The Mediterranean Dish

Mediterranean Recipes & Lifestyle

Greek-Style Baked Cod Recipe with Lemon and Garlic

192 Comments

This easy Greek-style baked cod recipe has quickly become a regular on my dinner rotation! A handful of Mediterranean spices plus a mixture of lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic, give it glorious flavor. See video & suggestions for what to serve along!

Greek-Style Baked Cod Recipe with Lemon and Garlic | The Mediterranean Dish. Easy, weeknight dinner! Baked cod, spiced Greek-style and baked with fresh lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Takes 15 minutes or less in your oven! #greekfood #codrecipe #mediterraneanrecipe #bakedcod #bakedfish #onepandinner

Following the Mediterranean diet, fish is kinda essential for my family. It’s about the one food that shows up on the menu twice every week.


Sometimes, our fish dinners go far–as far as a fish stew from Sicily or an Egyptian-inspired fish Shakshuka cooked in a tasty tomato sauce. But more often than not,  I opt for something simple like pan-seared salmon or today’s baked cod recipe with lemon and garlic.

Greek-Style Baked Cod Recipe with Lemon and Garlic | The Mediterranean Dish. Easy, weeknight dinner! Baked cod, spiced Greek-style and baked with fresh lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Takes 15 minutes or less in your oven! #greekfood #codrecipe #mediterraneanrecipe #bakedcod #bakedfish #onepandinner

Cod fillet is a beautiful thing. It’s easy to cook, and because it’s a mild-tasting fish, the ways to give it glorious flavor are endless.

This baked cod recipe takes on a bit of a Greek twist. The cod is lightly coated with a spiced flour mixture with coriander, paprika, and cumin. Quickly seared, then baked with lemon juice, Greek olive oil, and lots of minced garlic.

Greek-Style Baked Cod Recipe with Lemon and Garlic | The Mediterranean Dish. Easy, weeknight dinner! Baked cod, spiced Greek-style and baked with fresh lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Takes 15 minutes or less in your oven! #greekfood #codrecipe #mediterraneanrecipe #bakedcod #bakedfish #onepandinner

What to serve with this baked cod recipe?

It feels like I’m always recommending this Lebanese rice with vermicelli, but it makes the perfect bed for this lemony baked cod. Keep the Greek theme going by adding a side of traditional Greek salad. Or, for a heartier salad option, try this Mediterranean chickpea salad with eggplant.

Greek-Style Baked Cod Recipe with Lemon and Garlic | The Mediterranean Dish. Easy, weeknight dinner! Baked cod, spiced Greek-style and baked with fresh lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Takes 15 minutes or less in your oven! #greekfood #codrecipe #mediterraneanrecipe #bakedcod #bakedfish #onepandinner

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Greek-Style Baked Cod Recipe with Lemon and Garlic | The Mediterranean Dish. Easy, weeknight dinner! Baked cod, spiced Greek-style and baked with fresh lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Takes 15 minutes or less in your oven! #greekfood #codrecipe #mediterraneanrecipe #bakedcod #bakedfish #onepandinner

Mediterranean Baked Cod Recipe with Lemon and Garlic

★★★★★

4.8 from 57 reviews
  • Author: The Mediterranean Dish
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 12 mins
  • Total Time: 22 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Cuisine: Greek
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lb Cod fillet pieces (4-6 pieces)
  • 5 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

Lemon Juice Mixture 

  • 5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 5 tbsp Private Reserve extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp melted butter

For Coating

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Mix lemon juice, olive oil, and melted butter in a shallow bowl. Set aside
  3. In another shallow bowl, mix all-purpose flour, spices, salt and pepper. Set next to the lemon juice mixture.
  4. Pat fish fillet dry. Dip fish in the lemon juice mixture then dip in the flour mixture. Shake off excess flour.
  5. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat (watch the oil to be sure it is sizzling but not smoking). Add fish and sear on each side to give it some color, but do not fully cook (about a couple minutes on each side) Remove from heat.
  6. To the remaining lemon juice mixture, add the minced garlic and mix. Drizzle all over the fish fillets.
  7. Bake in the heated oven for until it begins to flake easily with a fork (10 minutes should do it, but begin checking earlier). Remove from heat and sprinkle chopped parsley.
  8. Serving suggestions: Serve immediately with Lebanese rice and this Mediterranean chickpea salad or this traditional Greek salad.

