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Easy baked cod recipe with lemon, olive oil, salt and cayenne pepper. One of the best cod recipes baked in the oven. Moist, juicy with 5 mins prep time. So good!
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Baked Cod Recipe
Cod is my favorite fish, other than swai fish and tilapia.
Oven baked cod is one of the best fish recipes and the end result is always juicy and moist.
As cod fillets have very mild flavor, you only need a few ingredients such as lemon and olive oil to bake the fish.
Why This Recipe Works
This simple and healthy recipe is so easy and calls for four (4) seasonings to bring out the natural flavors of cod fish. The cooking process takes as little as five (5) minutes prep time.
It’s a great dinner idea for those busy weeknights, especially after a busy day at work and you just want to come home for a simple, healthy, and quick dinner.
Other fish Recipes You Might Like
Garlic Butter Fish
Baked Salmon
Lemon Butter Swai Fish
Lemon Parmesan Tilapia
Ingredients for Cod Fish Recipes
Fresh or frozen cod.
Olive oil.
Lemon juice.
Cayenne pepper.
How to Bake Cod?
To bake cod fillets in an oven, first you need a baking tray. I like using a glass baking tray.
You can also line a piece of aluminum foil on a baking sheet and place the fish on top of it before baking.
The perfect temperature for baking cod fish is 400°F or 205°C.
How long to bake cod? The answer is 10 – 12 minutes; the baking time for cod fish depends on the thickness of the fish.
DO NOT overcook the fish fillets or they will turn dry and rubbery.
Can I Use Frozen Cod Fillets?
Yes. Thaw the frozen cod fillet at room temperature before cooking. Do not cook frozen fish straight out of the freezer as the texture will be tough.
After thawing, do make sure you pat dry the fish fillets with paper towels to remove excess water inside the fish. This simple step will make sure that there is no cloudy “fish water” seeping out after baking, and the natural sweetness of cod will shine through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is It Healthy?
This recipe is healthy as cod fish is very low in fat. It’s high in lean protein and loaded with vitamin B-12, B3 (Niacin) and B6.
It has a lot of health benefits such as promoting heart wellness and brain functions. It’s also low in mercury.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This baked cod fish is only 286 calories per serving.
What to Serve with This Recipe?
Serve this dish with side dishes such as boiled potatoes. For a healthy meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Baked Cod (The Best Recipe!)
Easybaked cod recipewith lemon, olive oil, salt and cayenne pepper. One of the bestcod recipesbaked in the oven. Moist, juicy with 5 mins prep time. So good!
Try a gentle cooking method: Instead of adding fat, you can also try a gentle cooking method like steaming or cooking en papillote. Both of these methods help to preserve Pacific cod's high moisture content and produce incredibly tender results.
You don't have to defrost cod before cooking it as long os the fillets are around six ounces and under one-inch thickness. Anything larger and you should consider defrosting your cod first or else you'll risk uneven cooking throughout the cut.
Soaking is the most important step in preparing salt cod. Most recipes say to soak for 24 hours. However, this is risky and may leave the fish too salty. About 48 hours is a better bet.
Additionally, make sure the heat isn't too high and you use enough fat (e.g. olive oil, butter)/liquid (e.g. white wine, lemon juice) to keep it from sticking to the pan. If cod separates in pieces, it is overcooked. The flesh should still be slightly tender and in one piece.
Before cooking, soak the fish in milk for 20 minutes
In this scenario, the protein in the milk binds with the compounds that cause that fishy odor, in essence extracting if from the fish. What's left behind is sweet-smelling, brighter flesh with clean flavor. (Just make sure you pour that milk down the drain.
Overcooked fish loses its natural moisture, which can result in a dry and chewy texture. The proteins in the fish also begin to tighten, which can make the fish tough and rubbery. In addition, overcooked fish can have a severe lack of flavor, as the heat causes the natural oils in the fish to evaporate.
Another tip is to remove the fish from the fridge half an hour before cooking. The reason for this is that room-temperature fish loses less liquid during cooking than cold fish making it easier to avoid the fish becoming dry.
You can skip the thawing process altogether and cook frozen fish straight from the freezer. You'll have to add a few minutes to the cook time in your recipe to account for the lack of thawing, but you can poach, steam, bake, broil, or grill fish straight from the freezer!
It may sound bizarre, but, according to Epicurious, an effective way to combat fishiness is by soaking the protein in milk prior to cooking. To try this trick in your home kitchen, follow Cook's Illustrated's advice: before cooking, let your fish spend about 20 minutes sitting in milk to absorb any unwanted odors.
Salting fish, like sea bass fillets, before cooking helps to firm up the flesh and improves the texture. If you've travelled much in Spain or Portugal you will no doubt of seen salt cod, or bacalao on the menu – this is where the fish is covered in salt for days to remove all the moisture.
As fish cooks, proteins in the muscle fibers coagulate and the flesh changes from translucent to opaque in appearance. When the collagen softens in heat, it loses its structure and turns to gelatin; the muscle fibers have little to hold them together and the fish separates easily into flakes.
But more importantly, pan frying yields that deliciously browned exterior on both sides of the fish. Baking or steaming won't accomplish that same golden “crust.” Pro Tips for pan frying cod: Let fish sit at room temp in a colander to drain any excess water, particularly if your fish was previously frozen.
Using moist-heat cooking methods -- poaching, steaming, braising or baking in parchment paper or foil -- and avoiding overcooking help keep lean fish succulent and flavorful.
Abstract: Single molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization or smFISH with oligonucleotide probes is a prominent technique in the field of RNA detection; it is used in a variety of ways, from mapping organisms' development to identifying the presence of malignant genes with single molecule sensitivity.
Make sure to cook your fish in a way that doesn't overwhelm the flavor. The level of fat in the meat. Leaner types of seafood dry out more easily, which makes them better suited for wet cooking methods like steaming and poaching. Fatty fish like tuna and salmon, on the other hand, are ideal for grilling and roasting.
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