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Home Fish recipes

Thai Fish Cakes

By:Nagi
Published:17 Jul '19Updated:8 Apr '21
273 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

Fish Cakes can be so dull and boring. But THAI Fish Cakes are FABULOUS! A classic Thai street food and my favourite starter at Thai restaurants along with Chicken Satay.

Surprisingly easy to make at home – all you need is fish, red curry paste, egg, rice flour and fish sauce. Blitz, make patties and pan fry!

Close up photo of Thai Fish Cakes on a plate, ready to be eaten

Thai fish cakes

If I order an appetiser at a Thai restaurant, 9 times out of 10 it will either be Thai Fish Cakes or Thai Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce.

And both of these are irritatingly pricey at Thai restaurants for what you get! $7 for 3 piddly little fish cakes or 3 teeny tiny skewers with a midget tub of peanut sauce.

Homemade is 80% cheaper – and just as good as takeout!

Thai Fish Cakes are (in my humble opinion) the most fabulous fish cakes in the world!

Close up of golden Thai Fish Cakes on a plate

What Thai Fish Cakes taste like

The main flavouring in Thai Fish Cakes is red curry paste, so if you love Thai Red Curry, fish and food made to be eaten with hands, then this has got your name written all over it!

The unique thing about these fish cakes is the texture. It’s like Asian fish balls, kind of spongey. I know that sounds thoroughly unappetising, to say they are “spongey”, but there’s no other word I can think of! 😂

It’s not an unpleasant texture, it’s just different to other pattie shaped things like fritters and sausage patties!

Thai Fish Cakes - This popular Thai appetizer is so simple to make! This is truly restaurant quality.

What you need

What goes in Thai Fish Cakes

Best fish for Thai Fish Cakes

Most of the most common white fish fillets are great here, also very tasty with salmon and trout.

Great for: Ling, Tilapia, Snapper, Barramundi, Silver Dory, John Dory, Basa, Hokki, Perch, Flathead, Monkfish

Avoid:

  • super lean fish (swordfish, tuna)

  • delicate fish (flounder, Dover sole)

  • small whole fish like sardines or mackerel

The BEST Thai Red Curry Paste – Maesri

For recipes like this where you only need a few tablespoons of curry paste, I typically use store bought rather than homemade Red Curry Paste.

The best store bought Thai Red Curry Paste by a long shot is a brand called Maesri. This is also the brand I use for Thai Green Curry. Other brands tend to have less authentic flavour and are (usually) too sweet.

Sold in small cans for around $1.30 (it’s the cheapest!), it’s available in some Aussie large grocery stores (Coles, Woolies, Harris), Asian grocery stores and here is the cheapest one on Amazon US.

**Don’t worry if you can’t find Maesri. This recipe is still great even with mainstream curry pastes.**

Best Thai red curry paste Maesri

How to make Thai Fish Cakes

  • Place fish, red curry paste (homemade or store bought), cilantro/coriander, egg, lime juice and fish sauce in a food processor, whizz to mince;

  • Mix in rice or cornflour (cornstarch) and green beans; and

  • Form patties and cook.

Simple, right? Do you really need me to write out the whole recipe for you??? (Don’t worry, I did! I always do!)

How to make Thai Fish Cakes

A note on authenticity!

Thai Fish Cakes are a classic Thai street food that you’ll find all over Thailand, from Bangkok to the popular tourist islands like Pukhet and Koh Samui (I really need to go back soon, I miss Thailand!!).

Here are the 2 things I do differently to the real authentic Fish Cakes made in Thailand:

  1. Inclusion of rice flour – Truly authentic recipes are made with fish paste which is starchy fish (yes there is such thing!) that has been fermented and is a pretty smooth paste. This is then beaten for ages (i.e. 30 minutes by hand!) to activate the starch and this is the secret to beautifully bouncy, spongey fish cakes. However, in Western countries, the same texture is achieved by starting with fish fillets, minced them and mixing in either rice flour or cornflour (cornstarch); and

  2. I don’t deep fry! In both Thailand and restaurants, Thai Fish Cakes are deep fried. I really believe that very little compromise is made by pan frying instead of deep frying!

Sweet Chilli Sauce dipping sauce for Thai Fish Cakes

How to serve Thai Fish Cakes

A simple store bought bottle of Sweet Chilli Sauce serves well as a convenient version of the dipping sauces you get at Thai restaurants.

