An Easy Baked Cod recipe perfect for a healthy, high protein, lean dinner any night of the week. Season it up with your favorite seasonings for a delicious, nourishing meal!
In hot pursuit of an ultra nutritious dinner recipe that gives you intense health benefits without much effort?
Welcome, m’dear, to that very recipe!
Baked cod is your ticket to an easy, pleasy evening in. You get a healthy dinner that is somewhat fancy that requires hardly any time! Let’s talk more about the nutrient profile.
Health Benefits of Cod:
Did you know cod is super high in protein and super low in fat? If you’re looking to up your protein game and are conscious of your fat intake, cod is a marvelous lean protein source. Plus, you get vitamins and minerals (specifically, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6, selenium, and phosphorous), making cod nutrient-dense fuel for your body.
6 ounces of cod contains 30 grams of protein, 140 calories, 0 grams of carbohydrate, and just over 1 gram of fat.
Can you even believe it??
The small amount of fat the cod does have is rich in omega-3 fatty acids (as opposed to omega-6), which is marvelous for brain health, hormone health, digestion, etc. In addition, cod is lower in mercury than many other types of fish or seafood (like tuna).
Aside from its health benefits, I love that cod is very light and subtle in flavor (in other words, it’s not fishy), which makes it very easy to flavor to your heart’s delight.
For this rendition of Baked Cod, I went with paprika, turmeric, garlic powder, dried parsley, sea salt and black pepper for a flavorful AND immunity-boosting meal.
Do note: if you’re new to turmeric, avoid using too much of it as it has a bitter flavor! You don’t want to shower it on all willy nilly the way you can with most seasonings, because it may just make your meal a little…well…bleh.
How to Make Easy Baked Cod:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and add a small amount of oil to the bottom of a casserole dish (I use avocado oil). Use your fingers to spread it around – this ensures the cod doesn’t stick to the dish.
Place the cod in the casserole dish and drizzle with avocado oil. Use your fingers to spread it all over the fish so that all of the flesh is covered with a small layer of oil. Sprinkle with sea salt, paprika, turmeric, dried parsley, and black pepper (or seasonings of choice).
Place the cod on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until fish is cooked through. Cook time will vary depending on the thickness of the fish! You’ll know it is fully cooked when all of the fish is opaque, completely white and flakes easily.
Remove from the oven and serve with your favorite side dishes.
I enjoy eating cod with sauteed or roasted vegetables and steamed rice. If you want to get fancy, you can drizzle everything with teriyaki sauce or homemade sauce of choice!
How to Adjust The Quantity of Fish:
I use about 1 teaspoon of seasoning per 1/3 pound of fish. If you’re looking to scale up or down the amount of cod you make, simply use this amount. You can also pick the seasonings you like and sprinkle them on without measuring! If you’re using 1 pound of fish, you’re looking at about 1 tablespoon of seasoning.
Suggested Seasonings:
When I bake cod or any fish, these are the seasonings I reach for. I usually pick 3 to 4 from the seasonings below:
- Garlic powder
- Onion Powder
- Paprika
- Dried Oregano
- Dried Parsley
- Ground Turmeric
- Ground Ginger
- Ground Cumin
- Chili Powder / Curry powder
- Sea salt and/or black pepper
Customize to your heart’s delight!
How to Marinate Cod:
This recipe is for a simple dry rub, but you can also marinate cod in virtually any marinade for even more flavor. To do so, place the cod fillets in a seal-able container (glass tupperware) or ziplock bag.
Pour marinade over the fillets, seal the container or bag, and move it around until everything is well coated in marinade. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes (ideally 1 to 2 hours), or up to 8 hours.
When you’re ready to cook, bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes!
I use about 1/2 cup of marinade per 1 pound of fish, but you can adjust this amount based on what you have and also based on how flavorful you want the fish to be.
I have a recipe involving marinated cod coming soon! 😉
Make it Low-FODMAP by omitting the garlic powder. Make it AIP by omitting the paprika!
More Healthy Cod Recipes:
- Cod Salad with Basil Walnut Pesto
- Lemon Dill Cod in Parchment Paper
- Fish en Papillote with Butter and Lemon
Enjoy this delicious high protein, low fat dinner recipe!
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Easy Baked Cod
Ingredients
- 1 pound cod cut into 3 or 4 fillets
- 1 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 tsp paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp sea salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and add a small amount of avocado oil to the bottom of a casserole dish. Use your fingers to spread it around. This ensures the cod doesn't stick to the bottom of the dish!
- Place the cod fillets in the casserole dish and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of avocado oil. Use your fingers to smear the oil around until all of the fish is well coated.
- Sprinkle with with ground turmeric, paprika, dried parsley, sea salt and black pepper (or seasonings of choice!)
- Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until fish is cooked through. You'll know fish is fully cooked when it flakes easily and is completely white.
- Serve with choice of side dishes and enjoy!
The flake on this fish is to DIE for. I can never seem to get fish texture right when I bake it, but this recipe changed that for me. We’re trying to transition the kids out of fish sticks and into slightly more “adult” foods, and this was a great recipe for exactly that purpose!
I’m so happy you enjoy the recipe and that your kids are liking it too!! xoxo
Icelandic cod is sustainably harvested in a well-regulated environment and would work well with this recipe.
Where did you source your cod?