For a fun and filling weeknight meal, air fry up a homemade batch of crispy, golden fish and chips. Since a wet batter for fish and chips cannot be used in an air fryer, this recipe turns crushed potato chips into a crust for flaky, wild-caught Pacific cod. The potato chip crust allows you to make these fish and chips gluten-free.
What Is Fish and Chips?
Fish and chips is an iconic, deep-fried meal that you can expect to find at almost any British pub, featuring crispy battered fish and chips (french fries). It’s often served in some sort of basket lined with paper to help pull excess grease from the fish and chips.
How to Make Fish and Chips
Conventionally, battered fish and chips are deep-fried in a commercial fryer or in a large pot holding at least a liter of hot oil. Making fish and chips the conventional way uses a lot more oil and requires a little more cleanup than your average meal. It also tends to produce a greasy, heavy dish.
With an air fryer, you can recreate a lighter, yet equally satisfying version of fish and chips at home. This recipe dredges pieces of Pacific cod in finely crushed potato chips, which add crunch and a deep-fried flavor profile to the fish — without having to fry the fish in oil.
For the chip component, whole potatoes are cut into wedges, then boiled before being air fried. The result is a chip that’s akin to tender, steamy steak fries. It’s not deep-fryer crispy, but it’s delicious and a perfect complement to the potato-crusted fish.
This recipe for fish and chips has a short ingredient list that can be made gluten-free:
-
Fish: a mild, flaky white fish is ideal
-
Flour or gluten-free alternative
-
Egg
-
Plain potato chips: to finely crush, you can transfer chips to a resealable bag and crush with a rolling pin or bottom of a pan
-
Whole potato, for chips: a waxy yukon gold holds together well
-
Olive oil
What Fish for Fish and Chips?
Pacific cod is a mild, light, and flaky option to use in this fish and chips recipe. Pacific halibut or lingcod would also be great, as they have a large flake and hold up nicely to a hearty dredging of crushed potato chips.
Each of these wild species of fish is sustainably-caught in Alaska, so you can enjoy fish and chips anytime, knowing that you’ve sourced your meal responsibly.
About Chef Amanda Elliot:
Amanda Elliott is the chef/owner of Beet Box and Belly in Columbia, Missouri. She is also a freelance recipe developer sharing recipes centered on the idea of the communal table and embracing the heritage of food through travel.
