companion blog to the e-book the 24/7 Low Carb Diner

Companion blog to the e-book
Available at http://www.247lowcarbdiner.com

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Tilapia Tots

Fish haters everywhere! You gotta gotta gotta try this recipe. Tilapia was never this fun to eat! Who knew? These amazing little balls are filled with good stuff that makes getting your fish in a real treat. Yep, look at that photo---that is flaked tilapia, eggs, almond flour, cheese and spices. So instead of coating your fish and then frying-- hoping the breading will stay on-- just stir it all up, breading and all.

I made these beauties in my cake pop machine. (See? I promised you all there were more uses than sweets for this little gadget.) Because it crisps from all around, there is no need to fry.  Woohoo easy. If you still don't have one, than make these into little nuggets and pan fry in a little oil.


I made a super quick tartar sauce to go with these, but they are flavorful enough to eat alone. My sauce is 4 parts mayonnaise to 2 parts pickle relish to 1 part mustard. The relish I use varies. Right now I have a batch that tastes a little like bread and butter relish. What I did for that is to drain a jar of dill relish of most of the juices. Then I poured in the sweet pickle juice from an empty jar of Mt. Olive sugarfree pickles. That way, if you prefer your sauce with sweet pickles, you get a lot of that sweet taste. Good since sugarfree sweet pickles are hard to find around here.

Pretty sure this recipe for tots will be versatile. I used tilapia, but any white fish would work, I think. Feel free to vary the spice combo too.  I think Cajun seasoning would rock. Some Old Bay would probably be good too. I used cheddar cheese, but any easy melting cheese will work too. The yellow cheddar adds to the golden color too, making them appealing to the eye.


Tilapia Tots

2 tilapia fillets OR other mild white fish
2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt

Bake the fish fillets until they flake with a fork at the thickest point.  Place fillets in a medium bowl and flake. Let cool 5 minutes before stirring in the eggs. Add the cheese to this mixture. In a small bowl, combine almond meal, baking powder, lemon pepper, garlic powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir. Use a scoop to place the fish mixture into the cavities of a cake pop maker. Bake for 5 minutes. If pan frying, melt some coconut oil in a skillet until hot. Use a scoop to place about 2 tablespoons of mixture onto the hot pan.  Smooth the edges with a spoon. Fry until golden on both sides and set in the center. Makes 18 tots. To serve 4, these have 201 calories and 6 carbs. 21 g protein and 11 g fat.


See the bready texture? These are almost like hush puppies too. Only better.  Cheesey, not fishy. Great for finicky kids---and, uhm...husbands.


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38 comments:

Angie K said...

Ooooh! I just recently made tilapia/coconut fish sticks, but this sounds awesome! Going to do these ad soon as my fridge clears up. :-)

Anonymous said...

New low carber here...these look awesome!! I saw the Babycakes maker at Kohls but kept walking. I am a 44 year old mom of five and cook and bake a lot but have always been "scared" of seafood/fish cooking. I think these will be the PERFECT way to start. I just bought a like new cake pop maker at Amazon for $16.19 with free Prime shipping. I will post after I make these. Also, anyone else have low carb recipe suggestions for a seafood novice such as myself???
Kelly
P.S. - I just purchased the Low Carbing Among Friends (all three!) when they were on sale. I can't wait to get them!

Foodie Mama said...

I love this! My son used to love fish, but since finding a stray pin bone in his salmon one night, he's all freaked out and won't touch the stuff. I've been on the lookout for ways to bring him back to fish and this might be the recipe that does the trick!

Lisa Marshall said...

Anonymous-- Many of my fish recipes on the blog are for very picky seafood eaters. My guys are not huge fans. Check them out by clicking the seafood link on the word cloud. My absolute favorite is the Crusted Tilapia topped with Cheese Pourri. It is loved by all.

Unknown said...

I would like to know the carb content of these :)

MemoryKeeper said...

Lisaaaaaaaaaa! These are fantastic! I doubled the recipe and made a few personal preference tweaks! It's a keeper!

Anonymous said...

Hi Lisa:

I made these today with cod and it was so good even though I goofed. I read the recipe 2 or 3 times but still missed that the fish was to be baked first then flaked. But even chopping the fish and mixing with the other ingredients and frying in some ghee & MCT oil was delicious. Yours looked much more lovely and fun to eat.

I do not have a cake pop maker but perhaps next time will bake in my mini donut maker. I never made mini donut except one time anyway! Thank you for the inspiration for todays lunch.
Philis

Brandy said...

I just made a double batch of these and there are only a handful left! From the look on my husband's face when he saw me come home with fish, hopes were not high. But he and my 8 year old son just snatched them up! Thanks for the recipe and helping we who are fearful fish cookers :)

Unknown said...

My picky eater son loved these!! I made them in the shape of fish sticks and baked them. Thank you!!

Dawn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I made them in mini cupcake pans and baked them. Delicious!!

Alyssa said...

I made these a few days ago and OMG! They're so good! I have only used my cake pop machine like once or twice, thanks to you I will be using it a lot more for this and maybe even meatballs! I posted these at my blog and giving you full credit of course, because it was such a hit in my home! Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

You mention using 2 T. of the mixture in a frypan. The same amount in the cake pop maker? Do they rise? Thanks, Lisa!

