Black Cod substitute

Best substitute

Chilean sea bass (Patagonian toothfish)

Use the same amount by weight as the black cod you are replacing

Best for miso black cod

Different texture

Nothing else is quite this rich, so choose by what your recipe needs. For miso black cod, Chilean sea bass is the closest and salmon is the best affordable swap, both marinated and broiled exactly the same way. For general cooking, salmon, arctic char or steelhead all bring the necessary fat. Halibut and cod loin can be used but they are lean, so cut the marinating time, brush them with oil and expect a firmer, drier and much less unctuous result.

Other black cod substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Salmon
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The best practical substitute and the one to reach for on a weeknight.
What changes
Salmon has enough fat to survive a sweet miso marinade and a hard broil without drying out, and the sugars caramelize on it beautifully. What changes is unmistakable: salmon tastes strongly of salmon and turns the dish orange, so where black cod is mild, sweet and buttery and lets the miso lead, salmon pushes back with its own flavor and the result reads richer and more assertive. King salmon is the fattiest and closest.
Best for
miso-marinated fish, broiled fish, roasted fish, grilled fish, teriyaki
Marinate salmon for six to twenty-four hours rather than the two to three days black cod takes; the flesh is softer and salt firms it up faster.
3Arctic char or steelhead trout
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
The best compromise between black cod's mildness and salmon's richness.
What changes
Both are fatty enough to broil and roast without drying, and both are noticeably milder and more delicate than salmon, which lets a miso or soy marinade come through more clearly. The flesh is pink-orange and flakes into soft medium leaves rather than black cod's big velvety ones, so the dish looks less pale and eats slightly firmer.
Best for
miso-marinated fish, broiled fish, roasted fish, pan-seared skin-on fillets
Both cook faster than black cod. Check at eight to ten minutes under a broiler rather than twelve.
4Halibut
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
Right on flavor, wrong on fat, and worth knowing exactly how it fails.
What changes
Halibut is sweet, clean and mild in the same register as black cod, so a miso glaze tastes correct on it, but it is one of the leanest fish there is, so it goes from succulent to dry and chalky in about two minutes and never delivers black cod's silky mouthfeel. Buy a thick piece, brush it with oil or melted butter before broiling, and pull it early.
Best for
miso-marinated fish, broiled fish, roasted fish, grilled fish
Marinate no more than twelve hours, or the miso's salt will draw out moisture and firm the flesh unpleasantly.
5Cod or Alaska pollock
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
The budget answer, and honest about being a step down.
What changes
Cod's mild sweetness suits a miso marinade and it flakes generously, so visually a plate of miso cod looks the part. But it has almost no fat, so it tastes clean and light rather than rich, and it will dry out under a broiler unless you help it. Brush it with oil, keep the marinade short, and cook it fast and close to the heat so the glaze caramelizes before the fish overcooks.
Best for
miso-marinated fish, broiled fish, baked fish, weeknight cooking
Marinate for six to twelve hours only. Use a thick center-cut loin rather than a tail piece.
6Spanish mackerel or Japanese saba
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
A traditional Japanese route to the same broiled, marinated, oily-fish result at a fraction of the price, and saba misoni is a real dish in its own right.
What changes
The fat content is genuinely comparable, so the fish stays moist and the miso glazes well. The flavor is far stronger and distinctly oily-fishy, so this stops being a black cod imitation and becomes its own thing, best served with plenty of ginger, sake and rice.
Best for
miso-simmered fish, broiled marinated fish, grilled fish, Japanese home cooking
Mackerel must be very fresh. King mackerel is a different fish, high in mercury, and not the one to buy.

What is Black Cod?

Black Cod is a very oily deep-water North Pacific fish properly called sablefish, also sold as gindara or butterfish and not a cod at all, whose high fat content gives it silky, buttery, almost custard-like flesh that falls into big velvety flakes.

Cooking tips

The reason recipes specify black cod is fat, not flavor. Its high oil content is what lets it sit in a sweet miso marinade for two or three days and then go under a fierce broiler until the surface is blackened in spots while the inside stays silky. Any substitute you pick should be judged first on whether it has enough fat to survive that, which is why salmon works and tilapia does not.
Shorten the marinade when you substitute a leaner fish. Black cod takes two to three days in Nobu-style saikyo miso because its fat protects it; cod, halibut or snapper left that long come out firm, salty and slightly hammy. Six to twenty-four hours is right for most substitutes, and twelve hours is a safe default.
Wipe most of the miso marinade off before broiling and leave only a thin film. Miso is full of sugar and it burns to bitterness in seconds under direct heat, which is the single most common way this dish goes wrong regardless of which fish you use.
Butterfish is an ambiguous label. It is used for sablefish, for Pacific pomfret, and sometimes for escolar, an entirely different oily fish that is well known for causing digestive upset when eaten in more than a small portion. If you are buying butterfish as a black cod substitute, confirm what species you are actually getting.
Black cod is soft and it flakes apart readily when hot. Broil or roast it on a lined tray and slide it onto the plate with a wide spatula rather than trying to lift it. Firmer substitutes like Chilean sea bass and halibut are much easier to handle.

Frequently asked questions

Is black cod the same as cod?

No, and the difference matters enormously for cooking. Black cod is sablefish, an oily North Pacific fish with soft, buttery, high-fat flesh. True cod is one of the leanest white fish there is. Substituting cod for black cod is possible but it changes the dish from rich and silky to clean and light, and the fish will dry out unless you brush it with oil and cook it quickly.

What is the best substitute for black cod in miso black cod?

Chilean sea bass if budget is no object, since it has the fat to take the long marinade and the hard broil. Salmon is the best value swap and works genuinely well, though the dish tastes distinctly of salmon. Halibut and cod both take the marinade nicely but need it cut to twelve hours or less, a brush of oil, and a shorter, hotter broil so the glaze caramelizes before the fish dries.

Can I just leave the black cod out?

No, it is the dish. What you can do is use the miso marinade on something else entirely, because that saikyo miso, sake, mirin and sugar mixture is superb on salmon, on eggplant, on chicken thighs and on firm tofu. Pick whichever of those you can get and treat it as its own recipe rather than a failed substitution.

Why is black cod so expensive?

It is a deep-water fish caught in relatively small quantities off Alaska and the West Coast, much of it exported to Japan where demand for gindara is high, and it is prized for its fat content. Combine limited supply, strong export demand and a heavy presence on high-end restaurant menus and you get a fish that is stocked mainly in West Coast and Japanese markets at a premium price.

Is sablefish the same as black cod and gindara?

Yes, all three are the same fish, Anoplopoma fimbria. Sablefish is the accurate common name, black cod is the American market name, and gindara is the Japanese name you will see in Asian groceries and on sushi menus. If you find any of those labels, you have found the right fish and no substitution is needed.

Related substitutes

More seafood substitutes

Black Cod substitute

Other black cod substitutes

2Salmon

3Arctic char or steelhead trout

4Halibut

5Cod or Alaska pollock

6Spanish mackerel or Japanese saba