Hot Butter Cuttlefish (Hot Butter Squid)
Also known as Sri Lankan Hot Butter Cuttlefish
Hot butter cuttlefish, also known as hot butter squid, is the Sri Lankan-Chinese starter everyone loves. Cuttlefish rings are lightly battered in cornflour, fried crisp, then tossed in sizzling butter with dried and fresh chilli, garlic, spring onion and curry leaves. Buttery, crunchy, hot and savoury all at once. It's the dish people fight over at celebrations, ordered the moment they sit down. Get the batter light and the butter hot, and you've got a starter that beats any restaurant version.
Crisp-fried cuttlefish tossed in butter with chilli, garlic and curry leaves. It's the buttery, crunchy, fiery starter that disappears before the mains arrive.
- Total time
- 40 min
- 25 min prep · 15 min cook
- Serves
- 4 people
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice level
- Medium
- Country help
- USA · UK · AU · CA substitutes included
CeylonCooking
ceyloncooking.com/recipes/hot-butter-cuttlefish
Hot Butter Cuttlefish
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Nutrition
Estimated values, per serving.
About This Dish
Hot butter cuttlefish is the starter that lands first and vanishes fastest at a Sri Lankan-Chinese restaurant. The idea is simple: cuttlefish or squid cut into rings or strips, lightly coated, fried until crisp, then tossed in a pan of foaming butter with garlic, dried red chilli, fresh green chilli, spring onion and curry leaves. What you get is buttery, rich, crunchy outside, tender inside, with heat that builds as you eat. It's perfect finger food, the thing you order to share over a cold drink before the rice and curries arrive.
Like devilled chicken, fried rice and hot butter cuttle (as menus often shorten it), this dish belongs to Sri Lanka's Chinese restaurant tradition. Sri Lanka took the Cantonese habit of crisp-fried seafood tossed in butter and aromatics and added a local accent: more chilli, a sprig of curry leaves crackling in the butter, and a generous hand with garlic. The result is squarely Sri Lankan-Chinese, not fully Chinese, not a traditional curry, but exactly the food of celebration nights and family outings.
What makes this dish great is contrast and timing. The cuttlefish has to fry crisp and stay tender inside. That's a knife-edge because seafood goes rubbery in seconds if you overcook it. The batter has to be light, just enough cornflour to shatter and crackle, not a thick, heavy jacket. And the butter toss has to be fast and hot, so the chilli and garlic perfume the butter and coat the cuttlefish without softening that crunch. Done right, every piece is buttery, savoury, properly hot and still crisp at the edge.
Order it once and you'll get why it's a fixture. It's the dish that signals a treat, the one that makes a roadside Chinese eatery worth the trip, and the one home cooks bring out to impress. Cuttlefish or squid, the method is the same, and once you've made it in your own kitchen you'll stop ordering it out.
Cuttlefish or Squid, and How to Keep It Tender
Cuttlefish and squid are close cousins, and for this dish they're interchangeable. Cuttlefish is a touch meatier and firmer with a slightly sweeter taste, while squid (calamari) is a little more delicate. Cut into rings and fried in a light batter, though, the two behave almost identically, so use whichever you can get. Both are sold cleaned and frozen at most fish counters, which makes this an easy dish to shop for. The tube (the body) is what you slice into rings; the tentacles fry up beautifully too.
What sets good hot butter cuttlefish apart from a rubbery, chewy version is not the recipe, it's the cooking time. Cuttlefish and squid cook in two windows: very fast, under two minutes, or very slow, a long braise. Anything in between turns them tough and bouncy. For this dish you want the fast window, so the oil must be hot and the frying brief, just until the batter is crisp and golden. Scoring the inside of larger pieces in a fine crosshatch helps them cook evenly and stay tender, and cutting even rings means everything fries at the same rate.
The crunch comes from a light cornflour batter, not a thick flour one. Cornflour (cornstarch) fries into a fine, glassy, shatter-crisp coat that stays crisp longer than wheat flour and never turns doughy or heavy. A thin coating clings to the cuttlefish, crackles as it fries, and gives the butter something to hang onto without smothering the seafood. That's why almost every Sri Lankan-Chinese kitchen reaches for cornflour for its hot butter dishes.
What It Should Taste Like
Crisp, golden cuttlefish that shatters at the edge and stays tender inside, slicked in nutty browned butter and studded with garlic, fiery dried and fresh chilli, spring onion and curry leaves. It's buttery, savoury, hot and crunchy, and the butter and chilli hum long after each bite.
