Photo: Fried Calamari Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 cups peanut or other neutrally flavored oil, for frying
- 1 pound clean calamari, tubes and legs, tubes cut into 1/2-inch rings
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
- Kosher salt
- Lemon wedges, for garnish
Directions
Add the oil to a wide pan and heat to about 325 degrees F. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Pat the calamari dry with paper towels.
Combine the flour and cayenne pepper. Working in batches, toss 1/3 of the calamari in the seasoned flour. Transfer the calamari to a mesh strainer and shake off the excess flour.
Carefully drop the calamari into the hot oil; the oil should bubble gently and the calamari should have plenty of room to swim around and fry gently. Do not crowd the pan or the oil won't come back up to temperature quickly.
When done, the calamari should be very pale golden and tender. It should not look like little brown rubber bands. Remove the calamari from the hot oil and drain it on paper towels. Salt it immediately and keep it warm in the oven until all the calamari is done.
Repeat in 2 more batches with the remaining calamari.
Serve with lemon wedges.
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By vallgal_5988686
Maple Valley, WA
on April 22, 2013
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This calamari recipe was all wonderful until I put the fried calamari in the very low temp oven to keep warm. As it came out of the fryer it was GREAT...but then when the calamari was held in the low-heat oven as recommended by Anne, within 15 minutes the calamari turned into tough chewy rubber rings. My oven is a Wolf double oven--top of the line--& temp is accurate. My advice: you must eat this dish immediately out of the fryer--otherwise it will continue to cook VERY quickly and turn into disappointing rubber bands. If you keep it in oven for more than 10 minutes it will be ruined.
By Greg from Downunder
on December 07, 2012
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fabulous and perfect for a summer lunch
By kmmarsh14
carmel, IN
on October 24, 2012
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The flavor of these was great and they were very easy to make. I served mine with a marinara sauce for dipping. My first batch or two didn't turn out as crispy as I would have liked, but I think I might not have had the oil at the right temperature, because I couldn't find my fry thermometer. The last batch was perfect, though, so definitely make sure you have the oil hot enough.
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