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 flavors! Be sure to watch the video below and grab my tips for what to serve along and how to store leftovers.
You may also like: Easy Seafood Paella; Mediterranean Whole Snapper with Garlic and Veggies; Grilled Shrimp with Roasted Garlic Cilantro Sauce; Greek Chicken and Potatoes.
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 steamed salmon or today’s baked cod recipe with lemon and garlic.
Why this Cod Recipe Works?
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.
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.
Can I refrigerate or freeze leftovers?
When I make this baked cod recipe, I don’t typically have leftovers. But, a reader recently asked this relevant question as she cooks for fewer people. The answer is yes, you can store the leftovers either in the fridge or even in the freezer.
First, cool the fish a bit, but don’t leave it in room temperature for more than 1 hour before refrigerating or freezing. Arrange the cod in a shallow glass container with a tight lid and refrigerate for 2 to 3 days. If you need to warm it up, simply use a medium heated oven until just warmed through.
Generally, cooked fish can be frozen for up to 1 month. My personal preference is not to freeze it, I do feel that the texture of the fish changes a little.
Here’s the video for how to make this baked cod recipe:
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Mediterranean Baked Cod Recipe with Lemon and Garlic
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 12 mins
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
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Pin RecipeDescription
Best baked cod recipe out there! Prepared Greek style with a few spices and a mixture of lemon juice, olive oil and lots of garlic. Bakes in 15 mins!
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
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 3/4 tsp sweet Spanish paprika
- 3/4 tsp ground cumin
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Mix lemon juice, olive oil, and melted butter in a shallow bowl. Set aside
- In another shallow bowl, mix all-purpose flour, spices, salt and pepper. Set next to the lemon juice mixture.
- Pat fish fillet dry. Dip fish in the lemon juice mixture then dip in the flour mixture. Shake off excess flour. Reserve the lemon juice mixture for later.
- Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat (watch the oil to be sure it is shimmering 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.
- To the remaining lemon juice mixture, add the minced garlic and mix. Drizzle all over the fish fillets.
- 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.
- Serving suggestions: Serve immediately with Lebanese rice and this Mediterranean chickpea salad or this traditional Greek salad.
Notes
- Cook’s Tip: This recipe has been edited adding step #5 to achieve more color. Be sure to use a fish spatula to carefully turn the fish in the skillet.
- Leftover Storage: If you have any leftovers, let the fish cool a bit, then arrange in a shallow glass container with a tight lid. You can refrigerate for 2 to 3 days, or freeze for up to one month. My personal preference is not to freeze fish as, sometimes, the texture does change.
- Recommended for this Recipe: Our Private Reserve Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil (from organically grown and processed Koroneiki olives). SAVE! Try our Greek Olive Oil Bundle!
- And from our organic and all-natural spice collections: Coriander; Spanish Paprika; Cumin. SAVE! Try our Ultimate Mediterranean Spice Bundle, or create your own 6-pack or 3-pack or our organic or all-natural spice collections!
- Category: Entree
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Greek
Keywords: Baked Cod, Cod Recipe, Baked Cod Recipe, Cod Fish
Great.my family were well impressed they were surprised by their dad,it looked brilliant when it came to the table and it tasted great.
Way to go, Jim!!!! 🙂
Adding this to the rotation! I recently discovered the Mediterranean Dish and have really enjoyed browsing through this blog. Easy to follow instructions and straight to the point recipes, which is refreshing given how many are accessible online; sometimes you just have to get the food on the table and I was happy it was this one! Finally, I have never left a comment on a food blog before (I have used many recipes from many blogs 🙂 but I truly felt connected to this one and though a shout-out was much deserved! Thank you Suzy, I can’t wait to try many more of your delicious, easy to follow, simply sweet recipes!
★★★★★
Thank you so much, Chelsea! What a kind comment. I am so glad to have you here and glad the recipes are working out well for you!
This dish was a winner with my family! We had one more at the table and I wasn’t sure if I had enough fish, so I added some shrimp (dredged in the lemon/butter as well as flour). We like lemon, so I finely diced about 2 T of lemon rind and sauteed that with the garlic.
Served with crunchy stir fried string beans.
I will definitely serve this again.
Thank you!
★★★★★
So glad, Emily! And thank you so much for sharing your ideas!
The flavor on this was excellent, but for some reason the coating became soggy and greasy in the pan. Maybe I didn’t have the temp high enough when I seared it. I’ll try again and hope for better results.
★★★
Thanks for sharing, Tara! I hope you do give it another try!
