The Best Potato Crusted Fish for Lent

Name: The Best Potato Crusted Fish for Lent
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 1 pound fish fillets (catfish, walleye, whiting, or similar); 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; 1/2 cup flour; 3/4 cup instant mashed potato flakes; 2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning; 1/2 cup milk; 2 eggs, beaten; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 lemon, cut into wedges; 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

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Potato Crusted Fish garnished with lemon wedges and chopped fresh parsley.

The Best Potato Crusted Fish for Lent

Jeff Benda

This quick-cooking Potato Crusted Fish is one of our favorite instant potato recipes and one of the easiest Lent dinner ideas.

The first time I made potato crusted fish we were actually in the mood for fish tacos, but had no tortillas. We had used the last of them the week before when I made my wife and daughter these Venison Carnitas Tacos.

If you're like me, you don't want to waste time with yet another trip to the grocery store with a kid in tow, so you improvise with what you have. I scoured our pantry for ideas and found a box of instant mashed potatoes leftover from one of my solo backcountry hunting trips.

Most of the recipes I create are like that. I cook seasonally with what is available in our backyard garden, the woods, or lakes and rivers. But when it's a freezing cold February in North Dakota, sometimes you just gotta go with some fish from the freezer and some instant potatoes in the cupboard.

If you want to use this Potato Crusted Fish recipe when you are looking for Lent dinner ideas, you can choose your favorite vegetable as a side dish to got along with this instant potato recipe – or throw them on a tortilla and enjoy some fish tacos.

LENT DINNER IDEAS

During the Lenten season, meat on Fridays isn't an option for Catholic families. You have the option of packing up the kids and heading to your local church to enjoy a Knights of Columbus fish fry. But if you would rather stay home and make a no-meat-meal at home, you have plenty of fish dinner ideas, or these recipes I created for Exodus 90.

HOW TO MAKE POTATO CRUSTED FISH

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Take your fish out 15 minutes before cooking. Pat the fish fillets dry with paper towels, then sprinkle both sides of each fillet with the salt and black pepper.

3. Put flour in a shallow dish. Combine instant potatoes and Old Bay seasoning in another shallow dish. Combine milk and egg in a third shallow dish.

4. Dredge fish fillets in the flour, then egg/milk, and then instant potatoes.

5. Melt butter and olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until golden brown and internal temp is the recommended 145 degrees F. If the outside of the fish is nice and golden brown, but the internal temp isn't quite to 145 degrees F, place the fish on a rimmed baking sheet and in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 3 minutes until done. Don't overcook the fish or it will dry out!

6. Like most Lent dinner ideas, it's important to keep the dish simple. The girls love eating this potato crusted fish with some roasted asparagus. But you can choose to pair it with your favorite vegetable side dish.

MORE FISH RECIPES

If you are looking for more great ways to use some of that fish in your freezer, be sure and check out some of our favorite fish recipes:

Lahori Fish

Fish Soup

Salmon Chowder

Fish Tacos

Crispy Whole Fish

Fish Cake Recipe

CONNECT WITH ME AND JOIN OUR WILD GAME COOKING COMMUNITY

Did you make this Potato Crusted Fish for Lent? I’d love for you to join our community and connect with me so we can all see pics of this dish and all of your wild game and fish creations. Be sure to snap a picture of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #wildgameandfish and tagging me @wildgameandfish

Did you enjoy this Potato Crusted Fish Recipe? Be sure to leave a 5-star rating RIGHT HERE!

4.96 from 21 votes

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 5

Total Time 20

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings servings

Ingredients

1 pound fish fillets (catfish, walleye, whiting, or similar)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup instant mashed potato flakes
2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Take your fish out 15 minutes before cooking. Pat the fish fillets dry with paper towels, then sprinkle both sides of each fillet with the salt and black pepper.
Put flour in a shallow dish. Whisk together milk and egg and place in a second shallow dish. Combine instant potatoes and Old Bay seasoning in a third shallow dish.
Dredge fish fillets in the flour, then egg/milk, and then instant potatoes.
Melt butter and olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until golden brown and internal temp is the recommended 145 degrees F. If the outside of the fish is nice and golden brown, but the internal temp isn't quite to 145 degrees F, place the fish on a rimmed baking sheet and in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 3 minutes until done. Don't overcook the fish or it will dry out!
Like most Lent dinner ideas, it's important to keep the dish simple. The girls love eating this potato crusted fish with some roasted asparagus. But you can choose to pair it with your favorite vegetable side dish.