Baked Fish Sticks – Family Friendly Dinner

These healthy baked fish sticks are an easy and delicious family friendly dinner. This simple recipe is perfect for dinner any night of the week.

Frozen Fish Stick Memories

I can remember being a kid and loving when we had frozen fish sticks for dinner. We dipped those crispy little fish sticks in creamy French dressing and it was always a family favorite.

Since part of the Mediterranean Diet involves trying to cook from scratch more and use as real ingredients as possible, I thought it would be beneficial to try making my now fish sticks.

Are Frozen Fish Sticks Healthy?

While there is certainly nothing wrong with enjoying frozen fish sticks, our goal is to try and cook as many things we can at home. This helps control what ingredients are in the foods we eat, especially like preservatives, additives, sodium, added sugars, etc.

For example, this is the ingredient list off of a well known brand of frozen fish sticks –

Quite a few additions of salt, sugar, oils other than olive oil, and whatever “natural flavors” mean. Frozen fish sticks are also often fried, although a few brands off baked varieties now.

Baked Fish Sticks Recipe

Turns out it’s pretty easy to make your own fish sticks at home. Plus with a few simple tweaks, you can turn them into a Mediterranean Diet style meal.

For this recipe, I made the following changes compared to traditional fish sticks –

• I used cod as the fish – while it is a bit lower in Omega 3 fatty acids than other types of fish, it’s mild in flavor and lower in mercury, making it a good family choice
• For the breading, I used 100% whole wheat panko (Japanese style breadcrumbs)
• They are baked rather than fried
• I dusted them in almond flour rather than regular all purpose flour
• I kept the “additions” to a minimum – a bit of dijon mustard, egg, dried herbs and pepper
• Instead of traditional tartar sauce, I whipped up a simple and easy zesty ketchup using Primal Kitchen Unsweetened Ketchup

How is this a Mediterranean Diet Recipe

Part of my goal is to show that foods that aren’t “traditionally” Mediterranean ingredients or recipes can be a part of a Mediterranean Diet. I think that makes it approachable and realistic for those of us that don’t have access to common “mediterranean” ingredients.

I believe this recipe fits within the Mediterranean Diet guidelines because –

• It’s uses heart health fish/seafood
• Olive oil is used to lightly sauté the breadcrumbs
• Dried and fresh herbs are used for flavor
• 100% whole grain breadcrumbs are used in place of traditional
• Unsweetened ketchup without any added sugars is used in place of heavy, cream based tartar sauce

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Healthy Baked Fish Sticks

These healthy baked fish sticks are an easy and delicious family friendly dinner. This simple recipe is perfect for dinner any night of the week.

Course dinner, family dinner, fish, seafood

Cuisine American, Mediterranean

Keyword cod, family friendly dinner, fish, fish sticks, mediterranean diet recipe, seafood

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Brynn McDowell, RD at The Domestic Dietitian

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups whole wheat panko breadcrumbs will also work
• 1 tbsp dried basil or parsley
• 10-12 oz cod
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup almond flour all purpose or whole wheat flour can also be used
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley

Instructions

• Lightly heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat on the stove
• Once warm, add the panko and dried herbs, stir to combine and lightly toast until golden brown (about 3 minutes), stiring frequently. Remove from heat and let cool slightly
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper that is lightly sprayed with non-stick spray
• Slice the cod into 1-2 inch thick "sticks". Try to cut the cod as uniform in size as possible to ensure equal cooking times
• Season the cod "sticks" with pepper
• Place the almond flour in a shallow dish
• Place the eggs and dijon mustard in a seperate shallow dish and whisk lightly
• For each piece of fish, lightly dredge in the almond flour, then in the egg/dijon mixture and finally in the panko mixture until compeltely coated. Place on the lined baking sheet
• Repeat this for each piece of cod and place pan in the oven to bake for 8-10 minutes, until cod is cooked through and crust is golden brown.
• Garnish with freshly chopped parsley

Zesty Ketchup Dipping Sauce

I use this super simple and quick to pull together Zesty Ketchup for dipping these crispy baked fish sticks.

Simply take 1/2 cup of ketchup (I prefer the unsweetened version from Primal Kitchen), 1-2 cloves of mixed garlic and the zest & juice from 1 lime. Mix together and serve alongside the fish sticks.