Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, this oven fried fish is a lighter, easier version of your favorite deep-fried meal! Best of all, it’s ready in less than 30 minutes.
Table of Contents
If you love good fish recipes, don’t miss this popular 15-minute grilled salmon, this classic tuna noodle casserole, and this easy tuna salad recipe, too!
Crunchy out the outside and moist inside, simply delicious…
– Vivian
If you love the taste of classic fried fish but you don’t want the hassle and added calories of deep-frying, this easy oven fried fish recipe is the perfect solution! You get the rich, crispy, golden brown texture and white, flaky inside that we all love — without the grease. The healthy baked fish appeals to kids and adults, and pairs nicely with almost any of your favorite sides.
Ingredient Notes and Tips for Success
- When oven frying fish, you need a sturdy white fish that won’t fall apart when breading and baking. This recipe calls for cod or haddock, which are popular varieties for feeding families because they have a mild flavor and a dense, flaky white flesh. Halibut is also a great option, but it tends to be a bit pricier.
- This recipe calls for a thicker egg coating than many other fried fish or chicken recipes. I learned this trick from America’s Test Kitchen — creating a blend of egg, mayonnaise, flour and a bit of Dijon — to help the breadcrumbs really adhere to the fish. This thick wet layer keeps the inside of the fish moist and tender, adds flavor, helps the coating stick, and allows the outside of the fish to get super-crunchy in the hot oven. It tastes like it’s deep-fried!
- Corn Flakes are one of my secret ingredients for oven-frying just about anything (from eggplant parmesan to breaded pork chops). The cereal crumbs add so much flavor and crunch that you can’t get from bread crumbs or cracker crumbs alone.
- The oil in the breading helps the fish turn crispy and golden brown in the oven — no frying necessary! Don’t skip the oil, or the end result won’t be nearly as good.
- For a shortcut, look for a store-bought tartar sauce (we like Duke’s brand).
How to Fry Fish in the Oven
The fish gets nice and crispy in the oven thanks to a double-dredge in dry ingredients — first in flour, then in an egg and mayonnaise mixture, and finally in a breadcrumb and Cornflake coating. This baked fish is tender but firm, doesn’t get mushy, and has the most flavorful, crunchy exterior.
- Pat the fish dry, and season with salt and pepper.
- Coat the fish lightly with seasoned flour, dip in the egg-mayonnaise mixture, and dredge in the breadcrumbs.
- Arrange the breaded fish on a wire rack set on top of a rimmed baking sheet.
- Bake the fish in a 450°F oven. Thin pieces of fish will be done within about 8 minutes, while thicker pieces of fish may require closer to 10-11 minutes in the oven. You’ll know that it’s done when the outside is crispy and golden brown and the inside flakes easily with a fork.
Serving Suggestions
Make fried fish sandwiches by serving the fillets on hoagie rolls with lettuce, tomato and tartar sauce. Alternatively, make fish tacos by putting the fillets in taco shells or tortillas with fresh salsa, guacamole, and all of your favorite Mexican-inspired toppings!
The crispy oven fried fish pairs really well with just about any of your favorite sides, too. We love it with baked potato wedges (for the classic combination of oven fried fish and chips), or with hush puppies. Don’t forget a traditional coleslaw recipe, Cheddar Bay biscuits, Southern collard greens, Arkansas green beans, cowboy baked beans, red rice, and my mom’s easy potato salad, too.
Preparation and Storage Tips
- How to Store: The cooked fish will keep in the refrigerator for about 1-2 days. If you need to store the fish longer, you can freeze the leftovers for up to 1 month. It’s important to note, though — this oven fried fish is best when served warm from the oven. The crispy exterior tends to get soggy as it sits in the refrigerator.
- How to Reheat: The oven is the best way to reheat your oven fried fish in order to keep that crispy exterior. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Allow the fish to come to room temperature on the counter while the oven heats. Place the fish fillets on a baking sheet and warm in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or just until heated through.
This recipe is perfect in every way. I made as written, used Cod. Perfect ingredient amounts. We could not get over how delicious it was! A definite keeper.
– Mary
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Oven Fried Fish
Ingredients
- 1 ½ – 2 lbs. haddock or cod fillet, cut into 4 pieces
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Dash of ground black pepper
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 cup dry plain breadcrumbs
- 1 cup Corn Flakes crumbs (about 3 cups of whole cereal measured before crushing)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- Optional, for serving: tartar sauce, fresh parsley, lemon wedges
Optional Homemade Tartar Sauce
- 1 cup Duke’s mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons capers, optional
- 1 tablespoon Dijon or stone-ground mustard
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill or parsley, optional
- 1 ½ tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
Optional Homemade Tartar Sauce
- Stir together all of the sauce ingredients. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
For the Fish
- Preheat the oven to 450°F. Set a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet and spray with vegetable oil spray. Set aside. In a shallow bowl, combine ½ cup flour, Old Bay, salt and pepper. In a separate shallow dish, whisk together remaining ¼ cup flour, mayonnaise, eggs and Dijon. In a third dish, combine breadcrumbs and Corn Flakes crumbs. Drizzle the breadcrumb mixture with oil and mash with a fork until the oil is thoroughly incorporated.
