Impress your family for dinner tonight with this incredibly easy Garlic Butter Lemon Baked Cod! It’s made with just 5 ingredients (plus salt and pepper), which makes it perfect for those busy weeknights.
With the zesty lemon and the rich garlic butter sauce, this will get the thumbs-up from even the pickiest eaters.
Easy baked cod recipe
This is one of my favorite easy and absolutely foolproof ways to prepare fish – any fish really, but especially cod. I’ve been using this recipe for years now, because it’s quick, easy and absolutely delicious. I make it at least once a month, and it’s always a huge hit at our house.
- Prep is super quick and easy – you’ll need just 5 ingredients, plus salt and pepper!
- All of the cooking happens in the oven – I love how the cod kind of poaches in the lemony garlic butter sauce, and it’s super hands-off because it’s baked in the oven.
- No platters and much less fish smells in the house vs cooking it on the stove!
- The fish stays super succulent and delicious this way, and you automatically get a delicious sauce to mop up with bread, rice or potatoes. Win!
Ingredients you’ll need
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!
Ingredient notes
- Cod loin fillets: Cod loin is thicker and stays juicier compared to regular cod fillet pieces. I highly recommend using loin for best results, although you can definitely use the more budget-friendly fillets. Reduce the oven time to 10-15 minutes, depending on the exact thickness of your fish pieces.
- Garlic: Feel free to use ½ teaspoon dried garlic powder in place of the freshly minced garlic.
- Lemon juice: I use fresh lemon juice for this recipe, but bottled is fine in a pinch. If you’re not a fan of the slight bitterness in cooked lemon, leave out the sliced lemon (the bitterness comes from the pith, so juice only is perfectly fine to use without yielding this hint of bitterness).
- Parsley: The parsley is absolutely optional and I often don’t have any on hand. It’s not crucial to the success of this recipe, but it adds a nice pop of flavor.
How to bake cod
add seasoned cod to oiled dish 
pour over lemon/garlic/olive oil sauce 
top with butter and lemon slices 
bake until done
There are many different ways to make oven baked cod, but this is the method I use the most, right next to foil baking.
1. Season the fish with salt/pepper and place in a greased baking dish (skin-side down, if there’s skin on your fillets).
2. Combine lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, then pour over the fish.
3. Dot with butter and bake!
So easy, but so good.
Recipe FAQs
The exact baking time depends on the thickness of your fillet pieces.
When I have quite thick fish, I’ll bake it for around 20 minutes. Thinner pieces will be done after 10-15 minutes.
You can also check with an instant-read thermometer to make sure you’re not eating undercooked fish.
You can tell your cod is cooked when it becomes opaque and flakes easily.
The internal temperature for cod should reach 145°F at the thickest part to be safe (source).
Serving ideas
We love serving this with vegetables and any carb that helps mop up the delicious sauce – mashed potatoes, roasted baby potatoes, rice or even some crusty bread are all a great choice.
For a vegetable side, we love sautéed green beans (or air fried green beans), roasted broccoli (or air fryer broccoli) or roasted asparagus (or… you guessed it: air fryer asparagus).
Or to make a super easy dinner
Just place the baking dish with fish on one side of a rimmed sheet pan and fill the remaining space with veggies that will cook in 15-20 minutes (bell peppers, zucchini, red onion, asparagus, cherry tomatoes…), drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper.
Then bake as directed in the baked cod recipe below and serve with bread. So, so easy!
Video tutorial
PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram. Sign up for my email list, too!
Garlic Butter Lemon Baked Cod
Recipe details
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds cod loin fillet patted dry and lightly seasoned with salt/pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice from 1-2 lemons
- 4 cloves garlic minced; or less to taste
- salt & pepper to taste
- ¼ cup butter diced
- 1 small lemon sliced
- chopped parsley optional to serve
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a rectangular baking dish that will comfortably hold all your cod pieces and place the fish inside.
- Make sauce: Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice and minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper.
- Assemble: Pour the lemon sauce over the cod in the baking dish. Evenly sprinkle with the diced butter. Place lemon slices on cod pieces.
- Bake: Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until fish is opaque and flakes easily. Sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve, if you like.
Notes
Ingredient notes
- Cod loin fillets: Cod loin is thicker and stays juicier compared to regular cod fillet pieces. I highly recommend using loin for best results, although you can definitely use the more budget-friendly fillets. Reduce the oven time to 10-15 minutes, depending on the exact thickness of your fish pieces.
- Garlic: Feel free to use ½ teaspoon dried garlic powder in place of the freshly minced garlic.
- Lemon juice: I use fresh lemon juice for this recipe, but bottled is fine in a pinch. If you’re not a fan of the slight bitterness in cooked lemon, leave out the sliced lemon (the bitterness comes from the pith, so juice only is perfectly fine to use without yielding this hint of bitterness).
- Parsley: The parsley is absolutely optional and I often don’t have any on hand. It’s not crucial to the success of this recipe, but it adds a nice pop of flavor.
How do you know when cod is cooked? What temperature should you cook cod at?
You can tell your cod is cooked when it becomes opaque and flakes easily. The internal temperature for cod should reach 145°F at the thickest part to be safe (source).Nutrition
More recipe information
Recipe first published on 03/06/2019. Updated with new photos, better text and minor changes to the wording in the recipe on 05/26/2021.
Cheryl says
Very good!…
Nora says
I’m so glad, Cheryl!
David Scott says
Hi Nora
I’m new to your blog site so tonight I tried the Lemon Garlic Cod. Unusually for me I followed your Recipe exactly. It turned out very well thank you. We probably have battered our taste buds over the last 60 years or so in Middle East and Asia! We both felt it was excellent however we both felt we would “up the garlic” to 5 or 6 cloves but more importantly increase the Lemon juice to 5-6 tablespoons. We are all different in balance of taste but my score is 4 out of 5 for now. I’ll let you know how we get on with the tweaks. Would of course love to hear your reply or any suggestions more than welcome. Thanks David
Nora says
David, I’m so glad you found my blog! And I’m the same, it’s very rare that I follow a recipe exactly, but I’m happy to hear you put your trust into it. My recipes are definitely flavored with younger kids in mind, so if you’re only feeding teens/adults, it’s possible you’ll prefer a little more pungent flavors. I’d love to hear what you think with more lemon juice/garlic!
Pat says
It was positively delicous. I will keep this as a go to recipe.
Nora says
I’m so happy to hear this, Pat!
John says
I am a fisherman and I catch a lot of halibut would this work with that?
Nora says
Yes, that would work fine. You may need to adjust the baking time depending on how thick or thin your halibut fillets are – I highly recommend using a food thermometer for this! Let me know if you have any other questions and I’ll be happy to help.
Gloria says
Great job
Lynn says
Simple and delish! Making for second time tonight. I was new to cooking cod and while looking for baking directions found this recipe and it ended up wowing us. So so easy. Thanks!
Tina says
Trying to cut out fat. Do you think it would still be good with everything but the butter?
Nora Rusev says
Tina, unfortunately I have never tried it without butter. If you want to make fish without adding fat, I highly recommend poaching it. We do that all the time! OR you can try it baked “en papillote” – add the fish with lemon, garlic and seasoning in the middle of a piece of baking parchment. Then fold up the paper and pinch it together to create a pouch around the fish. Hope that helps!
Kristy T says
I made it without the butter and loved it!!
Mickey keele says
I made this recipe but using thick catfish fillets. Wonderful.
2nd time making I added tiny pinch of cayenne and capers and really like that addition on the catfish fillets.
sherie says
I made this last night and it was delicious. Thanks for sharing your recipe