Fish patties from the Thermomix® turn out better with frozen pollock than with thawed. Frozen fish breaks into fine, even pieces when chopped, while thawed fish goes mushy and blends with the egg into a paste. We have been shaping these into low-carb patties for years: crispy on the outside, juicy in the middle.
The recipe works with the TM31, TM5 and TM6. We usually serve the patties with leaf salad or steamed vegetables. If you are not eating low-carb, boiled potatoes or a homemade bread roll as a burger bun work really well alongside.
Low-Carb Fish Patties with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 9 ✓
- 600 g pollock fillet frozen
- 2 spring onions
- 1/2 lemon unwaxed
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp dill frozen
- 1 tbsp psyllium husks
- 20 g sunflower oil
Instructions 0 / 5
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1
Chop the fish.
Break the pollock fillet into pieces while still frozen, place in the mixing bowl and chop for 10 sec / speed 6.
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2
Slice the spring onions.
Wash the spring onions, trim and slice into rings.
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3
Mix lemon juice and fish.
Wash the lemon, squeeze out the juice and grate the zest. Add the lemon juice and lemon zest to the mixing bowl along with the remaining ingredients (including spring onions) and mix for 10 sec / reverse direction / speed 4.
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4
Leave to absorb.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover and leave to absorb for 5 minutes. Heat a non-stick frying pan with oil over a high heat.
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5
Fry the fish patties.
Shape into small patties and fry until crispy.
Tip: Served with a mixed salad, these fish patties make a nutritious, low-calorie main course. If you are not following a low-carb diet, you can replace the psyllium husks with 2 tbsp breadcrumbs 😉
Video
Nutrition per serving
Chop from frozen, not blended from thawed
600 g of frozen pollock is broken into pieces and chopped for 10 seconds at speed 6. The frozen texture is the key: the fish breaks into small, separate chunks that later bind with the egg without turning into a homogeneous paste. With thawed fish you end up with a mush that, once fried, has the texture of a fish cake rather than a patty.
Speed 6 is the right setting: higher would make the fish too fine, lower leaves pieces that are too large. After 10 seconds most pieces should be roughly the size of a pea.
Psyllium husks need 5 minutes to absorb
Psyllium husks replace breadcrumbs here. 1 tbsp for 600 g of fish is the right amount: they bind the mixture without masking the flavour of the fish. More would make the patties dry.
After mixing for 10 seconds in reverse direction at speed 4, the mixture must be left covered to absorb for 5 minutes. During this time the psyllium husks soak up moisture and the mixture becomes shapeable. Without this resting time the patties fall apart in the pan.
If you do not need a low-carb version, replace the psyllium husks with 2 tbsp breadcrumbs. The resting time stays the same.
Lemon zest adds flavour, not just juice
Half a lemon is squeezed and the zest grated. Both go into the mixture. The zest carries essential oils that lift the flavour of the fish without overpowering it. Juice alone would make the mixture too sharp. The lemon must be unwaxed because the zest is eaten.
2 spring onions are sliced into rings and folded in by hand. We do not put them into the Thermomix® because they would become too small and lose their texture. The rings remain visible during frying as small, mild onion accents.
High heat for a crispy crust
We heat 20 g of sunflower oil in a non-stick frying pan over a high heat. The patties are shaped into small rounds, about 2 cm thick. High heat quickly forms a crust that keeps the fish juicy inside. Medium heat would mean frying for longer, which dries the patties out.
3 to 4 minutes per side is enough. We turn the patties only once. Turning too often prevents the crust from forming properly.
Other types of fish work too
Instead of pollock you can use frozen cod, redfish or haddock. The important thing is that the fish is lean. Salmon or mackerel are too fatty and the patties will fall apart. The quantity and preparation stay the same.
2 tsp of frozen dill work well with fish. If you do not like dill, use parsley instead or leave out the herbs altogether. The binding works fine without them.
Serving and storing
We serve the patties straight from the pan. For a low-carb meal, mixed salad, steamed vegetables or cucumber salad go well alongside. Without low-carb requirements, any kind of potato works: fried potatoes, mashed potato or boiled potatoes.
Stored covered in the fridge, the cooked patties keep for 2 days. Reheated in a pan over a medium heat they turn crispy again. Freezing works both raw and cooked. We thaw raw frozen patties overnight in the fridge and then fry them fresh. Cooked patties can go straight from the freezer into the pan but need 2 extra minutes per side.
How other recipes approach this
Goes well with: potato salad and cucumber salad.
Other Thermomix® blogs mostly use salmon with Parmesan and soured cream as a binder, or soaked white bread. Both work, but have drawbacks: salmon is too fatty, so the patties fall apart more easily. White bread absorbs water and makes the mixture soft. We use lean pollock from frozen, bind with 1 tbsp psyllium husks and leave the mixture to absorb for 5 minutes. Instead of Parmesan we season with lemon zest, dill and spring onions; the sweetness of the onion rounds everything off. The patties are fried in a pan over a high heat, not baked in the oven, because only that gives you the crispy crust.
More low-carb recipes from the Thermomix® are in our Mix Dich Schlank cookbook. Further main courses with fish: One-Pot Salmon Pasta, all main courses.
