Homemade Pan-fried Perch
Pan-fried perch are the darling of the Wisconsin fish fry. Did you know they are easy to prepare at home with some simple instructions?
I love eating out. But sometimes eating at home feels even better.
Like when I’m watching my pennies. Or having a bad weight week. Or when I’m in a cozy mood and dinner on the deck or by the fireplace just feels right.
Now recently, my husband and I tried out a new restaurant–and got a terrible fish fry. This made me wonder… How hard would it be to make pan-fried perch at home?
Perch are the darlings of the Wisconsin fish fry. Small, tender and flavorful, they go for a premium price—and are well worth it!
Of course for the best perch you don’t want to overwhelm their delicate flavor with thick breading or heavy oil. Time to experiment!
Why You’ll Love This!
Flavorful. The light breading allows the delicate natural flavor of the perch to shine through. Who says all fried food.tastes the same.
Easy. Dip fish in egg then flour and pan fry. How easy is that!
Fun. Isn’t it fun when you manage to equal or surpass a favorite restaurant meal!
How This Recipe Was Created
I wanted the lightest, most delicate breading on my fish so when I created the recipe I did a lot of experimenting.
For the breading, I tried: flour alone; flour, egg, flour; flour, egg, breadcrumbs; and finally egg, then flour. For the frying oil I tried butter, sustainable palm oil, coconut oil, and olive oil.
In the end, the breading we liked best was egg followed by flour. This produced a light coating that added flavor without smothering the fish.
For the frying oil, palm and coconut oil were clearly the losers–and we were surprised when olive oil edged out butter. Sautéing in healthy olive oil–another reason to eat at home!
Step by Step Overview
Combine flour, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl and mix well. In a second bowl, beat eggs with milk or water.
Dip perch fillets in the egg mixture, then the flour. Set aside while you do the remaining fish.
Heat oil until hot but not smoking. Fry fish fillets a couple minutes per side or until golden and cooked through.
Variations
While the perch is the main flavor element here, a number of readers have mentioned adding some addition seasoning to the flour. So feel free, remembering that you don’t want to overwhelm the fish. So onion powder is in; ghost pepper sauce is a hard no.
Now you may be wondering if this recipe can be used for other types of fish. I hadn’t considered it, but before I knew it, my daughter was using it to make pan fried cod. Now cod is a much different fish, thicker and meatier, but still delicious lightly floured. So it’s definitely something to consider.
Of course sometimes I’m looking for a tangier thicker batter and then I’ll fry fish (even salmon) in a beer batter like my beer battered shrimp.
Tips and FAQs
You buy perch already filleted and I was surprised to find a few remaining bones this time, which is unusual. I just used my salmon tweezers to pull them out, easy-peasy. So run a quick finger check before you dip into the egg.
The perch fillets come butterflied with both sides of the fillet still together–like butterflies. Most often they are fried like this, but I personally find it easier to separate the halves.
Fried perch is usually served with cole slaw, some type of potato, most likely fries, and tartar sauce. I used hash browns today because I had a frozen bag shredded from last summer’s crop that I needed to finish. And don’t forget the beer!
Now a supper club near us even takes the Wisconsin Fish Fry upscale. There you get Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing (or another elegant salad), a choice of potato including baked with sour cream, or fresh vegetable.
Yum!
Copycat Recipes for Regional Favorites
- Arepas de Queso from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Fried Perch from Art of Natural Living
- Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Copycat from That Recipe
- Kentucky Hot Brown from Jen Around the World
- Mock Turtle Soup from Creative Cynchronicity
- Molasses Cornbread from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
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Pan-fried Perch
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 eggs
- 2 T milk or water
- 1 1/2 lbs lake perch fillets
- olive oil for frying
Instructions
- Combine flour, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl and mix well.
- In a second bowl, beat eggs with milk or water.
- Dip perch fillets in the egg mixture, then the flour. Set aside while you do the remaining fish.
- Heat oil until hot but not smoking. Fry fish fillets a couple minutes per side or until golden and cooked through.
Nutrition
Updated from the original published Jul 27, 2017
I don’t think I’ve ever had perch.. maybe it’s not common on the west coast, although now that we have Wild Fork nearby I might have to try it. I love how moist your fish looks too. Thanks for all of the trial and error for all our sakes, lol!
