This New England Baked Haddock Recipe is so comforting, delicious, and easy to make! This easy, family-friendly dinner uses only THREE ingredients and requires only FIVE MINUTES of hands on time.
If you are from New England, you have had New England Baked Haddock. If you aren’t or haven’t had it… you need to get it in your mouth ASAP. And I mean like, now.
You only need THREE ingredients for this baked haddock recipe: fish, butter, and bread crumbs, plus some salt and pepper. And lemon and parsley, if you want to get a little crazy. This is such a simple and inexpensive meal to make.
This is a very traditional dish in New England, and is often served as the fish option at weddings and other shindigs. It can be ordered at almost any seafood restaurant (sometimes, it’s made with cod), and is so melt-in-your-mouth yummy, it will be hard to go back to eating fish any other way!
New England baked haddock is perfect for when you want something pescatarian, but a little more soul-satisfying than your average light and healthy fish recipe.
It’s almost like fish meets casserole. It’s warm and hearty, and will satisfy even the meat lovingest of the meat lovers as a main course.
Traditionally, New England baked haddock is made using Ritz crackers (which are, incidentally, from New England) crumbled up with butter and spread on top of the fish, then baked in the oven with lemon and herbs. Delicious.
However, you can get the same delicious effect by using breadcrumbs and lots of butter (to get that awesome buttery Ritz-y taste).
Ritz Crackers vs. Breadcrumbs
I prefer using breadcrumbs instead of Ritz crackers. Here’s why.
For one thing, they’re already broken up, so you don’t have to worry about that extra step of smashing the Ritz crackers into crumbles. Just pour the breadcrumbs in a bowl, add some butter, and mix together.
For another thing, breadcrumbs are a little more flexible. You can easily make your own out of scratch-made or fresh bread, which means you’ll be more in control of the ingredients in the bread.
And there are so many kinds of breadcrumbs out there, including gluten-free or whole wheat versions, so it’s a great way to meet certain dietary needs easily.
That said, please feel free to use Ritz crackers, or another similar buttery cracker, in place of the breadcrumbs! Just crush them up (you can use a rolling pin to crush them in a zip-top bag) and add a little less butter than the recipe calls for with breadcrumbs.
What else can I add to the breadcrumb topping?
This recipe is SUPER basic- only three ingredients. You can add herbs, garlic (powder or fresh), and other seasonings to the breadcrumb mixture if you want!
Or you can season the fish with more than salt and pepper. I think Italian seasoning or lemon pepper would be great.
My store doesn’t carry haddock! What can I use instead?
Now that I live in Texas, it’s hard for me to find haddock at the store.
If you can’t find it, or if you just don’t like it, you can use any other mild white fish, such as tilapia, cod, pollock, flounder, or halibut. I’ve even gotten super Southern on this and used catfish- it was great!
If you like this New England Baked Haddock recipe, try these other easy fish recipes:
- Four Ingredient Southern Style Oven-Fried Catfish
- Instant Pot Fish Stew
- 10-Minute Blackened Tilapia with Avocado Cucumber Salsa
- 15-Minute Poached Salmon with Chive Butter
Here’s the printable recipe!
New England Baked Haddock
Ingredients
- 1-1.5 lbs. haddock patted dry (or other mild-tasting white fish, such as flounder, pollock, tilapia, or cod)
- 1 cup breadcrumbs see note
- 6 tablespoons butter melted
- kosher salt and black pepper
- lemon wedges and fresh parsley for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Put a spoonful of the melted butter in a baking sheet or dish and spread to coat the bottom.
- Combine the bread crumbs (1 cup) with the rest of the 6 tablespoons of melted butter.
- Salt and pepper both sides of the fish liberally, and lay in the buttered baking dish.
- Spread bread crumbs - all of them - evenly over the fish
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until fish is cooked thoroughly (and flakes easily).
- Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice and a garnish of fresh parsley, if desired.
Notes
- Looking for more flavor? This recipe is basic and simple, which I LOVE. But if you're looking for bolder flavor, try adding spices or herbs to the breadcrumb mixture, such as fresh parsley, dill, chives, garlic (powder or fresh), onion powder, and/or lemon zest. Grated parmesan cheese would also be delicious added in!
