Healthier Alternatives to Frying Seafood

We are all looking for ways to make the foods we love healthier. Finding alternatives to deep fried seafood may seem tricky at first, but, with a little clever culinary maneuvering, we can make equally delicious options without all those harmful fats. Read on for our favorite hacks and frying alternatives.

Air Frying Seafood

Air Fryers are all the rage nowadays. Despite the name, air fryers don’t actually fry. Ingredients are place in a perforated basket and hot air circulates around the food browning and crisping. These fantastic appliances are a great way to get the feeling of ‘fried’ without all the oil needed when deep frying.

Breaded (not battered, wet batters tend to drip through the perforations in the basket, creating more of a mess than crunch) seafood is best for the Air Fryer. Crisping and browning all your seafood goodies nicely.

We’ve added some of our all time favorite Air Frying seafood recipes.

This Air Fryer Cod recipe from Delish.com is an easy, simple and delicious recipe. Stock up on Cod HERE before you make this recipe.

This highly rated Air Fryer Fried Shrimp recipe from the Food Network has all the crunch of traditionally deep fried shrimp (as well as a very tasty remoulade sauce for dipping). Stock up on Fresh Shrimp HERE before you make this recipe.

One of our all-time favorites is this recipe for Air Fryer Crab Cakes (served with a spicy aioli too!). Our Maryland Lump Crab Meat works very very well here. Stock up on Crab Meat HERE.

Nutty Crusts for Crunch

An excellent way to add crunch without the calories is by using nuts! These crispy coatings give the illusion of deep fat frying, even those most of these recipe suggestions are baked.

All nuts are welcome, and depending on the seafood used, add spectacular flavor. Crushed into a semi-fine powder, nuts take on the role of a bread crumb coating and can often be paired with crunchy crumbs for added effect.

Here are some of our favorite recipes…

You’ll love these Parmesan and Almond Crusted Salmon fillets from Rachel Cooks ~baked crisp with this nice almond-parm topping. Stock up on Salmon HERE.

This recipe uses crushed pistachios, lemon and fresh herbs as a coating for Tilapia or Catfish. Super tasty! Shop for your favorite white fish, HERE.

Yum yum yum! This recipe using walnuts as the topping, covering tender cod fillets, is absolutely delicious. Shop for Cod HERE before making this recipe.

Crisping in the Oven

The oven is probably the easiest and most user-friendly frying alternative cooking method ~and a fan favorite. The trick (even if it is not stated in these recipe examples) is placing your breaded seafood on a wire rack lined-baking sheet (to allow for better air flow).

One of our other handy hacks is using a bit ‘unconventional’ breading. Something with a little bit more crunch like; Cornflakes, Rice Krispies, crackers, pretzels or shredded un-sweetened coconut. Crushed up finely, all of these alt-crumbs work spectacularly with seafood.

Everyone loves a good fish stick, and these pack in the crunch as well as flavor. This recipe calls for Cod, but our Rockfish Fillets make for some amazing fish sticks! Stock up today.

For a little gastro-pub experience at home, we love this recipe from Taste of Home for Crispy Oven-Fried Oysters. Our shucked oysters are just what you need to make this recipe. Shop now.

Hungry? 

Need help in sourcing your seafood? We have you covered! All the seafood listed in this article is available online and shipped right to your door. Click this link to check out our selections!

Do you have a favorite seafood recipe that you would like to share? Have a trick or tip that we haven’t covered? Feel free to share it with us! We’re always looking for new and innovative ways to cook and prepare our seafood. Post your images, recipe or tips on any of our social pages…. @cameronsseafoodonline (for Instagram) or @CameronsSeafood (for Facebook).

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