One of my favorite seafood recipes is this baked cod recipe, which results in the crispiest, flakiest cracker-crusted cod you’ll ever make. With its flavorful breading and short prep time (only 20 minutes!) I’m certain it’ll become your favorite seafood recipe, too.
Seafood lovers, rejoice! This baked cod recipe is the recipe to get the rest of your family to eat fish. When prepped right, it just barely has that “seafood” flavor. In fact, it’s beautifully buttery, with a slight twist of lemon and pepper. Baked cod definitely turns skeptics into believers, especially in my household.
You’ll also appreciate this recipe for two very important reasons:
- It’s simple.
- It takes less than a half hour to make.
I understand that creating a good, homemade seafood dish is, sometimes, out of our reach. A lot of these kinds of recipes take too long to cook—not fun when you’ve had a long day—or ask for expensive protein. Some seafood recipes also require a lot of skill that, unfortunately, not all of us were blessed with. And imagine all that hard work, just for your fussy eaters to say “Thanks, but no thanks!”
Fortunately, there’s crispy baked cod. Easy, quick, no-fuss, and tasty. I can’t wait for the next time I get to make this, and I can’t wait to see what you all think.
I recently spent days cleaning out my pantry and reorganizing, so I can better see everything I have inside of it. I wish I could say I have this amazing and large butlers pantry, but I don’t. It’s a typical suburban house pantry that has a set of bi-fold doors and a ridiculous amount of hidden space thanks to the doors and walls. While cleaning out my pantry I found FOUR boxes of Ritz Crackers. What the what!?!? Clearly, I over bought when I didn’t see that I already had Ritz Crackers on hand. We’ve been working our way through eating as many crackers as humanly possible before they go stale!
I had two packages of Wild Alaskan Pacific Cod in my freezer and knew that it would pair perfectly with the abundance of butter crackers I had on hand! That’s how this recipe for Baked Cracker Crusted Cod came about!
Baked Cod Recipe: Table of Contents
Baked Cod Recipe: Ingredients
About the ingredients:
- Cod: A great fish choice even for picky eaters in your family—it’s wonderfully mild, which means it picks up the flavor of everything around it. With cod, there’s no overwhelming “fishy” taste that some people, adults and kids alike, tend to avoid.
- Salted butter, Ritz® crackers, paprika, black pepper, and lemon zest: These ingredients, though simple, make the delightful breading that coats this crispy baked cod.
- Cooking spray: For coating the baking dish.
- Fresh parsley and green onions: Tasty garnish for your cod dish.
- Lemon slices: Serve these on the side!
Directions For Crispy Baked Cod
A fish recipe that’s both delicious and ready to go for your family within 20 minutes? If it seems too good to be true, try it yourself and discover the magic here.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.While oven preheats, melt 2 tablespoons butter. In a large bowl, pour the melted butter into the crushed Ritz® Butter Crackers. Sprinkle in the black pepper, paprika, and lemon zest. Mix well.
Spray a glass 9×12 baking dish with cooking spray. Place the cod on the baking dish and carefully add the cracker topping.
Bake for 15 minutes or until fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.
Remove the fish from the oven. Squeeze half the lemon juice over top the fish, and garnish with fresh parsley and green onions. Serve with an additional lemon wedge.
Crispy Baked Cod: FAQs
Here I’ve compiled a few questions I’ve gotten when sharing this baked fish recipe. Take a look.
Enough for two adults and two kids, I’d say—about 4 plates. You can also half the recipe if you need to cook for fewer people.
If you have leftovers, they’ll stay “good” in the fridge for about a day or two. I do not recommend freezing leftover fish to be reheated.
The way I make it, it ends up at about 148kcal give or take. As always, it will vary depending on what ingredients you use.
The safe internal temperature for cooked fish is 145°F, or until the fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork. When cooking fish, cook it until the center reaches 145°F. You can check this by using a meat thermometer.
