This fish finger recipe is 100% carnivore and makes healthy and delicious fish fingers that my non-carnivore children have rated “over the top amazing” and gobbled them all up in a few minutes.
You won’t believe that no flour, bread crumbs and seasonings are used in making these awesome fish fingers.
This is a kid-friendly recipe. If you have small children, they can definitely lend a hand, have a bit of fun in the kitchen with you, and thoroughly enjoy the result of their work afterward.
Ingredients
- 1 pound fish fillets (~500 grams)
- 1 cup parmesan cheese powder
- 3 tbsp grated cheese
- 3 medium eggs
- tallow for cooking
- 1 tsp sea salt
Instructions
Step 1
Bring the fish fillets to room temperature by leaving them covered on the kitchen bench for around 15 minutes before cooking. This will make sure the fish is cooked evenly.
If the fish fillets are frozen, they need to be completely defrosted.
Step 2
Dry the fish fillets with paper towels and season them with salt.
Cut the fish fillets lengthways into strips of around one-inch width (2.5 cm).
Step 3
Blitz the eggs and grated cheese in a food processor for a few minutes to combine and then pour the mixture into a wide shallow bowl.
Pour the parmesan cheese powder into another wide shallow bowl.
Step 4
Dip the fish fingers into the egg and cheese batter then roll them in the parmesan cheese powder until they are completely coated. Press to adhere.
Step 5
Heat 3 tbs tallow in a small non-stick frying pan on medium heat and fry a few fish fingers at a time for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
Add more tallow as needed.
Remember to use a spatula and turn the fish fingers over carefully to avoid breaking them up.
Transfer to a plate and serve them hot.
Notes
Size of fish fingers
If you have little children, cut the fish fillets into finger-size strips and they are great finger food for them.
But you can also cut them into any bite size or large chunks as you like, it wouldn’t affect the taste.
With smaller fish strips, you just need to be extra careful when frying and turning because they can break apart quite easily.
Using butter instead of tallow
Some people like the flavor of butter on fish. You can certainly use butter to fry the fish fingers but butter has a much lower smoke point than tallow, so you need to lower the heat accordingly.
Oven vs frying pan
You can also bake them in the oven but frying is quicker and give the fish fingers a nice golden crisp and because fish is generally quite lean, frying in tallow adds extra flavor to the final product due to the increased fat content.
Best fish for fish fingers
There are many types of fish that you can use to make fish fingers such as cod, haddock, basa, hake, barramundi, Hoki, pollock, catfish, and snapper.
Wild-caught vs farmed fish
If possible, please choose wild-caught fish.
Farmed fish has a bad reputation and for good reasons. They are raised in small crowded enclosures, are fed a poor diet and treated with antibiotics, vaccines and other drugs. [1, 2]
For example, salmon’s feed is supplemented with vegetables, chicken, other land animals, and increasingly plant-based food.
Between 2000 and 2016, the Norwegian salmon aquaculture industry cut its shares of marine protein in feed from 33.5% to 14.5% and marine oils from 31.1% to 10.4%, and increased the shares of plant proteins from 22.2% to 40.3% and terrestrial oils from 0 to 20.2%.
Naylor et al (2021)
They are also fed dyes to yield pink flesh to appeal to consumers.
Toxins in fish have been linked to a number of health problems such as diabetes, insulin resistance, and obesity. [3, 4, 5]
Fresh wild-caught fish is usually expensive but frozen wild-caught is quite affordable.
Other recipes that you may be interested in:
Carnivore Pan-fried Salmon Recipe
Carnivore-ish Slow Cook Whole Chicken Recipe
Carnivore “Fried Rice” Recipe
Delicious and Nutritious Carnivore Meatloaf Recipe
Carnivore Beef Liver Strip Recipe
References
Kerryann’s homemade fish fingers & minty smashed peas
A 20-year retrospective review of global aquaculture
Farmed Salmon Just as Toxic to Human Health as Junk Food
Compassion in World Farming – Fish
Disclaimer:The information in this post is for reference purposes only and not intended to constitute or replace professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified medical professional before making any changes to your diet or lifestyle.
