Gluten Free Fish Batter Recipe - Cathy's Gluten Free (2024)

Gluten free fish batter gives you crispy, golden-crusted, battered fish that rivals any other! It's easier than you might think to make your own battered fish at home. Use the same recipe for onion rings or shrimp!

This gluten free recipe is free from cornstarch, dairy and nuts, too.

Ingredients

• Fish - This is haddock. Cod, flounder, and tilapia are also recommended for deep-frying. Use either fresh or frozen fish, thawed in the refrigerator.
• Club Soda - The fizz creates air bubbles when the batter hits the heat, yielding the nice light, flakey crust.
• Cathy's Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Blend - If you haven't already mixed some up, you'll want to! There are lots of things you can make with it and more recipes coming!
• Lard - I use lard as a cooking fat because it doesn't go rancid as soon as vegetable oils and has a higher smoke point. It adds flavour and crispness to food. The best lard is rendered at home from pork belly or back fat. You can purchase this kind in a jar in the health food store. It's kind of pricey, but you can do small batch deep frying like this with a pound of it.

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Dry the fish pieces and coat them in rice flour.

Mix all of the batter ingredients together.

Use tongs to dip each flour-coated piece into the batter, making sure both sides are covered.

Carefully slip each battered piece into 375°F (190°C) oil. Cook for a few minutes on each side.

Hint: The fish is best eaten right away, but you can keep it warm on a paper towel-lined tray in a 250°F (121°C) oven for up to 20 minutes while you cook the remaining fish.

Recipe FAQ's

Substitutions

If you don't want to make your own gluten free all purpose flour blend and would rather purchase a ready made one, Better Batter Original Blend is the closest to mine and should work in this recipe.

Variations

Besides fish, try making onion rings or battered shrimp with this same recipe!

Equipment

You don't really need much fancy equipment for this recipe. A pot large enough to handle a couple pieces of fish at a time, a pair of tongs, and a thermometer are the important things.

I use a deep, 8" (20 cm) diameter pot. It's big enough to handle the fish and small enough to keep the oil at least ½" (1 cm) deep.

Long-handled tongs are important when you're working with hot oil, so your hands don't get too close to it.

A thermometer tells you when your oil is at the right temperature for deep frying. If it's too hot, your food will burn on the outside before it gets cooked on the inside. If it isn't hot enough, the food will take too long to cook and absorb too much oil.

Storage

Store any leftover battered and cooked fish in a paper-towel lined, sealed container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

To reheat leftovers, preheat the oven with an empty baking pan in it to 450°F (232°C). Place cold, cooked, battered fish on the hot pan and cook for about 12 minutes. It should be heated right through and the crust crisped up again.

Top tip

Be very careful when cooking with hot oil! It will sizzle and spatter when you put the battered fish in. Stand back and slip each piece in gently, with long-handled tongs.

What to Serve with Battered Fish

Recipe

Food safety

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
• Wash hands after touching raw meat
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
• Never leave cooking food unattended
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.

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