Serve up dinner tonight with maximum flavor and minimal effort with this healthy and delicious Baked Coconut Fish Curry! Roast everything together in one pan in about 30 minutes or less. | Gluten Free + Dairy Free + Paleo
⭐Recipe Highlights⭐
A few things to love about this Coconut Fish Curry:
- Easy, One Pan Meal: Keep it simple with minimal prep and clean up! All you need is a large roasting pan, a cutting board and a pair of tongs to mix everything together.
- Incredible Flavor: Roasted veggies, aromatic spices, fresh herbs and punchy lime work together to create a rich and savory coconut-lime sauce that tastes absolutely divine!
- Veggie Packed: This curry is packed full of onion, peppers, ginger, tomatoes and a TON of spinach. Overall it’s a delicious and satisfying way to load up on veggies!
Fish Curry Ingredients
Though the ingredient list might look a bit lengthy, the actual prep is really quite simple:
- Aromatics & Other Vegetables for Roasting: The veggies account for the bulk of the food prep in this recipe. That being said, the chopping and slicing is fairly minimal. Slice up a large onion, bell pepper and chili then grate a knob of ginger and that’s it. Leave the tomatoes on the vine then fish out the stems after a bit of roasting (pun intended).
- Herbs & Spices: Add mustard seeds, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper and turmeric to the roasting pan along with the prepared vegetables and toss together. Roast for about 15 minutes to give the veggies a head start.
- Coconut Milk: For a creamier sauce, choose full fat coconut milk. If you prefer a lighter texture (and less calories) reduced-fat coconut milk works too. Just make sure to use unsweetened coconut milk!
- Fish: I chose cod because it’s generally cheap and easy to find, but feel free to use your favorite white fish fillets here. Just make sure your fish is boneless and skinless.
- Spinach: Not entirely necessary, but a great addition if you want to pack in a bit more veg. I recommend you roughly chop or tear the spinach before adding so that it basically melts into nothing – something to keep in mind for picky eaters.
- Lime Juice: Add a bright, burst of citrus with fresh lime juice to cut through the creamy coconut flavor and the aromatic spices.
- Finishing Touches: Just before serving, stir in fresh herbs like cilantro, basil or mint to give your curry a final boost of flavor. It not only looks good, but it tastes great!
Bite-Sized Coconut Fish Curry Steps
For a step-by-step breakdown with photos, scroll down to the very bottom of this post, past the recipe card.
- Veggies & Spices: Prep the vegetables as needed then add to a large roasting tray and toss with oil and spice mixture.
- Roast: About 15 minutes to soften and caramelize the vegetables.
- Smash Tomatoes: Remove roasting pan and pick out the tomato vines. Use a fork to gently smash down the tomatoes.
- Add coconut milk, spinach & fish: Add coconut milk and spinach to ensure everything mixes evenly, then add the fish to the pan.
- Roast Again: Return to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes or until the fish is cooked through.
- Add Lime Juice & Herbs: Stir in the fresh lime juice and cilantro.
- Season & Serve: Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed, then serve and enjoy.
Serve With: This coconut fish curry is perfect served over a bed of rice or noodles with a gluten free flatbread or roti side – something to soak up the savory sauce.
Substitutions & Variations
Fish: You can also make this with prawns/shrimp instead! Just make sure to peel and devein the shrimp.
Leafy greens: Instead of spinach, you can use kale or collard greens. I just recommend you chop or tear whichever you use into bite-sized pieces so it mixes in easier to the pan and wilts down into nothing.
Add a bit of spice: As written, this isn’t a particularly spicy curry. If you’d like to add a bit of heat, add a teaspoon of chili powder or a hot curry powder to the spice mix. You can also boost the heat by adding fresh sliced chilis at the end as a garnish.
Frozen Vegetables: Save some time and energy by using frozen veggies in place of fresh. You will need to increase the first round of roasting time (add about 5 minutes) to ensure everything thoroughly heats up from frozen.
See More Seafood Recipes
Enjoy!
Let me know if you try this Baked Coconut Fish Curry! I’d love to hear what you made with it and how it turned out! Please leave a comment and review with your thoughts and suggestions for me and future readers.
Baked Coconut Fish Curry
Roasted veggies, aromatic spices, fresh herbs and punchy lime work together to create a rich and savory coconut-lime sauce that tastes absolutely divine!
Ingredients
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes on the vine, halved (8 oz | 226g)
- 1 bell pepper, de-seeded and sliced - any color
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp of each: ground cumin, coriander, salt and black pepper
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ - 1 tsp chili flakes (optional to more to taste)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 can unsweetened coconut milk (14oz)
- 1.5 lb boneless, skinless cod fish filets, about 1 inch thick (680g or about 6-8 filets)
- 3 cups spinach, roughly chopped (120g)
- 2 tbsp fresh lime (30ml) + more to taste
- 1/4 cup or a handful fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 red chili, deseeded and sliced (optional for serving)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Add tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, ginger, spices and oil to a large roasting tin. Mix everything together until well combined.
- Place in the oven and roast for 15 minutes.
- Remove pan from the oven and stir. Smash the tomatoes down with a spoon then add the coconut milk, fish, and spinach. Stir together.
- Roast for another 12-15 minutes or until the fish is cooked through (internal temp: 145°F/63°C).
- Add the chopped cilantro and lime juice and stir together. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.
- Top with fresh chilies for a bit more heat if you want. Serve over rice with more lime wedges and enjoy.
Notes
Fish Size: Thicker pieces of fish might need a bit more time to cook through fully. To cut down on time, cut them up into bite-sized pieces.
Fish Type: Feel free to use other varieties of white fish like tilapia, haddock, or hake. Prawns/shrimp are also great here - they only need about 10 minutes to cook. You can also use frozen fish, just make sure thaw it first.
Leftovers: Store in an airtight container in the fridge up to three days. I like to reheat this in the oven . Add to a baking tray, cover with baking paper or foil and bake at 400°F/200°C for about 25 minutes until heated through.
Tomato Vines: Feel free to leave the tomato vines on or take them off before cooking. They should easily come off after the first round of roasting. It's ok if the stems come off, but a small amount of the leave vines on top of the tomatoes stay on. They will crisp up into nothing by the end - you won't notice them in the curry.
Keep scrolling for step-by-step recipe instructions!
How to Make This Baked Coconut Fish Curry with Step-By-Step Photos
Start by preheating the oven to 400ºF (200°C).
Add vegetables to a large roasting pan:
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 bell pepper (any color), sliced
- 1 tbsp ginger, grated
- 8 ounces cherry tomatoes – leave on the vine or remove later
Toss veggies in 2 tbsp oil & the curry spice mixture:
- 2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp of each: cumin, coriander, salt and pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 – 1 tsp chili flakes – optional for a bit of spice
Roast for 15 minutes – veggies need a head start so they have enough time to soften and caramelize.
Remove tomato vines and stems then use a fork to gently smash the tomatoes down.
Add roughly chopped or torn spinach and a full can of unsweetened coconut milk to the roasting pan.
Carefully mix the spinach and coconut milk into the pan. If needed, add small amounts of spinach at a time until fully combined. It will seem like a lot at first, but the spinach will cook down into basically nothing.
Nestle the fish pieces into the roasting pan. Make sure to coat the cod in the spiced coconut mixture then place back in the oven to bake for another 15 or so minutes.
Keep in mind that the size/thickness of the fish will impact how much time is needed to cook. Thinner pieces of fish will cook in about 10-12 minutes, but larger pieces will need closer to 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and stir in the fresh lime juice and chopped cilantro. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed then serve ASAP over a bed of rice.
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