This gorgeous cod and chorizo tray bake makes such an easy one pan dinner that’s very hands off and can be prepped ahead of time for a quick and easy sheet pan meal.
When you can find a fresh, sustainably caught fillet of cod, this recipe is a must try!
By oven baking white fish, and especially when it is coated in this gorgeous, crispy crumb, the flesh stays perfectly moist and juicy.
It’s so good!
How to make a Cod and Chorizo Tray Bake
Firstly, preheat the oven to 180C (350F).
Prep the veggies you’d like to use in your meal.
I chose shallots, a leek and gorgeous cherry tomatoes on the vine.
Cut them into similar sized chunks then place them onto a baking sheet.
Drizzle with a little oil.
Toss the veggies gently with your hands to coat in oil.
Then place the cod fillets onto the tray too.
Next, make your chorizo crumb topping…
How to make a chorizo crumb crust
Using a sharp knife chop your chorizo very finely.
Place a cold frying pan onto the hob and add in the chorizo pieces.
Turn the heat on to medium high and gently fry the chorizo until the bright orange oil starts to leech from the meat.
Be sure to stay close by and make sure the chorizo doesn’t get crispy at all.
Remove the pan from the heat and add in the breadcrumbs and parsley.
Stir together until it is all well combined.
This is your chorizo crumb that will top your fillets of cod.
Cover the cod fillets with the chorizo crumb mix
Spoon the chorizo crumb mix onto the top of each fillet of cod.
Some will topple off into the pan, that’s fine. Just try to top with as much as you can.
As this bakes in the oven, the oil form the chorizo will render and soak down into the cod keeping it moist and flavouring it beautifully.
And the top of the crumb mix will get golden and crispy.
How long to oven bake a fillet of white fish?
Place the tray into the preheated oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes.
Obviously each oven is slightly different, and each fillet of fish is slightly different in thickness.
So to ensure your fish is perfectly cooked, I recommend using a digital thermometer to register the internal temperature of the fillet.
Pierce the thickest part of the fillet with the tip of the probe to register the internal temperature.
Fish needs to be at or above 60C (140F) to be considered safe to consume.
However, if you don’t have a thermometer, another foolproof way to know if your fish is cooked is to cut in half at the thickest part.
If the flesh is the same opacity and colour right the way through, it’s cooked.
If however it looks different, or raw in the centre, then return it to the oven and cook for a little longer.
Once cooked, divide the veggies and fish between two plates and enjoy!
What fish can I choose that’s more sustainable than cod?
Please note I originally wrote this recipe back in 2015. I am updating it today with this section to help us all make better, and more sustainable choices when grocery shopping.
Cod is currently one of the most overfished species in the world. Ideally we should all avoid consuming it until stocks have been given enough to time to regenerate.
According to the Sustain website, great white fish options for swapping cod with are:
- Pollock
- Coley
- Hake
- MSC certified Alaskan pollock.
- And if only cod will do, go for MSC certified cod from the Arctic, Atlantic & Pacific oceans.
If you give this recipe a go please do let me know what you think! You can drop me a message down below or tag me in any pics you share online. You can find me pretty much everywhere as @hedgecomber.
I try to reshare all the pics I see :)
- 10 shallots – peeled and halved
- 20 cherry tomatoes
- 1 leek – Cleaned and cut into rings
- 1 tbsp oil
- 450 g cod fillets
- 50 g chorizo – finely diced
- 2 tbsp breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp parsley – finely chopped
Place the shallots, tomatoes and leek pieces onto a baking tray. Drizzle over the oil, and toss gently with your hands to coat.
Place the cod fillets onto the try, then make the chorizo crust.
Place the small pieces of chorizo into a cold frying pan and turn the heat to medium high.
Move the chorizo occasionally, and be sure to stay close by.
You want the bright orange oil to start rendering out of the meat, but you don;t want to get the chorizo crispy at all.
When there is a little puddle of oi in the pan, remove it from the heat.
To the cooked chorizo, add the breadcrumbs and parsley and stir together well.
Use a spoon to coat each piece of fish with the crust. Some will fall off and into the pan which is just fine. It will flavour the veggies too.
Place the baking tray into the preheated oven, and cook for 25-30 minutes, or until the centre of the thickest part of the fish reaches or exceeds 60C (140F).
Serve the cod along with the roast veggies and enjoy!
This recipe was originally published in 2015 and has been updated with new pics in 2022.
Leave a Reply