Baked Walleye is a simple way to get a flavorful dish of flakey fish perfect for the center of any meal.
One thing that I absolutely love about living close to Lake Erie is the seasonal produce and fish available. Walleye in particular. It is my favorite type of fish, and I always jump at the chance to eat it. Whether that means ordering it a restaurant or cooking it myself.
And there are so many different types of ways to cook Walleye: fried, pan fried, baked, grilled. Yum. I often find a lot of fried walleye but sometimes the outside breading takes away from the fish. So, I decided to see if breading the fish and then baking it would offset that heavy breading for me.
And this baked walleye did not disappoint. I really like how the breadcrumb coating provides extra texture to the outside of the walleye but doesn’t make the dish too heavy. The breading was also a great place for me to experiment with some spices and flavors that I think paired well with the walleye.
Check out the Make section of MCG for more fun recipes like desserts and savory dishes.
Ingredients
The nice part about making a baked walleye is that the amount of ingredients going into the breading can vary depending on your preferences. I wanted to add a hard cheese, breadcrumbs, cornmeal, and spices. I really like adding some Indian spices, I just can’t help it.
Process
The first step of this process is mixing together all of the ingredients in the breading. I put the breadcrumbs, cornmeal, pecorino Romano, salt, paprika, and gram masala into a small bowl. Then came in the whisk. Having different colored ingredients is great because I can really see when everything is mixed evenly.
Then I cracked a few eggs into another small bowl. This will help bind the walleye to the breading to make a perfect baked Walleye. Then it was time to dip the walleye in the egg. Getting it fully coated in egg was a little difficult since egg is so slippery.
Then it was time to get the fish coated in the breadcrumb mixture. I found coating the fish while it was still in the bowl to be a bit of a challenge, so I switched to using a plate that had a lip. This helped keep the breadcrumb mixture in (for the most part) and gave me more area to cover the walleye.
Then it was time to throw the fish into the oven and let them cook. I love watching the breadcrumb mixture browning and becoming a beautiful golden color. And it’s delicious when it’s time to dig in!
Reflections
Baked Walleye was a fun dish to make, it did not have much prep and turned out irresistible. This is definitely a recipe I will keep in the archive and pull out when I get Walleye again. I love how easy it was to make. Very low effort, and low stress for a result that was very flavorful. And the oven cook time gave me space to make some sides to go with the baked walleye!
Lessons
Mixing Spices
Sometimes, when deciding what spices to add to a dish, I can get a little stuck and I’m unsure what I should combine. In cases like these, I often look to previous recipes for inspiration. If a spice is combined in another recipe, there is a good chance that combining them in the new one will yield a good result.
recipe
Baked Walleye
Ingredients
- 2 Eggs
- ¼ Cup Breadcrumbs
- ¼ Cup Cornmeal
- ¼ Cup Pecorino Romano
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Paprika
- 1 Teaspoon Garam Masala
- 4 Fillets Walleye
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450° Fahrenheit
- In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and 1 tablespoon water. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs, cornmeal, pecorino Romano, salt, paprika, and garam masala. Set aside.
- One filet at a time, dip the walleye into the egg until fully coated and then drip the coated walleye into the breadcrumb mixture. Encase the walleye as fully as possible.
- Lay out all four filets onto a baking tray and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Enjoy!
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