No need to go down to your local chippy or search for a restaurant that makes the best beer-battered fish and chips. This British Fish and Chips recipe produces that perfectly crispy and flavorful result you’re craving!
Serve your homemade fish and chips with our authentic British Mushy Peas followed by a traditional British dessert like Sticky Toffee Pudding or Treacle Tart!
This homemade British fish and chips recipe has been a long time coming. Though I lived in England for several years it wasn’t until our two most recent trips to the UK that I was able to finally perfect the batter and technique. And so the time has come to share with you Great Britain’s most iconic dish: Fish and Chips!
Where Did Fish and Chips Originate?
What we know as fish and chips today originated in England but its earliest origins can be traced back to Sephardic Jewish immigrants from Spain and Portugal where a popular dish known as pescado frito had been enjoyed at least a couple of centuries earlier and was made using a technique of battering and and frying fish in oil. And as for the chips, the credit goes to Belgium.
One of the earliest references to fish and chips in England comes from none other than my favorite author, Charles Dickens, who in 1838 noted the “fried fish warehouses” in Oliver Twist. The famous Victorian chef, Alexis Soyer, also noted in his 1845 cookbook a recipe for “Fried Fish, Jewish Fashion,” a nod to its Sephardic Jewish origins. The first reference to the term “chips” for fries also came from Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities, where he referred to them as “husky chips of potatoes, fried with some reluctant drops of oil.” The first known fish & chips shop was opened by Joseph Malin, a Jewish immigrant, in London in the 1860’s.
Originally a dish of the working classes, fish and chips have remained a cultural icon in the UK for going on two centuries. An article in the Express a few years ago noted some interesting WWII history about the UK’s favorite dish: “During the Second World War Winston Churchill recognised the crucial role of fish and chips, referring to them as ‘good companions’. Fish and chips were two of the few foods not subject to rationing because the government feared the dish was so embedded in the nation’s culture that any limit would damage morale. British soldiers identified one another during the D-Day landings by calling the word fish. The response was chips, signifying an ally.”
How to Make the Perfect Fish Batter
This is a divisive question that has probably led to more than a few fist fights. Opinions run strong in this arena and everyone has their own. Some say the coating should be thin and light and shatter into crispy shards when you bite into it (that’s what you get with a tempura-style batter but remember friends, tempura is Japanese, not British). Others argue the coating should be thick and puffy and the crispiness should be followed by a touch of chewiness. Some insist the batter should be dry while others are emphatic that if it isn’t seeping a bit of oil then it isn’t worth eating. In the end it all comes down to personal preference.
I lived in England for seven years and we go back every year to visit. From the northern to the southern tip of England, we’ve hit more fish and chip shops than I can number. Based on my experience of eating at dozens upon dozens of chippies throughout the country, the best fried fish is perfectly crispy and isn’t overly greasy or dripping with oil. It’s the kind of batter where you both hear and feel it crunch when you bite into it followed by your teeth sinking into the tender white flesh of the fish.
Fish Batter Ingredients
To make the best fish batter you’ll need flour, beer, baking power and salt. The beer and baking powder are key ingredients to achieving a light and airy batter. Plus the beer gives the fish that indisputably irreplaceable traditional British flavor.
Some recipes call for adding an egg but unless you prefer a chewier, “cakier” texture, avoid it. (If you do prefer that, use this recipe and beat an egg into the batter). But we’re omitting the egg because what we’re aiming for is crispy perfection.
For the BEST tasting fish and chips, when it’s time t0 fry use beef tallow! Check out my tutorial on How to Make Beef Tallow. It’s super easy!
Pro Tips for the Perfect Fish Batter
There are a few key elements for achieving the best fish batter:
- To achieve the best texture the beer must be very cold and you must use the batter immediately. If you let it rest for a while like some recipes recommend the fried coating will be heavier and denser.
- For the same reason, if possible chill the flour before using it to coat the fish.
