These low-carb fish sticks ain’t coming in a frozen box!
I don’t know about what you ate in your family when you were a kid, but fish sticks were a pretty big mainstay in our household. They were conveniently packaged in a box you could shove into your freezer and then nuke ‘em for a couple of minutes in the microwave when you were ready to eat them. Of course, they tasted a little better when you baked them in the oven, but that used to take so long that my brother Kevin and I hardly ever bothered.
This “food” was about as disgusting as they come now that I look back on it through the eyes of my healthy low-carb lifestyle. Sure, the “fish” (what DID they put in those sticks?) was pretty good for you with healthy fats and protein in it, but that breading was absolutely LOADED with carbohydrates galore! And when you cooked these frozen fish sticks in the microwave, they came out all soggy and nasty. Ahhhh the memories of growing up as a fat kid totally oblivious to what I was doing to myself at the time!
The good thing is that there are better options when it comes to making fish sticks. Thanks to our friends at Low-Carb Connoisseur, there is a wonderful recipe for homemade low-carb fish sticks that is super-quick to prepare and cook that tastes a MILLION times better than that frozen junk you used to eat with a whole lot less carbs and taste that will have your tastebuds doing the Macarena! WOO HOO! ENJOY!
HOMEMADE LOW-CARB FISH STICKS
1/4 cup light olive or canola oil
1 cup Dixie Carb Counters bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder, black pepper, and paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup CarbQuik
2 large eggs, beaten
1 pound white fish fillets such as cod or tilapia, cut into “fish-stick-size” strips (about 3 inches by 1 inch)
Lemon wedges
Duke’s Tartar Sauce
Heinz One Carb Ketchup
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Spread oil on a rimmed baking sheet.
Toss crumbs, grated cheese, and seasonings together in a shallow dish until blended. Put CarbQuik into another shallow dish and beaten eggs into a third shallow bowl.
Coat each piece of fish evenly with the CarbQuik. Then dip each floured piece into beaten eggs. Last of all, turn each piece around in crumb mixture until evenly coated.
Place each coated piece of fish onto the oiled sheet, then turn pieces over so both sides are oiled. Bake until golden brown–about 10 to 14 minutes.
Serve immediately with lemon wedges, Duke’s Tartar Sauce, or Heinz One Carb Ketchup. Serves 4.
Yum! Those look great.
Thanks for the great recipe! Maybe you could spend some time researching and sharing what you find on dietary fats, like the canola oil in your recipe. There are some strong ideological differences and major misconceptions in this area – - as much as low-carb! Setting the record straight for your readers would be a huge jump in a healty direction for everyone. Keep up the great work!!
THANKS Dave! I agree there are issues with varying fats and keep in mind that this recipe was from my friends at Low-Carb Connoisseur. If I made this recipe, then I’d cook the fish sticks in coconut or olive oil. Thank you for your comments!
–Jimmy
Thanks for the recipe. My parents were making breaded fish the other night (fresh from the lake!) and I made my own recipe using pork rinds and parmesan cheese. It didn’t work out so well (breading didn’t stick). So I’ll try the low carb connoisseur fish stick breading next time!
I did not see a carb count anywhere for this–are you sure it IS low carb?
THANKS Marci! Well, looking at the ingredients, all of them are pretty low in net carbohydrates. I’d guesstimate about 4-5g net carbs per fish stick.
–Jimmy
Oh my! I am going to buy some of those low carb breadcrumbs right now!
those look great and something my kids will eat, gonna order the ing. to make!
Jimmy,
I know this isn’t your recipe but it got me wondering … what’s your take on the issue of the danger associated with wheat? Dr. William Davis regularly warns about the perils of eating wheat – even in LC versions of it, I believe.
Would love to know your thoughts about this.
Thank you!
JP
THANKS JP! As a general rule, I think wheat should be avoided, especially if it is refined obviously because it can act just like sugar in the body. It also depends on the quantity you are consuming. While the goal is to eat as little as possible, I don’t think necessarily the very small amounts that are in products like these is harmful to health. Lest I’m misunderstood, though, I believe it MUST be limited in your diet. GREAT QUESTION!!!
–Jimmy
Sigh.
I hate to do this. I really do. But, I have to be the sour.. uh… sam… here. Let me just mention that I try (TRY) to follow Paleolithic Evolutionary eating principles 95% of the time, though I’m not perfect.
I understand that a lot of people following a diet that precludes carbohydrates want to eat those things that they did before they went low-carb. Hence, we see a lot of “like it” products just like we see in vegetarian circles (ie: Chk’n Nuggets). Do you find it strange that a vegan would eat something that is trying to be meat, filled with all sorts of processed junk, in an effort to stick to an ideal? Is this any different?
Summary of this post, which has grown to a length even I didn’t predict!
“Just because it’s low carb doesn’t mean it’s healthy!!!” Are you interested in your health or just losing weight? Are you giving up alcohol just to smoke more? Are you giving up TV just to play video games more (when you really want to get off that couch?) That’s the question we all need to ask ourselves on every step of our journey to being an effective human being.
