Southern Fried Catfish Recipe
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Southern Fried Catfish is an iconic southern fish recipe. Made of a few simple ingredients, fried catfish makes a family favorite tradition!
Growing up, I loved to go fishing with my Daddy. We spent summers on Lake Martin in Alabama and I’d love to be the first one up in the mornings to fish off the side of our houseboat or take the fishing boat out until lunch or so. In the afternoon, he’d prepare the fish and then cook it for a big supper with coleslaw, tartar sauce, and hushpuppies. Yum!
When I married, my husband told me of similar summers with his parents and grandparents spent on lakes fishing with days ending with fish fries. Lately, we’ve been trying to pass the same along to our son, even going so far as teaching him how to fry catfish the same way our parents taught us to do.
Here’s our family’s recipe for Southern Fried Catfish. It just doesn’t get much better.
Southern Fried Catfish Recipe
Ingredients
- 4-6 whole catfish or catfish filets, or catfish filets, cleaned
- 1 quart peanut oil
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Rinse catfish and pat dry with paper towels. Pour peanut oil into 5-quart Dutch oven and heat to 350º F on a deep fry thermometer. While peanut oil is heating, whisk together flour, cornmeal, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper until well-combined. Lightly coat both sides of catfish into flour mixture and then carefully place into Dutch oven, frying only two at a time, until lightly browned, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from Dutch oven and place onto a paper towel lined plate to drain. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
