User's avatarprinceb71

Long John Silver's Copycat Batter

A copycat recipe for LJS's batter used on fish and chicken. It's also good for battered onion rings. In the photo, breaded chicken on left, plain/unbreaded on the right. (Breaded is better. WAY better)

Time1-3 hours
Yield8+ pieces, depends on piece size
Recipe of Long John Silver's Copycat Batter by princeb71

Ingredients

  • 2 Cups - Flour
  • 1/4 Cup - Corn Starch
  • 2 tsp - Sugar
  • 2 tsp - Salt
  • 1/2 tsp - Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp - Onion salt (or Onion Powder)
  • 1/2 tsp - Paprika
  • 1/4 tsp - Ground Black Pepper
  • (Optional) Bowl of breading
  • Wet ingredients
  • 16oz - Seltzer (or Beer, but not Club Soda or Tonic Water!)
  • 1-1.5 Tbsp - Apple Cider Vinegar (depending on how "tangy" you want it)
  • ~ 8 cups - Canola Oil For Frying
  • Main ingredient
  • At least 2 lbs - Fish or Chicken of choice, sliced

Steps

  1. Begin to heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan to 350°F using a fryer thermometer to keep tabs on the temp.
  2. Cut the fish/chicken/onion rings into small enough portions so that each can fully cook throughout (roughly about 1 to 3oz for fish/chicken depending on the portion size you want). Few things are worse than food fully cooked on the outside and under-cooked on the inside. Plus it can be dangerous from a bacterial standpoint. Pat each piece dry with a towel or paper towel to remove as much moisture as possible. It helps the batter to stick to the food much better.
  3. Combine the dry ingredients : flour, corn starch, sugar, salt, baking powder, onion salt/powder, paprika, and ground black pepper. Mix it all together well.
  4. Add the vinegar and club soda to the dry ingredients. Continue to stir as the batter foams. Try not to over-mix it so that the CO2 doesn't become depleted too much. Add most of the seltzer, but not all of the seltzer in order to control the thickness of the batter. You want it in-between thick and thin, so it sticks to the food well. Using slightly less than what the recipe calls for has always worked for me. Or you add a bit more flour until the desired consistency is achieved. How much is up to you. Do NOT use tonic water, club soda, or anything other than seltzer, as the added minerals will change the taste of the batter. Beer is an alt to use for seltzer if beer batter is desired.
  5. Dip the food pieces into the batter, and drop them into the hot oil. Add a step in-between if you like and have a bowl setup with bread crumbs (I used plain panko) and coat the fish/chicken/onion rings before dropping in the oil. Best thing ever. They are crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. And the taste is very good. If you do bread them, be aware they will brown faster and become a dark brown, but they are not burning unless you leave them in the oil for too long or if the oil is too hot.
  6. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes until the batter has turned golden brown and the pieces have been floating to the top of the oil for a bit. They will sink when you first put them in the oil, but quickly rebound.
  7. Once each batch is removed, let the oil heat back up to 350 or they may be under-cooked.
  8. Any batter left over? Slice some onions of choice and you can make onion rings. Just reduce the heat some. I've only made onion rings once. 350 was too much so I used 300-325. FYI. I've also used the plain chicken pieces I made for sweet and sour chicken on white rice using my homemade sweet and sour sauce without issue since they're tempura chicken .
  9. As always with fried foods, only reheat in an air fryer/oven/toaster oven. Reheating them in a microwave will make them soggy.