We loved this dish! I’m not sure if the proportions were identical to the recipe, as I’m an experienced cook, and I tend to eyeball things. I used green garlic as that’s what came in my farm box, and I chopped some dill in with the parsley, because that’s what I had available. One concern I had was a fear that if I used my cast iron pan, it might smell like fish afterwards. Fortunately the flour/spice crust prevented the fish from “leaking” onto the pan, so no fishy odor at all! Will definitely make again soon!
Thanks, Thorina! Glad you enjoyed it!
Made this for dinner tonight. Delicious! However, our fish did not have the char on them and they were actually “wet.” What did we do wrong. Fish ended up breaking up and mushy. However, flavor was amazing. Will do again to hopefully get it right next time.
★★★★★
Hi Susan, this fish isn’t necessarily meant to be crunchy, given the lemony sauce used to bake. It turns out delicate and tender with lots of flavor as you indicated. So you did not do anything wrong! The color is attributed to the bit of searing in step #5.
Made this for dinner tonight. We had some sustainably caught wild cod from Sea2Table. We decided this was the recipe we wanted to use for our cod. We very much enjoyed the recipe. However, it was quite tangy and the garlic got a little too charred for my taste. I think next time I will reduce the lemon a bit and add the garlic to the oven skillet 2-3 minutes before coming out of the oven so it is more sautéed than charred. Loved the parsley; such a refreshing herb.
In my experience, cod should NEVER be overcooked since that can make the fish chewy. So I have a tip to offer: what might help is to take the skillet out of the oven a few minutes earlier and allow the fish to slowly finish cooking off heat on top of the stove. I do this with a lot of my fish, which also makes checking for doneness easier than continuing to open the oven and taking the fish out. This technique works like a charm. Thought I would share this tip.
Overall, this is a beautiful recipe and I will definitely make is again with minor adjustments to meet my personal taste preferences. I look forward to trying more of your recipes. Thanks so much.
Thanks so much for sharing you tips, Joy!!
Quick opener: I found fresh, highest-sustainability-rating Atlantic cod for $9 a pound at Whole Foods. Score! Some Atlantic Cod is way overfished, some isn’t, putting in a good word here for sustainability, because I want to eat this dish in 50 years too 🙂
Great recipe, thank you! The spice blend was perfect. I skipped the butter and used cilantro rather than parsley. I put the cooked fish on a bed of good mixed greens. Lastly I roasted then smashed with a fork some fingerling potatoes, spooned the juices from cast iron pan on them. It turned out great.
That sounds great, Miles! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Just made this for dinner tonight and it was loved by ALL, including my four year-old! I had orange roughy ready to go, so used that instead of cod and whole wheat flour. It was delicious and easy! In fact, I’m going to make it again tomorrow with using the cod with a kale and rice salad. Thank you for the recipe.
★★★★★
Yay! Love getting a thumbs up from the kiddos! Thanks, Q!
Delicious recipe but my garlic turned blue-green? What did I do wrong?
Hi, Anne! That is a little chemical reaction that sometimes happens when the garlic meets lemon/butter. As long as you don’t notice any signs of actual spoilage on the garlic, then it would still be okay to eat, despite the color change.
Easy to follow fast fish recipe. Well liked by my family.
★★★★★
That’s great to hear, Barbara! Thanks so much!
Tried the recipe tonight as I had two frozen cod filet’s in freezer which weren’t totally thawed at time of making. They turned out okay other than being a bit moist when pan frying. I will try making them again. Made some millet and broccoli and salad to go with so truly a Mediterranean meal!
★★★★
That sounds like a great dinner! 🙂
I really enjoyed making this dish, thank you for sharing you talents and culture with us. This tasted fantastic! I threw some onions and cabbage in the skillet juices and sauteed. Your the only cook I follow. 😊
★★★★
Ooooo! Sounds good! Thanks for sharing!
What is the difference between regular paprika and the spanish? Will it change the flavor of the dish?
★★★★★
Hi, Tina! Regular “Paprika” and SWEET Spanish Paprika are the same. You can use either without changing the flavor of the dish. SMOKED Spanish Paprika has a smokey flavor that would alter the taste.
Hi Suzy
There is no video link for this dish
Kind Regards
Tom
Hi Tom, the video appears right above the actual recipe card. If you would try a different browser, it may show up for you. Depending on browser settings, sometimes the videos are blocked for some reason.
VERY delicious! And so easy!! Next time might add a pinch more paprika and a bit more butter as ours turned out super tangy. But absolutely going to make this again many times over!!
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks so much!
too oily and buttery
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