Notes

SHOP THE MEDITERRANEAN DISH

More Recipes to Try

Baked Salmon with Garlic Cilantro Sauce

One-Pan Baked Halibut and Veggies 

Sheet Pan Paprika Chicken 

Greek Baked Chicken Wings

Mediterranean-Style Bean Dip with Roasted Squash 

Greek-Style Baked Cod Recipe with Lemon and Garlic | The Mediterranean Dish. Easy, weeknight dinner! Baked cod, spiced Greek-style and baked with fresh lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Takes 15 minutes or less in your oven! #greekfood #codrecipe #mediterraneanrecipe #bakedcod #bakedfish #onepandinner

Greek-Style Baked Cod Recipe with Lemon and Garlic | The Mediterranean Dish. Easy, weeknight dinner! Baked cod, spiced Greek-style and baked with fresh lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Takes 15 minutes or less in your oven! #greekfood #codrecipe #mediterraneanrecipe #bakedcod #bakedfish #onepandinner

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  2. This sounds fantastic! Two quick questions:
    1) Would I be able to use Talapia or Basa instead of Cod?
    2) I have tried a recipe before where the fish went into the oven and it came out super water. However, in that recipe you didn’t sear the fish first before throwing it in the oven. I guess my question is, does this turn super watery?

    Thank you!

    Reply

    • Sure, you can use a different white fish fillet in this recipe. And secondly, no, this has not turned out watery for me, and you can certainly view readers reviews/comments to see what their experience has been. This should turn out nice and tender with great flavor.

      Reply

  5. This was amazing. I used a little extra lemon and garlic. I also used a skillet that could go stovetop to oven. When we flipped the fish over, I let it cook on the stove for just a minute and then added the lemon and garlic and popped the whole thing in the oven for about 8 minutes. It was so easy and delicious. Thank you!

    ★★★★★

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  6. Made this tonight for dinner and my husband said it was THE best fish dish he ever had! I thought it was wonderful and the combination of spices was very interesting and tasty. The fish was moist and flaky. Thank you, and I am so glad I found your blog.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Hi Jane, I can’t think of a particular alternative to quality coriander here. But you can use the same method and change up the spices to your liking. It just won’t be this particular recipe 🙂

      Reply

  8. Sorry — one more comment. When I removed the cod from the baking sheet and then served it, the flour/butter/oil mixture (or what was left of it) stuck to my spatula, which caused the fish to break apart.

    Help — anyone have a solution? As before, I’m pretty sure this is my fault! 🙂

    Reply

  9. It didn’t turn out well for me but I’m pretty sure it’s my fault. After coating the cod with the oil/butter mixture and the flour mixture, I seared it in my Lodge pan. But most of the flour mixture seemed to get left in the frying pan and never made it to the baking pan.

    What did I do wrong? Thanks for any advice

    Reply

    • Hi Phil, thanks for sharing. I’m assuming the oil was pretty hot when you added the fish to the skillet? My first thought is, if you are not sure, try only a small piece of fish first, then add the rest. Secondly, I would wait to turn the fish a little, leave it in place until everything sets before flipping. These are just a couple of guesses. I’ve made this recipe so many times and haven’t had this issue, but I’ve noted this in my little book so that next time I make it, I’ll pay attention and come back if I find something else to add.

      Reply

  10. Wonderful recipe. I used gluten free flour and grated the lemon rind in to both bowls (can’t waste that flavour) and followed recipe serving it up with vegetables. Delicious and very moist. Even better I bought the cod loins on offer from Tesco with 25% off! Thank you.
    Will definitely cook this again.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  11. My husband used homemade bread crumbs. It was delicious and quick. A definte remake. Thank you for sharing.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  13. I am new to your site. This is the most wonderful recipe for Cod, or any firm white fish. It was tender, moist, just awesome. It can be difficult at times to find recipes that you can cut down for just one. I also made Chickpea salad minus the eggplant as I didn’t have one. I doubled the recipe–oh my– I eat it for breakfast, lunch whenever I want a treat. I am anxious to try many if not all of your recipes. I do hope you will give serious thought about a cookbook. I love everything about each of your posts, so much informatiom. Sorry this is so long. Please, Please think about a cookbook.

