Frozen Fish Fillets in Air Fryer [Unbreaded]

Making fish for dinner on short notice is totally possible when you can cook frozen fish fillets in the air fryer!

With just a few spices and your favorite white fish fillets, you can enjoy fish that is perfectly flakey and super tasty in minutes!

Recipe Tips/Substitutions

Before you head off to make air fryer frozen fish fillets, be sure to read through these recipe tips and substitutions so that you know how to make them!

• Any white fish you have/prefer will do for this recipe. We like using wild pollock, but you can also use frozen cod or tilapia.
• The thickness of the fish fillet will dictate the cooking time and whether you flip the fish fillets at the halfway mark of not. If the fillets are on the thinner end, they will be done cooking quicker and you won’t need to flip them. If they are thicker, they’ll take a little bit longer and it would be a good a idea to give them a flip in the air fryer.
• If you have longer fish fillets that don’t fit into your air fryer, simply cut them in half (we often do this).
• Our fish fillets were a little smaller overall so if you have bigger fish fillets with lots of surface area, you might need a little bit more of the spice-blend to cover the fish.
• If you don’t have fine herbs seasoning, you can use Italian seasoning, dried parsley, or other herbs of your choice.
• Make sure to fully cook the fish – it should be flaky with an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit – but don’t overcook it since this can make fish rubbery.

We use this air fryer for our recipes and it has been great.

Step by Step Instructions

To make frozen fish in the air fryer, you can follow the steps in this section. We took process photos so you can see exactly how we made ours.

If you want to skip down to the cooking times and temperatures without visuals, you can skip to the detailed recipe card at the bottom of this post.

First, rinse the frozen fish under cold water, then pat them dry and place them on a large plate. Also, preheat the air fryer to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

While you wait for the air fryer to heat, mix the salt, fine herbs, garlic powder, and pepper in a small bowl.

Next, either lightly spray the fish with oil or rub the oil into it (on both sides).

Then sprinkle the spice mixture onto the fish – on both sides if the fish doesn’t have skin and only on the flesh side if there is skin.

Drizzle a little bit of lemon juice on each fillet as well.

When the air fryer is hot, add the frozen fish fillets into the air fryer tray. There should not be any overlap of the fillets.

Cook the fillets for 12-17 minutes until fully cooked.

The fillets are cooked when they are flaky – you can test this with a fork. Alternatively, the internal temperature should be 145 degrees Fahrenheit.

If your fish fillet is pretty thin, there is no need to flip it during cooking. However, if your fillet is thicker, flip it after around 8 minutes of cooking.

Make sure that the fish is cooked but not overcooked because then the fish will be rubbery.

Cook times can vary depending on the thickness of the fillets and your air fryer so use them as guidelines only!

Once the fish is cooked, remove the fillets from the air fryer and serve them with lemon wedges.

We like eating fish with peeled potatoes boiled in salted water and a little bit of melted butter.

A side of vegetables like air fryer asparagus or brussels sprouts also go well with it.

Storage Tips

We would recommend eating the fish hot and fresh out of the air fryer. If you have any leftovers fillets, store them in a sealed container in the fridge.

They will last like this for 2-3 days – but eat them sooner rather than later because they are seafood.

To reheat these fish fillets, you can microwave them but they may get rubbery so watch the time! Alternatively, you can also toss them back in the air fryer for a few minutes.

Of course, you could also eat the leftover fish fillets cold.

Related Recipes

For more air-fried seafood recipes, you can check out these:

• Frozen Shrimp in the Air Fryer
• Frozen Calamari in the Air Fryer
• Air Fryer Frozen Salmon