Let the oven do the work with this hands-off Baked Cod dish that’s packed with lean protein and bright citrus flavor.
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Some recipes are so complicated that when you’re finished cooking, it looks like you’ve used a dozen ingredients from the pantry and dirtied every pot in your kitchen.
Not this simple, streamlined, and mostly hands-off recipe for baked cod, which requires just 10 minutes of prep. Just chop some garlic and sage, and slice up a couple lemons. Add them to a baking pan along with cod and cherry tomatoes with a few pantry staples, and bake. Garnish the colorful dish with briny, flavor-packed capers and dinner is ready for the table!
Along with our Salmon Nicoise Salad, Easy Seared Scallops, and Pan-Fried Butter Snapper, it’s one of our favorite go-to fish and seafood recipes!
Why You’ll Love This Baked Cod
- Just 10 minutes of prep: your oven does most of the work!
- Just 213 calories and 7g of fat per serving, with 27g of protein
- Easy to scale up or down
- Recipe adapts to different kinds of fish, veggies, and herbs
Baked Cod Recipe Ingredients
It doesn’t take a lot of ingredients to make a satisfying meal of fish, veggies, citrus, and herbs that can be a full meal on its own.
- Cod – lean, protein-packed cod is the foundation of this recipe
- Cherry tomatoes – the petite tomatoes soften and become more concentrated as they bake
- Garlic – a few cloves add big flavor
- Sage – chopped sage adds a nice and fresh herbaceousness
- Lemons – thinly-sliced lemon rounds have bright citrus flavor, and help keep the fish from drying out
- Capers – add a hit of briny flavor that brings everything together
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Baked Cod Recipe Variations
While we are sure that this recipe is top-notch, we also understand that you may want to switch things up according to your specific tastes and preferences. Here are a few variations to try:
- Leave Out the Tomatoes – if you don’t have (or don’t like) tomatoes, feel free to leave them out of the recipe.
- Swap the Tomatoes – if you want to leave out the tomatoes, but still want a veggie-loaded dish, add another sturdy veggie instead: Brussels sprouts, asparagus, diced sweet potatoes, fennel, or baby potatoes would all work great here.
- Change Up the Seasonings – leave out the sage and use your favorite seasoning instead. Parsley, dill, chives, or oregano would all taste great.
How to Make Oven Baked Cod
With virtually no prep time needed, this dish could not be simpler to make. Here’s how you’ll throw this delicious, healthy dish together (with just a few simple ingredients) in no time flat!
Step 1: Preheat the Oven to 325°F. Add the cod fillet(s) to a 9×13 inch baking dish and spread the tomatoes around it, then drizzle the 2 tbsp of olive oil over both the fish fillets and the tomatoes.
Step 2: Sprinkle the teaspoon of sea salt, sliced garlic, and tablespoon of fresh, chopped sage over the cod and tomatoes and rub it into the cod, then top the garlic and sage rubbed cod with the sliced lemons. Bake until the cod flakes apart easily
Step 3: Bake for 45 minutes, until the cod flakes apart easily with a fork, then garnish with capers and serve.
Recipe Tip
No time to defrost your fish? No problem. You can bake the fish straight from the freezer. Just add a few minutes of cook time and make sure the fish is cooked through before serving.
How to Serve Baked Cod
We love this cod served alongside (or on top of) our Lemony Garlic Parmesan Pasta. We actually designed the pasta specifically for this baked cod dish (though it would be delicious with so much more than just cod). If you’d like to throw a simple green veggie side in also, these simple sauteed green beans are a great choice, as is this Lemon Sea Salt Arugula Salad.
How to Store and Reheat
What’s the saying: fish and houseguests start to stink after three days? Fresh is always best when it comes to fish, so we wouldn’t even give it that long. Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container and eat them the next day if possible — two tops.
To reheat the fish and veggies, place them in an ovenproof dish. If you’d like, add a splash of white wine or veggie stock to keep the fish moist, then cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 325 F until a tester or knife inserted into the middle of the fish comes out warm.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cod is loaded with lean protein, vitamins, and minerals, and it’s lower in mercury than other common, easily accessible fish (think: tuna). So it’s a healthy addition to your diet. Because it’s a leaner fish, it is lower in omega-3 fatty acids than fattier fish (think: salmon), but still an excellent protein to keep in the rotation.
We chose to slow roast the cod here because we’ve found that not only does it produce the most tender, flaky fish, but it also really helps to build the flavor of the cod, allowing the olive oil, garlic, sage, and lemon juice to really infuse the cod filets.
Just as it sounds, wild seafood is caught in its natural environment, most of the ocean and farmed seafood is raised on farms. We opt for wild-caught seafood for a few reasons:
Because wild fish consume a more diverse diet than farm-raised fish, they’re often the richer flavored option.
Because wild-caught fish get to swim and move as they were intended to, they’re often much leaner than farmed-raised fish and tend to have a better nutritional profile too.
Farmed fish are also more likely to contain contaminants than wild-caught fish. For all of these reasons, we opt for wild-caught seafood whenever possible.
Depending on how the seafood is farmed, wastewater runoff from farms can contaminate freshwater nearby.
Just because seafood is wild-caught doesn’t necessarily mean it is sustainable! The aim of sustainable fishing is to prevent overfishing, respect natural habitats, and ensure that there will be populations of ocean and freshwater wildlife available in the future.
More of Our Best Fish Recipes
If you tried thisLemon-Garlic Baked Cod, or any other recipe on the Fed & Fit website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Lemon Garlic Baked Cod with Cherry Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds cod
- 2 pints cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped sage
- 2 lemons thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons capers for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F.
- Place the cod in a 9×13 inch baking dish and spread the tomatoes around it, then drizzle the olive oil over both the cod and the tomatoes.
- Sprinkle the sea salt, sliced garlic, and sage over the cod and tomatoes and rub it into the cod, then top the cod with the sliced lemons.
- Bake for 45 minutes, until the cod flakes apart easily with a fork, then garnish with capers and serve.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
I have been loving all of your recipes very much, so when I saw this one, I had to try it. I’ve gotta be honest, however, I was very skeptical about baking fish for 45 minutes, even if it was at a low temperature. Kudos!! This was freaking delicious! Very flavorful, very beautiful and succulent. The fish came out at 125 degrees so I let it sit in the pan, out of the oven, for about ten minutes before we dug in. Thanks for another great recipe!!
I’m so glad, Latia! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
I made this today and it was wonderful. I live cod but don’t think I’ve ever attempted to cook it myself. This was so easy to assemble and bake. I think I will try it with salmon too if I have that on hand next. Thanks Fed and Fit team!
So glad you loved it, Sara! Thanks so much for the comment!
This recipe looks amazing and I have lots of cherry tomatoes and lemons I need to use up. Only problem, I don’t have Cod! Do you think this would work with Salmon? I have lots of salmon!
Definitely! This would be really delicious with salmon!
Thanks Brandi! We tried it with the salmon and it was wonderful. My kids even ate it all 😉
That’s awesome! I’m going to have to try it with salmon soon!