If you are looking for a different way to cook fish, I think you will love this spicy fish and rice bake in tomato sauce. Succulent white fish fillets are nestled on a bed of rice and oven-baked in a spicy tomato sauce. All you have to do is put it in the oven and then relax while it cooks itself!
This recipe is similar to my cheesy cod and broccoli bake in that it is also baked in one dish. Don't you just love recipes that provide a complete meal in only one dish?
Spicy fish and rice bake
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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 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 when 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 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.
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 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. I wouldn't use a delicate fish such as a sole because this will fall apart during cooking. Use 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 ¾ cup (150g) of uncooked white rice.
Stock
For this recipe, you need 1 ¼ 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 ¾ cup of rice, you would normally use 1 ½ cups of liquid. However, because of the liquid that is present in the tomatoes, I reduced the liquid by ¼ 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 ¼ cups of boiling water and then mix in ½ 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 so that you don't overdo the chilli. Then add 1 teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons tomato puree.
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 pepper. 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 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 chilli tomato sauce, you could take a packet of that out of the freeze, defrost it and add it to the peppers once you have softened them. This will replace the fresh onion and tomatoes.
Mix the onions, peppers and tomatoes into the stock and rice mixture.
Add the fish
Submerge the fish fillets in the rice/sauce mixture. If the fillets are large cut them into smaller pieces first.
Cover the dish with a sheet of tin foil and place it in a preheated oven (190C / 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. 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 has not all been absorbed, replace the tinfoil lid and cook for a few minutes longer.
Serve with a side helping of peas, and possibly a fresh green salad.
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📋The recipe
Spicy fish and rice bake in tomato sauce
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
- Baking dish
- Saucepan
- Sharp Knife
- Chopping Board
Ingredients
- 14 ounce 400 grams firm white fish cod or haddock, or your fish of choice
- I large onion
- 2 medium tomatoes
- ½ red pepper
- ½ yellow pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¾ cup / 150 grams uncooked white long-grained rice
- 1¼ cups / 310 ml vegetable stock use a stock cube.
- ½ teaspoon chilli paste / crushed chilli or to taste
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 190°C / 375°F
- Peel the onion and chop them into 1cm pieces.I large onion
- Cut the tomatoes and peppers into 1cm pieces2 medium tomatoes, ½ red pepper, ½ yellow pepper
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a saucepan and saute the vegetables gently until the onions are translucent and the peppers have started to soften2 tablespoons olive oil
- Make the stock by dissolving 1 vegetable stock cube in 1¼ cups of boiling water1¼ cups / 310 ml vegetable stock
- Add ½ teaspoon chilli paste (or crushed chilli), ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon paprika and 2 tablespoons tomato puree to the stock and stir to combine½ teaspoon chilli paste / crushed chilli, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon paprika, 2 tablespoons tomato puree
- Place the rice in a 7" x 9" baking dish¾ cup / 150 grams uncooked white long-grained rice
- Pour the stock over the rice
- Mix in the vegetables
- Submerge the fish in the stock/rice mixture14 ounce 400 grams firm white fish
- 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
Nutrition
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.
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Jane
Perfect. Followed the recipe exactly. My only problem was cups and ml Added 300ml and it seemed exactly right as rice cooked perfectly.. We really enjoyed it. Just enough spice to give it a kick
VJ
Hi Jane,
Thanks for pointing that out. I have a note at the bottom of my recipe card to say that I use the standard American sized cup which holds 240 ml. In most of my recipes I do the conversion and give the liquid quantities in both cups and ml. I seem to have missed it on this particular recipe. I'll update it now!
Update - I updated the recipe and your guess was spot on - I used 310 ml stock 🙂
Rosemary Argent
so easy and delicious, hubby made it for tea tonight without the chilli and it was demolished in minutes great recipe.
VJ
Thank you - I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Dawn Russell
Lovely recipe. Tastes so good but In the recipe blog it states 290 degrees Celsius. I didn’t scroll down to find the actual recipe until third time of making it. Now I know why the rice hasn’t always cooked and I have to add a bit more water - I evaporated out all the water at that high temperature!
Someone needs to get a proof reader me thinks ☺️
VJ
Oops - proof reader (ie me) fired!!!!!!! I'll check and update the post. Thanks for pointing it out :). Fixed - should have been 190 not 290. Bit of a slip of the finger there. If you want a job as a proof reader I'm hiring 🙂
Lynda
The rice didn't get cooked at all even though I followed this recipe exactly.
VJ
I'm sorry to hear that - I've made this recipe many time with no problems. What sort of rice did you use?
Robert
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!
VJ
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.
D A Moat
(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
VJ
That's what cooking is all about - finding a recipe and then adapting it to your own taste.
Beverly
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!!
Becky White
I'm currently cooking this dish for the second time in 2 weeks. It was delicious and loved by everyone in the family.
VJ
That's fantastic Becky. I'm so pleased you enjoyed it.