In terms of what to serve it with, Thai Fish Cakes are typically served as a starter at Thai restaurants.

To make a meal out of it, try these on the side:

  • Steamed Jasmine rice, Thai Fried Rice, Pineapple Fried Rice or Coconut Rice

  • Crunchy Asian Slaw on the side – great all rounder Asian salad that goes with all Asian foods

  • Asian Sesame Dressing for any fresh salad or steamed vegetables

If you try these Fish Cakes, and I really hope you do, all it will take is one bite to be overwhelmed by a sense of familiarity. These really do taste just like what you get at Thai restaurants! – Nagi x

More Thai takeout favourites

  • Pad Thai – truly just like takeout!

  • Thai Red Curry

  • Massaman Curry

  • Thai Fish Cakes

  • Thai Fried Rice

  • Thai Cashew Chicken

  • Pad See Ew – Thai stir fried noodles

  • Browse the Thai recipe collection

Overhead photo of Thai Fish Cakes on a white plate

Watch how to make it

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Close up of golden Thai Fish Cakes on a plate

Thai Fish Cakes

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats
Prep: 10 minutes mins
Cook: 15 minutes mins
Total: 25 minutes mins
Appetizer
Thai
4.87 from 66 votes
Servings12
Tap or hover to scale
Print
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Recipe video above. These taste JUST like the Thai Fish Cakes from your favourite Thai restaurant! They should be firm but bouncy, almost a spongey texture, well seasoned, golden brown and with lovely complex flavours from the red curry paste and other seasonings. 

Ingredients

  • 1 lb / 500g white fish fillets , skinless and pin boned, cut into chunks (Note 1)
  • 3 tbsp red curry paste (Note 2)
  • 1 tbsp cilantro/coriander leaves , chopped
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce (sub soy sauce)
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup (40g) rice flour (or cornstarch / corn flour)
  • 6 green beans , finely sliced (optional, Note 3)
  • 4 - 6 tbsp oil (vegetable, canola, sun flower)

To Serve

  • Sweet chilli sauce
  • Cilantro/coriander leaves
  • Lime wedges

Instructions

  • Place fish, red curry paste, cilantro/coriander, fish sauce, lime and egg in a food processor. Whizz until the fish is minced and it looks like a paste. (See video)
  • Transfer to a bowl and stir through rice flour and green beans until flour is all incorporated. (Note 4)
  • Measure 1/4 cup of mixture (I use an ice cream scoop - Note 5), form 1cm / 2/5" thick patties.
  • Heat enough oil in skillet over medium high heat to cover the base (4 tbsp or so)
  • Place in oil, cook 2 minutes until deep golden brown, then turn and cook the other side for 2 minutes. Transfer to paper towel lined plate. 
  • Repeat with remaining mixture, adding more oil into the skillet if required.
  • Serve with Sweet Chilli Sauce, garnished with cilantro/coriander leaves and lime wedges on the side. Add a side of Thai Fried Rice or even just plain jasmine rice to make a meal!

Recipe Notes:

1. Fish - Most of the most common white fish fillets are great here, also works great with salmon and trout. 
Great for: Ling, Tilapia, Snapper, Barramundi, Silver Dory, John Dory, Basa, Hokki, Perch, Flathead, Monkfish
Avoid:
  • super lean fish (swordfish, tuna)
  • delicate fish (flounder, Dover sole)
  • small whole fish like sardines or mackerel 
Frozen fish - thaw completely, pat dry then use per recipe.
2. Red Curry Paste - Typically for fish cakes, I just use store bought curry paste but you can also use homemade red curry paste but use double the quantity.
My favourite store brand is Maesri which I think tastes the most authentic and also super cheap, $1.25 a can. But any Thai Red Curry Paste will work fine (try to use an Asian brand, they are better!)
3. Beans - The sliced green beans are used in Thai Fish Cakes in Thailand but at restaurants here in Australia, I've seen it substituted with sliced shallots/scallions or omitted.
4. Stirring flour in - It's tempting to just add the rice flour into the food processor but blitzing too long can activate the starch too much which makes the paste gluey and you end up with really tough fish cakes. The length of blitzing time required differs from fish to fish. So I find it's much safer to stir it in at the end.
5. Ice cream scooper or cookie scooper with a lever to scoop the batter out cleanly are perfect for making these. The standard size is 1/4 cup.
6. Storage - Fridge for 3 days, reheat in the microwave. I've never tried freezing but see no reason why it would not freeze well once cooked, you can actually buy frozen fish cakes!
7. Nutrition per fish cake, assuming 12 fish cakes are made and 6 tbsp of oil is used.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 87gCalories: 121cal (6%)Carbohydrates: 5.2g (2%)Protein: 9g (18%)Fat: 7.2g (11%)Saturated Fat: 1.3g (8%)Cholesterol: 34mg (11%)Sodium: 267mg (12%)Potassium: 69mg (2%)Fiber: 1g (4%)Vitamin A: 200IU (4%)Vitamin C: 5.8mg (7%)Calcium: 20mg (2%)Iron: 0.9mg (5%)
Keywords: Thai fish cakes
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