    Reply

  14. Tried this last night! Husband enjoyed the flavours but I messed on the fish. Didn’t plan ahead so tried to quick thaw it and it ended up tough and chewy so we shall try again but thaw fish properly first :D. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

  16. I’ve made this for my husband and myself. We loved it. Then made it for a dinner party of 10 using Captain’s Cut Cod. Everyone raced. Not a morsel was left. I sautéed the fish before company arrived earlier in the day, and just finished it off in the oven. I used 20 cloves of garlic, but the next time I’ll use the 25 as recommended. Remember, I had 5 times the recommended fish portions.

    Reply

    • Thanks so much for sharing, Nina! Love your tip about how you split the work…sauting earlier and then finishing the fish just before company arrived. Thank you!

      Reply

  17. Easy and delicious. The time-honored combination of olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice does it again. It requires great self control not to eat more than one serving. I served it over Persian Jeweled Rice. Fantastic!

    Reply

  18. It’s going to be my go to fish dish for dinner. It was so easy and tasted sooooooo good! Loved it !

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  19. I was looking for something different to do with Cod. This was so good, I had to stop myself from eating too much. I paired it with a simple salad.
    Also posted my picture and have been asked to share this recipe!
    Thanks!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  21. Can you tell me what the cooking time/temperature was for the previous version of the recipe where the fish was not pan-seared? That version always worked perfectly for me!

    Thank you 🙂

    Reply

  25. I’ve made this two weeks in a row and I’m doing it a third time. So much flavor, very rich but hard to get sick of it! Thanks for posting!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  26. I made this with plain rice and a Greek salad today. Ended up using smoked paprika instead of sweet as the small one was tired and screamy. It was pretty easy and the result was really tasty – a little longer in the oven didn’t harm it as the j uices kept it so moist. I love the lemon and spice flavour, and the 3yo was happy too.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  27. I made this tonight. This may be my favorite fish recipe ever! The flavors are outstanding. Thank you as I’m always looking for creative ways to make fish. This will be on a weekly rotation for some time to come.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  31. Wow! Loved this recipe! Served it with a warm quinoa salad and roasted veggies. Look forward to trying more for the site. Thank you!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  32. oops, forgot the stars.
    served over a bed of baby spinach. looked lovely and was delicious.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  35. Love this. Even my boyfriend, who isn’t keen on fish, raved over it and asked to have again.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  36. Could frozen fish be used instead of thawed/fresh? I’ve heard you can bake fish while frozen but haven’t tried it yet!

    Reply

  37. Loved it!! I’ve been searching for new ideas and your website and recipes within look impressive, right up my street! can’t wait to try other recipes!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  38. I googled “cod recipe” and your site came up. This was delicious! I’ll be back for more!

    ★★★

    Reply

  39. Delicious. It’s now a family staple. I serve it with steamed brown rice and quinoa and a salad or green beans. Thank you.

    Reply

  41. Simple and delicious…my family loved it so we will definitely be having this again!!! I did change the parsley to capers…just love them. The only thing I would alter is the lemon juice… I am going to use 3 instead of 5 next time. Thanks so much for posting your recipes!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  43. Excellent! We added some capers, olive tapanade, and dill to finish it in the oven. Cod was moist and flavorful.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  44. Thanks for the great recipe. I made this tonight for my wife from some cod we caught in Alaska We both loved it. I’m definately going to make this a regular meal at our table.
    As an amateur home cook I’m now interested in Mediterranean cooking.
    Thanks again

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  45. Great recipe! Even the kids enjoyed it. Simple, yet flavorful. Served with white rice, buttered cabbage and corn on the cob. Bookmarked this and will be making it again in the future. Thanks for sharing!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  46. This fish recipe was great! My daughter took one bite and said “This is a keeper!” We liked the flavor so much I made it with chicken breast later in the week. I doubled the coating for the amount of chicken we had and added some chicken broth to the lemon juice mixture prior to pouring it over top. Great stuff. Thanks!

    ★★★★★

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  47. Would you happen to have a variation of this sauce or a similar sauce recipe? Dairy allergies in this household. Thanks much!

