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Home » Main Meals » Spicy fish and rice bake in tomato sauce

Spicy fish and rice bake in tomato sauce

Author: VJ Published : April 2020 Updated : April 2021 / 9 people have commented

Recipe
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If you are looking for a different way to cook fish, you are going to love this easy one-dish fish and rice bake. Succulent white fish fillets are nestled on a bed of rice, and oven-baked in a spicy tomato sauce. Just put it in the oven and then relax while it cooks itself!

A plate of spicy fish and rice with peas.

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Table Of Contents
  1. Spicy fish and rice bake
  2. How to make spicy fish and rice bake
  3. You may also like …
  4. Pin for later
  5. Recipe – Spicy fish and rice bake in tomato sauce
  6. Spicy fish and rice bake in tomato sauce

Spicy fish and rice bake

I grew up in the north of England where a plate of fish and chips formed the staple part of most people’s diet. I remember being sent to the fish shop to fetch the family supper and watching as the golden chips and crispy battered fish were scooped out out of the warmer onto a sheet of newspaper, before being wrapped up and handed over to me. How times have changed. My local chippy now packs the fish and chips into a polystyrene box!

But I think those early days must have been where I developed my love of fish. It’s still one of my favourite foods and it features on my menu, in one form or another, at least once a week.

The recipe I’m sharing today is for a spicy one-dish fish and rice bake. It’s super quick and easy to prepare, and tastes amazing. The fish is baked in the oven along with the rice in a spicy tomato and onion sauce, until it is fork-tender and the rice has absorbed all the lovely flavours from the sauce.

And because the sauce is packed with onions, tomatoes and red and yellow peppers you don’t need much by way of side dishes. A bowl of peas is probably sufficient, and perhaps a fresh green salad if you are feeling really energetic!

This is a meal that basically cooks itself, so without any further ado, let’s get on to the recipe, so I can show you how quick and easy it is to make.

A plate of spicy fish and rice with peas.

How to make spicy fish and rice bake

The ingredients given in this recipe are sufficient for 2 people. If you are feeding more people you can just double the quantities.

You will need a 7″ x 9″ baking dish. However if you are making a larger quantity you will need to increase the size of the baking dish.

Fish

You will need one large or 2 small fillets of firm white fish (about 200g / 7 oz) per person. Cod or haddock is a good choice, but any firm white fish will be suitable for this recipe. I wouldn’t use a delicate fish like sole though, because this will just fall apart during cooking. You need a nice firm chunky fish.

Also check the fish carefully to ensure that there are no bones.

Rice

I used basmati, but you can use any long-grained white rice. Don’t use brown rice because the longer cooking time for brown rice would mean that the fish would be cooked long before the rice was cooked.

For 2 people you will need 3/4 cup (150g) uncooked white rice.

Stock

For this recipe you need 1 1/4 cups of stock. You can make the stock with a stock cube. I like to use a vegetable stock cube for this recipe because I don’t want to introduce any other meaty flavours. If you don’t have vegetable stock cubes then a chicken cube would be the best alternative.

The ratio of liquid to rice is 2 : 1 – ie double the amount of liquid by volume. So for 3/4 cup of rice you would normally use 1 1/2 cups of liquid. However, because of the liquid that is present in the tomatoes I reduced the liquid by 1/4 of a cup to compensate. The aim of this recipe is to have just enough liquid to be fully absorbed by the rice. Too much liquid and the dish will be ‘runny’; not enough liquid and the rice will be hard.

Dissolve the stock cube in 1 and 1/4 cups of boiling water and then mix in 1/2 teaspoon chilli paste or crushed chilli. This will add a little heat. You can adjust this to your own taste. Do take care if you are doubling the recipe that you don’t overdo the chilli. Then add 1 teaspoon paprika, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons tomato puree.

Rice in a dish of sauce.
Pour the seasoned stock over the rice.

Place the rice into the baking dish and cover with the hot seasoned stock. The heat from the boiling water will give the rice a head start in the cooking process.

