Kid-Friendly Catfish Sticks

Recipe By DwightNT
Rating
Published Jun 8th
Prep 30m Cook 20m Additional 30m Ready In 1h 20m
Servings 8 servings Calories 417

My first attempt at deep-fried fish sticks.

Recipe Ingredients

  • 1 pound catfish fillets, cut into 1 1/2x4-inch sticks
  • 1 cup Italian salad dressing
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup cornmeal
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons lemon-pepper seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 2 cups oil for frying, or as needed
  • 2 teaspoons salt

Cooking Directions

  1. 1 Place fish in a bowl and pour in Italian dressing; marinate in the refrigerator, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
  2. 2 Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan.
  3. 3 Mix flour, cornmeal, paprika, garlic powder, lemon-pepper seasoning, and pepper together in a resealable bag. Pour beaten eggs into a separate resealable bag.
  4. 4 Remove catfish from the marinade and shake off excess. Discard the remaining marinade. Drop catfish into the bag with eggs and shake to coat. Remove a few catfish at a time from eggs using tongs and transfer to flour mixture; shake to coat.
  5. 5 Cook catfish, working in batches, in the hot oil until fish float to the top and are cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove cooked fish with tongs or a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Season fish sticks with salt while still warm.

Nutrition Facts

  • Calories 417
  • Carbohydrate 33.7 g
  • Cholesterol 128.6 mg
  • Fat 24.9 g
  • Fiber 1.7 g
  • Protein 14.8 g
  • Saturated Fat 4.6 g
  • Sodium 1315.3 mg
  • Sugar 3.3 g

Chef's Notes

For a spicy adult flavor, I would substitute blackened seasoning for the listed seasonings above; The nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of the marinade ingredients. The actual amount of the marinade consumed will vary; The nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of the breading ingredients. The actual amount of the breading consumed will vary. We have determined the nutritional value of oil for frying based on a retention value of 10% after cooking. The exact amount will vary depending on cooking time and temperature, ingredient density, and the specific type of oil used.

Reviews

  1. dann Apr 3, 2020 10:21 AM
    cut the flour/corn meal to 1/3 and use only 1 egg for 1 lb of fish the rest was just wasted. i used teriyaki marinade and left out the peppers . next time i may try adding corn starch to get the breading to stick better. we liked the results and flavor
  2. Amazing Amy Apr 1, 2020 09:10 AM
    I had to use Jiffy corn meal mix because I didn’t have any regular corn meal. But they turned out great I did not. Cut them Into strips but cooked a whole fillet. They were delicious Moyie delicious.
  3. Renee Khmoro Mar 24, 2020 02:37 AM
    Made this! Just wish I was more generous with the Italian dressing. I made my Italian dressing from scratch off of a recipe from this site. Thanks for such a wonderful and truly kid friendly recipe. One thing I did change because I didn’t have a choice, was I didn’t have corn meal. And used - Read more ...
  4. SuperPowerless May 24, 2017 11:32 PM
    Kid friendly is perfect.All fish sticks should be that way.
  5. Olivia Feb 22, 2017 08:07 AM
    This was delicious! I wish I had doubled it because my family wolfed it down. The Italian dressing is a great touch and the breading is wonderful!
  6. Soup Loving Nicole Feb 24, 2015 09:11 PM
    I didn't use the egg felt it was unneccesary. I didn't expect the Italian dressing to come through in this recipe but it did and it was a nice change. I flopped the flour/cornmeal ratio around but that is just personal preference. If you love fried catfish then you should really give this one a - Read more ...
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