    Reply

  48. This was SO good! Made as directed but I didn’t have coriander so I substituted oregano. Served on top of garlic mashed with roasted carrots. Spooned that delightful sauce over everything. Absolutely divine! This is going into the regular rotation for sure. Thanks for the great recipe!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  49. We made this tonight for dinner and it was delicious. I might try it with a little less olive oil and lemon juice next time, but this recipe is a keeper. Thanks for sharing!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  50. I love this recipe. It’s so easy and quick to make but diorama taste that way. Really good served with roasted root veggies!

    ★★★★★

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  51. I prepared this. It was easy and delicious. I added breadcrumbs on top. I served it with sautéed red bell peppers and a salad and boiled potato.

    Reply

  52. This was such flavorful dish. My wife and I enjoyed it so much. I had it with cauliflower rice (seasoned with cumin and corriander) and sauted asparagus in a ginger garlic paste.

    Only issue was the flour coating didn’t really adhere well to the fish. It formed like a paste. So that was a little awkward. Maybe you have a tip.

    ★★★★

    Reply

    • Great to hear you enjoyed it, Bobby! Hmmm…well, the coating isn’t meant to be crispy necessarily given the lemon juice mixture the fish cooks in. I’ll keep this in mind when I make it again…if I encounter this issue and have a tip for you, I’ll report back 🙂

      Reply

    • I had same problem in that flour mixture became pasty after dipping a couple of filets. Next time I will just dredge fish in flour mixture and then saute. Otherwise, incredible flavor!

      Reply

  55. Love this! I’ve never made cod before but i’m trying to eat more fish so I’m really looking forward to trying it out!

    Reply

  58. this was amazing. Very easy dish to make with few ingredients, but the taste was great! Will be making again. Thank you for the recipe.

    Reply

  59. Omg!!! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe , this is the best of best fish I have ate in my life even my mom fish eater husband ate it with me ! Simply delicious ?

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  60. Simply put, absolutely amazing fish recipe. Served with roasted sweet potatoes with honey and cinnamon, and asparagus and a Greek salad. Wouldn’t change a thing about the recipe

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  63. Thank you for this recipe. It was flavorful but not really crispy. I served it w plain quinoa and vegetables. The combo was perfect. Tasty and light.
    We enjoyed it and had the leftovers for lunch today. I want to make it again, but want to Improve the recipe prep. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I am looking forward to perusing your many recipes.
    Carole W.

    Reply

    • Hey Carole! Glad to hear you enjoyed the flavors! So this baked cod is not going to end up super crispy because we have the lemon sauce going on. I have a couple more fish recipes here (I believe a trout recipe and a pan seared halibut) which would be more on the crispy side.

      Reply

  64. Wonderful dish! I did add a few additional cloves of garlic. We Italians love our garlic. Thanks for sharing this recipe. It was a crowd pleaser.

    Reply

    • Pepper, so glad you enjoyed it! Yes, you don’t want to over-cook this fish, so you’ll want to watch according to the thickness of the fish fillets etc. Thank you for sharing!

      Reply

  66. Don’t try this with a 2 year old and a dog running around ?. The flavor was great but visually it was lacking mostly because I kept getting interrupted lol. I’ll try again when they are a little calmer.

    Reply

  69. We enjoyed this delicious and beautiful dish, which is great as is. I think that next time I might try two tweaks for even crispier crust:
    1. Sear the fish in canola oil at a higher temperature. 2. Then broil briefly instead of baking.
    Words to the wise though: Be careful that your spatula doesn’t knock off part of the breading when you flip the fish while the pan is on the burner.
    And don’t overcook the fish in the oven or else it will get tough.

    ★★★★★

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  70. Nice recipe and I will make again, now that I have a better sense of cooking time too. Next time I will sear for about 2 min per side, then cook for about 5 minutes in the oven, then finish in the broiler. TMy fish wasn’t crispy enough tonight when I did about 1 min per side in the pan before baking. However the flavors are very good. I actually forgot to add olive oil to the butter/lemon juice mixture, but didn’t miss it. Thanks for the recipe!

    ★★★★

    Reply

    • Anna, so glad you enjoyed the flavors! Ovens vary quite a bit, so it’s been great for me to hear how others might tweak this recipe to their liking and their needs. Thanks for sharing your ideas!

      Reply

    • Hi Clara, great question! Up in the post, see the section titled “WHAT TO SERVE WITH THIS BAKED COD RECIPE?” You’ll be able to click on links for recommended recipes there. Greek salad and Lebanese rice are two great options. See both recipes here on our site.

