In the 10 years since my celiac disease diagnosis, I have only come across the occasion for gluten free fried fish while eating out twice. You may think – good, fried food is bad for you. True, I won’t argue with you there. But fried food is something that I think people that can still eat gluten don’t really think about.
Even finding a restaurant that has a safe deep fryer for french fries can be a challenge. So finding a place that has gluten free Beer Battered Fish or gluten free Onion Rings is nearly impossible.
This gluten free Beer Battered Fish dish actually comes together quite quickly. Quick enough that it can be prepared on a weeknight. If you have time to bake some french fries, you have enough time to fry up some fish. The fish actually takes less time to cook than the french fries.
I’ve made this with both tilapia and cod fish, and my family definitely prefers the cod. It has less of a ‘fishy’ flavor, which no one here really likes.
Don’t discard the oil after frying this gluten free Beer Battered Fish.
Did you know that you can reuse your deep-frying oil? I often pour mine through a sieve lined with paper towel to remove anything that has sunk to the bottom, and store it in a jar in the fridge until the next time I want to deep fry something. Since you used this for fish, I wouldn’t recommend making gluten free Old-Fashioned Doughnuts in it. Instead, you can use it to make:
- Deep Fried Home-Fries
- Gluten Free Chinese Chicken Balls
- Crispy Gluten Free Onion Rings
- Gluten Free Fried Chicken KFC Style
Gluten Free Beer Battered Fish recipe:
Gluten Free Beer Battered Fish
You won't believe how easy it is to make your own Gluten Free Beer Battered Fish at home. Add a side of hot fries and some creamy coleslaw, and you've got the perfect pub dinner.
Ingredients
- enough oil for deep frying, about 2" in your pot/fryer
- 8 (4 ounce) cod or tilapia fillets
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour (for dusting the fish fillets)
Batter:
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 1/4 cup potato starch
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups gluten free beer OR Club Soda
- 1 large egg, beaten
Instructions
- Heat oil in a heavy bottom pot or a deep fryer until 365 degrees F.
- Rinse the fish and pat it dry.
- Place 1/2 cup brown rice flour in one bowl. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the batter ingredients. The batter will be fairly thin, that's alright, it will work just fine.
- Working one at a time, dip the fish fillets into the rice flour, then into the batter, and then carefully place it in the hot oil. You shouldn't overcrowd your pot - only fry a few pieces of fish at time.
- Fry fish, turning once, until both sides are a golden brown (about 2 minutes per side). Drain on a paper towel lined baking sheet, and serve while still warm.
Notes
Adapted from a recipe at Allrecipes.com
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This recipe and images were updated in February 2018.
Carolyn says
Wow, that looks amazing! You are adventurous in the kitchen, and thank goodness for the rest of us!
Mary says
This was awesome! We substituted homemade Kombucha for the gf beer and it turned out great! In fact, the non-gf folks in our family preferred this recipe to their “regular” recipe. I am sure you could use your favorite store bought Kombucha with great success!
Jeanine says
Thanks for sharing your substitution, Mary! Glad to hear that it worked well!
Carrie says
You are awesome!! I hope I can find some GF beer and try this sometime soon!!
Hallie says
Red bridge is a good gluten free beer
Raymond says
Made by Budweiser, I usually find it at BevMo!
RONAE CHRISTENSEN says
Believe it or not, Heineken and Modelo are gluten free beers
Jeanine Friesen says
FALSE! Those beers are NOT gluten free, please do not continue to use those.
https://wheatbythewayside.com/is-heineken-gluten-free/
https://glutenfreeguidehq.com/is-modelos-beer-gluten-free/
There are a number of gluten free beers available though. You can find a list here: https://www.celiacandthebeast.com/2021/09/the-best-gluten-free-beer/
kftaylorquilts.com says
Well now I want some beer battered fish! That looks fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing your talents!
freeeatsfood.com says
It looks like you have attained perfection here! Yum. The markets near me don't have a good selection of GF beer, but I will have to keep looking. Thanks for posting another great recipe.
judie says
could I make this using chia seeds or flax instead of the egg? or enrg egg replacer.This was always my favorite treat and I really miss it.Thanks.
mark says
I have left the egg out and it turns out amazing
Carrie says
this was delicious! We made this with friends and actually just used seltzer water (since none of us drink and gf beer is hard to find here) it was great!!! Definitely a once-a-year awesome treat!!
Nikki says
This recipe is DELICIOUS!! I will never make it a different way. We used club soda instead of buying GF beer, and it works just fine 🙂 THANK YOU!
Jeanine Friesen says
So glad to hear that, Nikki! And thanks for the information on the successful substitution, that’s great to know too! Now I want fried fish. 🙂
alicia says
Omg i used to love getting beer battered fish at mimis cafe….ive missed it this goes on this weeks menu for sure!!!
alicia says
Do you have a recipee for the slaw?
Jeanine Friesen says
I actually use a simply, straight forward coleslaw recipe from Allrecipes.com : http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-Restaurant-Slaw/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=restaurant%20slaw&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page
Jeanine Friesen says
I hope you enjoy it, Alicia!
Lorna says
Made this for dinner tonight and it was wonderful. GF beer is still unheard of here and I didn’t have club soda or 7-up both of which I’m sure would work. I just substituted plain old water and it was great…..just a nice thin crispy coating which was especially delicious with the garlic powder and paprika….Going to be a regular her! Thanks Janine!
