Fried Catfish Recipe

4.34 from 69 votes

This classic southern fried catfish recipe is dredged in a perfectly seasoned and spiced cornmeal breading and fried until golden brown and tender.

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Total Time40

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: soul food, south, Southern

Servings: servings

Calories: 210kcal

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

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.

- Fridge: Just be sure to put your Southern fried catfish in an air-tight container or ziploc bag. It will keep about 2 days.

- Freezer: f you would like to store your fish for longer, you can freeze the leftovers for up to a month.

- 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.

- 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!

- All-Purpose Flour: Replace that all-purpose flour with a 1:1 ratio gluten free flour if you need.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.