Juicy Baked Seabass served with a herby olive oil and lemon dressing, and roasted garlic beetroot salad. A delicious sheet-pan meal ready in less than 30 minutes.
This dish is the epitome of Greek Cuisine! It's what Greek cooking is all about. Healthy, nutritious, fresh food, and light cooking!
Table Of Contents
Best Way To Cook Sea Bass
The best way to cook a fresh whole sea bass is either on the grill or to bake in the oven. Light cooking, fresh ingredients, and no heavy sauces to cover the delicate flavor of the sea bass.
Cooking Juicy Fresh Fish
Greeks eat our fish whole most of the time, without filleting it. When cooking fish like this it keeps juicy and flavorful. See for example this Baked Sea Bream or this Baked Mackerel With Potatoes.
Another thing that helps to keep fresh fish juicy is cooking it lightly and not overcooking it. Like we do in this recipe for whole Baked Sea Bass.
How To Bake Sea Bass
To make a delicious and juicy oven-baked Sea Bass first of all preheat the oven well. Then, make a lengthwise incision on both sides right at the center of the body. That part is the thickest of the fish. Therefore, making an incision there helps to cook the fish evenly. Otherwise, the fish will get overbaked at the tail until it cooks in the center. This also helps season the fish better.
Next pat dry the fish with paper towels to remove moisture. Drizzle with olive oil and use a pastry brush or your hands to distribute the oil everywhere. Season with plenty of fine sea salt. Fish calls for plenty of salt. Finally, place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake.
Texture
The final texture of the fish will be soft with a slight crisp on the skin. Don't expect a crispy skin.
If you want a crispy skin pan-sear the fish on the stovetop in a pan with hot olive oil before baking. This of course will decrease baking time to 10-15 minutes.
You can also give the sea bass more of a roasted texture by raising the temperature to 220°C / 430°F. Furthermore, you can place the pan on the highest rack inside the oven.
Cooking Time
The Average Cooking Time For Oven Baked Sea Bass Is: 20 minutes in a well-preheated oven. In this recipe, we're using a medium-large fish weighing 400 grams (14 ounces). If your oven is not too strong you may need to cook for 5 minutes more or so. But no more than 30 minutes. Unless you're cooking a large fish weighing 800 grams and up to 1 kg.
To Not Overcook The Fish: take a peek inside the incision you made on the center of the fish. If there are no traces of blood there, then the fish is ready.
Sea Bass Cooking Temperature: Bake sea bass at 200°C / 390°F. Keeping a not-too-high temperature like that is ideal. Resulting in a very juicy and tender fish.
Making Roasted Beets Salad
To roast the beets for the side salad, peel and cut into slices. Toss with oil and salt and lay them on the sheet pan next to the fish without stacking them. If the beetroot are cut as thinly as instructed (about 1 cm which is almost ½-inch thick) then they will cook at the same time as the fish. They will be soft with a hint of a bite. If you want crisp beets cut them slightly thicker.
Once cooked toss the beets in a bowl with olive oil, pressed (or minced) garlic, and olive oil. This is a very simple and quick beet salad. You can mix in some fresh herbs as well like parsley, mint, chives, or even spring onions.
Other Sides
If you're not a fan of beets, try any of the following delicious Greek dishes that go well with baked Sea Bass: White Bean Salad With Lemon + Herbs, Greek Potato Salad With Lemon And Herbs, Marinated Tomato Salad, Skordalia - Greek Potato + Garlic Dip, Greek Tarama Dip.
Portions + Serving
This whole baked Sea Bass serves 2 people. To divide the fish in half, first, remove the bone rack that's located right at the middle top of the fish. Second slide a fork or knife where you removed the bones and separate the top fillet. Hold the head and pull it away from the body to reveal the second bottom fillet. There will still be some bones located mostly at the belly (bottom side of the fish).
Recipe
Baked Sea Bass With Roasted Beetroots
Ingredients
- 1 large fresh sea bass 400-500 grams (14-17 ounces)
- 250 grams (8.8 ounces) beetroots
- 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + a little extra to drizzle with
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons red wine or apple cider vinegar
- 1 garlic clove pressed or minced
- 1 teaspoon dill minced
- sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F.
- Prepare the sea bass. Clean and prepare the sea bass. Rinse well and then pat dry. using a sharp knife, make an incision lengthwise on both sides, right in the center of the body where the main bone is.
- Drizzle with olive oil and season generously with sea salt. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
- Prepare the beetroots. Cut the tops and bottoms of the beetroots. Peel them and rub them with a paper towel to remove any remnant dirt. Slice them about 1 cm (almost ½-inch) thick.
- Add the beetroot in a mixing bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and toss to combine. Lay the beetroot slices next to the fish without stacking them.
- Bake for about 20 minutes if the fish is 400 grams or 25 minutes if the fish is around 500 grams. To see if the fish is done check to see if there is any sign of blood right in the center where you made the incision. If not the fish is cooked.
- In a mixing bowl combine garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and 2 tablespoons vinegar. Toss in the beetroot slices and stir well.
- Prepare the fish dressing. In another bowl whisk together 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon dill.
- Serve. Transfer the fish to a serving plate. Drizzle with the fish dressing. Add some of the beetroots on the side or just leave them in the bowl and serve as a side salad. Enjoy!
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