A delicious, moist, and tender thick piece of cod marinated with Japanese miso makes a wonderful sweet and salty fish dish for you to try! Easy enough to make for any weekday dinner, and impressive tasting for your most fancy dinner party too! A versatile recipe, this Miso-Glazed Cod goes equally well with rice, noodles and mashed potato!
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Why You Must Try Miso
I will be honest, until about 10 years ago, I haven’t even tried miso, nor have I heard of it, really. But once I bought a small jar of miso paste for the first time, I was hooked. There’s nothing like the flavour of miso. And with more experience using it, I realised how versatile it actually is!
Besides making the obvious miso soup, you can use it in broths for a base for ramen and in sauces. Or to miso glaze white fish, meat or aubergine. What is more, miso has become a popular ingredient to use in desserts. It gives a hint of saltiness and goes extremely well with caramel and chocolate.
What is Miso?
Miso is a sweet and salty tasting fermented paste that adds an umami flavour to your dishes. It is primarily used in Japanese cuisine but has gained immense popularity across the world in the past decade. Miso is typically made from cultured soybeans, some kind of grain (normally rice or barley) and a mould called koji.
There are lots of different varieties of miso, but generally the lighter in colour, the sweeter and milder tasting the miso is. White or yellow miso is, therefore, typically used for dressings and in desserts to add a salty umami taste (think salted caramel), and dark miso (red and brown) lends itself better for stews and richer dishes, otherwise dark miso will overpower all the other flavours.
How to Make Pan-Fried Miso Glazed Cod in Two Simple Steps?
Step 1: Miso Marinade
Mix all the marinade ingredients in a small bowl until sugar dissolves. Spoon it all over the cod loins, cover and leave in the fridge to marinate for 1 hour.
Step 2: Cook the Miso Glazed Cod
Heat a non-stick frying pan with 3 tbsp of vegetable or other odourless oil (like rapeseed or sunflower) on medium heat. Add the cod and fry for 3 minutes. Then cover with the lid and fry for another 3 minutes. Take the lid off, turn the cod over and increase the heat to high and cook for another minute. (You may need to adjust timings based on how thick your fish pieces are – ours were 4 cm thick).
Scatter some spring onion on top and serve!
What to Serve Pan-Fried Miso Cod With?
I’ll be honest, this Japanese Cod Recipe goes extremely well with both the Asian and Western-style side dishes. On this occasion, we served it with creamy mashed potato and an Asian-Style Cucumber Ribbon Salad! But we also recommend you try it with:
- Fluffy White Rice
- Fried Tenderstem Broccoli with Garlic and Lemon (Garlic Broccolini)
- Courgette Ribbon Salad
Other Delicious Fish Recipes
If you love fish for dinner, here are some of our other favourite recipes for you to try:
- Inverted Fish Pie or Smoked Haddock Gratin
- One-Pan Iberian Fish Stew
- Blackened Salmon with Mango Salsa
Other Recipes Using Miso
If you are looking for more ways to cook with Miso Paste, here are some of our best ones:
Pan-Fried Miso Glazed Cod
Ingredients
- 2 cod loins
- 1 tbsp miso paste
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 garlic clove finely chopped or minced
- 1 spring onion sliced
Instructions
- Mix all the marinade ingredients in a small bowl until sugar dissolves. Spoon it all over the cod loins, cover and leave in the fridge to marinade for 1 hour.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan with 3 tbsp of vegetable or other odourless oil on medium heat. Add the cod and fry for 3 minutes. Then cover with the lid and fry for another 3 minutes. Take the lid off, turn the cod over and increase the heat to high and cook for another minute. (You may need to adjust timings based on how thick your fish pieces are – ours were 4 cm thick).
- Scatter some spring onion on top and serve!
Notes
Nutrition
I love the sweet and salty miso glaze on the cod. Perfect for busy weeknights!
The cod came up fantastically! So yummy! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks, Tavo! So glad you liked it! 🙂
Lovely dinner idea. I cook cod often but never used miso. I’m excited to give this a try. Sounds delicious.
Definitely! Sweet and salty miso works wonders with cod. Hope you like it! 🙂
Love how easy this recipe is. It’s perfect for our family!
That’s amazing, Shadi! 🙂 Thanks!
You left out the thickness of your cod loins were????
Hi, Ivan. Sorry, not sure what happened to the recipe card. I will update asap. We have the thickness stated in Step 2 section as well. They were 4 cm thick. Hope this helps:)