Ingredients
This recipe makes 4 servings. Change the number and every amount below updates with it. Substitutes for hard-to-find items are in the sidebar.
The US button converts grams, millilitres and centimetres to ounces, cups and inches. Spoon measures stay exactly as they are.
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Cuttlefish and Batter
- Cuttlefish or squidcleaned, cut into rings or strips500 g
- Ground turmeric¼ tsp
- Salt½ tsp
- Pepper¼ tsp
- Lime juiceoptional, for the marinade1 tsp
- Cornflour (cornstarch)for a light, crisp coat4 tbsp
- Egglightly beaten, optional1
- Oilfor frying
Hot Butter Toss
- Butter3 tbsp
- Garlicfinely chopped4 cloves
- Dried red chilliesbroken into pieces4-5
- Green chilliessliced2
- Curry leaves1 sprig
- Spring onionssliced, whites and greens kept separate3
- Chilli flakesto taste1 tsp
- Soy sauceoptional, for savoury depth1 tsp
- Sugaroptional, to round it out½ tsp
- Saltto taste
Method
Follow these 6 steps. Each one explains not just what to do, but why it matters.
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- 01
Clean and Cut the Cuttlefish
If you're starting with whole cuttlefish or squid, clean it properly: pull out the head and innards, remove the clear quill or bone, peel off the skin and rinse it well. Slice the tube into even rings about 1 cm wide and cut the tentacles into bite-size pieces.
Most cuttlefish and squid comes already cleaned and frozen, which saves you this job, but it's worth knowing how. Once you pull away the head and the long stringy innards, the body is a hollow tube. Inside there's a clear plastic-like quill in squid, or a chalky white cuttlebone in cuttlefish, and it lifts straight out. The thin speckled skin peels off easily under running water. Cutting even rings matters more than it sounds: uneven pieces fry at different rates, so the thin ones go rubbery while the thick ones are still raw.
Tip: Pat the cleaned rings thoroughly dry with paper towel. Wet cuttlefish spits in the oil and the batter slides off instead of clinging.
- 02
Score and Season
Score the inside of any larger pieces in a fine crosshatch, then toss the cuttlefish with the turmeric, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lime. Leave it for 10 minutes.
Scoring is a small trick that pays off. Run the tip of a knife in shallow diagonal lines across the inside surface of larger pieces, then again the other way to make a fine crosshatch. It helps the pieces cook quickly and evenly, curls them up nicely, and gives the batter and butter more surface to cling to. That short rest lets the turmeric, salt and lime work into the flesh so the cuttlefish tastes seasoned through, not just on the surface, and the lime gently firms it.
Tip: Don't over-marinate in lime or any other acid. Past 15 minutes, the acid starts to toughen the seafood before it even hits the pan.
- 03
Coat in Cornflour
Just before frying, drain off any liquid and toss the cuttlefish in the cornflour, and the beaten egg first if you're using it, until each piece is lightly and evenly coated.
The coat is what gives hot butter cuttlefish that signature crunch, so keep it light. A thin dusting of cornflour fries into a fine, glassy crust that shatters and crackles. A thick flour batter just turns into a heavy, doughy jacket that smothers the seafood. If you dip the pieces in a little beaten egg first it helps the cornflour stick and gives a slightly more substantial crust, but a plain cornflour dusting is the classic, cleaner approach. Coat at the last moment so the cornflour stays dry and powdery, not pasty.
Tip: Shake off any excess cornflour before frying. Loose powder just burns in the oil and clouds the batter.
- 04
Fry Crisp and Fast
Heat the oil for deep- or shallow-frying until it's properly hot. Fry the cuttlefish in batches for 1 to 2 minutes, just until the coating is crisp and pale gold. Lift out and drain on paper.
This is the make-or-break step. The oil has to be properly hot, around 180C/350F, so the coating crisps instantly and the cuttlefish cooks in that fast window before it can turn rubbery. A piece dropped in should sizzle sharply and float within seconds. Fry small batches so the oil stays hot and the pieces brown rather than stew. Pull them out the moment the crust sets and turns pale gold. Overcooked cuttlefish goes bouncy and chewy, so err on the side of underdone here; it gets a final few seconds in the butter.
Tip: Test the oil with one ring first. It should bubble hard and crisp in well under two minutes. If it sinks and sits there, your oil isn't hot enough.
- 05
Sizzle the Aromatics in Butter
Melt the butter in a wide pan or wok over medium-high heat until foaming. Add the garlic, dried red chilli, green chilli, curry leaves and the spring onion whites. Toss for 30 to 60 seconds until fragrant.