Anonymous said...

Lisa, these look marvelous! I love fish just about any way, so I'm sure I'll LOVE these. I may try them with different cheeses, too. Bet pepper jack would be good in these!

Anonymous said...

I dont have a cake pop maker, but I do have a rather unused melted sandwich maker. I think the idea could adapt to that appliance....they would just be triangular. Thanks for the recipe. This is a cross-over option that everyone can eat.

Margot said...

These turned out great. My whole family loved them ad we are making more today because they were such a hit.

Thanks for this recipe and for your wonderful site.

Blessings, Margot

anonymous said...

I am not sure how you got your carb count on these. I am coming up with 8 for the whole recipe? Am I missing something?

Anonymous said...

What temp do you bake them ?

Siobain said...

These have become a staple in our home! My kids love them, and I can make a big batch at once for dinner before I go to work (I work night shift), some for my lunch that night, and leftovers for the kid's school lunch the next day (if hubby doesn't eat them all). The only drawback is that my cakepop machine only makes 10 at a time, so a large batch can take a while. I try to do something else while I'm standing there waiting on them to cook, but that part is a pain.

Galveston Gal said...

Just finished 1/2 of this recipe...made just enough for the 12 spots in my BabyCakes maker.
THANK YOU !!!
They are yummy.
I did use Golden Flax instead of Almond flour...Excellent!
Thank you for all your efforts...you are so appreciated!
:-)

Rhonda Holler Tuzzio said...

Mt. Olive makes a sugar free pickle relish that is really good. I am going to try these with some crab meat instead of the fish.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone tell me the approximate weight of the two filets? I'm not sure how much to buy. Thank you.

Rhonda Holler Tuzzio said...

Okay, I just made these using two cans of crab meat, and I didn't have the type of cake ball maker that was used in the original recipe. I did have silicone cake ball molds, I heaped the filling in them, and baked for 20 minutes at 375 degrees. After that, they were cooked, but not brown and crispy, so I browned them up in a skillet with some olive oil. To serve, I sprinkled them with salt, and served with the tartar sauce I made by mixing mayo with Mt. Olive Sugar Free Sweet Pickle Relish. Pretty good! Next time, I'll probably try mini muffin tins, and maybe add a little spice, such as Old Bay Seasoning.

Anonymous said...

After I baked these for 5 mins., they were still raw.

Unknown said...

Just made these for dinner. My grumpy husband, who is not happy because he found out that he is pre-diabetic and we have to change our eating habits,loved them. The only addition was 3-4 dashes of Louisiana Hot Sauce. Bought the Babycakes maker so the whole process was really easy. Next time, I'm making a double batch and will freeze 1/2. Thank you.

Amanda said...

Anyone tried them with Salmon?

Anonymous said...

Hrmmmm....I have a brand-new-in-the-box cake pop maker in the gift closet that didn't get given away at last year's Christmas party...Merry Christmas to me!!!

Unknown said...

I wonder if you could use coconut flour instead of almond meal? I think I will use my small cookie scoop to form mine.

Pami said...

These were AMAZING! I just finished eating and already I'm trying to plan where I can fit them into next week's dinners (or maybe even this weekend!). Thanks for a great recipe!

Anonymous said...

I used a 12 oz can of tuna, added 1/2 tsp powdered jalapeno, made it 1 tsp of lemon pepper, omitted the salt, same amount of onion powder as garlic, 1 heaping tablespoon of mayo. Since the bottoms get nice and toasted, at 6 minutes I flipped them over, and then another 6 for an almost even color. Quite tasty.
FYI. Last week (betw 1st & 2nd wk in Dec. '14) Aldi's had a Pop maker for $12.99, 12 wells. I bought one and I'm glad I did.

Jane said...

HI! I made these not too long ago with cod and cooked them in my deep fryer. Husband and I really enjoyed them! He came up with the idea of trying a different kind of meat. I used a 13 ounce can of chicken instead of the fish and they turned out delicious!! We call them Chicken Puppies because they remind me more of a hushpuppy.

Unknown said...

Hi there! I'm a low carber who doesn't like cheese. Will the recipe work out well without cheese? Or is the cheese a binding agent?

Crazy said...

I made these with coconut flour because I was out of almond meal. The batter was pretty dry; next time I'll start with 1/4 cup coconut flour and just add a little bit at a time.

I don't have a cake pop maker, but I do have a mini donut maker, so I used that. It was a little harder to fill up the donut shapes but they came out great.

I think for the next batch, I'm going to use some Indian spices and some minced jalapeño. :-)

Lisa Marshall said...

Erica, the cheese does act to bind the dough. Not sure if it would work the same.

Lisa Marshall said...

Crazy, coconut flours can vary greatly in dryness, so your idea of working up is a great one.

Jeniann said...

How well do these reheat? I made them in make cake pops maker. What would be the best way to reheat? Can they be froze?

Unknown said...

man oh man I am all over this. Thank you for the recipe. Great blog!

arlene said...

These are terrific! I actually used canned tuna, and used ground pork rinds instead of almond flour
. The cheese makes these so delicious, and it's something I never would have thought of...savoury in the cake pop maker. Thank you!!