There are ocean perch but the most prized are lake perch. I believe they come out of the Great Lakes as well as smaller lakes. Since they’re small they are less prone to picking up the contaminants that sadly plague our waterways. I think the technique would work well on any delicate fish however. I’ve been meaning to try Wild Fork too–their ads look so tempting!
This is just how my friend’s grandmother in Texas taught me to pan fry white bass many years ago – except she used peanut oil to fry. Always a winner for delicate fish.
I love how it doesn’t overwhelm the fish!
Not fair that you can buy lake perch!
I’ll try this with Dover or Petrale sole. I usually just fry them in butter without egg/flour, but will try your breading next.
Regards,
Joe
I’ll bet you can find another good fish for this Joe! Enjoy!
Amazing! Thank you
So glad you enjoyed Erica!
This is such a simple perch coating that leaves the delicate taste and doesn’t overpower it. I use this recipe every time I get perch, which is right close by all summer long in northern Michigan. I did use a little bit of Cavender seasoning in place of all the salt, and it was excellent.
So glad you enjoyed Janet!
I have been making Lake Perch in Northern Michigan for years, and I have tried it with panko, drakes and beer batter, crushed crackers, all kinds of spices, you name it. The last time we were up there I tried this recipe. So simple. But I was tired and I didn’t want to do all the stuff I usually do. And guess what? Everyone said “this is the best perch you have ever made.” Look no further. The beauty of perch is the delicate flavor, and I spent years killing that. Plus the olive oil was a great suggestion (not EVOO, Olive Oil it has a higher smoke point). Thank you!
I am so happy to hear this Juliet! And I agree about the flavor of the perch coming through. Isn’t it wonderful when the easy option turns out best!
I tried this recipe for dinner today. My husband and I loved the perch. I followed your recipe and we are so impressed. I will use this recipe going forward. Thank you for recipe.
Looks and sounds tatsy!
Thanks for doing all the testing for me, I was dubious about using Olive oil but they turned out so light, crispy and just plain ol’ delicious! I might have served ours with some crispy “chips” to round out the meal!
The testing was fun Kathleen! And chips are wonderful–we even dip in tartar sauce when we have fish!
In upper Michigan we have perch in many lakes. I use Drakes as the flour and mix a little beer in with the egg and then roll the fillet in crushed Ritz crackers. I’ve tried many different ways but always come back to this which works great for walleye and gills also. I usually use melted canned Crisco for the oil.
I usually really like a hard oil (my first choice is home-rendered lard) for frying. Yes, using my lard or leftovers from bacon or broth totally fixed any problems with fried potatoes not crisping, which is why I was so surprised at my trial here. I don’t think there’s an upper-Midwesterner who doesn’t love a Perch fry–surely one of the great bennies of living here! (Though we had fried lawyers last night!)
Tonight I tried 50/50 of flour and cornstarch on Lake Erie Yellow Perch. The taste was great but I had to over cook them to get browning, I did not use any egg. Used peanut oil at about 350. Suggestions appreciated.
How sad to have to overcook some lovely perch :(. Cornstarch is supposed to help things crisp so I don’t think that is the problem. I am thinking you may not have had enough flour mixture stick to be good for the browning–I had some of that problem when I tested a coating of just flour. So first I would suggest dipping in egg first, then flour, like my recipe. If you can’t do the cholesterol, just use the whites since it is more for adhering the flour than flavor. It’s possible, though I think less likely that you oil temperature dropped too much, in which case you might try frying in smaller batches. Good luck!
I like to pan-fry using only salt and cornstarch. It makes for a very light healthy coating and does not cover up the fish flavor at all.
I’ve heard cornstarch is very good for frying–will have to try that. Thanks Carole!
We used to get perch in our lake in Vermont. My poor mother had to gut and clean them! But they were so tasty! I love your experimentation with the frying, too!
The things our mother’s did! I remember my mother filleting smelt which are even smaller (and everyone else eats the bones). I am sure I’d lose half the fish, so glad someone did it for me!
What a fun “test” to do at home, I love eating out as well but anymore it depends where and how they prepare the food. Perch sounds wonderful, love how you prepared it.
I think think this would be good with any delicate fish you were worried about overwhelming. And yes, it was fun! Thanks!
Love that you tried all the different breading methods. I usually use flour, milk, breadcrumbs, but I’m going to try this method next!
Let me know what you think Jean!
Yes! I agree. Flour -egg- bread crumbs and fry.
Thanks N! It was a fun experiment!