Low Carb Perfect Keto Fishcakes. 0.5g carbs.
Learn how easy it is to make them and you’ll never buy packaged ones again.
I must admit that, when my children were small and a very long time before I woke up to the ketogenic diet and healthier foods, I used to buy frozen fishcakes and chips for them once a week or so. I thought what I did was healthier for my kids than McD or other take away rubbish. What a gross misconception that was!
When they were at school, my son and daughter had a habit of regularly telling me all about the wonderful ‘golden foods’ that mums ‘cooked’ for their school friends. They made me feel guilty for feeding them home cooked Mediterrenean style foods all the time. You know the kind: pizza, pasta, rice, fresh vegetables, meat, fish… all lovingly made from scratch after working long hours and all totally unappreciated! So once in a while I showed them ‘I cared’ by treating them to fishcakes (or chicken nuggets) and chips from the frozen section of my local supermarket. There was me convinced that these ‘treats’ were healthier than offerings from fast food chains.
I know. I am utterly ashamed. But then I really did believe I was doing the right thing. As many mums sadly still do today. I was also young, naive and brainwashed by the media and advertising. Today, nothing in the world would make me buy that stuff. And not just because it’s full of carbs.
What’s wrong with frozen fishcakes if you don’t care about low carb?
Where do I start! First and foremost there’s sugar, flour, additives, preservatives and so on. Secondly…not a lot of ‘fish’. Even the ‘healthy’ or ‘luxury’ varieties only contain 40-45% ‘fish’. Thirdly there is a question about what ‘fish’ really means. We all know that the food industry has a canning ability to disguise and mislead. Have you ever opened a packet of fishcakes and actually smelled fish? I haven’t. Still not convinced? Ask yourself this: If you can charge £1-2 for 10 fishcakes at retail outlets, after paying for ingredients, production, packaging, shipping, distribution and taxes, how can there be a profit? The only possible answer is that the ‘fish’ listed under ingredients is not really fish flesh but crushed bones, heads, fins, guts, bowel contents…. Yes. Revolting. I’ll leave you to ponder about that one.
Why my low carb perfect keto fishcakes make perfect money sense.
Cost is always what people are concerned about when I talk to them about eating ketogenic and home cooking. My recipe makes 6-7 medium fishcakes. They don’t contain rubbish ingredients so they are very filling. I am pretty certain that 2 fishcakes is the most you’ll be able to eat, especially with a side dish. The fish I used came from the fresh counter at my local supermarket and cost me just over £8. The same fish has previously cost me £6 on offer. Adding vegetables on the side, like cauliflower cheese, or some buttered courgettes, will add £2-4 to the overall cost. Divide that by 3 minimum portions and you’ll find that you’ve spent up to £4 per person. I call that a bargain, but further savings could be made by buying fish when on offer and freezing it, or buying it from the frozen section.
I must admit I do not understand the misconception that home cooked meals must be more expensive than ready meals. Ready meal portions are quite small, so if you have to buy 4 ready meals for a family of 4, it surely will be more expensive. Ready meals are also usually low in fat / high in sugar, so will leave you feeling hungry again very soon after devouring them, and you will be looking for something more to eat. At more cost. And I’m sorry if this offends anyone, but if you eat ‘value’ ready meals to ‘save’ money – the kind of super cheap packaged stuff sold in many supermarkets – you are eating utter rubbish and on your way to a health disaster!
Let’s get ready to make low carb perfect keto fishcakes.
Out with the garbage. In with the real, healthy stuff. You’ll need some fish, an egg, some Parmesan, a handful of fresh herbs, some garlic, a little coconut flour and flaxseed, salt and spices, oil and butter and hey presto… low carb perfect keto fishcakes so delicious you’ll be drooling as they cook.
Just put everything into a large bowl and get mixing with your hands. The hardest part of this recipe, if you can call it ‘hard’, is skinning the fillets and cutting them into little chunks. To avoid my hands smelling fishy, I wear food-grade disposable gloves throughout. If you prefer a smoother texture, just cut the fish roughly, put it in the grinder attachment of a hand blender or similar and blitz it by pulsing a few times until you reach the consistency you like. I don’t bother pre-cooking the fish, either. If you make them fairly flat-ish, the fishcakes will take just a few minutes of high heat pan-frying on each side, so pre-cooking the fish is really quite unnecessary.
Here is what my low carb perfect keto fishcakes looked like before being pan-fried:
Which fish is best for fishcakes?
It’s a matter of taste and/or budget. My preferred fish are smoked mackerel (full of omega-3 fatty acids), smocked haddock (high in proteins and B vitamins) and salmon (rich in omega-3 fats, B vitamins, selenium). Combining these 3 gives the best flavour result, in my opinion. However, you can choose whatever fish you fancy. Just don’t be tempted by canned fish, though, unless you want your fishcakes to be pretty tasteless.
If you are not too keen on handling fish, just make one big batch, shape your fishcakes and freeze them, ready for multiple dinners.
I served mine with a lovely fresh salad of avocado, goats cheese, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and olives, tossed with extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar. If you want something more substantial, try my delicious cauliflower mash or super-tasty cauliflower cheese.
Enjoy!
