It has been said that the panfish was created so everyone could be a fisherman while Walleye were made to separate the men from the boys. Today, I’m writing the easy Minnesota fish fry recipe for all of you fisherman out there.
This is a crappie, a great-eating fish. He will be made into dinner in a little bit. As you can see, we caught him on a little popper and a fly rod.
Even though panfish are the simplest and most-available fish to catch in Minnesota, they are wonderful to eat. Besides being an easy bounty to net, they are at the same time pound-for-pound some of the best fighting fish that exist in fresh water. It doesn’t matter whether you find yourself in a school of bluegill, crappie, or pumpkinseed, all are a great time catching and even better eating.
This is Johnnie. Way to go, John, you found a hook bigger than the fish. Good luck with that.
Fishing is such an enriching activity. It keeps my kids outdoors, teaches them discipline, patience and self-reliance. One of my proudest moments as a parent happened when I was planning my visit to Izeafest in Orlando, Florida. I told my boys we could go down a couple of days early to visit Disney Land. My oldest son Jack said “Wait, Dad… Disney is in Florida, right?” “Yes,” I replied. Inquisitively, Jack responded, “Well, if we go to Florida, can we go fishing instead?!” Total parenting win.
Now that we have those stories out of the way, here is my easy Minnesota fish fry recipe. If you like this recipe, you will also like our other wild game recipes like our Grilled Pheasant Poppers.
Minnesota Fish Fry Recipe
The easy Minnesota fish fry recipe is a quick and easy recipe that would normally be cooked with lard instead of oil if we were on a real shore line, but we adopted this classic for the home. After you fillet your fish, rinse the fillets in water and keep in the fridge until you cook them.
Ingredients
- Fish fillets
- Saltine crackers
- Egg
- Milk
- Flour
- Lard (today we are demonstrating this recipe using vegetable oil. Lard is much easier to camp with and it the traditional frying medium and is, therefore, the classic recipe)
Instructions
Pat dry the fish fillets with a paper towel.
Coat with flour
Mix the egg and milk beating it firmly until smooth so that you can dip the flour coated fillets in the liquid. The flour coating will help absorb the juices from the meat and the egg and milk mixture. In short, this means your fillets will be perfectly coated and firm. The crust won’t flake off.
Next, let the loose liquid drip off back into the bowl and rest the fillet on cracker crumbs. The easiest way to make the crumbs is to take your saltine crackers and put them in a gallon sized zip lock bag. Roll a wine bottle or glass gar on the crackers and they will turn to crumbs very quickly.
Frying the Fish
In a pan, heat your lard, or in today’s demonstration, vegetable oil, until it bubbles when you drop a crumb in. Place the fillet’s one by on into the pan. Do not stack them. Flip after a couple minutes when the crust turns golden brown. The fish are done when they flake apart.
Serve with a lemon, season with salt and pepper if desired, and enjoy! A great dip for these fillets is a lemon dill.
10 minPrep Time
10 minCook Time
20 minTotal Time
Yields many
Ingredients
- Fish fillets
- Saltine crackers
- Egg
- Milk
- Flour
- Lard (today we are demonstrating this recipe using vegetable oil. Lard is much easier to camp with and it the traditional frying medium and is therefore the classic recipe)
Instructions
- Pat dry the fish fillets with a paper towel.
- Coat with flour
- Mix the egg and milk beating it firmly until smooth so that you can dip the flour coated fillets in the liquid. The flour coating will help absorb the juices from the meat and the egg and mild mixture. In short, this means your fillets will be perfectly coated and firm and the crust won’t flake off.
- Next, let the loose liquid drip off back into the bowl and rest the fillet on cracker crumbs. The easiest way to make the crumbs is to take your saltine crackers and put them in a gallon sized zip lock bag. Roll a wine bottle or glass gar on the crackers and they will turn to crumbs very quickly.
- In a pan, heat your lard, or in today’s demonstration, vegetable oil, until it bubbles when you drop a crumb in. Place the fillet’s one by on into the pan. Do not stack them. Flip after a couple minutes when the crust turns golden brown. The fish are done when they flake apart.
- Serve with a lemon, season with salt and pepper if desired, and enjoy! A great dip for these fillets is a lemon dill.
One last thing before I go. Our son Jackson demonstrated how to fillet a Northern on his YouTube channel. His directions work for almost any freshwater fish. If you want to learn how to fillet a fish, this is a great primer for you.
Other Fish and Wild Game
This article is part of our Foraging Minnesota series.