Hake substitute

Best substitute

Cod

Use the same amount by weight as the hake you are replacing

Best for hake in green sauce

Different texture

Cod is the best and most available substitute for hake and swaps in at 1:1, though it is firmer and holds its shape better, which is actually helpful. Haddock is closer to hake's softness and sweetness. Whiting is the same genus and works perfectly in smaller thinner portions, and pollock is the budget option. For merluza in green sauce or hake in salsa verde specifically, cod loin is what most restaurants use outside Spain.

Other hake substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Haddock
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
The closest match in texture, because haddock shares hake's softness and its readiness to flake apart.
What changes
Its flavor is slightly sweeter and marginally more marine than hake's, which suits a cream, parsley or garlic sauce beautifully. Like hake, it wants gentle handling: add it late to a simmering sauce, move it once, and take it off the heat the moment it turns opaque.
Best for
baked fish, braised fish in sauce, fish pie, fried fish, chowder
Buy plain haddock rather than smoked. It is generally thinner than European hake, so shorten the cooking time.
3Whiting or silver hake
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
The same genus as European hake and, in American shops, the fish sold under the hake name.
What changes
Flavor and texture are essentially identical, just smaller-scale: whiting fillets are thin, so they cook in a couple of minutes and are even more fragile than hake. Excellent breaded and fried and excellent in fish cakes, but too delicate to hold up as a single portion in a saucepan of simmering salsa verde.
Best for
fried fish, fish cakes, fish soup, breaded fillets, baked fish
Cut frying and baking times by roughly a third relative to a thick hake fillet.
4Pollock or coley
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
The budget cod-family option and a fair one.
What changes
Pollock has the right lean, mild profile with a slightly firmer, slightly coarser flake than hake, so a braised piece holds its shape better and a fried fillet eats a shade less tender. Atlantic pollock sold as coley or saithe has greyer flesh that whitens as it cooks and a marginally stronger flavor, which is fine in a robust tomato or garlic sauce and noticeable in a delicate white one.
Best for
baked fish, fish stew, fried fish, chowder, fish pie
Pat pollock very dry before searing; it releases a lot of water and will steam rather than brown.
5Halibut
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
Use this when the recipe calls for thick hake steaks or wants the fish to survive a grill, a roast or a longer braise.
What changes
Halibut is dense and firm and holds together far better than hake, with a sweeter, more pronounced flavor. The cost is money and margin for error: halibut is expensive and extremely lean, so two extra minutes turns it dry and chalky where hake would merely have gone softer.
Best for
hake steaks, roasted fish, grilled fish, braises, chowder
Pull it off the heat the instant the center turns opaque and let it rest for two minutes.
6Basa, swai or tilapia
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The cheapest and most universally stocked option, and honestly the weakest here for hake's classic dishes.
What changes
All three are much blander than hake, with a faint sweet earthiness instead of hake's clean sea flavor, and none produces the big tender flakes that a plate of merluza is admired for. Tilapia at least holds together in sauce; basa and swai are wetter than hake and break down even faster.
Best for
breaded fish, fried fish, fish tacos, curries, baked fish
Blot thoroughly dry and cook hot. Add a squeeze of lemon and a little extra salt to make up for the missing flavor.

What is Hake?

Hake is Hake, called merluza in Spanish and sold in the United States as silver hake or whiting, is a lean cod-family fish with soft, very moist flesh, large tender flakes and a clean mildly sweet flavor, and it is the backbone of Spanish, Portuguese, Basque and British fish cookery.

Cooking tips

Hake's defining quality is how softly and generously it flakes, and it is also what makes it easy to ruin. Salt the fillets fifteen minutes ahead, blot them, and cook them a minute or two shy of what a cod recipe would say. If a piece of hake breaks as you serve it, you have gone slightly too far.
In Basque and Galician cooking, hake does more than sit in the sauce: the collagen in the fish and especially in the bones and skin thickens salsa verde into something glossy and slightly clinging. If you substitute a firmer, leaner fish, that body goes missing, so either use a bone-in piece or thicken the sauce with a teaspoon of flour cooked into the oil at the start.
Never boil the sauce once hake or any substitute is in it. Bring the sauce to temperature first, slide the fish in, cover, and let it poach at a bare tremble. A rolling simmer turns hake into shreds within a minute.
The two hakes are different sizes. European hake, merluza, comes as thick meaty fillets and steaks; American silver hake, sold as whiting, is small and thin. A recipe from Spain assumes the first and a recipe from a US market assumes the second, which is the main reason cooking times in hake recipes vary so much.
Hake's skin is thin and does not crisp as reliably as sea bass or striped bass skin. If you want a crisp-skin dish, use cod, halibut or snapper instead, and if you are cooking hake, either remove the skin or press the fillet skin-down in a hot pan for a full two minutes without moving it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best substitute for hake?

Cod, both because it is the closest in flavor and because it is stocked almost everywhere hake is not. It is firmer than hake, so it holds its shape better in a sauce, which most home cooks find easier rather than worse. Haddock is closer to hake's softness, and whiting is the same genus if your shop carries it.

Is hake the same as whiting or merluza?

Merluza is simply the Spanish word for hake, so it is the same fish. Whiting in the United States means silver hake, a smaller relative in the same genus, which is why American shops often label thin hake fillets as whiting. British whiting is a separate cod-family fish that behaves very similarly. In practice all of them are interchangeable in a recipe.

Can I just leave the hake out?

No, since hake is the protein and often the whole point of the dish, as in hake in green sauce or merluza a la vasca. If you have no fish, those garlic-and-parsley sauces work well with large prawns or with clams, which cook in a few minutes and give you a genuinely good dish rather than a compromise. Simply omitting the fish leaves you with sauce.

What fish should I use for hake in green sauce if I have no hake?

Cod loin is the usual answer and the one most restaurants outside Spain rely on, because it is mild in the right way and firm enough to lift out of the pan intact. Haddock is a closer texture match if you can handle it gently. Whatever you use, add it to warm rather than boiling sauce, cover the pan, and shake the pan rather than stirring so the sauce emulsifies without breaking the fish.

Is hake or cod better?

They are close, and it depends on what you want. Cod is firmer and easier to cook without accidents, with thick white flakes and a slightly sweeter flavor. Hake is softer and silkier with a more delicate flake and a little more character in a sauce, which is why Spanish and Basque cooking prizes it. For a beginner, cod is more forgiving; for salsa verde, hake is the original.

Related substitutes

More seafood substitutes

Hake substitute

Other hake substitutes

2Haddock

3Whiting or silver hake

4Pollock or coley

5Halibut

6Basa, swai or tilapia