This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see the disclosure for more information.
I’m a big fan of battered fried fish. Add in some freshly fried French fries, a side of delicious tartar sauce, and give me a bottle of malt vinegar and I’m one happy guy. This copycat of Captain D’s batter dipped fish checks all my boxes. Slightly crunchy. Tasty. Oh, and easy. Crazy easy. This is just like the great fish you can get at the restaurant. Oh me, just looking at the picture gets me hungry again!

I use a little FryDaddy when I cook my copycat Captain D’s batter dipped fish. It’s perfect for small pieces of fish and it heats the oil to the perfect temperature. But for larger pieces or when making dinner for more than just a few people, I use a Dutch oven or a bigger deep fryer.
No matter what you use to cook your fish, make sure that you don’t overcook it. The fish will dry out and not be good at all. Also make sure you get the oil temperature high enough. Low temperatures won’t cook the fish correctly. Low oil temperature will also saturate the fish with oil. That’s not good either.
Also try my copycat Long John Silver’s fish-and-chips!
Copycat Captain D’s Batter Dipped Fish
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil or canola oil, for frying
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt plus more, for sprinkling
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 ½ cups water plus more, if needed
- 2 pounds cod fillets, cut into bite-sized chunks if desired
Instructions
- Heat 3" of oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 350 F.
- In a large bowl add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and cayenne. Whisk to combine.
- Slowly whisk in the water. You want a pancake-like batter. If it's too thick add a bit (a very small bit!) more water and whisk.
- Rinse and pat the fish dry. I prefer to cut mine into bite-sized pieces.
- Working in batches, add the fish to the batter and turn to coat completely. Transfer to the oil and deep fry 3-4 minutes, turning once, until golden brown. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate. If desired, sprinkle the fish with salt.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.
This was terrible! Omit the the baking POWDER. One tbs of BAKING SODA, 2tbs of white vinegar. Cheyenne is optional.
I add the correct recipe, my laptop went dwn.
I am sorry you didn’t like it. I have seen many similar recipes to this. Some used baking soda, some baking powder. I happened to like this one.
Regards,
Mike