Originally published April 2016. Minor recipe updates to make cooking process easier, brand new video, photos, process shots and Life of Dozer update!

LIFE OF DOZER

Weekend Nana Naps often end with Dozer using ME as his pillow. It’s the wrong way round – I should be laying MY head on his fluffy, soft mass!! 😂

Dozer sleeping on Nagi

Flashback to when this recipe was originally published:

Snippet from Life As Dozer. He basically has 4 modes: playing, sleeping, eating food or hoping for food. He lives a hard, hard life, doesn’t he?

Dozer-Bayview

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Hi, I'm Nagi!

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273 Comments

  1. RJ says

    October 9, 2023 at 3:15 am

    5 stars
    Make these all the time and they’re soooo delicious! Absolutely KEY is the curry paste. The ones in jars from the supermarket are rubbish. We always use Mae Ploy now and the difference in flavour and consistency is huge.
    I don’t add green beans but other than that I follow the recipe to the letter.

    Reply
  2. Kyra T says

    August 6, 2023 at 10:34 pm

    5 stars
    Absolutely great! Another one to recommend to family and friends.
    Spewing I didn’t get to meet Nagi at the Perth GFAWS, I even bought my assistance dog Arlo in case Dozer wanted a stunt double haha x

    Reply
  3. janet kotler says

    July 30, 2023 at 4:00 am

    2 stars
    Sadly, not everything is wonderful. I made this to a T and it was….meh. Same thing for the chicken enchilada rice casserole thing–a little less than meh. But the asian stuff is TERRIFIC…well, except for the fish cakes.

    Reply
  4. SJH says

    July 30, 2023 at 2:23 am

    Have made these so many times with a Thai feast we cook (Larb Gai ad Pad Thai recipes from the site too! Perfect).
    The key is the quality of the curry paste. If you’re in the Uk don’t even bother with the hot garbage jars in the supermarkets! Used one in a pinch once and good grief. Not good!! But a proper red curry late from an Asian grocer wowee. Winner every time. Will continue using this recipe forever more!

    Reply
  5. Heidi says

    June 28, 2023 at 12:10 am

    5 stars
    This is SO GOOD! I was looking for new fish recipes for a large Spanish mackerel we caught and came across your blog. I followed this recipe but tweaked it to my own taste adding the following in the blender: Penang curry paste (what I had on hand), 1” ginger, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 shallot, zest of 1 lime, and a pinch of salt. If I had a kefir lime leaf or galangal I would have added those as a substitute for the lime zest & ginger. When it came time to add in green beans I added an equal portion of scallion greens and mixed it all together with the rice flour. I let this mixture sit overnight in the fridge to let the flavors marinate. When we pan fried this the next day it smelled heavenly, and as my husband ate the fish cakes he just kept saying “WOW”! Really great flavors, a keeper recipe for sure!

    Last notes: the mackerel worked out even though it is mentioned as a fish to avoid here. I also think these are naturally a bit on the dry side when cooked properly so they definitely benefit from Thai chili sauce, which I love anyways. We will absolutely make this again, thank you!