- Pat the fish dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Working with one piece at a time, coat the fish lightly with the flour mixture; dip in the egg mixture; and dredge in the breadcrumbs, pressing to adhere. Transfer the coated fish to the prepared wire rack.
- Bake until the crumbs are golden brown and the fish is cooked through, about 8 to 11 minutes.
- Serve with tartar sauce and garnish with fresh parsley and lemon wedges, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Variations
- I love the combination of the plain breadcrumbs and Corn Flake crumbs, because the Corn Flakes add extra crunch and flavor that you can’t get from the breadcrumbs alone. I prefer the finer texture of regular breadcrumbs here, but you can substitute with Panko breadcrumbs if that’s all that you have.
- Instead of the breadcrumbs, add extra flavor to the breading mixture by using finely crushed Ritz crackers with the Corn Flakes.
- For a special touch, add a couple of tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese to the breading mixture.
- This is a mild fish. If you prefer some kick, you can add a dash of cayenne to the breading.
- Turn this recipe into fish sticks by cutting the fish into strips before breading and baking.
- Cooking just for two? Cut the ingredients in half to prepare just two pieces. The rest of the instructions remain the same.
More Baked Fish Recipes to Try
Maple-Glazed Sheet Pan Salmon
35 minutes mins
Roasted Old Bay Salmon
20 minutes mins
Southern Cornmeal-Crusted Baked Catfish
25 minutes mins
This recipe was originally published in January, 2021 and was updated in January, 2025.
My favorite market had a sale on fresh Alaskan cod so I got a craving and found this recipe. Along with the cornflakes, I used crushed Ritz crackers for my breadcrumbs and added a T of parmesan to the mix. My large lovely cod filets took about 18 minutes to cook perfectly, and by then the crust was browned and crunchy – yum! Thanks for a tasty way to enjoy fish.
That’s wonderful! I’m so glad that you enjoyed the meal. It’s on our menu for tonight! 🙂
I made the recipe exactly as written. It was excellent. While I love British style beer battered deep fried fish, this is going to be my go to from now on.
I made sandwiches on Kaiser rolls with the fish and topped them with your tartar sauce, (I used capers and dill), lettuce, and homemade pickles. Phenomenal.
Now, what to do with the box of cornflakes? Guess I have to do this again soon!
Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Thanks, Jon! I’m so glad that it was a hit. My other favorite way to use Corn Flakes is this baked eggplant parmesan: https://www.theseasonedmom.com/baked-eggplant-parmesan/ I hope you’ll give it a try, too! 🙂
Crunchy out the outside and moist inside, simply delicious. The prep was time consuming for me. The next time, I’ll prepare the coatings the previous night.
Thank you, Vivian! I’m glad that you liked it!
This recipe is perfect in every way. I made as written, used Cod. Perfect ingredient amounts. We could not get over how delicious it was! A definite keeper.
Thank you so much, Mary!
Cook rating ✴️✴️✴️ LOL
It was wonderful except I used the little broiler pan rack in my Breville toaster oven air fryer. . Bad. Too little clearance under the fish and it sorta drooped. Lost about half. Drat! I ordered a quarter sheet pan with rack just before writing this. I have a 1/2 sheet but the fish would have been lost on it. Second problem was also not the fault of the recipe. The fish I used was cod and it was all sorts of odd sizes, which I cut to about 3×3 squares. It was extremely wet from defrosting it. Next time I’m going to take it out of the heat sealed pouches and let it sit and drain a long time. It was so wet I had to squeeze it. Not good. I wanted to try it in my Breville but used the regular oven. The goal was to have these frozen in my RV freezer to cook in the ninja foodi I have. Many years of peanut butter and jelly or pancakes for dinner on camping trips has taught me never try a new recipe camping 20 mi from a store. Speaking of RVs we have three fridges. One of them had to have the Dijon, right? It was in the rv in storage not here…so I used regular yellow. It was fine. The best part was hubby going crazy on the corn flakes!
We’re sorry this recipe gave you so much trouble, Liane! We hope you still enjoyed it and give it another shot.
Blair, it was my own undoing. I need to use dry fish. We get ours from Wild Alaska – arrives frozen. The pieces are irregular, wedge shapes or chunky. I might try some halibut. We do not eat tilapia or any tropical farmed fish. In the end it was far better than Gortons.