Fish Fingers > Start Cooking

Homemade fish fingers have a crispy crust and tender, flaky fish on the inside. They are not at all like the compressed fish that gets served in fast food restaurants and school cafeterias!

In just five simple steps, this fish is ready to serve:

Cut the fish fillet into strips
Dredge (or coat) them in flour
Dip them in a egg and cream mixture
Roll them in bread crumbs
And finally, pan-fry them

This is very similar to how I made Chicken Cutlets (video).

The ingredients needed to make Fish Fingers are cod (or a similar white fish), an egg, heavy cream, salt, pepper, seasoned bread crumbs, flour, vegetable oil, and a lemon. Click on the recipe for the ingredient amounts.

Before you turn on the stove, cut the fish and measure the remaining ingredients. The flour and bread crumbs need to get put in a flat rimmed dish after they are measured.

In a medium bowl, combine the heavy cream, the egg, the salt and the pepper.

Mix that all together and set it aside until the fish gets cut.

Step 1

Cut the fish into strips – approximately 1 inch wide by 3 inches long. (To make cutting the fish easier, you can stick the fillet of fish in the freezer for about 15 minutes to firm it up a bit.)

My fish fingers did not end up all being exactly the same size. By using the entire fish fillet, I ended up with a few “not so perfect” shapes, which is just fine in my book! This is meant to be a family meal, and there is no point in wasting fish!

In order for the fish to have that beautiful crusty coating actually stick to the fish, it is really important to start with the flour then the egg-cream then the bread crumbs-in that order! So, for the next steps, we’re going to set up in a mini “assembly line.” The sequence should be fish – flour – egg – bread crumbs – clean dish!

Step 2

Pick the fish up with your (clean!) fingers and gently coat or dredge the fish in the flour first. It just needs a really light coating.

Step 3 and 4

Using two forks, dip the flour-dredged fish into the egg mixture.

Lift it out…

…and add it to the bread crumbs.

By using the forks for the egg-cream dip, your fingers will stay dry throughout this process. This is important otherwise the flour will get eggy, the egg-cream mixture will get messy and the coat will not stick properly.

Step 5

Heat the fry-pan on medium-high heat for one minute, and then add 1/2 of the oil. Let the oil heat for about another minute.

When you add the fish to the pan, the oil should bubble. If it does not, then the oil is not hot enough. Remove that one piece of fish and let the oil heat up a bit more, otherwise the fish is going to be soggy.

Using a pair of tongs or a spatula add the fish to the pan. Do not overcrowd the fish. You will have to do this in two batches.

Be sure to wipe out the pan with a paper towel before adding the second batch of fish to the pan

It will take approximately two to three minutes on each side for the fish to cook and the coating to develop a nice crispy crust. Put a paper towel on a plate and transfer the fish to the plate. Let the fish drain for a just a bit before serving.

I served these fish fingers with a slice of lemon, cocktail sauce and some frozen vegetables that I steamed in the microwave. Mashed potatoes go really well with fish fingers.