      Reply

  72. I tried this on short notice – happened to have cod on hand. It was a delicious recipe! I changed the 3/4 teaspoon ingredients to 1 teaspoon. It turned out rather spicy with that little change – next time, will take time to measure out 3/4 tsp of these ingredients! I felt the lemon flavor got overpowered a little bit – hopefully the spice adjustment will make the difference to letting the lemon stand out.

    ★★★★

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  73. I cooked this terrific recipe , my wife loved it too ! Cod is usually so tasteless and bland, but the cumin and coriander and garlic , pepper really brought the taste out ! and by the way Suzy, we are Jewish and kosher,too.

    ★★★★★

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  75. I made this dish for my husband last night and it was outstanding! As he said, this is the best Cod he has ever had. Thank you! Really yummy!

    ★★★★★

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  77. I made this for my wife who is an excellent cook. This was the best Cod we’ve ever had.

    ★★★★★

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  79. My wife and I (73) were both retired and then she co-started a ceramics-art studio. Since she works more than full time, I took over most of the cooking. My strategy is to find something marked down at Kroger, then come home and fin a recipe for it. Scored a pack of beautiful cod loins. Used this recipe. The hardest part was cooking the brown rice, added steamed broccoli.
    This was a smashing hit! Fast and simple.

    Reply

  80. Great flavors and the fish came out perfectly. My topping was soggy. Make sure you mince the garlic very small – I left mine too big and it was quite pungent

    ★★★★

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  81. I made this yesterday, and it was really goodddddd ? but the flour was little bit like paste after 12 minutes (maybe mine too watery) so I separated the sauce and the fish, and I bake the fish another 5 minutes to dry the flour. The color is beautiful, brownish. I ate with long grain rice that I cooked with chicken broth, garlic, and onion. Gonna make it again, thanks Suzy:)

    Reply

  82. My wife, who is an excellent cook made this last night. The flavors were magnificent, but the coating was not crisp and was rather pastey.

    ★★★

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    • Hi, Steve! Thanks so much for giving this one a try. Although I got a bit of a different result, I went back and retested to ensure better results for everyone. I’ve added step #5, where you do a quick pan-sear before adding the juice and baking. See if that might do better for you. Thanks again. I really appreciate it.

      Reply

  83. I love the flavors of this dish, but my coating was pasty and gooey. Should I have been pan seared instead of baking?

    Reply

  84. I made this last night and my wife — a fabulous cook herself — flipped out, declaring it possibly the best thing I’ve ever made. I preheated the iron skillet and baked the fish for 12 minutes. Browned nicely and was very tender.

    ★★★★★

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  85. I made this last night and it was delicious! I think next time I may give my fish a quick fry before I drizzle the lemon mixture but that’s just because I wanted a little more crunch. The color was beautiful and the flavors were light and zesty. I will definitely make this again!

    ★★★★★

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  86. I made this last night and it was delicious! The picture of the browned cod drew me in. But mine did not brown at all, and the flour was a little paste like. Did I miss something? Thanks so very much!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Kristen, so glad you enjoyed it! I am not sure what might be missing for it to brown, except that ovens act differently. i would say, maybe try and broil it very briefly to give it some color if you need to, but you want to be careful not to overcook it.

      Reply

  87. Made this last week and, as you recommended, served it with your Lebanese rice (though I added chicken stock instead of plain water, and some diced onion and minced garlic to jazz it up – I’m sadly allergic to pinenuts…). My husband has declared it possibly the *best* cod he’s ever eaten! To make coating less messy when cooking with young’uns, I threw the flour and spices into a large Ziploc bag and just shook up the fish. SO good!!! Just love that Cod is so versatile and adapts so well to these great flavors!

    ★★★★★

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  88. I made this for a dinner party tonight, and it was a big hit. We all loved the strong flavors of garlic and lemon. The extra sauce was perfect over spiralized zucchini and roasted grape tomatoes.

    ★★★★★

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  89. Wow!! Made this for dinner last night using some Basa and it was delicious!! Fast and easy and just yummy. Served it with some fried rice. It will be one of my “go to” fish recipes. Thanks so much for all you do.

    Reply

  90. This recipe is delicious! I had it with basmati/vermicelli rice and green beans with tomatoes….just wonderful, all flavors were well balanced…

    Reply