- Absolute key is the correct temperature of the oil.
Oil Temperature for Fish Batter
I address this in my Schnitzel post where the same rule applies, only in the case of fish it cooks more quickly so you can raise the temp up a bit. The key is making sure the oil is hot but not too hot. If the oil is too hot the crust will burn before fish is done, and if the oil isn’t hot enough you’ll end up with a soggy, greasy coating. When the oil temperature is just right (this is beginning to sound like the story of the Goldilocks and the Three Bears) you’ll achieve that perfectly crispy coating with a tender and moist interior. The right temperature for fish batter should be between 350ºF and 375ºF. I usually aim for somewhere in the middle. If you’re not using a deep fryer with its own temperature gauge, test it with a thermometer.
Other Uses for Fish Batter
You’ll likely have some fish batter left over or you can make a separate dedicated batch for other fried foods. Besides using the batter for your fish and chips you can also use it to make:
and you can use it to also make most amazing fried onions rings, calamari and shrimp. Feel free to throw in some other things and see what yummy battered-and-fried creations you come up with!
- Fish Tacos: cut your fish into bite-sized pieces, dip them in batter, and fry until cooked through, using the same guidelines. Serve on warm tortillas with your favorite taco toppings.
- Fried Shrimp, Clams, Scallops and Calamari: simply dip and fry.
- Vegetable Fritters: cut up your favorite vegetables, like broccoli, zucchini, or cauliflower and dip them in batter before frying.
- Onion Rings: thinly slice the onions, dip them in the batter, and fry. This beer batter makes the best fried onion rings!
Where to Find the Best Fish and Chips?
Tell us in the comments below where you’ve had the best fish and chips! There are many great fish and chip shops and I’d be hard-pressed to narrow it down. My husband Todd used to live in Liverpool and his vote goes to a chippy there that sadly closed down a couple of years ago and he’s been on the lookout for a new favorite. (If anyone can recommend a great one in Liverpool specifically he would be elated.) But aside from once having had the best fish and chips, Liverpool is a great city with a rich history. One of our favorite things to do is to walk along the Albert Docks at dusk. And Todd and I are lifelong Beatles fans so there’s that connection too. (On a side note, growing up in Liverpool Paul McCartney was a huge fish and chips fan. Until he became a vegetarian. But that’s another story.) When I lived in England our family had a tradition of visiting Liverpool and while there would eat at the Harry Ramsden restaurant. Ramsden’s restaurant actually earned the Guinness Book of Records title for having served 10,000 portions of fish & chips in a single day!
WHERE HAVE YOU HAD THE BEST FISH AND CHIPS? TELL US IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
Fish and Chips Recipe
How to Make the Chips
Heat the oven to 200 F. Heat the oil in a deep fryer or a large heavy pan or Dutch oven until the temperature reaches over high heat until it reaches 325 degrees F. For the BEST tasting fish and chips, use beef tallow! Check out my tutorial on How to Make Beef Tallow – it’s super easy!
Thoroughly drain the sliced potatoes and blot them with paper towels to remove excess water. Once the oil is 325 F carefully fry the potatoes in small batches to avoid overcrowding and fry for 2-3 minutes until pale and softened. Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the oil and let them cool to room temperature.
Increase the temperature to 375 degrees F. Carefully add the fries again, frying in small batches, until they are golden brown and crispy, another 2-3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, place them on a baking sheet or roasting rack, sprinkle with salt while they’re still very hot, and place them in the warmed oven while you’re frying the fish.
How to Make the Fried Fish
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large flat bowl. Pour in the cold beer and whisk until smooth. In another large flat bowl add some extra flour for dredging.
Blot the fish with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Thoroughly dredge all sides of the fish in the flour and shake off the excess.
Dip the fish into the beer batter to thoroughly coat all sides, allowing some of the excess batter to drip off (but not too much!). If you prefer an extra thick coating you can repeat the process of dredging the fish in flour followed by the batter.
