Orange Roughy substitute

Best substitute

Tilapia

Use the same amount by weight as the orange roughy you are replacing

Best for baked fish

Close match

Tilapia is the closest everyday match and swaps in at 1:1 with no changes. Cod and haddock are better fish and work in every orange roughy recipe, just with a larger and looser flake. Sole or flounder suit the thinner, more delicate preparations. Orange roughy is also a fish worth substituting on purpose, since it is very slow-growing, heavily depleted, and high enough in mercury that public health guidance advises pregnant people and young children to avoid it.

Other orange roughy substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Cod
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
A clear improvement in flavor and an easy swap for any baked orange roughy recipe.
What changes
Cod tastes brighter and cleanly of the sea rather than almost neutral, and it flakes into large white leaves rather than the tighter medium flake of roughy, so a baked fillet looks more generous and eats lighter. Cod loin is much thicker than a roughy fillet though, so add three to six minutes and check the center before serving.
Best for
baked fish, broiled fish, breaded fish, chowder, fish and chips
For crumb-topped recipes, buy a thinner tail-end piece rather than a thick loin so the topping does not burn before the fish is cooked.
3Haddock
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Softer and sweeter than cod and a touch closer to orange roughy in tenderness, which makes it the best pick for delicate baked and broiled dishes.
What changes
It has a mild marine flavor rather than roughy's near-blankness, so lemon, dill or a light cream sauce sits on it very comfortably. The flake is looser than roughy's, so a fillet portions less neatly onto the plate.
Best for
baked fish, broiled fish, fish pie, breaded fillets, chowder
Buy plain haddock rather than smoked, which would completely change the dish.
4Sole, flounder or plaice
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
The right choice for thin, quick-cooking orange roughy recipes and for anything rolled or stuffed.
What changes
These flatfish are similarly slim but finer-grained and genuinely sweet, so a lemon-butter pan-fry is considerably better than the same dish made with roughy. They are also markedly more fragile: they cook in three to four minutes, cannot take a heavy batter, and will break up if you move them more than once.
Best for
pan-frying, meuniere, rolled and stuffed fillets, quick baked fish, broiling
Use a thin fish spatula, and check for doneness a good two minutes earlier than the recipe says.
5Basa, swai or catfish
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The cheapest route, and a fair one for crumbed or heavily sauced dishes where the fish is a vehicle.
What changes
Basa and swai are soft, wet and very mild, close to roughy in blandness but much more prone to breaking apart, so dry them hard and use high heat. Catfish is sturdier and considerably more flavorful, with an earthy sweetness that suits frying and blackening but intrudes on a delicate cream sauce.
Best for
breaded fish, fried fish, blackened fish, casseroles, fish tacos
Thaw fully in the fridge and blot thoroughly. These fillets hold enough water to steam a crumb coating off.
6Halibut or rockfish
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
Use these when the recipe needs the fillet to be firmer than roughy rather than softer, for instance grilled, skewered or braised.
What changes
Halibut is dense, sweet and holds together beautifully but is extremely lean and turns dry and chalky if you overcook it by even two minutes. Rockfish is closer to roughy in thickness and flake and cheaper than halibut, with a clean mild flavor and a slightly firmer bite.
Best for
grilling, baked fillets, braises, roasted fish, chowder
Halibut costs a great deal more. Pull either fish the moment the center turns opaque.

What is Orange Roughy?

Orange Roughy is Orange roughy, also sold as deep sea perch or sea perch, is a slow-growing deep-water fish with very mild, faintly sweet white flesh, a medium flake and enough firmness to stay in one piece when baked, and it appears in a great many older baked and breaded fish recipes.

Cooking tips

Orange roughy fillets are thin and lean, so the classic failure is overcooking. Ten to twelve minutes at 400F is usually plenty, and the fish is done when the thickest part just turns opaque. Whichever substitute you use, retime to the new fillet's thickness rather than following the original recipe's clock.
Most orange roughy recipes are really recipes for a topping: butter and breadcrumbs, Parmesan and mayonnaise, lemon and paprika, a crumb crust. Because the fish contributes so little flavor, that topping is doing the work, which is exactly why substituting almost any mild white fish gives you the same dish.
Orange roughy is one of the slowest-growing food fish in the world, with individuals living well over a century, and its stocks have been badly depleted by deep-sea trawling. Seafood sustainability guides consistently rank it poorly. That is a legitimate reason to substitute even when you can buy it.
Orange roughy is also high in mercury, and US federal advice for people who are pregnant or breastfeeding and for young children lists it among the fish to avoid. Tilapia, cod, haddock and sole are all on the recommended low-mercury list and are straightforward swaps.
If you are swapping a thicker fish such as cod loin into a crumb-topped roughy recipe, the topping will brown long before the fish is cooked. Either buy a thinner tail piece, butterfly the loin, or tent it with foil for the first half of the bake and uncover it to crisp at the end.

Frequently asked questions

What fish tastes most like orange roughy?

Tilapia, which shares the same very mild flavor and moderately firm medium flake and is stocked almost everywhere. Cod and haddock taste better but are more assertively marine and flake into much larger, looser pieces. If the recipe is a crumbed or sauced baked fillet, any of the three will read as the same dish.

Can I just leave the orange roughy out?

No, since it is the protein in every recipe that names it, and those recipes are usually just fish plus a topping. Any mild white fillet at the same weight substitutes cleanly. If you have no fish at all, thin chicken cutlets take the same crumb toppings and lemon-butter treatments surprisingly well, though they need longer cooking and must reach a safe internal temperature.

Why is orange roughy so hard to find now?

Because the fish grows extremely slowly and lives for over a hundred years, populations collapsed quickly under deep-sea trawling from the 1980s onward and have recovered only partly. Many retailers stopped stocking it on sustainability grounds, and what remains is expensive. That combination is why the substitute question comes up more often than the fish does.

Is orange roughy the same as sea perch or deep sea perch?

Yes, those are alternative market names for the same fish, which is not a true perch. It has also been sold historically as slimehead, its actual common name, which was changed for obvious commercial reasons. Recipes using any of these names can be cooked identically with tilapia, cod or haddock.

Is tilapia or cod better as an orange roughy substitute?

Tilapia matches it more closely, cod tastes better. Choose tilapia if the recipe depends on a thin fillet holding its shape under a crumb crust or in a taco. Choose cod if you would rather eat a nicer piece of fish and are willing to add a few minutes of cooking time and accept larger, softer flakes.

Related substitutes

More seafood substitutes

Orange Roughy substitute

Other orange roughy substitutes

2Cod

3Haddock

4Sole, flounder or plaice

5Basa, swai or catfish

6Halibut or rockfish