    Reply
  6. Hutch says

    June 20, 2023 at 2:57 pm

    5 stars
    EZ ,tasty as fries and authentic as Soi Suan Plu

    Reply
  7. Jen Jan says

    May 9, 2023 at 6:25 pm

    4 stars
    Amazing. Almost identical to a favourite recipe From Franks Seafood in Darwin, sadly no longer there. Only difference was he used cut up Kaffir lime leaves in the mix. Try it, takes it up a level. I always use Mackeral cutlets.

    Reply
  8. Lorraine Campbell says

    April 21, 2023 at 4:29 am

    Absolutely disgusting. Threw it out and had cheese on toast

    Reply
    • SJH says

      July 30, 2023 at 2:22 am

      That’s a shame! Have made these so many times and they’re incredible!! The key is the red curry paste though. If you’re in the UK the red curry paste in jars from the supermarkets are hot garbage!! Get yourself a proper one from an Asian grocer (Mae Ploy is an awesome brand and lasts forever). Game changer! Used a supermarket one in a pinch once and it was rubbish. The quality of ingredients are so important with this one but so sooooo worth it. Restaurant level at home ever time if you have a good paste!

      Reply
  9. Wendylou says

    March 30, 2023 at 11:16 am

    5 stars
    The BEST fish cakes I’ve ever eaten, I caught mullet today on Kangaroo Island, on hand ingredients and easy, everyone raved!!

    Reply
  10. Ana Bosnic says

    March 20, 2023 at 6:07 pm

    5 stars
    So easy! I used blue grenadier fish and I added a wee bit of salt but that is completely unnecessary. These are absolutely brilliant. Great recipe

    Reply
  11. Eva says

    February 22, 2023 at 5:45 pm

    Hi Nagi,
    I had friends over on a very hot Adelaide summer’s day for lunch. We had your Thai avocado prawn salad, Larb Gai, Thai Fish Cakes and your Rum and Raisins ice cream- it was absolutely delicious, just perfect and everyone loved the food. I feel lucky to be able to have your recipes to follow- I don’t think I ever failed with any of them. Thank you so much!

    Reply
  12. Ardell Richards says

    December 20, 2022 at 1:08 pm

    5 stars
    Absolutely lovely, very authentic as was the accompanying sauce. Will definitely be making again, SOON. Thank you and will be buying your book as a Christmas pressie to myself!

    Reply
  13. Nidhi says

    November 2, 2022 at 8:52 pm

    5 stars
    I made these today and they were delicious. The whole family, including my son who doesnt normally like fish, enjoyrd it. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
  14. Dave says

    August 26, 2022 at 1:33 pm

    Hi
    Would the Thai yellow curry paste go well with this also?

    Reply
  15. Pete says

    June 16, 2022 at 8:22 am

    Hi Nagi, are these fish cakes best cooked right before eating or ok ahead made of time and reheated? You mention microwaving, does that affect the texture at all? PS, love your recipes, I use them lots!

    Reply
    • Eva says

      February 22, 2023 at 5:47 pm

      I love these fish cakes and often freeze them (when hopefully I have any left). They are just as delicious as when freshly cooked

      Reply
  16. Rachael says

    June 9, 2022 at 8:12 pm

    Hi Nagi,
    Yours are always my FAVOURITE recipes!
    Is it possible to do these in an Airfryer?

    Reply
  17. Maggie says

    April 21, 2022 at 2:49 pm

    For a vegan/pescatarian is there a way to make these without egg?

    Reply
  18. Gabby Matamoros says

    April 20, 2022 at 10:50 am

    Hi,
    Can I use canned Salmon???

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      April 20, 2022 at 4:02 pm

      You can – just remove all the bones and the texture will be a bit softer! N x

      Reply
  19. Martin Tucker says

    April 19, 2022 at 4:09 am

    5 stars
    I have found this receipe after finally finding some Gluten free Thai dish cakes. I used prawn instead ( but make sure they are fresh or chilled not frozen), I had to add more rice flour due to the missing gluten strands but have to say these are amazing . Will be testing freezing as they will make an ideal lunch snack. Thank you so much for the reciepe as I can now have gluten free thai fish cakes whenever I want

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      April 19, 2022 at 3:23 pm

      Thanks for that feedback Martin! N x

      Reply
  20. Lois Keogh says

    April 15, 2022 at 3:47 pm

    Delicious fish cakes and so amazingly easy. Many thanks Nagi. My Balinese daughter-in-law has requested them!

    Reply
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