Turbot substitute

Best substitute

Brill

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

Best for whole roasted flatfish

Close match

Brill is the traditional and nearly indistinguishable substitute, and halibut is the best widely available one, both at 1:1 with no change to the method. Dover sole is a step up in delicacy and down in firmness. John Dory is an excellent firm-fleshed alternative. Plaice or flounder are the affordable fallback but are much softer and will not stand up to the same cooking, so treat them gently and expect a more fragile result.

Other turbot substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Halibut
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
The best answer for anyone outside Europe, since halibut is the other great firm flatfish and is stocked everywhere.
What changes
It has the same dense, meaty, sweet flesh that stays in one piece under a spatula and takes a hard sear. What changes is body: halibut is much leaner and less gelatinous, so a sauce built on its bones will not set the way a turbot sauce does, and the flesh dries out fast if you overcook it even slightly.
Best for
roasted fish, pan-seared fillets, poached fish, grilled fish, fish steaks
Buy thick center-cut pieces and pull them the moment the center turns opaque. Add a knob of butter or a splash of cream to the sauce to make up the missing gelatin.
3John Dory
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
An underrated substitute that gets the important quality right.
What changes
John Dory has firm, dense, notably sweet white flesh with a fine flake that holds together well in a pan or under a grill, close to turbot in eating quality if not quite in luxury. The fillets are smaller and thinner, so a recipe timed for a thick turbot tranche will overcook them, and it lacks turbot's collagen-heavy bones for sauce-making.
Best for
pan-fried fillets, roasted fish, poached fish, fish with butter sauces
Yields are low relative to the whole fish, so buy more than you expect. Sold as John Dory or St Pierre.
4Dover sole
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
The other luxury flatfish, and a good swap where the dish is refined rather than robust.
What changes
Dover sole is finer-grained and sweeter than turbot with a silkier texture, so a meuniere or a poached fillet in beurre blanc is arguably even better. It is not as firm, however, so it cannot be cut into thick tranches, roasted on the bone at high heat, or held in a sauce for long without softening.
Best for
meuniere, poached fillets, grilled whole fish, rolled and stuffed fillets, beurre blanc dishes
Genuine Dover sole is expensive; lemon sole is a cheaper relative, softer again and closer to plaice in behavior.
5Plaice or flounder
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The affordable fallback, and the honest position is that it is not really a like-for-like swap.
What changes
Plaice and flounder are mild and pleasantly sweet but soft, thin and delicate, so they cook in three or four minutes, break apart if handled more than once, and cannot deliver the meaty forkfuls that make turbot worth its price. Use them for pan-frying and rolled fillets, not for roasting on the bone or for a long-cooked sauce.
Best for
pan-frying, rolled and stuffed fillets, quick baked fish, breaded fillets
Fold thin fillets in half before baking so they do not overcook, and turn them once with a thin fish spatula.
6Monkfish
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight
The right choice when a recipe treats turbot as something meaty: cut into thick tranches, roasted, braised or served with a red wine or bone-marrow sauce.
What changes
Monkfish is even firmer than turbot and does not flake at all, staying in solid sweet slices, so it survives anything you do to it. It also tastes noticeably sweeter and more lobster-like, and it lacks the fine flake that a classical turbot dish is built around.
Best for
roasted fish, braised fish, fish with red wine sauces, fish steaks, grilling
Peel off the grey membrane before cooking, and pat the pieces very dry, since monkfish releases a lot of water.

What is Turbot?

Turbot is a large diamond-shaped European flatfish, sold at smaller sizes as turbotin or chicken turbot, whose white flesh is unusually firm, dense and rich in gelatin, so it keeps its shape in the pan and its bones give a sauce real body.

Cooking tips

Turbot is a bone-in fish in most classical recipes, and that is deliberate. Its head, frame and skin are exceptionally rich in gelatin, so the cooking liquid reduces into a sauce with real gloss and cling. If your substitute is a lean fillet like halibut or a boneless one like monkfish, replace that lost body with a little cream, cold butter whisked in at the end, or a spoonful of good fish stock.
Cook whole flatfish more gently than you would a round fish. A turbot or brill roasted at 350 to 375F, dark side down, cooks evenly and stays succulent, while a blast at 450F tightens the thin edges before the shoulder is done. Score the thickest part near the head to help heat get in.
Turbot is judged done when the flesh lifts cleanly off the backbone with the tip of a knife, and it is best pulled just before that point since it carries a lot of heat. This is the test to use for brill, halibut and any whole flatfish you swap in, rather than a fixed number of minutes.
Turbotin, or chicken turbot, simply means a small turbot of one to two kilos rather than the big four-kilo fish, and it is what most recipes for a whole roasted turbot assume. A whole brill or two thick halibut steaks are the closest matches by size and by cooking time.
Because turbot's flesh is so firm, it takes a hard sear better than almost any flatfish and it can sit in a warm sauce without disintegrating. If you substitute plaice, flounder or lemon sole, restructure the recipe: sear them briefly and sauce them on the plate rather than in the pan.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best substitute for turbot?

Brill, if your fishmonger has it, because it is a close relative with almost the same firm gelatinous flesh at a lower price. Outside Europe, halibut is the best and most available option, matching turbot's firmness and sweetness though it is much leaner. John Dory is another good firm-fleshed choice, and Dover sole is a fine substitute in delicate dishes.

Can I just leave the turbot out?

No, since turbot is the centerpiece of every recipe that names it and usually the reason the recipe exists. If you cannot get a suitable flatfish at all, the sauces that accompany turbot, beurre blanc, hollandaise, champagne sauce, sauce vin blanc, are all excellent on halibut, monkfish, scallops or even poached chicken, so keep the sauce and change the protein.

Is halibut the same as turbot?

No, they are different species, though both are large firm flatfish and they are the closest widely available equivalents. Turbot is denser and richer in gelatin, so it feels more succulent and gives a sauce more body; halibut is leaner and slightly finer-flaked and dries out more easily. In a recipe you can swap them at 1:1 and simply cook the halibut a little less.

Why is turbot so expensive?

Wild turbot is caught in modest quantities in the North Sea, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, it takes years to reach a good size, it yields relatively little flesh for its total weight because of the large head and frame, and it has a long-standing reputation in French and British restaurant cooking. Farmed turbot from Spain and France is cheaper and cooks the same way.

Can I use plaice or flounder instead of turbot?

You can, but not in the same recipe unchanged. They are much softer, thinner and more fragile, so they cook in a few minutes, cannot be cut into tranches or roasted on the bone at length, and will fall apart in a sauce. Pan-fry them quickly in butter, sauce them on the plate, and treat the result as a nice plate of flatfish rather than an imitation of turbot.

Related substitutes

More seafood substitutes

Turbot substitute

Other turbot substitutes

2Halibut

3John Dory

4Dover sole

5Plaice or flounder

6Monkfish