White Fish Recipes

By Nick Heid March 29, 2020 Articles 4 Comments

So you’ve got your catch and your ready to eat, but are you ready to cook? You likely have one of these questions. What are some good recipes for white fish? Or, in general, what are some good fish recipes? These recipes will work for all white fish and some others, but this article was written up with Southern California surf fisherman in mind. It’s tough to come by Corbina, Croaker, and perch specific recipes so enjoy and if you enjoy the read be sure to share it with your friends!

*For guitarfish recipe and link to video on how to clean and fillet guitarfish, scroll to bottom of this page*

Here are a few of our favorite ways to prepare your saltwater catch.

Beer Battered Fish Taco Recipe

*Perfect for literally any fish.

This may be the most simple beer battered fish recipe out there. Don’t let its simplicity deter you from going on to try it as I assure you it won’t disappoint! This is an extremely versatile white fish recipe as you can use it for so many species. I don’t like to use this for high-end fish like Halibut because it somewhat masks their flavor as that’s what beer batter will always do. This recipe is great if you’re looking to make a little bit of fish go a long way or if you’re simply feeling some beer battered fish! It’s a fan favorite in my house and I’m pretty sure it’ll be the same in yours.

Ingredients:

Bisquick
Beer
Salt to taste after fried and dried
Canola/veggie Oil (to fry in pan)

White Sauce:

1.5 Tablespoons of sour cream
1 tablespoon of mayo
1/2 tablespoon of lime juice
Pinch of garlic powder
A touch of hot sauce (I like to use Frank’s Red Hot)

Add-ons:

Cabbage
Salsa
Diced tomatoes
Tortillas of course

Instructions:

After gathering the listed ingredients, you’re ready to start. For the batter, you’ll mix 2 cups of Bisquick with 1 cup of beer. (I like to use a nice Mexican medium-light beer like Corona or Modelo). Mix it until its a similar consistency as for pancakes and that’s your batter.

Frying Fish

After your batter is ready, you’ll want to to pour 1/3-1/2 an inch of Canola oil in your frying pan. Set the stove to medium-high and test with a quick drop of water when you think the oil is hot enough. This drop of water should cause the oil to start popping for a few seconds, but it shouldn’t start jumping out of the pan like crazy. You’ll know if it’s too hot.

Dip your white fish in the batter, let the excess run off, and then you’ll go straight into the pan with it. You’ll fry each side once making for only one flip. if you need to flip twice, it’s not the end of the world, but shoot for one flip only. Fry each side for about 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Pat dry and salt to taste.

Breaded Fish Recipe

*Perfect for Salmon, Trout, Sol, Cod, Tilapia, Perch, Corbina, Croaker, Halibut, and any other white fish.

A tasty and healthier alternative to beer batter. This recipe is simple, and extremely versatile. So use it for whatever you want to use it for!

Ingredients:

Batter:

Flour
Water

Breading:

Bread Crumbs (panko)
Parsley
Oregano
Basil
Garlic Salt (optional)

Others:

Salt (for taste)
Canola/veggi e Oil (for frying)

Corbina and Perch Recipe — Breaded Corbina with baked zucchini and broccoli

Instructions:

Mix flour and water to form a watery batter. I like to say half as thick as pancake batter. Then mix your herbs with your panko bread crumbs. The idea is to coat the fillets lightly in the batter just so the breading will stick.

After, making the batter, you want to mix your desired amount of Parsley and Oregano and whatever other herbs and seasonings in with your bread crumbs. I’ll throw in whatever herbs sound good at the time.

Heat your Oil up (if you drip water in the pan and it bubbles loudly without splashing everywhere, your golden! If not, get it there!

You will then dip your fillet in the batter and let the excess run off. Then coat the fillet with seasoned bread crumbs (both sides) and into the oil for frying we go! Cook until the bread crumbs become crispy and golden and then pat dry and place on a rack to drain and dry further. While the fillets are further drying, go ahead and salt to taste. One or two easy sprinkles will do just fine.

Your done! I recommend the same recipe and method for fried zucchini and pickles… trust me on this, it’s good!

Grilled or Seared White Fish Recipe

*Perfect for Salmon, Trout, Sol, Cod, Tilapia, Perch, Croaker, Corbina, Halibut, and any other white fish.

This fish sauce works well for grilled or pan seared fish. Mix together and drizzle on cooked fish… It’s that simple.