Vegetables

You will need one large onion, two large tomatoes and half each red and yellow bell peppers. These should be cut into approximately 1cm pieces. and then fried in a little olive oil until the onions are translucent and the peppers have softened. I find that if I leave the lid on the pan and turn the heat down to the lowest setting that the vegetables sweat nicely, and take about 5 minutes to soften. They don’t need to be completely cooked. They will finish off the cooking process once they are in the oven.

Alternatively, if you have made (and frozen) my chili tomato sauce, you could just take a packet of that out of the freeze, defrost it and add it to the peppers once you have softened them.

Tomatoes, onions and peppers in a dish of sauce.
Mix the vegetables into the rice and stock mixure.

Mix the onions, peppers and tomatoes into the stock and rice mixture.

Add the fish

If the fillets are very large cut into smaller pieces and then submerge them in the rice/sauce mixure.

Fish fillets in a dish of sauce.
Submerge the fish in the sauce.

Cover the dish with a sheet of tinfoil and place in a pre-heated oven (290C / 350F) for 30 minutes. Try to fold the tinfoil as tightly as possible over the edges of the dish to keep as much steam as possible inside.

After 30 minutes remove the dish from the oven and carefully remove the tinfoil lid. I speak from experience when I say the steam will be very hot, so take care not to burn yourself!

Taste the rice to make sure it is cooked. It should be soft and the liquid should have been completely absorbed. If the rice is still hard, and the liquid is not all absorbed, replace the tinfoil lid and cook for a further couple of minutes.

A baked dish of spicy fish and rice.
All the liquid should have been absorbed.

Serve with a side helping of peas, and possibly a fresh green salad.

You may also like …

If you enjoyed this fish bake, you may also like these other fish dishes.

  • Easy fish curry in tomato and onion sauce
  • Easy homemade fishcakes with a crispy coating

And if you are looking for tray bakes, why not try one of these:

  • Sticky orange chicken tray bake
  • Garlic chicken tray bake with rice

Or why not just have a browse through my section on main meals for a bit of inspiration for your next supper.

A spoonful of baked fish and rice.

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Pin for later

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Recipe – Spicy fish and rice bake in tomato sauce

A plate of spicy fish and rice with peas.

Spicy fish and rice bake in tomato sauce

If you are looking for a different way to cook fish, you are going to love this easy one-dish fish and rice bake. Succulent white fish fillets are nestled on a bed of rice, and oven-baked in a spicy tomato sauce. Just put it in the oven and then relax while it cooks itself!
Recipe by: Veronica
Main Course
British
Calories 668
Prep 20 minutes
Cook 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings: 2 people
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4.45 from 18 votes

(Click the stars to rate this recipe)

Equipment

  • Baking dish
  • Saucepan
  • Sharp Knife
  • Chopping Board

Ingredients

  • 14 ounce (400g) firm white fish cod or haddock, or your fish of choice
  • I large onion
  • 2 medium tomatoes
  • 1/2 red pepper
  • 1/2 yellow pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ¾ cup (150g) uncooked white long-grained rice
  • 1¼ cups vegetable stock use a stock cube.
  • ½ teaspoon chilli paste / crushed chilli or to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 2 Tablespoons tomato puree

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 190°C / 375°F
  • Peel the onions and chop into 1cm pieces.
  • Cut the tomatoes and peppers into 1cm pieces
  • Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a saucepan and saute the vegetables gently until the onions are translucent and the peppers have started to soften
  • Make the stock by dissolving 1 vegetable stock cube in 1¼ cups of boiling water
  • Add ½teaspoon chilli paste (or crushed chilli), ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon paprika and 2 tablespoons tomato puree to the stock and stir to combine
  • Place the rice in a 7" x 9" baking dish
  • Pour the stock over the rice
  • Mix in the vegetables
  • Submerge the fish in the stock/rice mixture
  • Cover with a sheet of tinfoil
  • Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for 30 minutes
  • Remove from the oven and serve with rice and a fresh green salad

Notes

You can use any firm white fish.  Don’t use a delicate fish such as sole because it would just fall apart during the cooking process.  Make sure that you have removed any bones from the fish.
This recipe serves 2 – to feed a larger family you can double the quantities.  Just take care when doubling the chilli – you might not need it all.
You can substitute the vegetable stock cube with a chicken stock cube.  I think beef would have too strong a flavour with the fish.

