Fried Fish Sandwich
by Sommer Collier — on May 28, 2025 
Skip the fast food line and learn how easy it is to make the best fish sandwiches loaded with moist, flaky, crispy beer battered fried white fish, crunchy and creamy coleslaw, tangy tartar sauce, and any of your favorite sandwich toppings!
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
There’s nothing like a light and crispy fish sandwich with extra crunchy beer battered fish, cool coleslaw, and all the toppings!
And if you’re anything like me, after reading that sentence, you are now craving a fried fish sandwich. Well, you’re in luck, because we’ve got an amazing Beer Battered Fish Sandwich recipe for you today!
Why You’ll Love This Fried Fish Sandwich Recipe
- Top Tips – Making fish sandwiches with a light beer batter is not complicated, but it does need to be done right to achieve the crispiest and most delicious fried fillets. I’ll show you how!
- Fabulous Fresh Toppings – We’ve included a simple recipe for creamy coleslaw you can add to the sandwiches as well as butter lettuce, tomato slices, and pickles. Or keep it simple with perfectly fried fish fillets resting on a soft bun, accompanied by a dollop of homemade tartar sauce.
- Better than Drive Thru – With all of this simple, delicious, and wholesome goodness going on, I practically guarantee you’ll never bother with fast food fish sandwiches again!
From which fish is best to use in this recipe, to our favorite toppings, I’ll show you how easy it is to make rave-worthy sandwiches to satisfy those cravings!
Ingredients and Tips
- White fish– You need to buy the freshest, cleanest and least-fishy white fish you can find. The best fish to make fried fish sandwiches is grouper, in my opinion. But other white fish like cod, halibut, tilapia, flounder, or haddock are also great options.
- Beer batter – The dry base includes cornstarch, flour, baking powder, and spices. Then add a light crisp beer of your choice, like Corona or Modelo.
- Fry oil – Use your preferred high-heat oil for frying like canola, peanut oil, or vegetable oil.
- Slaw – Mix up a batch of (optional) slaw with shredded cabbage mix plus mayo, honey, vinegar, and a few spices.
- Buns and toppings – Load up toasted or steamed brioche hamburger buns with fresh butter lettuce, tomato slices, pickles, tartar sauce, and any tasty toppings you want!
Recipe Variations
- Gluten-free – Use your favorite gluten free all-purpose flour alternative to make the beer batter. Then build your sandwich using gf-friendly brioche buns!
- Spicy – We use a small bit of cayenne pepper in our batter. But for a sandwich with serious kick, consider adding a pinch more pepper and/or a dash or two of hot sauce.
- Without beer – You can swap out beer for club soda to make a light and crispy breading without alcohol. However, note that the flavor will naturally be different.
How to Make Crispy Fried Fish Sandwiches
Tips for Success – Make the coleslaw a few hours ahead of time at your convenience, then keep it in the fridge until ready to serve. The flavors come together nicely when everything is allowed to sit together for a bit.
But I wouldn’t recommend making it too far in advance to keep the cabbage nice and crisp.
Find the full Beer Battered Fried Fish Sandwich recipe with detailed instructions, storage tips, and a video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Tips for How to Assemble a Fish Sandwich
Making battered and skillet-fried fish is easy, and so are the steps to build a perfect sandwich!
First, be sure to let the fish pieces sit on the wire rack for a long enough time so that the oil can completely drip off. This is when I like to lightly toast or steam the buns, so they’re good to go.
When you’re ready to build, start by adding lettuce to the bottom bun to keep any moisture from seeping down and creating soggy buns. Then scoop on the coleslaw, followed by a piece of fried fish and any additional toppings like tomato slices and pickles.
Lastly, we like to smear a generous amount of tartar sauce onto the top bun just before stacking it on, thus creating the best ever beer-battered fish sandwich!
Storage Notes
- Storing Leftovers – The pieces of fish are best eaten shortly after frying, when they are perfectly crunchy. If you do have leftovers, store the fish in separate containers from the other toppings and keep them in the fridge for a day or two. The coleslaw will keep well for up to 3 days, but will lose its snappy crunch the longer it sits.
- Reheating – Warm the fish in the air fryer or bake for about 5-10 minutes in a 350-degree oven. Avoid microwaving, or you’ll end up with soggy filets.
Serving Suggestions
When you think of fried fish, you certainly also think of chips, a.k.a. French fries! So you can’t go wrong with a basket of warm crinkle-cut, Cajun Fries (French Fry Seasoning Recipe), or Shoestring Fries (Julienne-Cut) with your sandwich.
And don’t forget extra tartar sauce for dipping!
