German Pan-Fried Trout

Happy Oktoberfest, friends! To celebrate the occasion, I teamed up with the good people at Craft Beering as well as eight other fabulous bloggers to bring you a collection of amazing Oktoberfest recipes, which you can find below. Every recipe looks amazing, and I can't wait to make my way through the list over the next couple weeks. For my recipe, I put together a traditional German pan-fried trout with a side of butter-beer sauce, and I hope it gets you into the Oktoberfest spirit.

Instructions

Let's start cooking. If cooking a whole fish looks intimidating, I get it. I used to feel that way until I decided it was time to get over it and learn. And you know what? Cooking a whole fish is so simple that I’m almost embarrassed this used to intimidate me.

As it turns out, King Soopers, which is part of the Kroger chain and my local store, sells trout gutted, scaled and cleaned. If you shop at a store from the Kroger brand, I suspect it would also offer whole trout ready for cooking. Even if it doesn't, you can ask the person at the seafood counter to gut the fish and prepare it for cooking. The idea of gutting a fish makes me squeamish, so I'm happy to skip this step.

Now that you have trout ready for cooking, simply dredge it flour, salt and pepper and fry it in oil for about five minutes per side. I love using a cast iron skillet for this and find it gives the trout the perfect crust.

While the fish cooks, go ahead and make the butter-beer sauce. Melt the butter in a sauce pan and give it a whisk once it starts to melt. After the butter melts, stir in some freshly grated garlic and let it cook for about 30 seconds. Then, add the beer, lemon juice and a pinch of salt if needed.

By the time your butter-beer sauce is ready, your trout should be done. Garnish the trout with chopped parsley and lemon. You can dunk each bite into the butter-beer sauce or spoon it all over the trout.

Perfect Pairing for German Pan-Fried Trout

For this pan-fried trout, you need a weissbier, which is a German-style wheat beer. After all, what kind of Oktoberfest celebration would it be without a good German-style beer? Weissbier is one of those beers that pairs nicely with so many foods, and I especially love it with this trout. Wiessbier’s body is light enough that it doesn't overpower the trout with plenty of lively carbonation to refresh the palate after a buttery bite.

While Oktoberfest is known for beer, a dry German riesling is also delicious with this pan-fried trout. Germany is known for its white wines as its cool climate makes it a better environment for white grape varietals. Typically, Germany rieslings make people think of a sweet wine, but German winemakers also produce plenty of dry rieslings. These dry rieslings are citrusy with high levels of acidity to help cut through the butter sauce and brighten the fish.

Along with this German pan-fried trout, I hope you try these other delicious recipes to celebrate Oktoberfest.

• Aromatic Currywurst  made by Marvellina from What to Cook Today
• Hot Cheese Dip with Onions and Gruyere made by Julie from Cooks with Cocktails
• Bratkartoffeln (German-Style Pan Fried Potatoes with Bacon) made by Annie from Ciao Chow Bambina
• Bratwurst Burger made by Brittany from Beyond the Bayou
• Schnitzel Platter made by Milena from Craft Beering
• Cinnamon Streusel Muffins with Hefeweizen Drizzle made by Kelly from Kelly Lynn's Sweets and Treats
• Gebrannte Mandeln (Roasted Candied Almonds) made by Dawn from Dawn the Gourmand
• Danube Waves Cake made by Kelsie from The Itsy Bitsy Kitchen
• Bavarian Cream Donuts made by Camila from Pies and Tacos

Prost!

Love Cooking With Beer?

• Soft beer pretzels with Oktoberfest cheese dip
• Beer mussels in chorizo-tomato sauce
• Beer-lamb shakshuka

If you love this recipe, please leave a comment with a five-star rating — or simply hit the five-star button in the recipe card. Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter, and you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok.

📖 Recipe

German Pan-Fried Trout

This crispy traditional German pan-fried trout with a butter-beer sauce is easy and quick to prepare — perfect for an Oktoberfest celebration.

5 from 13 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: German

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 245kcal

Author: Amanda McGrory-Dixon

Ingredients

German Pan-Fried Trout

• ▢ 4 whole trout gutted and prepared for cooking
• ▢ ¼ cup flour
• ▢ 2 teaspoons salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon pepper
• ▢ 5 lemons divided
• ▢ ¼ cup canola oil
• ▢ ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped, for garnish

Butter-Beer Sauce

• ▢ ¼ cup butter
• ▢ 1 garlic clove grated or minced
• ▢ 1 tablespoon beer preferably a wiessbier or something similar
• ▢ ½ lemon juiced
• ▢ Pinch of salt

Instructions

German Pan-Fried Trout

• Rinse the inside of the trout and pat dry.
• Mix together the flour, salt and pepper and spread on a large plate. Dredge both sides of each trout. Cut four lemons into slices and tuck the slices into the fish.
• Heat the canola oil over medium-high in a large skillet until it shimmers. Carefully place two trout in the skillet and cook for about five minutes on one side. Flip the trout and cook for another five minutes on the other side. When the first two trout finish cooking, either keep warm in a 200-degree oven or cover with tinfoil. Repeat with the remaining trout. If necessary, you can add more oil to the skillet.
• Garnish the trout with fresh parsley and sprinkle the juice of the remaining lemon over the fish. Serve with a side of butter-beer sauce. Enjoy!

Butter-Beer Sauce

• While the second fish cooks, melt the butter. Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Stir in the beer, lemon juice and salt. Start with 1 tablespoon of beer and if you want a stronger beer flavor, add another tablespoon.

Notes

• Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

Nutrition

Serving: 1filet | Calories: 245kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 20g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 1.87mg

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