If you over cook any fish it will become tough. It’s important to use an instant read thermometer and stick with the given cooking times of the recipe so that you don’t over cook the fish. Remember, cod should be flakey not dry and rubbery!
According to the FDA (Food and Drug Adminstration): “It’s always best to cook seafood thoroughly to minimize the risk of foodborne illness. However, if you choose to eat raw fish anyway, one rule of thumb is to eat fish that has been previously frozen. Some species of fish can contain parasites, and freezing will kill any parasites that may be present. “
Crispy Baked Cod: Tips & Tricks
Here’s a few extra tricks to make your cod dish just a little more special.
- Sides: A few fantastic sides that pair great with crispy baked cod…
- French fries for a fish & chips meal
- Other potato-based sides like mashed potatoes or baby potatoes
- Carrot or cucumber dishes or salads
- Rice dishes (especially riced cauliflower or lemon rice—so good!)
- Roasted asparagus
- How to know when the fish is done: Really pay attention to that “flakes easily with a fork” step in the directions. If you’re still not sure, the breading on the fish will also turn a delicious-looking golden brown color!
- Using leftovers:
- Throw them in a taco shell with your favorite Mexican toppings for scrumptious cod-based fish tacos, or…
- Use them in fish sandwiches with a dash of mayo.
- Fish substitutions: haddock should work just as well in this recipe over cod, especially since haddock is sometimes sold as cod.
If you liked this baked fish recipe, you’ll love my other recipes!
You can find easy, ‘comfort food’ fish recipes all over my blog, like:
- Swordfish Tacos
- Grilled Lemon Garlic Red Snapper
- Lemon Butter Garlic Salmon with Broccoli
- Mexican Corn & Grape Tomato Skillet with Grouper
- Swordfish Steaks Recipe
- Athenian Fish
- Cornmeal-Crusted Flounder with Tartar Sauce
- Potato Chip Crusted Fish
If you make my Baked Cracker Crusted Cod recipe, I would be honored and love for you to take the time to leave a star rating and comment! I spend hours developing and testing these recipes, and always love to hear feedback and user experience!
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Baked Cod Recipe
Equipment
- Oven
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon Salted Butter divided
- ½ Sleeve Ritz® Butter Crackers crushed
- Dash of Black Pepper to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon Paprika
- ½ Lemon zested and juiced
- 1 lb. Cod
- Non-Stick Cooking Spray
- 1 tablespoon Fresh Parsley minced
- 1 tablespoon Green Onions thinly sliced
- ½ Lemon sliced for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fareneheit.
- While oven preheats melt 2 tablespoons butter. In a large bowl, pour the melted butter into the crushed Ritz® Butter Crackers, sprinkle in the black pepper, paprika, and lemon zest. Mix well.
- Spray a glass 9×12 baking dish with cooking spray. Place the cod on the baking dish and carefully add the cracker topping.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.
- Remove the fish from the oven. Squeeze half the lemon juice over top the fish, and garnish with fresh parsley and green onions. Serve with an additional lemon wedge.
Notes
- Sides: A few fantastic sides that pair great with crispy baked cod…
- French fries for a fish & chips meal
- Other potato-based sides like mashed potatoes or baby potatoes
- Carrot or cucumber dishes or salads
- Rice dishes (especially riced cauliflower or lemon rice—so good!)
- Roasted asparagus
- How to know when the fish is done: Really pay attention to that “flakes easily with a fork” step in the directions. If you’re still not sure, the breading on the fish will also turn a delicious-looking golden brown color!
- Using leftovers:
- Throw them in a taco shell with your favorite Mexican toppings for scrumptious cod-based fish tacos, or…
- Use them in fish sandwiches with a dash of mayo.
- Meat substitutions: haddock should work just as well in this recipe over cod, especially since haddock is sometimes sold as cod.
Nutrition
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Kimberly
Very good and super easy. Love the lemon zest!
Katie
Kimberly, thank you for taking the time to review my baked cod recipe. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!