Air Fryer
Air Fryer Fish Fingers
Crisp coating and flaking fish in 8 minutes, straight from frozen. Why they need no oil, and why spacing them apart decides how crisp they get.
Ingredients
- 8 frozen breadcrumbed fish fingers
- 1 lemon, to serve
- 3 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tsp capers, chopped
- 1 small gherkin, finely chopped
Method
- Preheat the air fryer at 200°C (390°F) for 2-3 minutes.
- Lay the fish fingers in the basket in a single layer with space between them. Straight from frozen, no oil, no defrosting.
- Air fry at 200°C (390°F) for 4 minutes.
- Turn them over with tongs and cook for another 4 minutes, until deep golden and crisp.
- Meanwhile, stir the mayonnaise, chopped capers and gherkin together for a quick tartare sauce.
- Check they are piping hot through. Give them 2-3 minutes more if not. Serve with lemon.
Notes
- No oil. Frozen fish fingers already carry a breaded coating that crisps on its own — adding oil makes them greasy rather than crisper.
- Straight from frozen. Defrosting them first gives you a soggy coating and fish that overcooks before the outside colours.
- Sources split on temperature: Liana's Kitchen use 200°C (390°F) for 8 minutes, Recipe This use 180°C (355°F) and warn that hotter dries the fish inside. 200°C (390°F) is faster and crisper; drop to 180°C (355°F) and give them 10 minutes if yours come out dry.
- Space between them decides the crispness. Overlapping fish fingers steam each other and the undersides stay pale.
- The tartare sauce is our own suggestion rather than part of the sourced method. Three tablespoons of mayonnaise with chopped capers and gherkin takes about a minute while they cook.
- Air fryer models vary. Treat the times as a guide, go by colour and crispness, and adjust the seasoning to your taste.
Watch it
More Air Fryer Fish
Air fryer models vary in power and basket size, so treat the times here as a guide — go by colour and crispness rather than the clock, and adjust the seasoning and glaze to your taste.
Recipe source: Method corroborated across published UK air-fryer guides: Liana's Kitchen (lianaskitchen.co.uk) cook 10 frozen fish fingers at 200°C (390°F) for 8 minutes, turning at 4, with no oil and a 2-3 minute preheat. Recipe This (recipethis.com) cook them at 180°C (355°F) instead and warn against going hotter because it dries the fish inside. Currys' air fryer guide also gives 200°C (390°F) for 8-10 minutes. The tartare sauce is a serving suggestion of our own, not part of any of those sourced methods.