Gochujang Fish Cakes

Here’s a batch of homemade spicy gochujang fish cakes with a crispy sesame breadcrumb coating & a flavourful filling that’s made with potato, white fish, chilli paste, lime, garlic & dill.

It’s surprisingly easy to make your own homemade fish cakes & I’ve flavoured these ones with some spicy gochujang, lime zest, garlic & fresh dill! There’s sesame seeds in the breadcrumbs, as well for extra crunch & flavour. They’re packed full of flavour & have the crispiest coating possible. Plus, you can make them as spicy as you like & they can be prepared up to 2 days ahead of time. They make for a really good homemade meal & I paired mine with a really simple gochujang mayo which only takes a couple of minutes to make!

Now let’s talk about the filling. There’s your usual mashed potato of course, which we’ve left quite chunky for some added texture. Then’s there’s pan fried fish which we’ve broken up into chunks, a fried garlic & gochujang butter which flavours our fish cake mixture, some finely chopped dill & lime zest. All of these ingredients work fantastically well together & they’re all mixed to make a balanced, flavourful fish cake filling.

The other component for a fish cake is the crispy breadcrumb coating. For the crispiest, crunchiest fish cake coating, we’re using panko breadcrumbs for this then we’re adding a generous amount of sesame seeds in with them as well. I used both black & white sesame seeds but you can use whatever type you have available.

For more dinner recipes, take a look at our ever growing collection of main courses! And for something to serve with your fish cakes, check out our side dish recipes.

What You’ll Need

• Fish – We’re using a firm, white fish for these fish cakes. I used a 50/50 mix of cod & haddock but other white fish like hake & pollock will work as well. Make sure to use fish fillets that’ve had the skin & any bones removed.
• Potatoes – I used Maris Piper potatoes for my fish cakes but other floury potato varieties will work. Russets & King Edward potatoes would be some good alternatives. We’re going to be baking the potatoes for better flavour & to avoid making the fish cake mix too wet.
• Gochujang – Gochujang is a Korean fermented chilli paste that adds spice to our fish cakes. I added enough in to give our fish cakes a mildly spicy flavour but you can add more in if you’d prefer a hotter flavour.
• Flavourings – We’re going to be flavouring our fish cakes with some lime juice, fried garlic & fresh dill, which all complement the gochujang’s flavour perfectly.
• Breadcrumbs – For the crispiest coating, I’d recommend using panko breadcrumbs. You can get these from most supermarkets but regular dried breadcrumbs will work as well.
• Sesame Seeds – I added some white & black sesame seeds into the breadcrumbs, for extra crunch!

How To Make Fish Cakes

There’s only a few steps to do when making homemade fish cakes & there’s some handy tips & tricks included which will take yours to the next level! This includes baking the potatoes in the oven & pan frying the fish in butter.

1. Cook Potatoes
   First, we’re going to bake whole potatoes in the oven until the insides are tender, like when you cook a jacket potato! This will take around an hour. To check if the potatoes are cooked, give them a poke with a knife. If it slides in with little to no resistance, it’s cooked. Once cooked, we’ll let the potatoes cool slightly whilst we cook the fish.
2. Cook Fish
   To cook the fish, we’re going to be frying it in butter instead of poaching it, which is a tip that I picked up from Nagi from RecipeTin Eats! To do this, we season our skinless fish fillets with salt & pepper then simply fry for 2-3 minutes on both sides, until just cooked. Once cooked, the fish should opaque & firm but not falling apart!
3. Gochujang Butter
   Now that the fish is cooked, we take it out of the pan then add some grated garlic into the butter then fry for 30 seconds. Next, we take the pan off the heat then stir in a spoonful of gochujang paste, to melt. The gochujang butter gets poured into a bowl & left to cool. This is how we’re going to flavour our fish cake mixture!
4. Mash Potatoes
   For the best texture, we need to keep the mashed potatoes fairly chunky. So, we’re going to be scooping the flesh out of the skins then using a fork to roughly mash.
5. Fish Cake Mix
   Our actual fish cake mix is super straight forward to make. To our mashed potatoes, we add in the gochujang garlic butter, lime zest, a beaten egg & finely chopped dill. Then we break the fish up into chunks, season the mix with salt & pepper then mix by hand, to combine.
6. Form Patties
   Next, we take our fish cake mix & form them into 6 patties by hand. Each one should weigh around 200 grams & should roughly be 8 cm wide & 3 cm thick. At this point, I’d recommend chilling the patties in the fridge for an hour, so that they can firm up slightly.
7. Breadcrumb
   These fish cakes are breadcrumbed the usual way, by coating them in flour, egg then breadcrumbs. We’re going to be adding sesame seeds into the breadcrumbs as well, for some extra crunch & flavour. Plus they look pretty cool, you know?!

How To Cook Fish Cakes – 2 Options!

There’s 2 different ways to cook these fish cakes, depending on the equipment that you have available. For the crispiest fish cakes, I’d highly recommend deep frying them but if you haven’t got a deep fat fryer, you can pan fry them as well.

Deep Frying

This is my preferred method for cooking fish cakes. Here, we deep fry our fish cakes in batches at 180°c/356°f for 5-6 minutes until the breadcrumbs are crisp & a deep golden brown colour. Then once all of the fish cakes are fried, we bake them in the oven (set to the same temperature as the fryer) for another 6-8 minutes until the inside is piping hot. To check this, use a digital food probe to measure the internal temperature in the middle. It should be at least 75°c/167°f.

Pan Frying

If you haven’t got a deep fat fryer, another way to cook homemade fish cakes is to pan fry them in a 1cm layer of vegetable oil. This is a 2 step cooking process like when we deep fry the fish cakes. First, we fry the fish cakes for 1-2 minutes on each side over a medium-high heat until the bread crumbs are crisp & golden brown then bake them in the oven until they’re piping hot throughout. If you like, you can fry the edges of the fish cakes as well so that they’re crispy all over.

Gochujang Mayo

Normally, you’d serve fish cakes with tartar sauce but as these are spicy gochujang fish cakes, I’ve paired them with a really easy gochujang mayo! This is super simple to make; all we need to do here is mix mayonnaise with gochujang, lime juice, a grated garlic clove & some finely chopped dill. Don’t forgot to season the sauce with salt & pepper as well.

Serving Suggestions

Probably the most popular sides to serve with fish cakes is chips & peas, either fresh garden peas or mushy peas like you would get in a fish & chip shop. However, homemade fish cakes also go really well with a fresh salad or some roasted or grilled veg. They’d also work really well as a sandwich/burger style filling!

Frequently Asked Questions

More Dinner Recipes To Try!

• Honey Roast Ham, Egg & Chips
• Korean Style Buttermilk Fried Chicken
• Beef Burritos
• Gnocchi Alla Vodka With Burrata
• Teriyaki Roast Pork Noodles With Crispy Fried Eggs
• Classic Fish Pie

If you have enjoyed this recipe for gochujang fish cakes, it would mean a lot if you could leave a review & rating. And if you’d like to stay up to date with future recipes, follow us on Instagram & TikTok or subscribe to our newsletter!