Name: Christmas Eve Pan Fried Smelts
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 11 min
Total time: 21 min
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 cup flour; 1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder; 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper; 3 teaspoons salt; Optional: 1 teaspoon paprika; 1 plastic bag; 2 pounds cleaned smelts; 1 cup of vegetable oil; Other Optional seasonings: 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon each dried oregano, basil, parsley, dill, added to the flour

Christmas Eve is celebrated with 7 fishes in our home.

Fried smelts is just one of the many fish we cook.

There are seven Traditional fried, baked, and raw fish we eat as a family.

Born and raised in America, my parents continued the Rome and Bari traditions every Christmas Eve.

For our traditional Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we have no meat until the morning baby Jesus was born.

Also, smelt is usually fried whole, but last time I fried them there was something in the heads that seemed quite gritty, so I decided to cut the heads off this time.

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for the recipe on how to prepare and cook fried smelts.

these are small fish floured and fried called smelts

Seasoned Flour is Key

I included additional spices added if you would like to try my version but that's just optional.

Christmas eve always consisted of 7 fishes. We would have calamari stuffed, crab legs, lobster, shrimp, scallops mostly fried.

Baccala is salted codfish.

We also had shrimp cocktail, fried haddock and clams casino and of course fried smelts.

Smelts are small fish that cook quickly and you eat the whole thing.

You can adapt the recipe for a cajun or spicier flavor by adding cayenne pepper to the flour also.

The flour seasoning fry to a golden delicious crunchy on the outside with just the right amount of flavor.

Ingredients You Will Need for Smelts

flour
granulated garlic
black pepper
salt
paprika
oil for frying either canola or vegetable

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