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 as a base for ramen and in sauces, like our Creamy Miso Pasta. Or to miso glaze white fish, salmon, 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. Yellow or white miso paste is, therefore, typically used for dressings and in desserts to add a salty umami taste (think salted caramel), and dark miso (brown and red miso) is the best choice for stews and richer dishes, otherwise, dark miso will overpower all the other flavours.
Ingredients
- cod loins: choose thick fish fillets. We used skinless fish, but it’s not a must. This recipe works equally well with black cod fillets.
- miso paste: white or yellow miso paste works best with fish.
- brown sugar: light or dark brown sugar will work in this recipe.
- rice vinegar: can be replaced with white wine or apple cider vinegar.
- sesame oil: we used a small amount of toasted sesame oil.
- garlic clove.
- spring onions: also known as green onions, thinly sliced for garnish.
How to Make Pan-Fried Miso Glazed Cod?
Step 1: Miso Marinade
Combine miso, brown sugar, vinegar, garlic and sesame oil in a small bowl and mix until the sugar dissolves. Dab the fish with paper towels. Pour marinade all over the cod loins, ensuring each fish fillet is covered and leave it in the fridge to marinate for 1 hour.
Step 2: Cook the Miso Glazed Cod
Heat a non-stick frying pan with 3 tablespoon of vegetable or other odourless oil (like rapeseed or sunflower) on medium heat. Once hot, place fish loins in the pan and fry for 3-4 minutes. Pour any remaining marinade into the pan too. 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, spooning any remaining amount of marinade from the pan over the surface of the fish to glaze. (You may need to adjust cooking time based on the thickness of the fish – ours were 4 cm thick). The outside of the fish should be golden brown, and the inside should retain a succulent texture.
Scatter some spring onions and sesame seeds (optional) on top of the pieces of cod 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 baby bok choy or sauteed spinach and stir-fried noodles. other great options include:
- Fluffy White Rice
- Korean Cucumber Salad With Spicy Soy Sauce
- 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:
Recipe Card
Pan-Fried Miso Glazed Cod
Ingredients
- 2 cod loins
- 1 tablespoon miso paste
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon 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 tablespoon 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
Beth Sachs
I love the sweet and salty miso glaze on the cod. Perfect for busy weeknights!
Tavo
The cod came up fantastically! So yummy! Thanks for the recipe!
Ieva
Thanks, Tavo! So glad you liked it! 🙂
Natalie
Lovely dinner idea. I cook cod often but never used miso. I’m excited to give this a try. Sounds delicious.
Ieva
Definitely! Sweet and salty miso works wonders with cod. Hope you like it! 🙂
Shadi Hasanzadenemati
Love how easy this recipe is. It’s perfect for our family!
Ieva
That’s amazing, Shadi! 🙂 Thanks!
Ivan Ward
You left out the thickness of your cod loins were????
Ieva
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:)