Fried Catfish and Spaghetti

By Millie Peartree

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Rating: 4(89)
Notes: Read community notes

Spaghetti in a hearty tomato sauce accompanies this tender, flaky fish, coated in crisp cornmeal in this Southern dish. It’s often paired with potato salad, and linked to the Deep South and the Midwest. But the recipe developer Millie Peartree grew up eating it in New York, where her mother, Millie Bell, who is from Savannah, Ga., would serve it as part of Friday night fish fries. This recipe calls for catfish, but whiting or flounder would also work well. Just make sure to look for a cornmeal that’s not extra fine for the crispiest fish.

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Ingredients

Yield:6 to 8 servings

For the Catfish

1cup buttermilk
1teaspoon yellow or Dijon mustard
2teaspoons kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
2teaspoons black pepper
2pounds catfish fillets, cut crosswise into 1-inch-wide strips
6cups vegetable oil, for frying
1½cups fine cornmeal
½cup all-purpose flour
1teaspoon seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay

For the Pasta

2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1pound ground beef or turkey, or ground Italian sausage
1cup chopped onion (from 1 medium onion)
½cup chopped green bell pepper (from ½ medium pepper)
1teaspoon seasoned salt
¼teaspoon black pepper
2garlic cloves, minced
2(15-ounce) cans tomato sauce
1(15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes with their juices
¼cup low-sodium or unsalted chicken stock
2tablespoons granulated sugar
1tablespoon tomato paste
1tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1tablespoon Italian seasoning
1teaspoon parsley leaves, chopped, plus more for serving
1teaspoon basil leaves, chopped, plus more for serving
⅛teaspoon red-pepper flakes
Kosher salt
1pound dry spaghetti

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Marinate the catfish: In a medium bowl, mix together buttermilk, mustard, salt and pepper. Add the catfish strips, turning to coat each side, and place in the refrigerator to marinate as you prepare the sauce.
Step 2
Prepare the pasta sauce: In a large pot set over medium-high, heat olive oil until it shimmers. Add ground meat, onion, green pepper, seasoned salt and black pepper. Cook until the meat is browned and cooked through and the vegetables have softened, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds.
Step 3
Add tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, stock, sugar, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning, parsley, basil and red-pepper flakes. Continue to simmer until sauce has thickened, about 20 to 30 minutes.
Step 4
While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente.
Step 5
As pasta cooks, prepare the fish for frying: As sauce cooks, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high in a large (12-inch) cast-iron skillet until it reaches 365 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.
Step 6
In a medium bowl or resealable plastic bag, combine the cornmeal, flour and seafood seasoning. Add the fish to the mixture, a few strips at a time, and tumble gently to coat evenly
Step 7
Working in batches, fry fillets until golden brown, about 5 minutes, flipping occasionally with tongs. Avoid crowding the pan, so that the fillets have room to brown properly. (Fish should be slightly crisp outside, and moist and flaky inside.) Drain on paper towels, and hit with seafood seasoning or salt as soon as the fried strips come out of the oil.
Step 8
Toss the spaghetti into the simmered sauce. Serve the sauced pasta across plates, alongside the fried fish. Sprinkle more basil and parsley over the top.

Ratings

4 out of 5

89 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

Mollyo2 years ago

So you haven't made the dish and don't like even the idea of it? Gotta wonder why anyone thinks that's "helpful".

Afi2 years ago

Wow. This brings back so many memories. Now all we need is some hot water cornbread and cole slaw. Thanks for this.

Mayor McCheese2 years ago

Thanks to all the heroes who saw "fried" in the title and came here to virtue-comment.

Sissy Ashby2 years ago

Although my mother, who was from Mobile, was Episcopalian not Catholic, we always had fried fish and spaghetti for Friday night supper. Think I’ll try it myself this Friday.

inframan2 years ago

Fried/sauteed fish *and* ground beef/turkey/sausage. I guess I'll pass, thanks. Already had one bypass operation.

Mary from Terry, MS2 years ago

What a treat to see this recipe here. I grew up eating this combination which is still served in many southern restaurants. Our public school cafeteria served these two options on Fridays when Catholics were supposed to abstain from meat. Many Protestant children loved the combination, including me!

