drizzled with olive oil as opposed to spraying it, or is the spray to keep it uniform?
The spray helps it to be uniform in terms of oil distribution. If you drizzle it, some areas won’t be covered and won’t be crisp once baked.
It’s not that spicy but has really good flavor and the fish is moist. I actually baked the fish at 415 degrees for the same amount of time.
Awesome texture on the crust of the fish.
It looks delicious. I plan to try this very soon. Should the fish be turned halfway through cooking time?
I just made this recipe and I will never fry fish on the stove again. Thank you so much. Delicious!
Is crispy and very good!
Made this last night for dinner and it brought memories of the catfish we used to eat at a little fish restaurant in Little Rock. The double coating was so delicious and crispy I couldn’t believe it was baked not fried. I will be making this again! Thank you!
Made with Tilapia fish turned out perfect. Love this recipe. Thank You