Mahi Mahi substitute

Substitutes for Mahi Mahi with ratios

1. 2Grouper or snapper

   Close match

   Use the same amount by weight

   Warm-water reef fish with thick white fillets and a big moist flake.

   What changes

   Best for

   fish tacos, blackened fish, grilling, pan-searing, Caribbean and Gulf recipes, fried fish sandwiches

   The closest match on flavor and flake, and the fish that appears alongside mahi on the same Florida and Caribbean menus. Both are sweet, mild and large-flaked, so the dish tastes right rather than merely acceptable. They are a little more delicate than mahi, particularly snapper, so handle them once and use a fish spatula on a grill, or cook them in a pan. Snapper is usually sold skin-on and the skin is worth crisping, which is a bonus mahi cannot offer since its skin is tough and always removed.

2. 3Halibut

   Different taste

   Use the same amount by weight

   Thick, firm, premium flatfish, sold as steaks or portioned fillets.

   What changes

   Best for

   grilling, roasting, pan-searing, blackened fish, special-occasion plates

   The best texture match at the top of the market: dense, firm and large-flaked, so it survives a grill and holds together in a taco. It is sweeter and cleaner tasting than mahi, and considerably more expensive. The one real risk is timing, because halibut is even leaner and less forgiving than mahi and goes from moist to cottony in about a minute, so use a thermometer, pull it at 130F and let it rest. A heavy blackening rub is arguably a waste of a good halibut steak, though it works.

3. 4Cod or haddock

   Taste and texture differ

   Use the same amount by weight

   Lean cod-family white fish, available everywhere fresh or frozen.

   What changes

   Best for

   fish tacos, battered and fried fish, baked fish, blackened fish in a pan, fish sandwiches

   The affordable and widely available answer, and genuinely good in anything where the fish ends up flaked or coated. Cod and haddock are sweeter and cleaner than mahi and their flake is just as large, but they are far softer and wetter, which means they will break apart on a grill grate and can slump in a hot pan. If the recipe grills, switch to a pan, a grill basket or foil, cut the pieces large, and dry the fillet very well first. In a taco, nobody will feel short-changed.

4. 5Tuna steaks

   Taste and texture differ

   Use the same amount by weight

   Yellowfin or albacore steaks, cooked rare to medium rather than through.

   What changes

   Best for

   grilling, searing, poke-style and seared salads, kebabs, blackened steaks

   Firm enough for any grill and often available where mahi is not, but the doneness rule is completely different and this catches people out. Mahi is cooked through to opaque; tuna is best seared hard and left rare in the middle, since fully cooked tuna is dry and grey with a strong flavor. It is also darker, denser and much more assertive, so a delicate mango salsa built for mahi will be overpowered. Use it when you are willing to serve the fish pink, and treat it like a steak, ninety seconds a side on ferocious heat.

5. 6Barramundi, striped bass or amberjack

   Close match

   Use the same amount by weight

   Medium-firm white fish, generally sold skin-on as fillets.

   What changes

   Best for

   pan-searing, roasting, fish tacos, grilling with care, blackened fillets

   A good middle ground between mahi's firmness and cod's price. All three hold together better than cod and cost less than halibut, and amberjack in particular is dense and steaky and often sold in the same Gulf markets as mahi. They are sold skin-on, which is worth crisping in a pan, though on a grill the skin means you must oil the fish well and leave it alone for the first three minutes. Flavor is slightly more pronounced than mahi's clean sweetness, particularly with amberjack.