Low Carb Oven Fried Fish is a delicious way to serve up breaded fish – without all of the carbs! The breading is easy to make and turns into a golden crispy coating, perfect to dip into mayo!
This recipe is Trim Healthy Mama (THM S), low carb and keto friendly.
Crispy fried food is definitely a weakness of mine – but it’s also quite easy to make low carb! This Low Carb Oven Fried Fish is a great way to enjoy a healthy meal (an S-meal if you’re a Trim Healthy Mama) while feeling like you’re eating total comfort food.
It takes a little time to bread the fish, but the recipe is SUPER easy! I have not yet told my husband that this recipe is NOT made with regular breadcrumbs… So far he hasn’t noticed, this is 100% kid and husband approved. It’s so good! I wish I could eat this every day.
Ingredients you’ll need
This is just an overview of the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe – great as a visual grocery list! Scroll down to the recipe card for quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Fish: I really like this best with a firm white fish, and I pretty much always use cod. You could use Tilapia, but you’ll need to adjust the baking time for the thinner size.
- Ground almonds: I recently tried this with almond flour (since many readers ask this question), and while it works, the regular ground almonds definitely make for a much crispier breading.
- Golden flax meal: I much, much prefer golden flax vs brown flax for looks and taste here. I have never actually tried the recipe with brown flax, so I strongly recommend using golden.
- Baking powder: May sound weird, but don’t skip this! It helps with the browning.
How to make Low Carb Oven Fried Fish
1. Start by combining the dry breading ingredients in a shallow dish.
2. Whisk together the eggs in a separate bowl. It’s important you do not mix the dry ingredients with the egg! So please do use two separate bowls.
3. Now thinly coat a piece of fish fillet with the dry mix. Then, dip in the egg.
Finally, place the fish piece back into the dish with the dry breading mix. Press a good layer of the breading onto the fish. You really want to push this on and almost pound it a little with the back of a large spoon or something similar. This is how you make the breading stick to the fish.
* Quick tip:
It’s fine to keep the breaded fish pieces together on a plate while you’re finishing breading them all. They are delicate so handle them carefully, but they should not stick together.
4. I always use a black rimmed pan for this recipe, and I place it in the oven to heat up while the oven preheats.
Then, I melt butter on the pan and place the fish on.
Bake the fish for 10 minutes, then very carefully flip. You’ll need to use an offset spatula or a blunt knife to gently slide underneath each piece of fish to keep the breading from falling off.
Finish baking, then crisp up under the broiler!
Recipe tips
Stick to the breading method
This is the only way to get the crispy-yum crust on the fish (or on chicken, or zucchini fries!).
You take one shallow dish and add all the dry ingredients. And you take a separate shallow dish to which you add the eggs.
- first you dip the fish into the dry ingredients for a light dusting
- then you coat it with the egg
- and finally back into the dry ingredients where you pack on the breading
That’s all there is to it! But this combination of low carb breading and egg, in this order, bakes up as a crispy golden casing for the fish – it’s perfect!
Use a dark pan!!
A white enamel or silver aluminium colored pan just doesn’t work as well to crisp up the breading.
I sometimes use the lid of a black roaster gifted to me by my mother in law – it’s so handy for all kinds of things!
But you can just use a regular dark sheet pan!
Don’t skimp on the butter
The oven-frying really doesn’t mean you don’t need any fat.
The coating only crisps up and cooks in fat, fact. But since we’re low-carbing and not low-fatting here, that’s totally fine!
I like butter best in this recipe, but feel free to experiment. Just use a liberal amount, otherwise the fish will stick to the pan and fall apart as you’re trying to flip it. And it will not get crispy and golden.
Serving ideas
OK, I know fries or potatoes are a classic with crispy fish. But since they’re not exactly low carb (or everyday Trim Healthy Mama fare), I like to build our S meal around the following ideas:
- a low carb side like roasted radishes or mashed cauliflower
- plenty of roasted veggies, sautéed spinach or a nice big salad
- dessert 🙂 though I’m usually too full after this meal to even go for dessert, ha!
My husband and kids need lots of crossovers, so I like making them a side of brown rice or regular mashed potatoes. We also love a little mayo for dipping!
More low carb comfort food
PS If you try this recipe, why not leave a star rating in the recipe card right below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page? I always appreciate your feedback! You can also follow me on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram. Sign up for my email list, too!
Low Carb Oven Fried Fish
Ingredients
For the breading
- 1/2 cup ground golden flax
- 1/2 cup ground almonds (just regular ground almonds, no need to use expensive almond flour!)
