Easy Garlic Butter Baked Cod
Do you love garlic bread as much I as do? Like, do you keep it on hand in your freezer at all times? Then you’re going to love this Garlic Butter Baked Cod recipe. In my search for a more filling vehicle for that buttery garlic goodness (something that I wouldn’t be tempted to eat 16 pieces of in one sitting), I found some leftover cod fillets in my freezer that had “garlic butter” written all over them!
The mild, slightly rich flavor of a cod filet is the perfect base for the zesty fresh garlic and sweet, creamy butter. And as if this Garlic Butter Baked Cod wasn’t already perfect, it also happens to be incredibly fast and easy to make. Weeknight dinner perfection!
What’s In Garlic Butter Baked Cod
For this recipe, I literally took my basic Garlic Bread recipe and duplicated the topping (butter, olive oil, garlic, parsley, and salt). Then I added a pinch of paprika for color because baked cod is notoriously pale. I also happened to have a couple of lemons, so I sliced one up and added it to the baking dish for a nice bright flavor to balance the rich butter. It’s absolute flavor perfection and my mouth is watering just typing this!
Should I Use Frozen or Fresh Cod?
You can use fresh or frozen cod, whichever is available to you. If using frozen, make sure the cod fillets are fully thawed before topping with the butter mixture and baking.
How to Know When Cod is Done Baking
The time needed to bake your cod will depend on the thickness of the filet, but cod should be baked until it reaches an internal temperature of 145ºF. At this temperature, the flesh will be opaque and flakes easily with a fork. If you continue baking too long past this point the cod can get tough or rubbery.
My filets were a little on the thick side, so I baked them for about 20 minutes at 400ºF to reach that internal temperature. If you have thin filets, it may only take 15 minutes of baking. A simple electronic instant-read meat thermometer is really helpful for determining when the fish is finished baking. The one I use is linked in the bottom of the recipe card below.
Is Fresh Parsley a Must?
I don’t expect you to buy an entire bunch of parsley just for 1 Tbsp of chopped parsley for this recipe. If you don’t already have some on hand, you can either skip the fresh parsley, or use one teaspoon dried parsley in its place.
Is the Lemon Necessary?
While you can make this recipe without the lemon, the lemon does take the flavor to the next level, so get a lemon if you can! Single lemons can be expensive, so remember, you can freeze your whole lemons if you buy them by the bag!
What to Serve with Garlic Butter Baked Cod
I served my Garlic Butter Baked Cod with Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes, but I think it would also be awesome with:
P.S. I wrote the recipe below for just two servings because that’s all the cod I had left after testing, but you can easily increase it to four by changing the number of servings in the box below. It will automatically adjust the ingredients below to match.
Garlic Butter Baked Cod
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter (room temperature) ($0.26)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 1/8 tsp paprika ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp salt ($0.01)
- 1 Tbsp finely chopped parsley ($0.10)
- 8 oz. cod (two 4 oz. filets) ($2.48)
- 1 fresh lemon ($0.37)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. In a small bowl, combine the butter, olive oil, garlic, paprika, salt, and chopped parsley. Stir until it forms a fairly smooth paste.
- Take a small dollop of the garlic butter and spread it over the surface of a small baking dish to keep the fish from sticking. Add the cod filets to the dish and then coat all sides of the fish with the remaining garlic butter.
- Slice half of the lemon and add the lemon slices to the baking dish with the fish. Cut the remaining 1/2 lemon into wedges for serving.
- Bake the cod for 20 minutes, or until it flakes easily with a fork and the internal temperature reaches 145ºF. Spoon any juices from the bottom of the pan over the fish. Serve the cod immediately with the remaining fresh lemon wedges for squeezing juice over top.
Nutrition
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Pictured with Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes.
How to Make Garlic Butter Baked Cod – Step by Step Photos:
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. In a small bowl, combine 2 Tbsp room temperature butter, 1 Tbsp olive oil, 2 cloves garlic (minced), 1/8 tsp paprika, 1/8 tsp salt, and about 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley.
Mix the ingredients together until they form a fairly smooth paste.
Take a small dollop of the garlic butter and smear it over the surface of a small baking dish (to prevent the fish from sticking). Place the cod fillets in the dish, then coat them on all sides with the remaining garlic butter mixture. Slice half a lemon and add the lemon slices to the baking dish. Cut the rest of the lemon into wedges to serve with the finished fish.
Bake the Garlic Butter Cod for 20 minutes, or until it flakes easily with a fork and reaches an internal temperature of 145ºF.
Spoon any of the juices in the pan over the fish (that will spread the lemony flavor).
Serve immediately with some of the baked lemon slices, and a couple of the fresh lemon wedges to squeeze over top.
I paired my Garlic Butter Baked Cod with Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes. It’s a great easy no-brainer side dish that you can serve with anything from fish to steak!
This was SO good! My mom is Finnish, so she’s very picky about Cod recipes. This one hit it out of the park! Very tender and tasty and easy to prep. For what it’s worth, I used smoked paprika and a touch of Adobo instead of salt. I cooked it for about 15 minutes since the filet was unevenly distributed, then tented it with some foil while I made veggies and that did the trick!
