A delicious and healthier way to make fish sticks is by using the air fryer. A lightly battered piece of fish is cooked to flaky perfection in a matter of minutes.

Featured Image for Air Fryer Fish Sticks.

Air Fryer Fish Sticks the best way to make crispy fish sticks to feel good about feeding your family. Air frying homemade fish sticks are an easy dinner made with real fish with a 10 minute cooking time and so much cleaner than deep frying.

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❤️ Why you'll love it
🥘 Ingredients
🔪 Instructions
🥄 Equipment
🥫Storage
📖 Variations
💭 Tips
📚 Related Recipes
🍽 Serve with...
🏫 The last word
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

❤️ Why you'll love it

Air Fryer Recipe: fans of air fryer recipes will love how easy these fish sticks are to make with simple ingredients from the pantry.

Healthy recipe: these air Kids love these flaky fish fingers served with homemade tarter sauce.

Kid friendly: They are a great way to feed the whole family an easy meal without using processed frozen fish sticks.

🥘 Ingredients

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Please scroll to the bottom of this post for a printable recipe card with complete instructions.

Fish fillets: I used cod fish, but tilapia or haddock is another white fish that works well with this recipe.

Cornmeal: I like to use cornmeal over flour for the air fryer recipe to get a little more of a crispy texture on the outside.

Seasoning blend: I used a lemon pepper seasoning blend.

Salt: (optional), use only if the seasoning you are using does not have salt in it.

Black pepper

Large eggs, the fish is coated with an egg wash prior to dipping into the seasoned corn meal.

Cooking spray or vegetable oil spray

Pouring the seasoning into the corn meal.

🔪 Instructions

Preheat the air fryer for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.
In a small shallow bowl, mix together the cornmeal and seasoning.
Cut the fish fillets into 5 inch long pieces about 1-½ inches wide. Set on a plate and season with salt (if using) and pepper.
In another small shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs until foamy.
Coat the air fryer basket or rack with cooking spray. Set aside.
Dip a piece of fish in the egg mixture, then dip in the cornmeal mixture.
Place on prepared air fryer rack in a single layer and repeat until all fish sticks have been breaded. Be sure to leave enough space between the fish sticks to allow the hot air to circulate.
Spritz the top of the breaded fish sticks with cooking spray or avocado oil.
Place the tray/basket in the air fryer and cook for 7 minutes at 400 degrees, until fish stick coating has crisped up and fish flakes easily.

Cornmeal breading in a bowl with a fish stick inside the bowl coated with the corn flour.

🥄 Equipment

Mixing bowls

Chef knife, used to cut the fish fillets into fish sticks.

Cutting board

Air Fryer

Tongs

🥫Storage

Refrigerate: Store any leftover fish sticks in the fridge in an airtight container up to 3 days or in the freezer up to 3 months.

Freeze: store in a freezer safe airtight container

Reheat: reheat air fryer frozen fish sticks in the air fryer on 350 degrees F for 7-10 minutes, until hot.

📖 Variations

Use old bay seasoning to season the cornmeal.
Substitute almond flour for the cornmeal to make a keto friendly gluten-free version of this fish stick recipe.
Add a teaspoon of garlic and onion powder to the seasoning blend.

💭 Tips

If using an air fryer with racks, be sure to place the tray in the center of the air fryer to allow the hot air to circulate evenly all around and brown all sides of the fish sticks.
If in the fish sticks have not browned enough, move the tray to the top rack and cook for another 30-60 seconds.
It is a good idea to buy the fish fillet in bulk, then cut it into portions.

A fish sandwich made with air fryer fish sticks on a brown tray.

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🍽 Serve with...

Serve air fryer fish sticks with a squeeze of lemon juice and your favorite dipping sauce and a side of french fries.

🏫 The last word

These homemade air fryer fish sticks are not like the frozen fish sticks you can buy premade in the grocery store. Most fish sticks you buy in the grocery are made with minced fish and have a thick coating on them to make them easy to pick up with the fingers. These air fryer fish sticks are made with fresh fish and the breading is kept light. Because of this the fish stick will not be as sturdy if you try to pick it up with your fingers.

These delicious fish sticks can also be made in the oven instead of the air fryer. Just place in a preheated 400 degree oven and bake for 10 minutes, flipping fish sticks over halfway through cooking.

A fish sandwich that has been cut in half on a brown tray.

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📖 Recipe