I love seafood. The three of us love seafood. So it was such a delight to see fresh seafood at our local Asian market.
If you are following me on Instagram, you would have seen those live blue crabs, some of which came home with me for dinner. This squid also came home with me. My son’s most favorite appetizer is calamari so after seeing the squid, I knew I had to grab one and make some delicious crispy fried calamari.
I’ve never prepared calamari here at home before so I searched online for a crispy fried calamari recipe and I was really surprised of how quick and easy it is to prepare and with very little ingredients too.
So with the help of the hubs (he did the frying using a deep fryer), we had a delicious crispy fried calamari for dinner last night. And of course, our son was overjoyed upon seeing his favorite calamari on the table.
And no, we didn’t have it as an appetizer. We had it as our entree, paired with rice. Hubby dipped it in cocktail sauce while our son had his favorite Filipino sauce or seasoning, Maggi Savor Calamansi. I was fine with no sauce at all.
Do you like calamari too? If so, here’s the recipe for you to try. You can find the original recipe here, but I tweaked it a little bit because I don’t like spicy food.
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb squid, cleaned and cut into rings with tentacles and tail left whole
- 1 lemon
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup milk
- canola oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Place the squid in a bowl, pour the lemon juice and let sit for at least 30 minutes.
- Heat canola oil in deep fryer.
- Mix flour, paprika, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Place half of this mixture to another medium bowl.
- Place milk in another medium bowl.
- Remove the squid from the lemon juice, place in the first flour mixture, then into the milk, then in the other flour mixture. Repeat this process with all the squid pieces.
- Fry the squid in batches for 3 minutes or until golden brown.
- Serve hot with your desired sauce and enjoy.
There you go! Easy peasy, right?
After finishing dinner last night, my son wanted it again for dinner tonight. It was that good!
Are you a fan of crispy fried calamari too?
We enjoy calamari but have only every ate it in the restaurant. Doesn’t look to hard to make ourselves at home.
I’ve never had any of this but I’m so glad to know that I can make it at home. It would be a great way to introduce it to my family for the first time.
That looks delicious! I love calamari anyway but this looks just amazing!
Those rings look like they were cooked to perfection. Everyone loves calamari and your recipe is a great way to cook them at home
Okay, I like calamari – it’s the only thing I’ll eat fried these days.
I think my kids would like this. They love their seafood. I wish I did!
OK now those look absolutely delicious – I have a real thing for seafood when it is done well and need to try this!
I love calamari! One of my favorite restaurants has it as an appetizer and I always order it there.
My husband loves calamari, but I am not a fan. I’ll show him this recipe in case he wants to make it for himself.
One of my comfort snack food of all time. Calamari is really my favorite snack served with a great drink while enjoying every moment of it.
I love calamari, but had no idea how to make it. What a great recipe, thanks for sharing!
Oh yum! I love calamari but have only had it in restaurants before. I never thought to make it at home, thanks for the recipe!
I’m not typically a calamari fan, but these look soooo good! I’m tempted!!!
That actually looks yummy and makes me tempted to try calamari for the first time.
I have never cooked calamari, but it’s nice to have some different recipes to have especially when we are entertaining.
Fried calamari is my favorite appetizer. I love them crispy, Now I can make it at home!
I’m not really a fan of calamari, but this looks yummy. It would be a fun recipe to try.
Calamari is one of the first things we look for on an appetizer menu. It would be fun to surprise my family with it at home!