Can you microwave fish fingers? While I’m sure we’ll all agree that a nice crispy fish finger is a delight, sometimes it’s simply not possible to fry or bake fish fingers and it’s perfectly natural that you’d wonder if you can microwave fish fingers – and how many minutes should you cook the uncooked fish fingers in the microwave?
Whether you’ve made your own fish fingers from scratch, or bought a pack of frozen fish fingers, the answer is the same. You CAN microwave fish fingers, you just have to accept that the aesthetics aren’t as good as cooking them by other methods.
In a standard microwave you will never get a crispy crumb coating. But, you can achieve a result where the fish is cooked and so safe and edible.
There were microwave fish fingers being marketed and produced at one time, that were promising better results, but these branded microwave fish fingers have disappeared from the market, so you can’t buy them; they are no longer an option.
How to Cook Fish Fingers in a Microwave:
What I found worked best was to stand the fish fingers up on their thin sides, around the edges of a dish. I found that after 3 minutes the fish was cooked. But, there are some rules to note.
My microwave oven is 800 watts. I eventually chose a round dish to cook the fish fingers in, microwaving them for one minute, then turning them round, then another minute, turn and a final minute.
Another method that works is to set the microwave to half power and microwave the fingers a minute at a time until hot. This takes an extra 1-2 minutes, but helps to keep the fish fingers in a neater shape, without the crisp crumb coating peeling away.
Softly, Softly:
The only problems with microwaving fish fingers are that if you cook them too fast, or turn them too roughly, the breadcrumb coating can come away, but that’s purely a cosmetic issue. The outside will, of course, not crisp up. However, the fish fingers will still taste the same! You will know when they’re cooked as they’ll be hot on both sides, but I’ve found 3 minutes to be plenty for regular, frozen, fish fingers.
What also works well is if you “stack” your dishes in the microwave. e.g. if you’re making fish fingers and chips in the microwave, then put them into two dishes, with the frozen fish fingers on the bottom of the stack. This helps to keep them more intact as they cook slower.
I served my microwave fish fingers with frozen oven chips that I microwaved and frozen peas. This is how I did it:
- First I boiled a kettle, for the peas. I poured frozen peas into a mug and filled the mug with boiling hot water and set it to one side, enabling the peas to be defrosted.
- Using a round microwave-safe dish, I tipped out 250 grams of frozen oven chips into the bowl.
- I then microwaved the chips for 3 minutes, then tossed/turned them and microwaved them for a further 3 minutes.
- I then placed fish fingers round the outside of the bowl and microwaved them for a total of 3 minutes, turning them each time. By turning them you can tell if they’re hot/cooked or not! If in doubt, microwave them for a 4th minute.
- I then removed the dish from the microwave
- Finally, I strained the peas and microwaved the peas in the mug for 30 seconds, before tipping the peas into the bowl with the fish fingers and chips.
Voila! That’s how to cook fish fingers in a microwave: fish fingers, microwave oven chips and frozen peas – I call that lunch! And all it needed was a big splash of ketchup. And that’s how you can cook fish fingers in a microwave, nom. And now you know how many minutes to cook uncooked fish fingers in the microwave, it’s just up to you to give it a go!
Serving Suggestions for Microwave Fish Fingers:
Having had great success with microwaving frozen fish fingers, I next bought a box of 30 of them, then another. Indeed, for the next couple of weeks I chomped through more fish fingers than I’d eaten in the previous 20 years! So, in addition to regular lunches as above, I also tried:
- Fish finger toasted sandwich: I microwaved the fish fingers, alone, for 3-4 minutes, as above, turning them regularly. I then made two pieces of toast and spread ketchup on the toast, then laid the fish fingers down on the toast. Job done. I also tried this with salad cream – another good outcome!
- Microwave Fish fingers in pitta bread: Having microwaved the fish fingers, alone, as above, I toasted a pitta bread and then put the fish fingers inside the pitta bread. I tried this in four ways: with a squirt of salad cream; with a squirt of tomato ketchup; with a squirt of chilli sauce; with a squirt of sweet chilli sauce. All of these made a very scrummy snack!
- Microwave fish fingers, chips and baked beans: why not microwave some frozen oven chips and baked beans to serve alongside your fish fingers. A favourite meal in my house.