You’ll be using this as a drizzle sauce and whatever you don’t use on the fish is perfect for a bread dipping sauce. The recipe below is enough for about 4 12″ long 1/2″ thick Corbina fillets or the equivalent.

Since I didn’t have a quality picture of one of the times I made this recipe, this picture was pulled from the internet. It closely resembles what your fish should look like. I’d drizzle about twice the amount of sauce illustrated here.

Ingredients:

6 table spoons of olive oil
1 clove of minced garlic
1 teaspoon of:
dried basil of salt (or garlic salt if you prefer)
ground black pepper
lemon juice
dried parsley

Seasonings for Fish:

Salt
Pepper
Garlic Salt
oh and also some cooking spray (not for seaonsing)

Instructions:

For the drizzle, you’ll simply mix all ingredients together and you’re set. For cooking of the fish, you have two options. You can grill or sear your fillets. If you’re going to grill, I highly recommend getting a grill basket. It’s an inexpensive grill accessory that allows you to grill things like fish and veggies without having to worry about small food pieces or delicate meats falling through.

For both grilling and searing, it’s imperative that you only flip the fillet once! This will minimize the odds of your fillet breaking apart. Use some non-stick cooking spray for your grill basket or some cooking oil (if searing) and cook each side for 2-3 minutes while seasoning each side with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. It’ll cook quickly depending on how thick your fillets are. If you’re cooking your catch from the surf here in Southern California, 2-3 minutes will likely do the job assuming your fillet is no more than an inch thick.

After you’re finished cooking, you can either drizzle the sauce on altogether or you can serve the two together leaving your guests with the freedom of how much drizzle they’d like.

Halibut Recipe

*Perfect for Halibut! And all the other fish mentioned earlier, but if you have Halibut waiting to be cooked… this is the one!

Halibut is possibly the tastiest fish you’ll catch in Southern California’s surf. So, being such a tasty fish, it calls for a complimentary recipe and I know just the one.

This Halibut recipe may be my favorite white fish recipes of all the ones mentioned in this post. I learned this one from my girlfriend’s grandparents (who owned their own Italian Restaurant) a while back and it’s safe to say I’ll never forget it…

Ever!

Ingredients:

Sauce

Sherry Wine (1/2 cup)
Olive Oil (just under 1/2 cup)
Squeezed Lemon (1)
Worcestershire Sauce (2/3 Tbsp)
Honey (1 Tbsp)
Garlic (2 cloves)
Crushed Chile (to taste)
Parsley (to taste)
Basil (to taste)
Oregano (to taste)
Salt (to taste)

Others:

Flour
Canola/veggie Oil

Instructions:

white fish recipe — With flour added to sauce (heavier glaze)

Whisk your sauce together in a sauce pan adding a touch of flour to thicken the texture and leave pan on a medium heat setting.

Heat a separate pan to a medium-high/high setting and then flour coat your fillets in flour. Begin cooking your fillets.

You’ll cook each side for about 2 minutes and then drizzle on the heated sauce.

Continue to cook until done (maybe 2-3 more minutes) and either drizzle on the remaining sauce or serve on the side.

And you’re ready to go, sit down and eat up!

Shovelnose Guitarfish Recipe

Photo coming soon! The Shovelnose Guitarfish is one of the lesser known fish as far as eating goes. And yes, it is a white fish so all white fish recipes do apply. I honestly had no idea it was a white fish given its looks, but it most certainly is. Little do many anglers know, it’s great tasting and provides more meat than any of the fish above in size:meat ratio. I made a post detailing how to go about filleting and cooking these fish a while back so here’s the link. Within the post, there’s also a very straightforward video that I made illustrating how to fillet these guitarfish.

Ingredients:

Soy sauce (1/4 cup)
Honey (1/4 cup)
Rice vinegar (1 tbsp)
Ginger (fresh grated- 1 tbsp or dried- 1/4 tsp)
Garlic (1 tbsp)
Black pepper (1/2 tsp)
Lemon (1/2 lemon squeezed)
Cornstarch (2 teaspoons)

Instructions:

Whisk all ingredients together in the order in which they appear.

Use as marinade in a ziplock freezer bag and let sit for atleast 30 minutes.

Drain marinade into a sauce pan and heat at medium.

Heat a (separate) lightly buttered or oiled pan to medium high/ high and place fish in pan cooking for a few minutes each side depending on thickness. As the fish cooks, drizzle extra marinade over the fish as needed. Serve remaining sauce on the side.