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This 30-minute Baked Cod Recipe is made with tender, flaky cod fillets, cherry tomatoes, and olives baked in a mouthwatering lemon butter and white wine sauce. Light and healthy, it’s one of our favorite easy weeknight dinners!
Cod is my absolute favorite fish to cook…and eat! Even more than baked salmon! It’s lean, healthy, versatile, and relatively forgiving if it’s slightly overcooked. It has a mild taste, and delicate flavor which means it pairs perfectly with all sorts of seasonings and sauces, like Cajun seasoning and tartar sauce.
For this recipe, tender cod fillets are baked with cherry tomatoes and olives in the most delicious combination of garlic, butter, lemon, and white wine. The best part? This super fancy-looking dinner is actually ridiculously easy to make – in just 30 minutes! It’s an effortless weeknight recipe (plus it’s my husband’s favorite).
Table of Contents
Key Ingredients
The most important ingredients needed to make this lemon baked cod recipe include the following:
- Cod: Cod is readily available (both fresh or frozen) at most major grocery stores. You’ll notice that cod filets come in various sizes and thickness. For even cooking, try to purchase filets that are even thickness. If cod isn’t available, you can substitute it with tilapia, haddock, or mahi mahi.
- Lemon: It’s a pretty well-known fact that most fish tastes great with fresh lemon and cod is one of those fish. You will need at least 2-3 whole fresh lemons to make this recipe, but I suggest purchasing one or two extra.
- Garlic: Freshly minced garlic is an absolute must. You can substitute with garlic powder, but it won’t taste as fresh.
- Cherry tomatoes: Burst cherry tomatoes add sweetness. If you don’t care for tomatoes, feel free to leave them out.
- Olives: This recipe calls for a mix of green olives and kalamata olives. Feel free to use one or two different types of olives or a different type of olive altogether.
- Dry white wine: I recommend using a dry white such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, or Pinot Grigio. If you don’t cook with wine, substitute with your favorite store-bought or homemade chicken stock.
Fresh Versus Frozen Cod
Comparing the two, you may notice that fresh cod tends to have a slightly firmer texture and a milder, sweeter flavor, especially if it’s wild-caught and truly fresh. Unfortunately, fresh cod spoils quickly and can be more expensive or harder to find.
Frozen cod is a convenient and budget-friendly alternative that’s often flash-frozen at sea to lock in freshness. This is my personal choice. Just be sure to thaw it properly and pat it dry before baking.
How to Bake Cod
This baked cod recipe is easy enough to make mid-week, yet fancy enough to for serve guests. It pairs nicely with rice pilaf and roasted asparagus for a complete restaurant-worthy dinner, or a big hunk of crusty bread for dipping into the lemon butter sauce.
To begin, pat each cod fillet dry using paper towels, then add them to a large baking dish in a single layer. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil and fresh lemon juice. Add some cherry tomatoes and pearl onions (optional) to the baking dish and cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400F for 8 to10 minutes.
In the meantime, cook the minced garlic in the olive oil and melted butter for about one minute. Increase the heat and add the lemon slices and dry white wine. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the wine has reduced slightly, then add the olives, cherry tomatoes, lemon juice, and fresh thyme. Simmer, covered, for 3 to 4 minutes.
Once the cod has baked for about 8-10 minutes (or reaches an internal temperature of around 100 to 115°F), remove the baking dish from the oven. Pour half of the lemon butter sauce over the fish along with the pearl onions and tomatoes.
Return the baking dish to the oven and continue to bake, uncovered, until the internal temperature of the fish registers 145°F.
Serve immediately with additional lemon butter sauce, if desired.
How Long Does it Take to Bake Cod?
The total cooking time varies depending on the oven temperature and the thickness of your cod fillets. For this recipe, we’re baking the cod fillets at 400°F (200°C), so try to pick fillets with an equal thickness (approximately 1 to 1½ inches).
- At 350°F it takes approximately 20 to 25 minutes
- At 375°F it takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes
- At 400°F it takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes
- At 425°F it takes approximately 7 to 10 minutes
Serving Ideas
Baked cod is incredibly versatile. I recommend serving it with simple sides like boiled potatoes, roasted asparagus, or roasted butternut squash. A side of buttered noodles is my son’s favorite side dish, along with steamed broccoli.
