I was recently chatting with friends and it came up that cooking with fish sounded like a great idea but felt intimidating. I remember feeling this way many years ago, so I thought it would be nice to write a short guide about how to get going if you have not yet tried to cook fish at home.
Why cook fish? It is healthy, easy, and reasonably cheap depending on what fish you use. You can’t eat fish every day due to concern for mercury levels but it is safe to eat it at least once a week and probably more (if you are not sure, you can look up the reference dose that is considered safe for mercury and be mindful of what type of fish you are eating). So how do you get started? Keep reading!
- Pick your fish. I love cooking with salmon and tilapia. These are my go-to-fish. I have cooked with swai, Ahi tuna, mahi-mahi, and some other more exotic fish in the past but I find that tilapia and salmon are easy to find and easy to cook. Tilapia is very affordable and salmon is not too bad, although more expensive.
- Choose a way to cook it. I prefer to cook fish in the oven but other easy ways include skillet, toaster oven (yes!), and grill. I enjoy the oven because you can make sheet-pan dinners or foil packs and everything is ready in under 30 minutes, including your sides.
- Season the fish. Keep it simple: olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh herbs, garlic, and lemon are great options. I typically will use a combination of those. Marinades can add a lot of extra calories if you are not careful and take time.
- Stick to simple recipes. I have different tilapia and salmon recipes in previous blog posts if you are looking for specifics. They all take 30 minutes or less. Cooking fish is so easy, especially for busy week nights or days when you forgot to defrost meat overnight. If you take tilapia out of the freezer in the morning, it will be ready by the time you get home. It easily defrosts if soaked in water as well. Salmon is better if you take it out the night prior.
- Select healthy sides. I often cook the fish with a bunch of veggies in the oven and then make a 90 second whole grain Ben’s rice pouch in the microwave. Sometimes, I make couscous instead and that takes 7-8 minutes. You can also roast a bunch of veggies ahead of time and keep them in the fridge to use as sides throughout the week.
Pro tip: if you didn’t plan dinner, grab some tilapia in the morning, stick it in the fridge to defrost and when you come home, brush each side with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. If you have fresh herbs, chop that up and if not, sprinkle with basil or parsley. Spray a Pyrex glass container with non-stick spray. Chop up onions, put that in the pan and add a can of diced tomatoes on top (drained). Put the tilapia on top and bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on how thick the filets are) at 350. Meanwhile, cook rice as described above. You will have a healthy meal with veggies, protein, and whole grains in 20 minutes! You can do something similar on a skillet. If you want to use salmon, I would bake it for 20-25 minutes. Check the fish before taking it out of the oven, you can always cook it a little longer if needed.
I would love to hear what your favorite fish recipes are!