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This easy cod bake is a simple fish dish, bursting with flavours of coriander, lime, garlic and chilli. It’s all made in one pan and baked in the oven. Brilliant for a quick, hands-off dinner. It works great with any chunky white fish and salmon too!
“Brilliant recipe, packed with flavour. Enjoyed squeezing the lime slices on top. Thank you for sharing, will be trying some other recipes soon!”
Nicky’s Notes
Did someone say Fish Friday?
This is a lovely recipe for when you want a lighter dinner, but you still want plenty going on flavour-wise. The coriander and lime bring that fresh, zingy lift, the garlic gives it warmth, and the chilli flakes add just enough background heat without taking over.
I’m always trying to get more fish into our meals, and this is one of those recipes that makes it feel easy. It doesn’t need a creamy sauce or a breadcrumb mountain to make it exciting, just a punchy paste, a few store-cupboard spices and an oven.
I do think cod can have a tendency to be a little bit flavourless, so it really needs some punchy ingredients to make it sing. The amazing flavour combo of garlic, coriander, lime and chilli does just that.
Table of Contents
Why This Cod Bake Works
The big win here is that the cod gets flavour from two directions.
First, there’s the fresh coriander-lime paste. It gives the fish moisture and that lovely herby citrus flavour. Then the dry mix adds savoury seasoning, a hint of smokiness, a little warmth and a subtle crunch from the sesame seeds.
Because cod is mild, it doesn’t fight with the flavours — it soaks them up beautifully. The oven does the rest, gently cooking the fish until it flakes apart with a fork.
📋 Ingredients for Cod Bake
Note on the fish
I used fresh cod fillets, but you can use any chunky white fish like Pollack or Haddock or you could even use salmon.
🧑🍳 Abbreviated Recipe
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card below***
Make the dry mix by combining the seasonings, sesame seeds and chilli flakes, then blend the coriander paste and spread it over and around the cod fillets. Sprinkle over the dry mix, add lime slices and a drizzle of oil, then bake for 14–16 minutes before finishing with fresh coriander.
Pro Tips
- Don’t overcook the cod fillets, keep an eye on them after the first 10 minutes, to ensure they are cooked through but remain moist and juicy.
Pin this now to find it later
Pin ItThe flavour paste gives the cod a gorgeous little crust, keeping the inside soft and the juices just need some good bread to mop up with (or potatoes would be good too).
🍽️ What to serve it with
- Creamy Mashed Potatoes
- A Simple Green Salad
- Crispy Smashed Potatoes
- Cauliflower Fried Rice
- Homemade Artisan Bread
A lovely light dinner, that I most often serve a salad, so I’ve got plenty of room for dessert (Sticky Toffee Pudding anyone?).
📺 Watch how to make it
Easy Cod Bake Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 skinless cod fillets about 600g or 1.3lbs altogether
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp ground coriander
- ¼ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp mixed black and white sesame seeds
- ½ tsp chilli flakes
- 1 lime sliced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Coriander Lime Paste:
- 50 g (1 1/4 packed cups) fresh coriander (cilantro) roughly torn or chopped
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- juice of 1 lime about 2 tbsp
To Serve:
- small bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220C/425F (fan).
- Place the cod fillets in a baking dish.4 skinless cod fillets
- Mix together the salt, pepper, ground coriander, paprika, sesame seeds, and chilli flakes and put to one side. This is your dry mixture.¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp black pepper, ¼ tsp ground coriander, ¼ tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp mixed black and white sesame seeds, ½ tsp chilli flakes
- Make the coriander lime paste by placing the coriander, garlic, olive oil, and lime juice in a mini food processor and pulse until fairly finely chopped. Alternatively, you can finely chop the coriander, and mix it with the other sauce ingredients.50 g (1 1/4 packed cups) fresh coriander (cilantro), 3 cloves minced garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil, juice of 1 lime
- Spread the coriander lime paste on and around the cod fillets.
- Sprinkle the dry mixture over the cod fillets.
- Arrange slices of lime around the cod.1 lime
- Drizzle on the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil.2 tbsp olive oil
- Place in the oven for 14-16 minutes, until the cod is cooked through.
- Serve topped with fresh coriander.small bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro)
Video
Notes
Can I make it ahead?
Fresh fish its always best eaten freshly cooked so it’s lovely and juicy. I wouldn’t recommend making this recipe ahead. However, you can make the dry mix ahead. You could also make the paste up to a day ahead (it will start to lose it’s lovely green colour if made too far ahead).Ingredient swaps
Try swapping the cod for haddock or salmon. You could also add some fresh breadcrumbs to the dry sprinkle mix for a crispy topping.How to scale up and scale down this recipe
This recipe can be doubled up for a crowd or halved for two people, sticking to the same ingredient ratios. Nutritional information is approximate, per portion (this recipe serves 4). This doesn’t include any servings suggestions of rice etc.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This cod bake recipe was first posted in Nov 2021. Updated since with recipe improvements and for housekeeping reasons.
🐟 More fantastic Fish recipes
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This was so delicious! I’d had a different recipe planned, but forgot a key ingredient, so took to the web to find an alternative. In this case, I was also missing a key ingredient, namely cilantro, but with a big pile of basil on my hands I used that instead. It was so good, and I can recommend the basil version as well! We are cilantro fans so will be trying it again with all the right ingredients – soon! Thank you for posting it.
I saw the suggestion to mop up the sauce with bread or potato, so after cooking I poured the leftover sauce on top of the fish. That was a big mistake! I found the sauce incredibly sour and bitter. Maybe this would be better had I not used the sauce, but I won’t be repeating any of this recipe to find out.
Brilliant recipe, packed with flavour. Enjoyed squeezing the lime slices on top. Thank you for sharing, will be trying some other recipes soon!