Storage and Reheating Leftovers
Storage: Allow the cod and sauce to cool completely before transferring to an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Keep the sauce and fish together to help maintain moisture and flavor.
Freezing: Freezing is not recommended.
Reheating: For best results, reheat leftovers in a 300°F oven. Place the cod and sauce in a baking dish, cover with foil, and warm for 10 to 12 minutes, or until heated through. You can also reheat the fish gently on the stovetop over low heat, spooning the sauce over the fish as it warms. Avoid microwaving, as it will likely overcook the fish, resulting in a rubbery texture.
More Fish REcipes
If you make this baked cod recipe, I’d love to hear how it turned out in the comment section below! Your review will help other readers in the community. And if you’re hungry for more delicious food inspiration and exclusive content, join my free newsletter here.
Easy Baked Cod Recipe
Ingredients
For the cod
- 4 cod fillets, (approximately 1.5 – 2 pounds)
- salt and pepper, to season
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1½ cups pearl onions, peeled, optional
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
For the Sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 tablespoon butter
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 1 lemon, sliced
- ⅓ cup dry white wine, (or chicken broth)
- ½ cup kalamata olives
- ½ cup green olives
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- Fresh cracked pepper, to garnish
- Fresh chopped parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven and prepare cod. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Add the cod fillets to the baking dish in a single layer and sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides. Drizzle the fillets with olive oil and fresh lemon juice and sprinkle with pearl onions and cherry tomatoes.
- Bake. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and transfer to the oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
- Prepare the lemon butter sauce. As the fish bakes, prepare the lemon butter sauce. Heat the olive oil and butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring continuously for 1 minute. Increase heat to high and add the lemon slices and dry white wine to the skillet. Cook for 1-2 minutes before adding the olives, cherry tomatoes, lemon juice, and fresh thyme. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 3-4 minutes. Season with fresh cracked pepper and season with additional salt, to taste. Set aside.
- Add the lemon butter sauce to the cod. Remove the baking dish from the oven and spoon approximately half of the sauce (plus the olives and tomatoes) over the cod fillets. Return the baking dish back to the oven and continue to cook, uncovered, for approximately 5-8 minutes, or until the internal temperature registers 145 degrees F as read with a digital meat thermometer.
- Serve. Remove from the oven and serve immediately with the additional sauce, if desired.
Notes
- Cod fish alternatives: Tilapia, haddock, or flounder (or most other white fish).
- The pearl onions are optional. Feel free to substitute with regular yellow or red onions, or omit from the recipe altogether.
- Substitute the white wine for chicken broth if you don’t cook with wine.
- For extra lemon flavor, season your cod fillets with lemon pepper instead of salt and pepper.
- For a little sweetness, substitute the lemon slices with orange slices.
- Keep in mind that total cooking times will vary depending on thickness of your fish. Cod is finished when it is opaque and flakes easily with a fork. The internal temperature should register 145°F (63°C), as measured by a digital meat thermometer.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’m on the Blood Type A diet, which means, no tomatoes or olives, or butter — and I had 1/3 lb of cod to work with. I used ghee instead of butter, and about the half the amount after cutting it in 4ths. I didn’t have fresh thyme so used dried (but recently bought) dill, and just shook a lot of it in. Used one half of a large sweet onion, instead of pearl onions…and more of the white wine, since I had a really good New Zealand sauvignon blanc and didn’t want the pan drying out (with so much less ‘sauce’ in there)…I also used a tiny amount of fresh from the garden red pepper, and instead of using black pepper on the fish, I used paprika. For 1/3 lb fish I used a whole lemon — the juice and about 1/4 of it chopped up in the sauce…and when the sauce was ready I put ALL of it on the fish, and used the empty pan to stir fry broccoli with a little water and sea salt and then a lid on it to get it steamed fast. Ate the whole meal with orzo rice pilaf, all the juice (which was more lemon and wine than oil and butter) and it was BRILLIANT. One of the best meals I’ve eaten, and I don’t think of myself as much of a cook.