Flat fish are brilliant to cook on the bone for extra flavour and to keep the fillets beautifully moist. This guide for How to Air Fry Whole Plaice tells you everything you need to know to cook this delicate white fish from fresh or frozen in the air fryer.
If your air fryer requires pre-heating, Start this setting now.
Melt 2 tsp Salted Butter in a small bowl. I do this in the microwave but you could use a small heatproof bowl in the air fryer if you like. The preheat setting will likely do the trick.
Thoroughly dry 1 Whole Plaice.
If your plaice has not been prepared, use a sharp knife or strong scissors to remove the fins, tail and head. pull out any guts and rinse out the cavity. Make sure it is dried thoroughly again. Note - You can leave the head and tail etc attached if you prefer but you must gut the fish. I removed them because otherwise they wouldn't fit in my air fryer basket.
Use a pastry brush to coat the white skinned side of the fish with the melted butter.
Sprinkle over half of the ½ tsp Sea Salt Flakes. Crush them between your fingers as your sprinkle for thinner even coverage.
Place the fish into the air fryer basket brown skin side up and butter side down.
Repeat the buttering and salting on the top of the skin. Be careful not to catch your hands on the side of the hot basket. If you are using a non basket air fryer, you can do this beforehand.
Cook for 8 minutes at 200c/390f. There is no need to turn the fish .
Be careful removing the plaice from the fryer as it will be delicate. Serve hot straight away.
To Air Fry From Frozen
Cook for 10 minutes at 200c/390f.
Notes
Butter - You can use an oil instead of butter but I do find that butter helps the fish skin crisp a little more and adds a nice flavour.
Salt/Seasoning - You can use any seasoning mix or sauce instead of just salt but make sure that salt is included in the mix. You can also add a little citrus juice. If you use a sauce with a high sugar content, you may want to brush this on towards the end of cooking so it doesn't catch and burn.
The air fryer version of this recipe is tested in a Cosori Lite (CAF-LI401S) with a 3.8 litre capacity. The square(ish) shaped basket is 21cm x 21cm and 24cm on the diagonal.
Not all models advise preheating is required. Please follow the recommended instructions for your model. Mine has a specific preheat setting which is 4 minutes at 205c.
For this recipe, I can 1 trimmed plaice in the basket at a time. This gives plenty of room to allow air to circulate.
As all air fryer models are a little different, you may find that you can fit more or less in at a time. Some models include stacking shelves which will increase capacity.
Required cooking times and temperatures can also vary between models and brands. If you know that your air fryer runs a little hotter than most recipes suggest, use a lower temperature. And vice versa. Equally if you find that food cooks more quickly in your machine than instructions usually state, reduce the cooking time (or check it earlier) and vice versa.