Nutrition

Calories – 668kcal | Carbohydrates – 74.1g | Protein – 53.7g | Fat – 17.1g | Saturated Fat – 2.5g | Cholesterol – 110mg | Sodium – 800mg | Potassium – 1140mg | Fiber – 5.6g | Sugar – 10.8g | Calcium – 87mg | Iron – 5mg

I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.

Unless otherwise stated, a cup is the standard US cup containing 240 ml. In all my recipes this cup is assumed to hold 140g of flour. For help converting other ingredients between cups, grams, ounces and other measures, see my recipe conversion calculator.
All my recipes are developed and tested at sea-level. For tips on adjusting recipes for high altitudes see my post on baking at high altitudes.
Tried this recipe?If you made this recipe I’d love it if you could leave me a comment and let me know how it went!
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Filed Under: All Recipes, Main Meals

About VJ

In my previous life, I was an IT Consultant. Now that I've swapped an office for a kitchen I have a lot more time to spend on things that interest me such as trying out new recipes. Most of my cooking is based around quick and easy meals, and you'll probably find a little South African influence creeping in due to the many years I spent there.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lynda

    14 November 2022 at 2:31 am

    1 star
    The rice didn’t get cooked at all even though I followed this recipe exactly.

    Reply
    • VJ

      15 November 2022 at 11:06 am

      I’m sorry to hear that – I’ve made this recipe many time with no problems. What sort of rice did you use?

      Reply
  2. Robert

    11 August 2022 at 1:44 am

    4 stars
    Good recipe, the quantiles required a larger baking dish. As it turned out the quantities of veggies (which are my favorite veggies) would allow more fish. I would suggest cooking the rice before adding it to the recipe. I used regular bagged rice and much of it did not cook. I do not know if using Minute Rice would make a difference.
    Good, easy and healthy!

    Reply
    • VJ

      11 August 2022 at 1:20 pm

      I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe, but sorry your rice was still hard. Did you keep to the rice/liquid ratio of the recipe? I just use normal basmati rice that you can buy in any supermarket and I’ve never had a problem with it not cooking.

      Reply
  3. D A Moat

    12 August 2021 at 7:08 pm

    3 stars
    (took the fresh tomato’s out) added chorizo, tin tomato’s and peas as well as ground garlic, fried off the chorizo added the pepper and onion to that, heated the tin tomato’s with the garlic, paprika, chilli flakes and stock cube as well as 200 mill water put rice in base of dish, put veg/chorizo mix on top of the rice, pour tomato stock mix over that, cover place in oven 15 mins place fish on top cook for a further 10 mins, add fresh or defrosted frozen peas cook for a further 5/7 mins sprinkle with fresh parsley serve with a wedge of lemon

    Reply
    • VJ

      13 August 2021 at 6:54 am

      That’s what cooking is all about – finding a recipe and then adapting it to your own taste.

      Reply
  4. Beverly

    21 April 2021 at 11:27 pm

    This is very tasty ..I used a 9” square glass dish Needed about 5 more minutes for rice! Very tasty not very healthy . Way high in the nutrition numbers!!

    Reply
  5. Becky White

    16 April 2021 at 6:18 pm

    5 stars
    I’m currently cooking this dish for the second time in 2 weeks. It was delicious and loved by everyone in the family.

    Reply
    • VJ

      17 April 2021 at 10:16 am

      5 stars
      That’s fantastic Becky. I’m so pleased you enjoyed it.

      Reply

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