Now the dish actually gets its name. As the butter melts and starts to foam it picks up a nutty aroma. The instant the garlic, chilli and curry leaves hit it, the whole kitchen fills with that hot-butter smell. The curry leaves crackle, the dried chilli darkens and turns smoky, the garlic goes golden and fragrant. Keep everything moving so nothing burns. You want the butter browned and perfumed, not blackened, and the chilli toasted rather than scorched. This takes under a minute, so have the fried cuttlefish ready beside the pan.
Tip: Do not let the butter go past nutty brown into black. Burnt butter turns bitter and ruins the dish, so keep the heat lively and watch it closely.
- 06
Toss in the Cuttlefish and Finish
Turn the heat high. Add the fried cuttlefish along with the chilli flakes and the optional soy and sugar. Toss hard for under a minute, until every piece is glossed in butter and chilli. Stir through the spring onion greens, check the salt, and serve at once.
The final toss has to be fast and hot. You want to coat the crisp cuttlefish in spiced butter and warm it through without softening the crust or overcooking the seafood. Move quickly and get it off the heat after thirty seconds or so. The chilli flakes add a final layer of heat, a few drops of soy bring savoury depth, a pinch of sugar rounds the edges, though purists keep it to just butter, chilli and garlic. The spring onion greens go in right at the end for a fresh, sharp lift against all that rich butter.
Tip: Serve it the second it's done. Hot butter cuttlefish is at its peak in the first minute, while it's still crunchy and the butter is glossy. It softens fast as it sits.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Overcooking the cuttlefish so it turns rubbery and chewy. Fry it fast and toss it only briefly.
- A thick, heavy batter that smothers the seafood. Keep the cornflour coat light and glassy.
- Frying in oil that isn't hot enough, so the coating goes greasy and soft instead of crisp.
- Letting the butter burn to black and bitter, instead of stopping at nutty brown.
- Letting the dish sit before serving, so the crunch softens. Serve it the moment it is tossed.
Serving Ideas
- As a starter or sharing plate with cold drinks, the classic restaurant way.
- Alongside fried rice and a chilli paste for a Sri Lankan-Chinese spread.
- As one of several devilled and hot butter dishes at a celebration table.
- With a wedge of lime and a cooling cucumber salad to cut the richness.
Building a whole plate around it? Start from our seafood rice and curry menu, which sets out what to cook alongside it and in what order.
Storage and Make-Ahead
Best eaten fresh and hot, because the crunch softens quickly once it sits in the butter. Leftovers keep a day refrigerated. Revive them in a hot pan or air fryer for a few minutes rather than the microwave, which makes them soggy and tough. It doesn't freeze well.
Two Ways to Cook It
Use cleaned frozen squid rings, dust them in cornflour, shallow-fry in a frying pan until crisp, then toss with butter, garlic, chilli flakes and spring onion. No deep-frying or scoring needed.
Clean and score fresh cuttlefish, fry it crisp in hot oil in batches, then toss hard in foaming butter with garlic, dried and fresh chilli, curry leaves and spring onion over a fierce flame so the butter browns and the chilli toasts.
Lighter and Healthier Version
Hot butter cuttlefish is rich by nature, but cuttlefish and squid are very lean and high in protein, so a few small changes make a lighter version that keeps the buttery, chilli-laced character.
Air-Fry Instead of Deep-Fry
Toss the cornflour-coated cuttlefish with just a teaspoon of oil and air-fry at 200C/400F for 6 to 8 minutes, shaking halfway, until crisp. You lose a little crunch but cut most of the frying oil.
Pan-Sear, Do Not Batter
Skip the coating and sear the seasoned cuttlefish quickly in a hot pan, then toss with the butter and aromatics. You miss the crunch but keep a lean, fast, lower-carb dish.
Ease Back on the Butter
Use half the butter blended with a little oil, so you keep the flavour with less saturated fat, and lean on the chilli, garlic and curry leaves to carry the dish.
Lean and Protein-Rich
Cuttlefish and squid are naturally very low in fat and high in protein, so the calories here come mostly from the coating and butter, both of which you can dial right back.
Frequently Asked Questions
Hot butter cuttlefish is a Sri Lankan-Chinese restaurant starter. Cuttlefish (or squid) gets cut into rings, lightly coated in cornflour and fried crisp, then tossed in sizzling butter with garlic, dried and fresh chilli, spring onion and curry leaves. It is buttery, crunchy, hot and savoury all at once, served as a sharing plate or starter, and it is one of the most popular dishes on Sri Lankan Chinese menus.
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