Carrie2 years ago

I never heard of this type of Combination but I thought what the heck I love catfish and I love spaghetti so why not try them together. I made this for my daughter and son-in-law and it was a big hit served with a side of sautéed broccolini for some greens.

Jeannie2 years ago

I just love when southerners debate what is "the real south." A woman in GA told me TN (my mother's home) and NC (my father's home) were not the real south. The Confederacy would beg to differ.

Luther1 year ago

Upfront, I have not fixed this but most definitely will. People see the title and think, what an odd combination and don't bother to read the recipe. If you don't like the combo, that's okay, but what people don't understand is that there are two great recipes here that can be fixed separately. Too bad folks, like so many things, can't see the individual beauty here.

J Gabert1 year ago

Welcome to Southeast Wisconsin, where Friday night fish fries required spaghetti and marinara. Walleye, perch, and whitefish all came with a side of pasta. Thought it strange at first, but I still make it forty years later.

Carrie2 years ago

VicY.2 years ago

You lost me at the meat sauce for the spaghetti! The fried fish deserves a marinara or any other meatless sauce. That said, I'm going to try the pairing soon.

Jeannie2 years ago

My school cafeteria served fish and spaghetti on Fridays. The fish was a breaded square, but it was a decent attempt at the institutional level. Thank goodness we had the real thing at our family reunions.

MaryFrances2 years ago

I made thr catfish tonight and it was great. We will have to try it with Spaghetti after Lent.

Valerie2 years ago

This was absolutely delicious, might be the best spaghetti I've ever had. The catfish was also good, even though I misread the ingredients and used a more coarse grits grind of cornmeal. Otherwise I followed the recipe. So good.

Megan2 years ago

My Nana used to make this. Fried whiting with spaghetti and an iceberg lettuce salad lol. It was delicious. This is so nostalgic.

This takes me back2 years ago

In the fall and winter my church used to serve fried catfish, chicken, spaghetti and sauteed cabbage with sweet potato and pecan pie as desserts. I miss living in the south sometimes.

Aaron2 years ago

Being from Tennessee, I had never had grits for anything but breakfast, until my dad, and evangelist, was preaching in little Alva, Florida. And once I had grits with fish, it worked. But in the "real" South, catfish is one dinner, spaghetti is another. Of course, those of us who eat cold pizza for breakfast really can't complain, can we? In the real south, it's mild white fish (ideally, Key West grunt), grits, french fries, slaw, baked beans, hush puppies, and ice cold sweet tea.

Jeannie2 years ago

I just love when southerners debate what is "the real south." A woman in GA told me TN (my mother's home) and NC (my father's home) were not the real south. The Confederacy would beg to differ.

Afi2 years ago

I grew up in the real South. Fried fish and spaghetti with cole slaw and hot water cornbread are as real a Southern dinner as it gets. Also real South is chittlings, spaghetti, cole slaw and hot water corn bread. Fish and grits is a Florida/South Carolina thing, as I best I can tell.

Mary from Terry, MS2 years ago

inframan2 years ago

Fried/sauteed fish *and* ground beef/turkey/sausage. I guess I'll pass, thanks. Already had one bypass operation.

Golem182 years ago

No bypass but I'll pass. It's not even the health issue as much as ingredients that simply don't work together. I'd do the fish which looks like a good recipe as does the pasta. But together just doesn't work.

Mollyo2 years ago

So you haven't made the dish and don't like even the idea of it? Gotta wonder why anyone thinks that's "helpful".

Mayor McCheese2 years ago

Thanks to all the heroes who saw "fried" in the title and came here to virtue-comment.

Pat2 years ago

I grew up eating fish and spaghetti. My mother was from NC, but I grew up in an predominantly Italian neighborhood in NJ. I love fish and spaghetti, we didn't have catfish in the 50's but we ate it with whiting.

Joyce2 years ago

Can't get catfish where I live. What can I substitute?

Fxfxrorthogal2 years ago

Tilapia, flounder or cod would work

Sissy Ashby2 years ago

Although my mother, who was from Mobile, was Episcopalian not Catholic, we always had fried fish and spaghetti for Friday night supper. Think I’ll try it myself this Friday.

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