Healthy Homemade Fish Sticks

Healthy Homemade Fish Sticks.

November 16, 2010

Growing up, fish sticks were never my thing. In fact, they utterly disgusted me, even though I really like fish. I’ve been dodging the bullet, otherwise known as Mr. How Sweet, for months, since he has been asking me to duplicate fish sticks. I just didn’t think I had it in me.

But boy am I glad I did.

These are so easy. Much simpler than I anticipated. All I did was cute a few tilapia filets into “sticks.”

Then I dipped them in beaten egg whites and panko breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan. That’s it! They went into the oven and I was done with them. Well, after flipping them once that is. How easy is that?

And how delicious does the finished product look?

The outsides were so crispy and crunchy and the insides were perfectly flaky.

Even though I often make parmesan-crusted tilapia in a similar way, this tasted much better. It was fun to eat. It made me feel like I was seven years old again. Minus the silk shirts, paisley vest and permed hair.

I think creating a delicious dipping sauce would be a great addition too. I didn’t put my time into that because Mr. How Sweet knows no other condiment besides his beloved ketchup. He ruins everything with ketchup.

If you have an idea for a tasty sauce, throw it at me!

Healthy Homemade Fish Sticks

makes 12 fish sticks

3 tilapia filets (I’m sure you can use another fish too)

2 egg whites, beaten

1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450.

Lay a wire rack on a baking sheet and spray it with non-stick spray.

Cut the tilapia once down the middle, then in half, creating four “sticks.” Season with salt and pepper. In a bowl, beat the 2 egg whites. In a separate bowl, add the panko, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese. Dip each fish stick in egg whites, than in the panko mixture, pressing to adhere. Lay on the wire rack and spritz with olive oil.

Bake for 10 minutes, then flip and bake for 10 more minutes. Serve hot!

I served the fish sticks to Mr. How Sweet with a big plate of sweet potato fries and a few extra blobs of ketchup. They were perfect for his 5-year old taste buds.