- New England Baked Haddock is traditionally made with crushed Ritz crackers. You can use them if you prefer- just put them in a zip-top bag and use a rolling pin to crush them. Then, use in place of the breadcrumbs in the recipe and use only 3 tablespoons of melted butter instead of 6.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
This New England Baked Haddock recipe first appeared on Bowl of Delicious in September 2014. I’ve updated it to include a video, updated tips and tricks, and clearer instructions.
Kelly
Excellent recipe! I use the Japanese style Panko seasoned light and crispy breadcrumbs since I didn’t have Ritz crackers on hand. I also use buttered flavored olive oil instead of real butter to make it more heart healthy. It was very tasty! Thank you for sharing your recipe. :)
Elizabeth Lindemann
Glad you liked it!
Endless Void
Great recipe, I’ve made this a couple of times now and though I massacred my own bread crumbs the first time round, I took to the ritz crackers and find the coating is delicious. My only trouble is getting the crumbs (cracker or bread) to stick more to the fish. I’m sure I’ll figure out the perfect formula for it soon. Other than that this fish is loaded with flavour, enhanced by the salt lemon and butter.
I appreciate you uploading your recipe, thank you!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy you liked it!
Bernadette Carey
One way to get the coating to stick on the fish is to brush a small amount of mayonnaise on the fish and then press it in the crumbs – then let it set for a bit before
cooking it. The mayo adds moisture and a tiny bit of flavour.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Oooo I love that idea, thanks for sharing!
Mike
It was delicious. Only thing I did differently was to add chopped cooked shrimp to the stuffing. Makes this cold windy night on the coast of Salem much better LOL
Elizabeth Lindemann
Oh my goodness I lived in Salem for two years!! Right before moving to Texas. Aw, say hi for me! So glad you liked it and I love the idea of adding shrimp. Stay warm up there!
Monica
Nice basic recipe. I used gluten fee panko and spiced it up with lots of garlic and pepper. The lemon was essential.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Annie
Elizabeth … loved the haddock recipe. I used ground pork rinds for a low carb version. Full of flavor!
Elizabeth Lindemann
I love this idea for a low carb version! Thanks so much for sharing, and so glad you liked it :-)
B Richards
Very nice! I received a couple of pounds of ( flash-frozen on the boat) haddock. I wanted to bake it and I wanted it to taste different than my Cod recipe. I didn’t use Ritz crackers instead I used seasoned stuffing bread crumbs hanging around, and I added chopped scallions with the parsley to garnish. On one piece of fish, I added a pinch of smoked paprika before the breadcrumb rub just to compare- both ways were delicious. Liberally used the Salt and Pepper as directed, but eased up on the butter to reduce the fat. WE LOVED IT and no leftovers! Thanks for putting it out there for me to find. I found it funny that I’m in New England- a purebred New Englander but I’m using the recipe from someone in Texas.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy you liked it! Love the idea of adding smoked paprika- YUM. I’m also a native New Englander (from Newburyport, MA), and still a New Englander at heart, living in Texas! :-)
Greg
My wife, who does not normally like fish…told me that she loved this. This was an amazing feat. She wants me to make it again. For spices, I did use salt and pepper on the thawed raw fish. I used Kellogg’s Corn Flake crumbs instead of bread or cracker crumbs. I added in spices of onion and garlic powder.
It went well this a broiled mix of asparagus and onions that had been coated in olive oil and fresh grated parmesan cheese with a dash of balsamic.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Oh wow, that sounds like an amazing dinner! So glad you and your wife liked it, and thanks so much for taking the time to leave a rating and comment!
Don
Not good …I used lots of butter, bread crumbs, onion and garlic powder. After cooking we put lemon juice on it. There was virtually no taste or flavor with this haddock. We even tried tartar which I don’t normally use with fresh fish. Wasted our money time and lesson learned.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Oh no! Sorry you had this frustrating experience. I noticed you didn’t list salt in your review as something you added- the only thing I can think of that maybe went wrong is not salt and peppering the fish (or salting it enough) before adding everything else? That’s an important step, so if you missed it, I can definitely see the fish not having much taste! Hope that helps and better luck next time.