Learn how to prepare gator bites for your pals using this quick and simple method. Don’t be afraid if you’ve never had gator; it tastes just like chicken! Online stores sell frozen alligator meat.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 2 pounds alligator meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup cornmeal
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 cups oil, or as needed, for frying
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon brown mustard
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
Instructions
- Place alligator meat in a medium bowl. Pour in vinegar; season with salt and pepper. Mix until well combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place cornmeal, flour, garlic powder, black pepper, and cayenne pepper into a resealable plastic bag.
- Squeeze off excess liquid from a handful of alligator meat and add to the resealable bag. Seal the bag and shake to coat. Remove meat to a plate, shaking off excess cornmeal mixture. Repeat with remaining meat, one handful at a time.
- Heat 1 inch oil in a deep saucepan over medium-high heat. Working in batches, lower meat carefully into hot oil and fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
- Make sauce: Mix together mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, and horseradish in a small bowl until well combined.
- Serve fried meat hot with sauce.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 775 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 17 g |
| Cholesterol | 45 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 29 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 148 mg |
| Sugars | 0 g |
| Fat | 66 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
No changes it came out real good sorry no photo next time I post. Its like pork chops or chicken
I would use fine cornmeal. The recipe doesn’t specify, and the coarse cornmeal was too grainy. Also, be careful not to fry too long as the bites can get too rubbery. The dipping sauce is great!
It actually came out pretty good. I had no cornmeal so I used breadcrumbs. Worked out fine.
I hate it when people change the recipe and review, but there weren’t many recipes for fried alligator so I used this one. I marinated the pieces in buttermilk and used Louisiana Fish Fry in place of the flour and cornmeal, added the spices listed and it was delicious!
the gator was really good. we didn’t care for the sauce.
This was my first time cooking alligator. I made the recipe as written and It turned out surprisingly well. The only thing we found was that the dipping sauce covered the mild flavor of the alligator. We ended up tossing the sauce and eating the nuggets as is.
I’ve tried several different seasoning’s for gator and this is definitely one of the best! It’s simple to put together and tastes great!
I made this last night and although it was good, we didn’t really care for the taste of the cornmeal. I will try a fish batter next time.
Amazing! Thanks for giving me a new way to fix all the gator we brought home from vacation. Was very delicious and my whole family loved it!
This was awesome. So awesome that I am giving my very first review. I did as others suggested and soaked it in buttermilk for a good half hour then took it out of the milk and put it in the cornmeal mix and then into my deep fryer. I fried it till it floated. My 1.5 and 3.5 year old both loved it as well as me and my husband. Can’t wait to make it again.
I used apple cidar vinegar to do the marinade. I also tenderized them with a tenderizing hammer before I marinated them and instead of plain cornmeal and all the seasonings I just used som Louisiana Fish Fry mix and instead of the flour I used 1/2 cup of pancake mix. Make some tots or frys and you have a Friday eveming meal fit for any cajun. My family loved these. I had fixed them before, but had never marinated them. These were the best fingers ever.
Good basic recipe for alligator fingers.I use Frank’s Red Hot sauce mixed in with the vinegar to marinate.
Awesome! I dipped these in my own horseradish dip and it was amazing!
This was great. Will definatly be making again.
The meat was perfectly seasoned. You may wish to double the amount of dipping sauce as we found it wasn’t enough. I found frozen alligator meat at a specialty grocery store. Although it tasted somewhat like chicken, it was slightly chewy. We tried it as an entree but I think it would be better as an hors’doerve.
very good recipe. I marinated mine in buttermilk and it turned out well. if you dont have buttermilk, you can use 1 cup milk with 1 TBS of lemon juice or vinegar, let sit 10 minutes. alligator is really very good but it does NOT taste like chicken.
This is a true southern recipe. I usually do dip mine in buttermilk prior to flouring but I tried it with the vinegar this time and it was good.
Good recipe. The alligator tastes a little like chicken. Would give it a 5 out of 5 but the recipe just seemed to me missing something. Maybe it needs a little basil in the mix. One other option would be to marinate in buttermilk instead of the vinegar.