Sea Bream substitute

Best substitute

Porgy or scup

Use the same amount by weight as the sea bream you are replacing

Best for roasting whole

Close match

Porgy or scup is the same fish under an American name and swaps 1:1. Branzino, also sold as European sea bass, is the closest widely available whole fish and behaves identically roasted, salt-baked or grilled. Red snapper works too - buy one 2 to 3 lb snapper in place of two 1 lb bream. If a recipe roasts, steams or salt-bakes the fish whole, buy a whole fish rather than fillets: the skin and bones are holding moisture in and adding flavour, and fillets in the same recipe come out dry.

Other sea bream substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Branzino or European sea bass
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
The most available whole Mediterranean fish, and near enough that most diners would not notice the change.
What changes
Best for
roasting whole, salt-baked fish, grilling, en papillote, Mediterranean and Turkish recipes
Slightly more delicate and a shade less sweet than gilt-head bream, with skin that crisps just as well. It is farmed widely, so it is reliable and reasonably priced, and it comes in the same one-fish-per-person size. Cooking times are the same. If anything the flesh is softer, so lift it out of the pan or off the grill with two spatulas rather than one.
3Red snapper
Different taste
One 2-3 lb snapper for two 1 lb bream
Firmer and more assertive, and the best option if you want a single centrepiece fish for a table.
What changes
Best for
roasting whole, grilling, Caribbean and Southeast Asian recipes, fillets
Snapper is a bigger fish, so buy one instead of several and add time: a 3 lb whole snapper wants 30-40 minutes at 425F (220C) rather than 20. The flavour is noticeably fuller and slightly nutty, so a very simple treatment of lemon, oil and herbs tastes richer than it would with bream. The skin is tougher, which makes it excellent on a grill.
4Black sea bass or striped bass
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Sweet, firm and clean-tasting - arguably better than bream, and equally good whole or filleted.
What changes
Best for
steaming whole, roasting, grilling, crisp-skin fillets, sashimi-style dishes
Black sea bass is the standard swap for Japanese tai and for whole steamed Chinese-style fish, because the flesh is firm, white and just as sweet. Striped bass is meatier and comes in larger fish, so buy one and portion it. Both cost more than bream in most markets. Neither carries any muddiness, which is the risk with cheaper whole fish.
5Whole rainbow trout
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
Right size, right shape, right skin-on whole-fish handling - but a distinctly richer, unmistakably trout flavour.
What changes
Best for
roasting whole, grilling whole, stuffed with herbs and lemon, en papillote
Trout is fattier than bream, so it stays moist and is very hard to ruin, and it is cheap and available almost everywhere. What changes is flavour: the flesh is pinkish and tastes clearly of trout rather than of clean sweet sea fish, which suits a herb-and-butter treatment and slightly fights a Mediterranean one with olives and capers. Same cooking time as a 1 lb bream.
6Whole tilapia (least-bad budget option)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The cheapest whole fish in most supermarkets and the weakest of these swaps - softer, blander and with skin that never really crisps.
What changes
Best for
steamed whole fish with ginger and scallion, fried whole fish with a strong sauce, curries
It gives you the shape of the dish and not much of the pleasure. The flesh is looser than bream and can taste faintly earthy, and the skin goes leathery rather than crisp. It works best steamed with plenty of ginger, scallion and soy, or deep-fried whole and drenched in a sharp sauce, where the aromatics lead. For a simple salt-baked or plainly roasted fish, buy branzino instead.
7Sea bream fillets replaced with snapper or bass fillets
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
For the recipes that call for bream fillets rather than the whole fish.
What changes
Best for
crisp-skin pan-fried fillets, roasting fillets, ceviche and crudo, en papillote
Snapper, black bass and barramundi fillets all pan-fry skin-side-down the way bream does: dry the skin, press it flat for the first 30 seconds, and give it 3-4 minutes before turning. Snapper skin is thicker and crisps hardest; bass is milder and closer to bream in flavour. If the dish is raw - crudo, carpaccio or a sashimi-style plate - buy only fish your fishmonger sells specifically for raw consumption.

What is Sea Bream?

Sea Bream is Sea bream is a family of round, silvery, firm-fleshed sea fish - gilt-head bream sold as dorade or orata, black bream, Japanese red sea bream or tai, and the American porgy or scup - usually sold whole at around a pound, one fish per person.

Cooking tips

Score a whole bream or any substitute two or three times on each side, right down to the bone. The thin belly and the thick shoulder otherwise finish minutes apart, and the cuts are also where you push in lemon slices, herbs or garlic.
For roasting, a 1 lb whole fish takes 18-22 minutes at 425F (220C). The test is the dorsal fin: when it pulls out cleanly, the fish is done. This holds for bream, branzino, porgy and trout alike.
Dry the skin properly before it meets heat. Fifteen minutes uncovered in the fridge, then a wipe with paper towel, is the difference between crisp skin and skin that welds itself to the grill. Salt it just before cooking, not an hour ahead.
Bream and its relatives have large, hard scales that fly everywhere. Ask the fishmonger to scale and gut the fish, or do it in a sink of water with the tap running. Any scale left behind ruins the pleasure of the crisp skin you worked for.
Do not fillet a whole-fish recipe. Bones and skin add gelatin, keep the flesh moist and make the dish taste of fish rather than of the sauce - which is exactly why Mediterranean, Turkish and Japanese recipes specify the whole fish. If you only have fillets, cut the cooking time roughly in half and add a splash of stock or wine to the pan.

Frequently asked questions

Is sea bream the same as sea bass?

No, but they are cooked identically and are the most natural substitutes for each other. Bream - dorade, orata, gilt-head - is a deeper-bodied fish with slightly sweeter, firmer flesh. Sea bass, sold as branzino, is a shade more delicate. In a whole-roast, salt-bake or grill recipe you can swap one for the other with no other changes.

Is porgy the same as sea bream?

Porgy, also called scup, is in the same family and is sold as sea bream in parts of the US. It is smaller, bonier and much cheaper than gilt-head bream, and it tastes very close. If a Mediterranean or Turkish recipe asks for sea bream and your fish counter has porgy, buy the porgy.

What can I use instead of tai or Japanese sea bream?

Black sea bass is the standard swap - firm, sweet and white - with striped bass and red snapper close behind. For cooked dishes like a simmered or salt-grilled preparation, any of the three works at 1:1. For anything raw, buy only from a fishmonger who sells that specific fish for raw consumption, and use it the day you buy it.

Can I use fillets instead of a whole sea bream?

You can, but adjust. A whole fish shields its own flesh with skin and bone, so fillets in the same recipe cook in roughly half the time and dry out much faster. Reduce the oven time to 8-12 minutes, add a little liquid or extra oil to the dish, and expect a less flavourful result.

Can I just leave the sea bream out?

No - in a whole-fish recipe it is the entire dish. What you can do is swap it for any whole round fish of similar size that your shop actually stocks: branzino, porgy, small snapper or trout. The garlic, lemon, herbs, olives and potatoes around it all stay exactly as written.

Related substitutes

More seafood substitutes

Sea Bream substitute

Other sea bream substitutes

2Branzino or European sea bass

3Red snapper

4Black sea bass or striped bass

5Whole rainbow trout

6Whole tilapia (least-bad budget option)

7Sea bream fillets replaced with snapper or bass fillets