How do you cook a walleye? That is a great question because walleye is one of the best tasting fish and has great texture which will allow you to use several different methods of cooking. Here are a few of my favorite ways to cook walleye.

Deep fried walleye is my personal favorite. I take my fillets and let them warm to about room temperature while I get all of the other ingredients ready.

I make a simple egg wash with three or four eggs and water to start. Now mix the dry ingredients. Start with equal parts of flour and corn meal about one cup each and season this with salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Pat the walleye dry with paper towels and sprinkle them with seasoned salt and some red chili powder.
Now you are ready to run the walleye through the egg wash then dredge the filets through the flour and corn meal mix. After you have a few ready start cooking them.

If you have a cast iron skillet it will work the best because the heavy pan will hold and distribute the heat very good. Heat the oil to 350 degrees. Add oil to the pan until it is about one inch deep. I use cotton seed oil when I can find it, but vegetable or peanut oil will work as well. Drop some of the walleye filets in and let them go for about two minutes and if they are browning nicely flip them and cook about two more minutes. Try not to roll them around too much so you don’t cause the breading to break apart and fall off. Set the fillets aside in a dish where the excess oil can drip off and serve after the fillets have rested and cooled for a couple of minutes.

Pan fried walleye is a great way to go as well. Pan frying is very easy and can be prepared in a small amount of time compared to deep frying with breading. Again a good cast iron skillet works the best.

Take the walleye fillets out of the refrigerator and let them get as close to room temperature as possible then pat them dry. Season them to taste, I like to use Zataran’s cajun seasoning. In the skillet heat some olive oil to medium heat and just use enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Olive oil gives a nice flavor, but you can use what you like. After the fillets have been seasoned pan fry them on each side for a couple of minutes making sure that you get a nice brown fillet. When flipping the filets be gentle so you don’t break them apart.

You can use this same style for making fish tacos by seasoning the filets different. When seasoning you can sprinkle the filets with taco seasoning instead of the cajun seasoning. If have the spices mix up some of your own taco seasoning with red chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and ground cumin ( go easy on the cumin because it is a powerful spice ). Now you can pan fry the fillets and chop them into pieces and use them as fish taco stuffing.

Baked walleye. After you have your walleye filets clean and ready to cook you will need to season them to taste with whatever you like. When I bake walleye I use lemon pepper. Prepare your baking dish by sreading a coat of butter on the bottom then add your fillets. You can squeeze some extra lemon over the filets if you like, but I find that the lemon pepper has plenty of lemon for flavor. Now you will want to cover the baking dish tightly with foil and put it in a preheated 350 degree oven for fifteen minutes.

I have also baked walleye in this fashion without the lemon pepper, but I poured a eight once jar of salsa over the filets and covered them tightly. Add about five minutes to your baking time for this because you will need the extra time for the salsa to heat before the walleye starts to cook. This came out very good. This can be done at the camp site by folding the walleye in a pouch made out of aluminum foil. Add your ingredients to the foil and place your walleye filets in the center and roll it up nice and tight. Cook the pouches over the camp fire for three or four minutes on each side. Don’t cook them directly on the fire try to keep them high enough not to let the outside of the fish burn. Keep them high enough that the heat from the fire will allow the moister from the fish to steam in the pouch and cook the fillets.