Crispy Salt & Pepper Squid

Name: Crispy Salt & Pepper Squid
Prep time: 15 min
Yield: 3 - 8 people
Ingredients: 700 g / 1.4 lb medium whole baby squid; 500 g / 1 lb squid tubes; 2/3 cup cornflour / cornstarch; 1/3 cup plain / all-purpose flour; 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp cooking / kosher salt; 1/4 tsp white pepper powder; 2/3 cup cold tap water; 3 – 4 cups vegetable or canola oil; cooking / kosher salt; white pepper powder; 1/2 cup whole egg mayonnaise; 1/2 tsp finely grated garlic

User Reviews

4.7

63 reviews

Excellent

Prep Time
15 mins
Servings
3 - 8 people
Course
Main Course, Appetizer, Snacks
Cuisine
American

Crispy Salt & Pepper Squid

Kai Walton

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Recipe video above. It only took us 3 years to crack the ultimate, truly crispy Salt and Pepper Squid! Hand on heart, this is crispier than any squid I've had in a restaurant, ever. The fry batter is light, super crunchy and not greasy at all. In fact, it's so crispy it stays crispy even when it's stone cold!After eliminating rice flour, potato flour and tapioca, we found the perfect ratio of flour to cornflour (cornstarch) that fries up crunchy in mere minutes, before the squid can overcook. But the final key was refrigerating the batter for 30 minutes. This allowed the gluten to develop so the batter clings to the slippery squid better and doesn't fry up chewy or greasy.

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Ingredients

Servings

Squid - choose (Note 1):

700 g / 1.4 lb medium whole baby squid , cleaned (better, more tender)
500 g / 1 lb squid tubes , already cleaned

Batter (Note 2):

2/3 cup cornflour / cornstarch
1/3 cup plain / all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cooking / kosher salt
1/4 tsp white pepper powder
2/3 cup cold tap water

Cooking / seasoning:

3 – 4 cups vegetable or canola oil (~4cm / 1.5" depth in a pot)
cooking / kosher salt - just a pinch!
white pepper powder

Easy aioli (garlic mayonnaise):

1/2 cup whole egg mayonnaise or kewpie
1/2 tsp finely grated garlic

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Instructions

Preparing squid:

Cut one side of the squid tube to lay it out in one flat piece. Pat both sides dry with a paper towel.
Lightly score the inside with a small sharp knife in 1.5 cm / 0.6" diamonds (don't cut all the way through). (Note 3)
Cut the squid into pieces 5 x 2cm (2 x 1") rectangles (approximately).

Aioli:

Mix the ingredients together in a bowl and set aside for at least 20 minutes (up to 24 hours).

Batter:

Batter - Whisk the flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Then whisk in water until smooth. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. (Note 4)
Heat oil - Fill small heavy based pot or large saucepan with 4cm / 1.5" of oil. Heat to 160°C/320°F on medium high heat. (I use a Thermapen to check the temp)
Give the batter a quick whisk then add all the squid in a toss to coat. (Including tentacles if using baby squid - it's the crunchiest!)

Fry 1:

Batter - Cook the squid in 3 batches. Pick up some squid and let the excess batter to drip off. Careful place in the oil. Use chopsticks to seperate the pieces that stick together.
Fry baby squid for 2 minutes or the regular squid tubes for 3 minutes until light golden. Use a spider or slotted spoon to remove the squid on a paper towel lined tray.
Repeat - Fry remaining squid, making sure the oil comes back to temperature before cooking batches 2 and 3.

Fry 2 - crisp it!

Increase oil temp - Increase the stove to high and bring the the oil up to 200°C/390°F.
Bowl - Line a large mixing bowl with double layer of paper towels.
Fry - Place half of the squid in the oil (it's ok to crowd the pot). Cook for 1 1/2 minutes, until it becomes deep golden and crispy. Remove into the bowl. Bring the oil back up to 200°C/390°F then fry the remaining squid.
Season - Remove paper towel. Taste first then sprinkle lightly with as much salt and pepper as you want (the batter has salt in it already). Toss well.

Serve:

Pour into a serving bowl and serve with aioli! This batter is so good, it will stay crispy even once the squid has gone cold.

Notes

Servings - This will serve 3 to 4 as a main, or 5 to 8 as an appetiser/finger food. See below for reheating.
Squid - Whole baby/medium squid (sold with skin, head etc on) is smaller and more tender when cooked than the larger thicker squid tubes sold already cleaned (but is still very good in this recipe and I will happily use!). Plus, you get tentacles which are the crunchiest and best part! See photos in post for comparison. Get whole squid cleaned by your fisher monger or see my separate tutorial here for how to clean it yourself (it's not hard). 700g (1.4 lb) whole baby squid = 500g (1 lb) once cleaned.
Cornflour = crunch but doesn't fry golden, and too much makes a batter that gets stuck in your teeth. Flour = not as crunchy but stays golden. Using a combination works best!
Scoring - Helps with extra crispy edges and even, fast cooking = more tender squid.
Refrigeration - Lets gluten develop so batter sticks better to slippery squid and won't be chewy or greasy when fried.
Leftovers will keep for 3 days. It will still be crispy when it cools. Refrigerate then reheat in a 220°C/425°F oven for 6 to 8 minutes.
Nutrition - I can't calculate, sorry! I can't guess the amount of oil in each piece. Let's just say it has more calories than a lettuce leaf but with one bite you won't care.