Frequently Asked Questions
Using a liquid beer batter is the best way to create a light and crispy coating, without the hassle of dredging (which requires first dunking the fish into a liquid, then into a separate dry coating or breadcrumbs). Batter holds to the sides of the fish much better than breading. Make sure the fish filets are very dry before dipping in the batter.
That’s entirely up to you! If you prefer a sandwich that is more like a McDonald’s Filet-o-Fish or Wendy’s Crispy Panko Fish Sandwich, you can add a slice of American cheese on top of the warm fish filet. PS – the Arby’s Crispy Fish Sandwich, Popeyes Cajun Flounder Fish Sandwich, and Burger King Bif Fish Sandwich do not include cheese.
You can add anything you like! Red onion slices, avocado, alfalfa sprouts, fresh dill, and mustard are all good options.
Similar Recipes You Might Like
Fried Fish Sandwich Recipe
Video
Ingredients
For the Beer Battered Fish –
- 2 pounds white fish grouper, cod, halibut, tilapia
- 2/3 cup cornstarch
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper or black pepper
- 12 ounce light crisp beer like Corona or Modelo
- 32 ounces fry oil canola, peanut, vegetable
For the Slaw (Optional) –
- 1 pound shredded coleslaw cabbage mix
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 ½ tablespoon rice vinegar
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and pepper
For the Fish Sandwiches –
- 8 brioche hamburger buns
- ½ cup tartar sauce try our homemade tartar sauce recipe
- Butter lettuce
- Tomato slices
- Dill pickles
Instructions
- Place the whole fish fillets on a cutting board and cut into 6 to 8 fish fillet sections that are slightly larger than the buns.
- Pat the fish dry with paper towels on both sides and let them rest for a few minutes while you prepare the batter and oil. They should be very dry before dunking in oil.
- If using coleslaw on your sandwiches, set out a mixing bowl and combine the cabbage slaw, mayonnaise, honey, rice vinegar, and garlic powder. Add 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Mix well until all ingredients are smooth and combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- For the beer batter: Set out a mixing bowl. Combine the cornstarch, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper. Whisk well to combine. Then measure and pour in ¾ cup of beer. Mix well until the batter is smooth, then let the batter rest for several minutes while you heat the oil.
- Place a large deep cast-iron skillet (or sauté pan) over medium-high heat. Pour the oil into the pan. Attach a cooking thermometer to the side of the skillet with the tip down in the oil. Bring the temperature up to 375°F. Set a drying rack over a baking sheet and place it close to the frying pan.
- Once the temperature gets close to 375, adjust the heat to keep it there. *The temperature will drop when you add the fish to the oil. It’s important to keep the temperature between 350-360°F while frying so the batter isn’t too oily once cooked.
- Check the consistency of the beer batter… It should be approximately the thickness of good pancake batter. If it’s a little too thick, add an extra splash of beer to the batter.
- One piece at a time, dunk the fish fillets in the batter, and gently lay them in the fry oil. Don't try to squeeze them all in at once; it's better to fry and two batches. Fry the fish fillets for approximately 3-4 minutes per side. Three minutes for thin fish fillets and four minutes for thicker fish fillets.
- Use tongs to flip the fish fillets over – Be careful so you don't splash hot grease on yourself. Once the first batch of fried fish fillets comes out of the frying pan, place them on the rack and repeat with the remaining pieces of fish. If desired, you can preheat an oven to 200°F to use as a warmer for the fish. However, if you fry the second batch right after the first, you shouldn't need to do this.
- Assemble the fish sandwiches: Open the buns, and dollop the tops with a good amount of tartar sauce. Layer butter lettuce leaves and coleslaw on the bottom buns. Place a fish fillet on each bun and top it with a tomato slice and pickles. Then cover the fish sandwich and serve immediately!
Notes
-
- Storing Leftovers – The pieces of fish are best eaten shortly after frying, when they are perfectly crunchy. If you do have leftovers, store the fish in separate containers from the other toppings and keep them in the fridge for a day or two. The coleslaw will keep well for up to 3 days, but will lose its snappy crunch the longer it sits.
-
- Reheating – Warm the fish in the air fryer or bake for about 5-10 minutes in a 350-degree oven. Avoid microwaving, or you’ll end up with soggy filets.
Crispy, juicy, and super satisfying. I’ll never need to hit the drive-thru again for a fish sandwich – this recipe is a keeper!
Wow! My whole family loved it – even the picky eaters. The slaw and sauce made it restaurant-level good.
This is hands-down the best fish sandwich I’ve ever made at home! The beer batter was perfectly crispy and the flavor was incredible.