For Frying: You can either use a deep fryer or you can use a medium-sized skillet and fill it with oil to a depth of at least an inch.
Heat the oil to between 350 F and 375 F, using a thermometer. Carefully lower the fish into the oil, waiting a few seconds before releasing it to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. Fry the fish in the deep fryer for 5-8 minutes or until nicely golden. If using a frying pan fry the fish for about 2-3 minutes on each side or until nicely golden.
Remove the fish with a slotted spoon, letting the oil drop off, then place the fried fish on paper towels for a few seconds and serve immediately. If you wait too long to serve it the batter will lose its crispiness.
Serve the fried fish with the chips. It’s traditional to shake some British malt vinegar over everything.
The traditional side is mushy peas. Check out our recipe for authentic British Mushy Peas!
Serve hot while the fish is nice and crispy. Enjoy!
Prefer some tartar sauce with your fish? While it’s not traditional in the UK, feel free to serve it with our best homemade Tartar Sauce.
Watch How to Make It
For more authentic British recipes try our:
- Yorkshire Pudding
- Cornish Pasties
- Bangers and Mash
- Scotch Eggs
- Crumpets
- Sticky Toffee Pudding
- Beef and Guinness Stew
- Spotted Dick
- Toad in the Hole
- Chicken Tikka Masala
- Pickled Onions
- Scottish Shortbread
- Treacle Tart
BEST British Fish and Chips
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups light beer , VERY COLD **See NOTE
- extra flour for dredging , chilled
- 1 1/2 pounds fresh cod, haddock or halibut , (or other firm-fleshed white fish), cut into 4 pieces and patted dry (important for enabling the batter to adhere)
- oil for frying
- use beef tallow instead of oil for the best traditional flavor (click link for recipe - it's super easy to make!)
- For the Chips:
- 4 large Russet potatoes or other high starch/low moisture potato , peeled, sliced thickly and put in a large bowl of cold water until ready to fry
- salt for sprinkling
- oil for frying
- quality British Malt Vinegar , for serving
Instructions
- *See blog post for details on pro tips. To Make the Chips: Heat the oven to 200 F. Heat the oil in a deep fryer or a large heavy pan or Dutch oven until the temperature reaches over high heat until it reaches 325 degrees F (I use this instant read thermometer). Thoroughly drain the sliced potatoes and blot them with paper towels to remove excess water. Once the oil is 325 F carefully fry the potatoes in small batches to avoid overcrowding and fry for 2-3 minutes until pale and softened. Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the oil and let them cool to room temperature. Increase the temperature to 375 degrees F. Carefully add the fries again, frying in small batches, until they are golden brown and crispy, another 2-3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, place them on a baking sheet or roasting rack, sprinkle with salt while they're still very hot, and place them in the warmed oven while you're frying the fish.
- To Make the Fried Fish: Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large flat bowl. Pour in the cold beer and whisk until smooth (use the batter immediately, do not let it rest for a while). In another large flat bowl add some extra flour for dredging.Blot the fish with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Thoroughly dredge all sides of the fish in the flour and shake off the excess.Dip the fish into the beer batter to thoroughly coat all sides, allowing some of the excess batter to drip off (but not too much!) If you prefer an extra thick coating you can repeat the process of dredging the fish in flour followed by the batter.
- To Fry the Fish: You can either use a deep fryer or you can use a medium-sized skillet and fill it with oil to a depth of at least an inch. Heat the oil to between 350 F and 375 F, using a candy thermometer. Carefully lower the fish into the oil, waiting a few seconds before releasing it to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. Fry the fish in the deep fryer for 5-8 minutes or until nicely golden. If using a frying pan fry the fish for about 2 minutes on each side or until nicely golden. Remove the fish with a slotted spoon, letting the oil drop off, then place the fried fish on paper towels for a few seconds and serve immediately. (If you wait too long to serve the batter will lose its crispiness.)Serve with the chips, a sprinkling of quality British malt vinegar and if desired a serving of authentic British Mushy Peas. Though not traditional in the UK, you can also eat the fish with our homemade Tartar Sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet August 3, 2019
Heinz Schirmaier (Firechef) says
Made it last night, excellent!
