Pompano substitute

Best substitute

Amberjack, trevally or permit (the jack family)

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

Best for en papillote

Close match

The important thing is that pompano is firm and moderately oily, which is exactly why it works in pompano en papillote - a lean fillet like cod steams to mush inside the parcel. So swap in something firm and a little rich: mahi-mahi, amberjack or any jack or trevally at 1:1. Rainbow trout is the cheapest good answer and behaves beautifully in a parcel. Sea bream, porgy or black sea bass work too and are leaner, so add extra butter to the parcel. Salmon behaves right and tastes and looks like a different dish.

Other pompano substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Mahi-mahi
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
Firm, moderately rich and available frozen almost everywhere - the most practical substitute for most cooks.
What changes
Best for
en papillote, grilling, blackening, pan-searing, fish tacos
Mahi holds its shape as well as pompano and takes high heat without falling apart, which makes it the best grill swap. It is leaner than pompano and dries out if you push it past just-done, so add a tablespoon of butter or olive oil to a parcel and pull it a minute early. The flavour is a little sweeter and more assertive, and the flesh is slightly coarser.
3Rainbow trout
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
Cheap, available everywhere, and genuinely excellent in a paper parcel - the right thinness and the right richness.
What changes
Best for
en papillote, baking in foil, pan-frying, whole roasted fish
Trout has about the same fat level as pompano, which is the technical thing that matters here: it self-bastes inside the parcel instead of drying out. What changes is flavour and colour - the flesh is pink-orange and tastes clearly of trout, so the crab, shrimp and wine sauce of a classic pompano en papillote sits on top of a trout note rather than a neutral one. Same cooking time, around 12-15 minutes at 400F (200C).
4Sea bream, porgy or black sea bass
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Firm, sweet and fine-flaked like pompano, but leaner - add fat to compensate.
What changes
Best for
en papillote, grilling, whole roasted fish, pan-searing
These match pompano's firm fine texture and its small fillet size closely, and black sea bass in particular is a sweet, clean, high-quality swap. What they do not have is pompano's fat, so in a sealed parcel they can finish slightly dry - put a tablespoon of butter, a splash of wine and a couple of lemon slices in with each fillet. Cooking times are the same.
5Salmon
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
The right behaviour for a parcel or a grill and completely the wrong appearance - it works, but it announces itself.
What changes
Best for
en papillote, grilling, roasting
Technically salmon is a good swap: firm, oily, forgiving, impossible to dry out in a parcel. In practice you now have an orange fish with a distinct flavour, so a delicate white-wine and shellfish sauce is fighting it. If the recipe is simply fish baked in paper with herbs and lemon, salmon is a fine and much cheaper choice. If it is a classic pompano en papillote you want to serve as such, choose a white fish.
6Sole or flounder (least-bad option for a parcel)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
Delicate and lean, so the weakest choice here - but it can be made to work in papillote if it is all you have.
What changes
Best for
en papillote, pan-frying, rolled fillets
These are much thinner and much leaner than pompano, so they overcook inside a parcel and can end up soft and watery. Fold each fillet over on itself to double the thickness, add a generous knob of butter, and cut the time to 10-12 minutes at 400F (200C). The result is pleasant and noticeably less substantial than the original. Do not use them on a grill.
7Cod or halibut (only with adjustments)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The fish most people have, and the one that needs the most help - lean, flaky and prone to going watery in steam.
What changes
Best for
baked fish, en papillote with extra fat, pan-searing
Sealed in paper with no fat, cod releases its water and comes out flabby, and halibut comes out dry - the two failure modes at either end. Salt the fillet 20 minutes ahead, dry it well, add butter and a squeeze of lemon to the parcel, and keep the pieces thick. It will taste good; it will not have pompano's firm, faintly rich bite.

What is Pompano?

Pompano is a small silvery flat-bodied Gulf and Atlantic fish, usually Florida pompano and sometimes sold as palometa, with firm, fine-textured, faintly rich flesh and enough natural fat to stay moist in a sealed paper parcel or on a grill, which is the job it is doing in most recipes that name it.

Cooking tips

Pompano en papillote works because the fish is firm and slightly fatty: it steams in its own moisture without collapsing. Choose your substitute on fat and firmness rather than on flavour, and if the substitute is lean, put the fat in the parcel yourself - a tablespoon of butter per fillet.
Seal the parcel properly. Fold the paper over the fish and crimp the edge in overlapping pleats all the way round so no steam escapes, and leave a little air space above the fish so it has room to puff. A parcel that leaks steams nothing and bakes everything.
A parcel of 6-8 oz fish takes 12-15 minutes at 400F (200C) and is done when the paper has ballooned and browned. Do not open it to check - you lose the steam. Take it to the table sealed and cut it open there, which is the whole theatrical point of the dish.
Whole pompano is one of the best grilling fish there is, precisely because of the fat under the skin. If you are substituting on a grill, pick trout, mahi, amberjack or a whole bream and oil the grate hard - a lean fish like cod will weld itself to the bars and tear.
Pompano is expensive and sold mostly around the Gulf and the Florida coast. If a recipe from New Orleans specifies it and you are elsewhere, do not chase it by mail order for a weeknight dinner - a good whole trout or a mahi fillet is a better use of the money.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best substitute for pompano en papillote?

Amberjack or mahi-mahi if you want to stay with a firm white fish, and rainbow trout if you want the closest behaviour for the least money. All three have enough fat to stay moist sealed in paper. If you use a lean fish like cod, sea bream or halibut, add a tablespoon of butter per parcel or it will come out dry or watery.

What does pompano taste like?

Mild and clean with a faint richness and a slight sweetness, and a firm, fine, almost velvety texture. It sits between a lean white fish like cod and an oily one like mackerel, which is why it suits both a delicate paper parcel and a hot grill - most fish are only good at one of those.

Can I use tilapia instead of pompano?

It is the weakest of the common options. Tilapia is lean, soft and much blander, so in a parcel it goes watery and in a papillote sauce it disappears. If it is what you have, salt it 20 minutes ahead, dry it thoroughly, keep the fillet thick and add butter to the parcel. Trout costs about the same and is far better here.

Can I just leave the pompano out?

No - it is the protein and the structure of the dish. Swap in another firm fish and keep the sauce, the herbs and the parcel exactly as written; the sauce is where most of the flavour of pompano en papillote actually lives. Without any fish, the same parcel technique works well with thick slices of aubergine or king oyster mushroom, but call it what it is.

Is palometa the same as pompano?

Palometa is used in Spanish-speaking markets for pompano and for a few close relatives in the same family, so a fish labelled palometa will cook like pompano. The names shift by region, but anything in the pompano, jack, permit and trevally group is firm and moderately oily and can be used interchangeably.

Related substitutes

More seafood substitutes

Pompano substitute

Other pompano substitutes

2Mahi-mahi

3Rainbow trout

4Sea bream, porgy or black sea bass

5Salmon

6Sole or flounder (least-bad option for a parcel)

7Cod or halibut (only with adjustments)