How to Cook One-Pan Baked Halibut

I’m a huge fan of one-pan recipes. They are usually quick, easy and delicious. They make the perfect weeknight dinner and require minimal cleanup. Halibut is one of my favorite fish and is perfect for cooking in the oven. This is a fool-proof halibut recipe that you can cook in one pan and it is such a healthy meal.

In my quest to get better at cooking fish I bought the ultimate fish cookbook – America’s Test Kitchen – Fool Proof Fish. There are so many recipes in this book that look delicious. If I’m going to learn to cook fish, this is the book.

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After making Baked Halibut with Cherry Tomatoes and ChickPeas, I decided to adapt it slightly. I didn’t adapt the technique, which was perfect. I love the recipe for its simplicity. You basically mix all the ingredients, dump it in a pan and bake it until the halibut fillet is the right temperature. That is pretty hard to screw up.

I adapted the ingredients slightly and here’s how I did it. When my husband bit into it, he said “it’s cooked perfectly but it needs a little more spice”. I decided to swap out the chickpeas for white beans, coriander for cumin (and doubled), I used smoked paprika and I added artichoke hearts. The end result was a delicious meal with perfectly flaky fish that got rave reviews from my family.

I like fresh Halibut because it doesn’t have a fishy flavor. Cooking halibut in a pan in the oven helps to limit the smell. I hate it when you cook fish and you can smell it for several hours afterward. The smell of fish didn’t linger at all.

I served the fish with a salad and crispy potatoes (which makes no sense). The recipe has beans so why add potatoes? My husband is a cyclist and fish with salad just doesn’t fill him up.

Ingredient list for halibut in a pan

The recipe below fed two very hungry people who can easily eat 6+ ounces of fish each. It could feed three people who eat lighter. For four people I would make 1.5-2 times the amounts below.

• 12 oz of Halibut fish fillets
• 15.5 oz can of white Great Northern beans
• 1 cup halved Heirloom cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup artichoke hearts
• 1 shallot chopped
• 3 cloves of fresh garlic chopped
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/4 cup broth (I used chicken bone broth)
• 1 tablespoon of lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne

how to cook one pan halibut

This recipe is really easy to make. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees f (I used my Breville toaster oven). I mentioned before how much I love this appliance and it was no lie. I use it multiple times a day.

Combine all of the ingredients above except these four things: 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Toss all of the ingredients in an 8×8 casserole. Use an 8×12 pan if you are serving four people.

Pat dry the fish. Mix together the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Pour this mixture over the halibut and nestle the halibut filets in with the rest of the ingredients.

Place the baking dish in a preheated oven and bake until the fish’s internal temperature is 130 degrees, cooking time will be about 20 minutes. Using a thermometer is the best way to cook something you aren’t comfortable with. I use it every time I cook a steak.

The recipe suggested tenting the fish with aluminum foil for 10 minutes. I skipped this step and it was perfectly cooked.

I hope if you are scared of cooking fish you will give this recipe a try. You won’t be disappointed if you like halibut.

If you enjoy one pan meals, check out my one pan chicken dinner and Greek frittata. And read how to use leftover fish without cooking.