Thanks for sharing it!
This was SO good! My mom is Finnish, so she’s very picky about Cod recipes. This one hit it out of the park! Very tender and tasty and ready to prep. For what it’s worth, I used smoked paprika and a touch of Adobo instead of salt. I cooked it for about 15 minutes since the filet was unevenly distributed, then tented it with some foil while I made veggies and that did the trick!
Thanks for sharing it!
This one is on rotation in my kitchen. Have had it multiple times, most recently a few days ago. So, so good!
I have this in the oven right now. To save a step, I used the garlic butter from Land o Lakes and just added paprika and parsley to it.
I am a little worried about the cooking time. Normally I can cook chicken in 20 minutes at 400…fish should probably be closer to half that I wound think.
Looks delicious! Love your other recipes and thought I might give this one a go! Quick question: Is it possible to substitute the cod with pollock? I have some frozen pollock fillets in my freezer that are begging to be cooked.
Yes, you can do this with any white fish, just make sure to adjust the baking time based on the thickness of the fillet. :)
This sounds wonderful! I like to cook once and eat twice whenever possible. Could this be frozen and reheated? How best to reheat? I look forward to making this dish soon.
Fish is kind of delicate and can overcook easily, so I feel like it probably wouldn’t hold up well to freezing, thawing, and then reheating.
Makes sense. We never ate much fish growing up as my dad hated it. I don’t have a lot of experience cooking fresh fish. We did have crab cakes on Fridays during Lent when my dad was at work (he was a policeman and worked shifts). So if I
double the recipe we’ll have the chance to enjoy it twice. Thanks for your response.
This has become my go-to preparation for cod loins, as well as other white fish fillets; I just adjust cooking time for thickness. The garlic lemon butter sauce is amazingly good; I drizzle any remaining sauce on my veg. (I was sure I had praised this recipe a while ago, but I can’t find it in the comments.) Five stars all the way ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Easy peasy! And delicious!
I made this tonight for my son and I and It was AMAZing! the Cod was a little thin so stopped at 15 min to check and was done perfectly. Will do this again. Thanks for the recipe.
Awesome! Trying new recipes for fish and I came across this one. It was great 👍
I didn’t have fresh garlic so I use Jared garlic, and no fresh parsley so I used crushed parsley. If it taste this good I can only imagine how it would taste with the fresh ingredients. Thanks for posting your recipe.
Delicious! My family loved it and so did I! My oven set off the fire alarm from the smoke but that’s my oven’s issue. I used dried parsley and added some fresh Basil from my plant and it was fantastic! Yummy, Yummy, Yummy!
Delicious and easy! My husband-who often asks why I don’t cut recipes to feed just the two of us—was disappointed that there weren’t leftovers. I usually am not a fan of cod because it’s hard to cook it without drying it out. This delicious recipes keeps it moist and adds a ton of flavor.
Made this tonight for dinner and it was not only quick and easy, but absolutely delicious as well! Adding this recipe to my collection as I’ll definitely make it again.
Great ever! I did it for my wife weekend and she is so surprise! Thank you much for sharing!
Contrary to some of the negative comments posted by others, I loved it. Hence, chacun à son goût! It was excellent! I previously used a Southwestern recipe for cod and didn’t care for it. I was delighted to find this one and that too, the paste was ready in minutes as it was 8:30 before I got home to cook. I look forward to trying it on Salmon as others have done, and will consider chicken … even though others discouraged it. Thank you!
Made exactly per directions and it was soooo bland! My fish was also fully cooked after about 11 minutes; 20 would have been wayyy too long. I think this is the first recipe from this site that hasn’t been good.
I LOVE this recipe. I make it once a week. The cod comes out moist and flavorful. It does work with salmon too :)
I made this recipe with salmon and added a little crushed red pepper and Cajun seasoning to spice it up a bit. It was amazing and is a regular meal in my household.
Hi, I’m sorry to say this but it was horrible. I was apprehensive about cooking this very mild fish with garlic at a high heat- 400 degrees. But I did it anyway. Burnt garlic fish never tasted good. I’m sorry but 400 is the best temp for Cod but not for garlic. I’m wondering what the palate is for the 50 positive reviews? Again, sorry, but not going to even do it again. I should have known better- and I do. Very dissatisfied but my is my fault for not employing what I know of cooking great fish. TOO BITTER! Lol, not my attitude, however, just the fish flavor. Once more, apologies but this does not do justice to fish, garlic, butter, or paprika. Apologies food. I didn’t mean to make you bad.
Garlic is very commonly roasted at 400F. Problem is with the oven or with the chef.
Check your garlic also. If it is older and sprouted and you don’t take out the yellow/ green sprout in it (a bit of a pain), your garlic will taste bitter no matter how you cook it.
Interesting… I made it today and baked it for 24 minutes and then broiled for 2 minutes. Fish was perfect – moist and flavorful. Garlic wasn’t burnt either. Maybe you’re not putting enough butter or oil in it? Or something is wrong with your oven.