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whole baked fish recipe on black tray

Roasted Whole Black Sea Bass

Learn how to cook whole fish with this flavorful whole roasted bass recipe. Perfectly roasted fish with crispy skin, tender flesh, and a bright greens salsa makes dish both stunning and delicious.
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Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Course: dinner, Main Course
Cuisine: American, Seafood
Diet: Gluten Free, Low Fat, Low Salt
Servings: 4
Calories: 135kcal
Author: Marwin Brown

Ingredients

  • 2 whole black bass fish about 1 pound each, scaled, gutted and cleaned
  • 2 lemons thinly sliced
  • Kosher salt or fine sea salt
  • ¼ cup olive oil for the cooking pan
  • 4 tablespoons Beet Greens Salsa Verde

Instructions

  • Score each side of fish diagonally creating about 3 slits per side
  • Heat oven to 475 F.
  • Rinse the exterior and interior of the fish under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
  • Season inside of fish with salt, pepper, lemon slices, and salsa. Close the fish
  • Place a cast iron skillet over high heat and add the olive oil.
  • Sear the fish for 3 minutes then flip over with a spatula and repeat.
  • Spoon additional salsa into the diagonal slits of the fish.
  • Place pan and fish in the oven and roast for another 3 minutes. Remove and let fish rest. Serve wih lemons

Notes

  • Trout or branzino can easily be substituted
  • Fresh fish should have shiny, tight almost wet looking skin and be cow-eyed, i.e. eyes bulging out. If the eyes are cloudy and drooping move on.
  • For serving size, esteem about a pound per grown up and adjust down for kids
  • Make sure you have your fish guy do all the dirty work in terms of scaling, cleaning, gutting, etc. It's still probably a good idea to check for scales anyway just in case especially if you run into a situation as I did recently when I had a newbie handling my order.
  • When prepping, treat your fish like you would chicken, i.e. rinse then pat it dry, and season it inside and out with salt and pepper
  • Score the outer flesh of fish by cutting 2-3 slits about an inch apart across one or both sides of the fish. Don't make these too deep, just enough to massage the salsa into the slits.
  • Stuff the cavity with aromatics like fresh herbs, garlic, and/or lemons.
  • Season ridiculously with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. 
  • Line your baking sheet with parchment paper for easy clean-up
  • To tell when it's done push down on the thickest part of the fillet, where it meets the head. If it starts to break away from the bone, it's done.
  • Serve immediately and squeeze some lemon juice over the fish

Nutrition

Calories: 135kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 0g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 74mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin C: 28.6mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 0.4mg
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