Used commercial deep fry oil as I will be using this recipe commercially.
Still turned out good, but I’ll add some Beef Tallow (as McD used to do for their fries) to improve flavor. Pure Beef Tallow for commercial use is way too expensive.
I also battered the Spuds with the same batter and it was a toss up which I liked better, lol!
Also, used Catfish since Cod is very expensive here now. If I were in Seattle fishing in the Sound I would be catching a lot of Dogfish (Sand Shark) which the British used eons ago. Trick is how to soak them in milk, etc. rinse, soak, rinse…a long ordeal to get rid of the urine taste in the meat since sharks absorb their urine.
I have access to a lot of cheap catfish, so I’ll be using them commercially, I think they would work great!
Thanks again for the recipe, have a great day and happy holidays!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Heinz, I’m so glad you enjoyed it, thank you! That reminds me of some fish we had in Bermuda at a small joint that is renowned for their extraordinarily mild fried & breaded fish. I believe the owners “secret” to eliminating any fish flavor is to do just that – soak in milk, rinse, soak and rinse again, repeat as necessary.
Thanks again and good luck in your commercial adventures!
Addie says
The texture was, well, really crumbly. I couldn’t get it “form” well when I pressed it into the pan; the edges were still very loose, and when I pressed down it came off onto my hand. I even tried using a piece of waxed paper but the dough came off on that, too.
And when it was baking it bubbled around the edges. When it cooled I cut it very gingerly and handled it carefully.
But oh! The flavor! My husband is mad about them (so am I but I’m on low carb and I have to watch the sugar.) I keep them in a sealed plastic container on the coffee table for easy access (lol) and I make sure he eats them over the container or there would be crumbs everywhere. When he’s finished with a batch I’m left with a whole lot of crumbs, which I can’t resist eating myself, with a spoon. 😋
I think that when I make the next batch I’ll send you a photo of the before and after.
We both enjoyed your fish and chips recipe last night, although it was a messy endeavor for me. I had a lot of trouble with my three meat thermometers; I think they were more for meat.Even my candy one didn’t work properly, so I think I’m going to check out the one you recommended. In any case, my British husband enjoyed the meal. (He didn’t dare say otherwise after all the effort I put into making it!😇)
Thanks again for your help
Addie says
I don’t have a deep fryer so I’ll be using my Dutch oven. I guess the same thing applies, but do I still use the whole jar?
Re the shortbread, I use Kerrygold unsalted butter and an electric, not convection, oven
Thank you,
Addie
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Addie, was the texture of the finished cookie good? Or are you just referring to the appearance of the unbaked cookie dough? Without seeing yours I can’t really say, but shortbread is supposed to be pretty crumbly.
The beef tallow: Fill your Dutch oven with tallow to a depth of about an inch.
Addie Bambridge says
Hi, Kimberly
I managed to order some beef tallow on line – it’a 32 oz. I’m not quite sure how to use it, though, and I’m making the recipe tonight.
I don’t have a deep fat fryer so I’ll use my Dutch oven.
If you don’t guess this message in time I guess I’ll have to wing it!
BTW, you never answered my question about why my shortbread comes out so much more crumbly than yours.
Cheers,
Addie
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Addie, you can simply heat the jar up (without the lid) in the microwave until the tallow is melted enough to dump out of the bottle into the deep fryer – or just scoop the hard tallow out and put it in the deep fryer. Then fry as you normally would with any other oil.
The shortbread – I try to get to comments as soon as possible but when there’s a lot of them it can take some time :) I’m not sure why yours is more crumbly. It could have to do with your oven settings (convection versus non-convection, fluctuations in temperature, etc) or it could have to do with the particular butter you’re using and its fat content.