One of the benefits of giving up carbohydrates is getting rid of the “blunting” effect of carbs. One of the first things I noticed after my body adjusted was that REAL FOODS taste absolutely AMAZING. I couldn’t eat raw peppers a couple of months ago but now they are my “apple”. The subtle sweetness mixed with the tangy sour. Absolute heaven.
What I’m suggesting is management, and maybe it doesn’t work for everybody. I take one meal a week and let myself eat anything. I look forward to it, but not in a crack addict kind of way. It’s my “savoury” eating. We live in a society that has access to fulfillment (whether productive or counterproductive) too easily. I could pop into my local 7-11 right now (2 blocks away!) and grab some Taquitos, nachos and a cone very easily. My mother isn’t here to be my discipline, so I HAVE to be.
If you want fish sticks, make it your planned cheat and REALLY ENJOY THEM. How often would you really eat fish sticks anyways? If it’s more than once a month, maybe it’s time to really look at what your priorities are. Spend the rest of your week making amazing broiled fish and asparagus with plenty of clarified butter and spices. Is it really any less tasty without the artificial ingredients? (After the detox from carbs, I mean…)
Artificial? Let’s look at some select ingredients here:
Olive oil or canola oil: canola oil has high omega-6 to omega-3 ratio and olive oil simply isn’t stable enough to handle 450F degree temperatures. Olive oil in volume is absolutely great on a meaty and veggy salad, but why would you be afraid of using a more saturated, and more stable oil?
Dukes tartar sauce: first ingredient is SOYBEAN OIL. Again, high in polyunstaturates, implicated in cancer and inflammation. It’s a completely unnatural oil that’s only been available since we’ve learned to refine the heck out of it. also contains a bunch of questionable chemicals such as sodium benzoate, which even Jimmy has blogged against: http://is.gd/M25G
Dixie Carb is a bit better, but it’s second ingredient is soy concentrate, the third corn starch. I’m still not 100% sure about soy concentrate because it doesn’t clarify what they are concentrating. The fiber? The protein? To what amounts and how? I still don’t think that soy belongs in our diets unless it’s fermented: http://is.gd/M2eE
Carbquik: Again, more canola, more highly processed items, more artificial sweeteners.
My whole point here is that the items used to make “fish sticks” healthy aren’t exactly all from the outside aisles of the grocery store. They are highly processed and modified ingredients.
I really need to try to find out about Jimmy’s experiment in cutting out all sweet things. All I can say from experience is that in cutting out the sweet (which evolution-wise we’d only get during warm months and then only in limited amounts when certain things are in season), I’ve come to really appreciate the subtlety of foods.
Your mileage may vary.
I appreciate your detailed and well-reasoned response, Arlo. And I agree as a rule it’s better to eat foods that are like the ones described in a Paleo-style diet than not. But if you can incorporate these other foods like low-carb fish sticks into your healthy lifestyle and still maintain your health, then why not? That’s been my philosophy since I started livin’ la vida low-carb and my health has NEVER been better. HDL way up, triglycerides way down, blood pressure down, blood sugar stable, energy out the wazoo, and so much more. You keep doing what is working to keep your health in check because it will serve you well throughout your life.
THANK YOU for your comments!
–Jimmy
Cooking with canola oil? What kind of crazy advice is this? Canola under heat rancifies.
So use coconut or olive oil instead.
–Jimmy
I wanted to comment on this article when I first read it, but I didn’t have time. I am going to second Arlo’s comment with several !!!! and make another comment/ suggestion, with all due respect to Jimmy because this is in fact his blog.
Jimmy, you often ask for comments and ideas and I am so happy to see this article generated so many negative comments because that means that the folks are getting it! Low carb is healthier because it is for the most part unprocessed and healthy foods. My suggestion and what I would appreciate as a reader would be for healthy low carb recipes. I for one have more have more difficulty with those which I suppose is because its plain food. I think there would have been fewer negative comments if you would have shared your thoughts on limiting wheat and frying with coconut oil in your original article. Just my thoughts:-)
To add to the canola oil discussion, I think that Loren Cordain (Mr. Paleo himself) actually advocates using canola oil. I thought this odd for the same reasons mentioned by other readers. As Jimmy suggested coconut oil would seem a better choice. Jimmy, do you have access to Loren Cordain, that you could get his reasoning for this?
I post a variety of low-carb recipes for people to pick and choose what suits their low-carb lifestyle best. Not everyone disliked the fish sticks as I received quite a few messages on my Facebook page from people who wanted to try it. I’m happy to share recipes of all types often and do. Feel free to send me yours.
As for Cordain, I interviewed him on my podcast show in April 2009. Check it out for the answer to your question!
–Jimmy
I do appreciate the variety here believe me. Everyone gets to choose how they want to follow their plan. I just wanted to discuss and agree with the folks who saw this as a problematic recipe.
I listened to your interview with Mr. Cordain again, and he doesn’t specifically address canola oil in the interview. I have his acne info here and I will look at his website and I’ll get back to you if I don’t find an answer.
THANKS Heidi! Lemme know.
–Jimmy