Skip to main content

Story: Seafood

Whitebait

Image
Whitebait

There is no waste when you eat these tiny whitebait. Dozens of the tiny fish – 3 centimetres long – are eaten whole, usually in a fritter.

This recipe comes from David Burton’s 200 years of New Zealand food and cooking.

Whitebait fritters (makes 9–10)

225 g whitebait
1 tablespoon flour
2 eggs
salt and pepper
butter for frying

Mix together flour, eggs, salt and pepper.
Add whitebait and stir in gently.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a hot buttered pan.
When whitebait start to turn milky white (after about one minute), turn the fritter and cook the other side for one minute.

Using this item

Department of Conservation

Reference: 10054033

by Philippe Gerbeaux

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Maggy Wassilieff, Seafood – Favourite Kiwi fare, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/5100/whitebait (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Maggy Wassilieff, published 2 March 2009.