Salt and pepper squid has got to be one of my favorite takeaway items from Chinese restaurants. The crispy coating of the squid tossed with aromatics and a touch of salt ultimately takes this to the next level.

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

What’s so special about it?

Everything. We first cut the squid into bite-sized pieces, making it the perfect finger-food. It’s then coated in a thin layer of starch before deep frying to seal in its juices. Finally, for an extra burst of flavor, we toss this into a pan with some minced garlic, red peppers, and season it with salt and pepper.

Is scoring the squid necessary?

It makes a load of a difference, so yes, definitely do not skip the step for scoring the squid!

One of the major reasons why we score the squid is not only to get the squid to cook faster, but to also allow our wet batter and starches to actually stick onto it. If you’ve ever handled squid before, you’ll know that they’re extremely smooth and slippery, which makes coating it with batter slightly difficult at times.
The grooves allow for more flavor! Because we have those ridges and little slits all around the squid, it makes it easier for the aromatics, the oils, and the seasonings to penetrate the squid much better.
It just looks prettier. If you’re ever like me, who’s super into food that not only tastes good, but also looks amazing, scoring your squid is the perfect way to really impress your family and guests.

Ingredients

•400-500g squid
•1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
•1/2 tsp kosher salt
•1/2 tsp white pepper
•1 egg
•1/4 cup tapioca starch
•2 tbsp potato starch
•Extra tapioca starch, for a second coating

•1 red chilli pepper, chopped
•4-5 cloves garlic, minced
•1 green onion, chopped
•salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

(If using already cleaned/prepared squid, you can skip this step!) To prepare the calamari, we’ll only be using the body tube and the tentacles. Discard the head, eyes, beak, innards, the skin membrane covering the outside and inside of the tube, as well as the cartilage (that looks like a piece of plastic).
Score the squid tube in a criss-cross pattern and cut into bite-sized pieces. Rinse this (along with the tentacles) thoroughly with water.
Marinate the cleaned squid with the Chinese cooking wine, salt and pepper, egg, potato starch, and 1/4 cup of tapioca starch for 10 minutes. Mix this to combine into a sticky batter.
Once marinated, toss the squid into a second layer of tapioca starch until fully coated.
Fry these for 2-4 mins at 325 F degree oil, or until they’re golden and crispy.
In a separate pan, sauté your minced garlic in oil, followed by the red chilli peppers and green onions. Toss in the fried calamari and season with more salt and white pepper to taste.
Serve immediately!

How to serve salt and pepper squid

In classic Chinese-takeout-style, they’ve always topped the fried squid with chopped green onions, some of the leftover aromatics we used for sautéing (if you had any), and chilli flakes.

I also like to squeeze in some lemon juice to give it some tang and to cut through the richness of the fried squid as well!