Peasepudding says
Beer batter: Not at all traditional; showed up in trendy restaurants in the early 1980s. Tartar sauce: Another recent addition.
Your recipe looks very tasty, but it is not “traditional”.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Well, the definition of traditional is simply “long-established” or “habitually done”. An established trend since the early 80’s fits both bills depending on one’s definition of “long.”
Kevin Stay says
Just found your site today and am looking forward to trying this recipe. Someone asked about oil in one of the comments. If you are lucky enough to have access to pure fresh lard (NOT the shelf stable garbage at the stores) frying in that is a revelation. Same for pie crusts with a 50/50 lard/butter ratio.
Malissa says
I spent some time in London this summer and ate so many fish and chips. I came home wanting more and found your recipe and the fish just what I’ve been missing.
janice huseby says
Is there a preferred kind of oil that you use? And we found the most delicious fish and chips in Portsmouth at a pub at the entrance to the harbor. A Rick Steeves recommendation. Best ever! Can’t wait to try your recipe. I have been enjoying what you post. Much appreciated
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks, Janice! For truly the “BEST” flavor you cannot beat beef tallow/fat. If you have a butcher nearby you can ask them to give you some shredded beef suet and you can render (melt) it at home, it’s super easy and inexpensive – here’s my tutorial (same process for pork and beef fat): https://www.daringgourmet.com/how-to-render-lard-and-why-you-should-use-it/. Otherwise you’ll need a neutral-tasting oil with a high smoke point. I use avocado oil because it’s also a healthy oil but it’s pricey, especially if you’re having to use a lot of it. I personally avoid vegetable (aka soybean oil) like the plague and also steer clear from canola and peanut oil, but all three of those are commonly used for frying.
Christine says
This sounds like a great recipe! I do have a couple of questions, though..
Has anyone tried Wondra or rice flour instead od all purpose flour? Also, I’ve read other recipes for the chips where you so a fast fry, remove the potatoes and chill them briefly, and then refry them. Something to do with the starches in the potatoes, makes them crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
Firechef says
That’s how McD’s does their fries. If you hand cut soak them in water for an hr or two to get rid of the starch. Dry them well, put in deep fryer to blanch them. Let Cool and fry again @ 350F until they float. Works same with JoJo’s
Anna Kristín Guðmundsdóttir says
This is something I look forward to try soon! Thank you.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thank you, Anna Kristin, I hope you enjoy it!
Anna Kristín Guðmundsdóttir says
Thank you, I’ll let you know!
Antoinette Browne says
Oh my goodness this is the real deal so glad that I Googled traditional fish and chips, I made this recipe twice and I it perfect, I’m from Birmingham England and my husband is from Nottingham England. This is a keeper
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m so thrilled you enjoyed this, Antoinette, thanks so much for the feedback!
Erin says
I’m drooling this is everything I love!
Catalina says
My kind of dinner! Looks like heaven! On my next week menu!
Des says
Always a favorite! Thanks for sharing this recipe and giving me a history lesson as well.
Jacquelyn Hastert says
Always a go-to recipe when I am unsure of what to order. I love a classic recipe like this. Thanks for sharing!
Nick Mead says
Hi Kimberley, Haddock and chips East Yorkshire style (with the fish skin left on can not be bettered). I have had fish and chips everywhere in the uk and nowhere comes close. Pontefract in West Yorkshire came a distant second place but removing the skin completely as they do in WEst Yorkshire loses so many points, it’s the tastiest part of the fish. Also in the UK you have to usually state you want Haddock or you will end up with something inferior like Coley or Pollock or worst of all wet wormy Cod, yuk. Give me a shout if you are ever this side of the Pennines on the East coast and I will treat you all to some!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks for the tip, Nick, and for your generous offer – we may very well take you up on that! :)