Air Fryer Fish and Chips
Panko-coated cod fillets and thick potato chips cooked together in the air fryer for 20 minutes, served with lemon and tartare sauce.
Photograph credit: Fish and Chips at the Dipsea Cafe by pointnshoot · CC BY 2.0 · Flickr
Fish and chips has been sold wrapped in paper for well over a century in Britain, and it remains the dish people crave on a wet Friday. This version swaps the deep fryer for the air fryer, which cuts the oil but still gives a crisp crumb and chips with a proper crunch.
The chips go in first. Cut floury potatoes into 1 cm sticks, soak them in cold water for 20 minutes to rinse off the surface starch, then dry them thoroughly. Wet chips steam and go limp. A teaspoon of oil is all they need.
Start the chips 10 minutes before the fish. Cod takes only 10 minutes in the fast air, while the chips need 20, so the two meet at the end of the cooking time.
Brown the crumb with a light spray of oil. Season the fish, flour it, dip it in egg and press the panko on firmly. Serve with plenty of salt, malt vinegar or lemon, and a spoon of tartare sauce, and eat straight away.
Questions About Air Fryer Fish and Chips
How long does Air Fryer Fish and Chips take to make?
20 minutes of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking, plus 20 minutes of soaking, so allow 1 hour from start to finish. The recipe serves 2.
How to Make Air Fryer Fish and Chips
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Soak the chips in cold water for 20 minutes. Drain and dry them thoroughly, then toss with the vegetable oil.
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Heat the air fryer to 200°C / 390°F. Cook the chips for 10 minutes, shaking the basket once.
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Season the cod with the salt. Dip in the flour, then egg, then press into the panko. Brush with the olive oil.
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Lay the fish on top of the chips or on the rack. Cook for 10 minutes more, then shake the chips and check the fish is cooked through.
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Serve with the tartare sauce and lemon wedges.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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Worth Getting Right
- Dry the chips completely before oiling.
- If your basket is small, cook the chips first and keep them warm.
- Check the cod with a fork: it should flake easily.
If You're Missing Something
- Panko gives the crunchiest crust here, but ordinary dried breadcrumbs will still fry crisp if that's what's in the cupboard.
Serve It With
Mushy peas · Malt vinegar · Tartare sauce · Lemon wedges
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Braised Red Cabbage, Buttered Carrots, Buttered Peas.
Keeping and Reheating
Best eaten at once. Reheat leftovers in the air fryer for 5 minutes at 180°C / 355°F.
Air Fryer Fish and Chips Nutrition Facts
Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: part of the energy comes from foods, or weights per item, with no recorded source. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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