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Low Carb Perfect Keto Fishcakes
Ingredients
- 120 g smoked haddock fillet
- 180 g smoked mackerel fillet
- 120 g salmon fillet
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 egg
- 4 TBSP fresh parsley finely chopped
- 4 TBSP fresh dill coarsely chopped
- 25 g freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- ½ tsp fine Himalayan pink salt (U.S. option HERE)
- black pepper and paprika to taste - you can add chopped chillies or any other spice you like
- 10 g coconut flour - 1 TBSP (U.S. option HERE)
- 7 g ground flaxseed - 1 TBSP (U.S. option HERE)
- ½ TBSP extra virgin olive oil (U.S. option HERE)
- 40 g butter
- 15 g coconut oil (U.S. option HERE)
Instructions
- remove any skin and bones from the fish and cut the flesh into small chunks.
- toss all ingredients, except fats, into a large bowl.
- combine well by repeatedly squeezing the mixture through your fingers and turning it over.
- add a little more coconut flour if the mixture feels too wet (depends on egg size).
- form round shapes and flatten them to about 1 cm height.
- heat up olive oil, coconut oil and butter.
- pan fry fishcakes on high heat for about 3-4 mins each side (depending on size).
Notes
Nutrition
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I found this recipe today and thought I’d give it a go seeing as I’m watching my carb intake. I left the salmon out simply because I never had any in.
I have to say they were amongst the best fish cakes I’ve ever tasted.
I had them with a simple lettuce, red cabbage, spring onion and tomato salad and a few green, sliced jalapeños on the side.
I ate two today and I’m pleased to say I have two left for tomorrow
Thank you
You’re very welcome. And comments mean everything to me, so thank YOU for taking the time to leave yours.
I just make these. Although I forgot to grind my flaxseed they were amazing!!!!!
Thank you!!!
You’re welcome! x
Fishcake, this sounds a bit odd! But will definitely like to experiment this at home.
Thank you and keep sharing:)
Hi Nova, yes, thinking about it, the words cake and fish shouldn’t really go together, but that’s what they’re called in the UK. They’re basically patties made with fish bits. I hope you’ll like them.
So thankful I found you while searching for a Mackerel Cake recipe. They are so tasty and easy to prepare. I will definitely use this recipe as my go- to fish cakes from now on.
Delisa, that’s great to know! And thank you so much for taking the time to leave your comment. I truly appreciate it.
Just made my first batch of fish cakes – delicious! I ran in to two problems: some of them fell apart when I was cooking them, and they tasted a little dry – thought I don’t think I overcooked them. Note that I didn’t follow your recipe exactly, so the fault is all mine! 🙂 Any tips, such as adding more oil and/or cheese, or decreasing coconut flour? One of the substitutions I made was “flax egg” for regular flax, so I used chia and hemp seeds where ground flaxseed was listed; could that have been the problem? Looking forward to your feedback – I can’t wait to try again!
Hi Kristen, the gelatinous nature of eggs is what keeps the mixture glued together, so yes, it definitely matters in terms of falling apart whilst cooking. Egg ‘replacements’ are good, but aren’t always fit for purpose. As for the dryness, both chia and flaxseed suck moisture like sponges, so I’m not surprised they turned out dry. Fish choice can also affect the flavour and texture: the oilier the fish the more moist and succulent the result. Hope this helps.
Thank you very much for the input! My second attempt was much more moist. These fish cakes are fantastic!!
I made these (skipped on a few ingredients) and they were perfect! So easy and worlds apart from store bought fishcakes. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
My pleasure, Kirstie. Thank you for leaving your feedback.
Just made my first batch of fish cakes – never been a huge fan of fish cakes in the past – but these were delicious, and very filling. Had to change slightly because of what was available but will definitely be making these again !!!
Hi Trichelle, glad you like my fishcakes, and thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback.
Hi,
I was wondering can i freeze this fish cakes?
Thanks
Hi! Yes, you definitely can?, as long as you don’t use frozen fish to begin with.
AMAZING! Thank you 🙂
There are, as we all know, fishcakes, & then there are FISHCAKES like these, that will be stored in my ” BEST EVER ” fishcake recipe folder.
My nearest town, where I can get good fresh fish, is Ayr. Which happens to be
33 miles away from my cottage. on the West coast of Scotland…So I have to stock up when I go shopping, and as it happens, I had been out stocking up on the morning I decided to have fish for dinner, in some form or another. I had bought ( by pure coincidence ) every single fish, that Antya had used in this recipe, & thought they sound tasty, I think I’ll try them. Now as chef, I have many fish recipes, but these were a bit different, and really appealed to me. ( Now I have to eat low carb,Keto due to diabetes )
WOW ! I’m so glad I did make them, as my Husband Tim, said he’d marry me all over again just to have me cook these…they were delicious.
I made 7 out of the mixture, & as there were a couple left the next day, I heated them up, & we had them in a Keto bun each. Yet again Antya, well done for coming up with such brilliant tasty recipes…you are the tops x
Wow Marion, you are fast becoming my most active recipe taster! Thanks again for taking the time to write your feedback, and in such lovely, witty style!
Hello! Am looking fwd to making these, thanks so much for the recipe! Do you happen to know what the fish measurements would be in cups? I just moved abroad and haven’t got my kitchen scales out of storage yet. Thanks a lot!
Sorry Carol, not even Google can find me cup equivalent for fish weight. I used small fillets, if that helps.
These look delish! I’m going to give these a try as my kids love salmon fishcakes. The added smoked fish make it even better.
Hi Clare! I cook these often when I have friends with children coming for dinner, as they are always a hit. TIP:If you want to make them look more like shop-bought fish cakes, you can pulse the mix in a blender to obtain a smoother mix. I hope your children enjoy them as much!
http://lovehealthhatewaste.com/product/slendier-konjac-rice-style-400g/
It’s £0.40 in this website. I bought it and waiting for delivery