Jeanine Friesen says
Perfect! Thanks for sharing that, Lorna, I’m sure others have a hard time finding gluten-free beer as well. 🙂
MK says
We made this last night and it was delicious. Our 8 and 10 year old gobbled it up. We used 7-up instead of gf beer and it turned out great. Thank you for sharing. We are so glad we found your website.
Jeanine says
Yeah!! I’m so glad that you found it too! 🙂 I haven’t made this in a while, may need to change that. 🙂 Thanks for popping in, MK!
Robert says
Though I haven’t tried it in our own kitchen yet, we dined in a GF restaurant in Colorado Springs called Coquette’s and they made fabulous GF fish and chips. Instead of beer, they used Strong Bow Cider which is easier to find in a liquor store than GF beer. If that brand is unavailable, try one of the European tasting ciders which are more tart than many of the New England brands.
Debbie says
Made this last night with fish and shrimp, it was the BEST! My husband who only eats GF for me (celiac), could not get enough! I’ve tried other beer batter before, this is #1, thanks a bunch for sharing.
Debbie says
Oh forgot, Redbridge is easy to find in grocery strores here in Florida and it works great for the beer part of this.
Tracy Joyner says
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS RECIPE!!! Just recently diagnosed with Celiac and I was worried I would never be able to have another beer battered fish, especially during LENT. This recipe was wonderful. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1 for 1 Gluten free flour mix and Redbridge Gluten free beer. AMAZING flavor.
Definitely will be stashed in my “favorite recipe pile” 🙂
Jeanine says
Isn’t it great to be able to re-create your favorites? No need to panic, you’ll be able to recreate nearly everything with time. 🙂
Abby says
If you used a gf 1:1 flour mix, did you still add the starches in addition?
Dan says
I’ve made this about 4 times, with halibut I have in the freezer. It turns out perfect every time. A good gluten free beer I have recently found is called “ground breaker”, with a tractor on the label.
Kurt says
Made it today. What a treat for my wife, who has had to be gf for 10 years now. Hard cider worked nicely.
Donna Harman says
Can Bobs Red Mill GF 1 to 1 flour be used is place of the other flours? And I am having trouble finding GF beer. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Dick L. says
The recipe now suggests club soda as an alternative to beer, and others have used 7-Up successfully. If you’re really trying to get some of the hop flavor from beer, you might want to try an internet search for things like “beer without hops” or “hop substitutes”. An Earl Grey tea bag in some club soda might do the trick. You may have to experiment a bit.
Kathleen H. says
Can this recipe be made in an air fryer? Also has it been determined if a GF 1 to 1 flour be used?
Jeanine Friesen says
Hi Kathleen, I don’t have an air fryer, and I don’t think anyone has tried making it in there yet. I don’t use preblend flours ( https://www.faithfullyglutenfree.com/substitutions-all-purpose-gluten-free-flour/ ), but some of the comments mention using a 1-to-1 flour without any problems.
Treena says
This is a meal I have missed since being diagnosed with celiac. My husband and I made this last night. We used club soda. He is not celiac but he said this is the best fish he’s had. Thank you so much for an amazing recipe!
Tara says
I finally made this recipe last night, and it was different, but decent. Don’t think I’ve ever used so much paprika in a recipe before. I was a bit nervous about the 2 tablespoons, but went ahead with it. The color of course, turns out amazing. I also used club soda with cod lions. Don’t know if I’ll use this for fish again, but what I was thinking of trying next with this batter is both onion rings & shrimp. I think it’ll do quite well. Especially for onion rings 😋
Kellie Bean says
Can I use a substitute for the egg? Like coconut milk or aquafaba?
Tania Davis says
I’m curious about this too. I wonder if it can be left out?
Shirley says
for me the fish was a desaster, i used club soda. The fish fell apart in the oil. I also used peanut oil.
Jeanine Friesen says
If the fish fell apart, I’d say your fish was the problem. Sorry to hear that.
Dana S Reeleder says
Can you make this batter the night before?
Jeanine Friesen says
I wouldn’t mix it that much ahead of time. You can mix the dry ingredients together, and add the wet when needed.
Abby says
This recipe is fantastic- we have done it twice and it is by far my favorite way to fry fish-
We add hot sauce to the batter as well- super crispy and flavorful.
Jeanine Friesen says
Oh, hot sauce is a great addition! Glad to hear it’s a hit!
Abby says
If I substitute a gluten-free one to one flour mixture for the brown rice flour, do I still need the potato starch and tapioca starch? Thank you, looking forward to trying this!
Jeanine Friesen says
You would add together the amount that the brown rice, potato starch, and tapioca starch equals, so you’d use 1 cup of all purpose blend. Enjoy!
Victoria Ryland says
Has anyone made this and NOT eaten it immediately and had to re-warm it in the microwave? I am wondering if it turns out soggy? I am making 20pcs tomorrow for my son’s bday party!
Jeanine Friesen says
Microwave will definitely give you soggy, sorry.
Netta says
Hey, this looks amazing! one question in my country you cannot find brown rice or brown rice flour (along with plenty of other stuff- also no potato flour) would white rice flour and corn starch substitute those two? I really wanna try this!
Jeanine Friesen says
In this case, I think those substitutions might actually work pretty well. In baking, it might not be a great substitute, but for this, I think it’ll work just fine.