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon dried onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
For the eggs
- 2 large eggs
For the fish
- 1 pound white fish fillet cut into large-ish pieces (I do about 8-10 pieces)
For the pan
- 1/4 cup butter
Instructions
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Prep: Preheat oven to 430°F. Add a dark-colored pan or baking sheet to the oven as it heats up – the pan you use to bake the fish on needs to be hot to melt the butter on!
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Make breading: Mix all ingredients for the breading in a shallow dish.
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Prepare eggs: Add eggs to a SEPARATE shallow dish and beat well.
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Bread fish: Dip fish into breading to lightly coat. THEN coat fish with egg. FINALLY, coat fish with breading again, this time you can really pack on as much as will stick! (Just place breaded fish pieces on a plate until you've breaded them all.)
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Melt butter: VERY CAREFULLY remove the pan from the oven. Add 3 tablespoons of the butter to the pan to melt. Spread all over the pan and put the fish pieces on.
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Bake: Bake the fish for 10 minutes. Flip, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and finish baking for 5-10 minutes or until the coating is crispy and the fish is cooked through.
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Finish: Broil for 2 minutes for a crisper coating. Let the fish rest on the pan for 2-3 minutes minutes after baking, then serve immediately.
Notes
Ingredient notes
- Fish: I really like this best with a firm white fish, and I pretty much always use cod. You could use Tilapia, but you’ll need to adjust the baking time for the thinner size.
- Ground almonds: I recently tried this with almond flour (since many readers ask this question), and while it works, the regular ground almonds definitely make for a much crispier breading.
- Golden flax meal: I much, much prefer golden flax vs brown flax for looks and taste here. I have never actually tried the recipe with brown flax, so I strongly recommend using golden.
- Baking powder: May sound weird, but don’t skip this! It helps with the browning.
Recipe tips
- Stick to the breading method – it really is what works best.
- I strongly recommend using a dark pan, it reflects the heat best and results in the crispiest fish.
- Don’t skimp on the butter, the recipe may be oven fried… But it still needs fat to work!
Nutrition
I first shared this recipe on 09/16/2018. I republished it on 01/18/2021 with new photos, better information and minor improvements to the recipe.
Betty says
Very delicious!!
Nora says
Very happy to hear this, Betty! Thanks for coming back to leave a review – I appreciate your time.
Kitsy Abbott says
Delicious. We are on a Keto plant based diet with no grains, dairy, or gluten. I substituted vegan parm and it was great. Nice and crispy and tasty!
Marcy says
Best non-bread “breading” ever. Stays on the fish and tastes great.
Nora says
I’m so glad to hear!
Leanne says
This is finally a perfect breaded fish recipe that is easy and comes out as shown. It was SO good my picky eaters wanted more! So this will become a staple around here! Thank you!! ???
Kristi says
Love this recipe, didn’t have parmesan cheese and still loved it. Thank you!
Nicole L says
We just got a halibut right off the boat!!! I want to try this recipe but I can’t have flax…. Could I do 1 cup almonds?
Nicole L says
or 1/2 cup ground almonds and 1/2 almond flour?
Nora says
I think that would work well!
Mary Ann says
I made this for dinner this evening. It got a 5 star rating from everyone thank you for sharing this.
juls says
Can I omit the parmesan cheese or use an alternative? I have a sensitivity to dairy cheese.
Nora says
Juls, yes you can – the fish will just be a little less golden. You can either omit it or replace it with almond flour. Hope this helps!
Bianca says
Hello! Can I do this on a glass pan instead of a dark color one?
Nora says
Bianca, it doesn’t work well in a glass pan, sorry!
Anita Campbell says
Can I make this in my Air Fryer?
Nora says
I would guess so! I only just got an air fryer and will be testing some recipes soon, right now I can only guess unfortunately.
Marcy says
I’m ABOUT to get an air fryer, and so I will really want to hear your update about how this works in your air fryer! For whatever reason, being able to make crispy fish morsels quickly, without “fish-smell”ing up the house, is my main motive in getting the air fryer.
Nora says
Marcy, so far I have only made plain fish an nothing breaded. But the plain fish came out AMAZING, and so I’m having very high hopes for breaded fish!
Janelle says
Can you line the pan with parchment after heating, or should it go directly on the pan?
Nora says
Directly on the pan works best, Janelle! If you don’t want to deal with the cleanup, I would recommend using aluminum foil.
Shannon says
This was very good and full of flavor!