You Won't Miss McDonald's After Trying This Copycat Filet-O-Fish Recipe

The McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich has been a classic from its very beginnings. The sandwich features a perfectly fried, golden brown square patty of whitefish (the fish has changed through the years) on a soft bun with a generous smear of tartar sauce and a slice of melted American cheese. While some snobs may turn up their noses at serving cheese with fish, anyone who has tasted a Filet-O-Fish knows that this sandwich falls outside of those culinary rules. In this recipe, from developer A.J. Forget, we seek to bring that same nostalgic experience to your home kitchen, showing you how to fry up a batch of these iconic sandwiches, with all the fixings.

The Filet-O-Fish sandwich made its McDonald's debut on Good Friday in 1962, in a competition between the McDonald's founder, Ray Kroc, and a McDonald's franchise owner by the name of Lou Groen. The goal was to create a product that would appeal to Catholic diners abstaining from red meat during Lent. Groen proposed a fried halibut sandwich to fill this menu gap, while Kroc had his eye on what he called a "hula burger," a grilled slice of pineapple with American cheese. The men staged a head-to-head sales competition at a McDonald's restaurant, and the Filet-O-Fish won handily (sales on the day were 350 to 6).

While you may have eaten this iconic sandwich many times — the recipe has stood for over 60 years now — there's nothing like bringing it home to your own kitchen, where you can make the little tweaks to perfect it for your palate.

For the tartar sauce in this recipe you will need mayonnaise, dill pickle relish, onion powder, sugar, white vinegar, and lemon juice. For the fried fish, you will need mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, egg, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, panko breadcrumbs, vegetable oil, and cod fillets (or other firm whitefish). Finally, for serving, you will need brioche buns and American cheese slices. Once you have these ingredients together, you are ready to begin cooking.

Begin by combining all of the tartar sauce ingredients in a bowl and mixing well. Set aside.

Prepare the fish: Beat together the mayonnaise, mustard, egg, salt, onion powder, and garlic powder in a mixing bowl.

Spread the panko breadcrumbs on a plate.

Add the oil to a saucepan and bring it to 350 F over medium-high heat.

Pat one fish fillet dry, dredge it in the mayonnaise and egg mixture, coat it in breadcrumbs, and add it to the pot of hot oil.

Fry for around 3 minutes on each side, until golden brown and cooked through.

Remove the fried fish to a plate lined with paper towels and repeat until all of the fillets are fried.

Assemble the sandwiches by placing a slice of cheese on the bottom bun, followed by the fried fish. Top the fish with an ample amount of tartar sauce followed by the top bun. Serve immediately.

The variety of fish used for this iconic McDonald's sandwich has not stayed the same through its decades of sales. When the sandwich made its debut, during its famous showdown with the hula burger, halibut was the fish of choice. However, when the sandwich made its larger debut, the halibut was replaced with cod. But this fish, too, would not last forever. In 2013, the source for the perfectly square patties of the Filet-O-Fish sandwich was switched to Alaskan pollock, which is the fish of choice to this day in the United States. But that is not the case everywhere. Across the pond in the U.K. and France, for example, Filet-O-Fish sandwiches as well as the French McFish can be made with either pollock or hoki.

For this recipe we used cod fillets, but if we follow McDonald's lead, it is clear that there is some wiggle room in the fish you choose for your copycat Filet-O-Fish sandwiches. Clearly halibut, pollock, or hoki would all make suitable alternatives, but also feel free to substitute in other firm, flaky whitefish. You could even make this recipe a few times and taste the evolution of the Filet-O-Fish through the years, from its initial halibut offering to the modern pollock recipe. (If you've made it this far into this recipe, you must like to cook, but we'll look the other way if you want to save some time and use frozen fish for your Filet-O-Fish tour.)

When it comes to a proper McDonald's combo meal, there aren't a whole lot of options for sides. And when it comes to fried fish sandwiches, there's no way you're choosing a bag of apple slices to eat alongside it. So, if you want to complete the McDonald's experience at home, the only real choice is french fries. Fortunately for you, we have a copycat McDonald's french fry recipe that will pair perfectly with these copycat Filet-O-Fish sandwiches.

But there is no reason that you need to be limited to what is available on the McDonald's menu. Given that you're cooking this meal in your own kitchen, there's no reason that you can't pair your fish sandwich with the very best fast food french fries. Now, according to our taste test, that would be sticking with the tried and true McDonald's, but personal preference is huge in the world of food, and we fully support you serving your sandwiches with a side of Arby's-style curly fries, or even the fried potato wedges from KFC.

Now, fish and chips is obviously a pairing with a long history and a broad appeal, but we'd be remiss if we didn't discuss your options outside of fried potatoes. McDonald's may have stopped making salads, but there's no reason you can't lighten this meal by serving a bit of greenery on the side. Other great side dishes to serve with fried fish include hush puppies, coleslaw, corn, or a good old steamed vegetable medley.