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Easy Baked Mackerel (Saba Fish)
This baked mackerel (saba fish) recipe comes about because I saw maameemoomoo’s grilled saba with teriyaki sauce recipe (update: this site is no longer online so I removed the link) and I fell in love with it. Her grilled fish not only looked so deliciously beautiful, I also like the fact that they were oven-baked, saving lots of splatters and effort in cleaning up. My version, ever the lazy one, involves seasoning the fish with basic salt and pepper. This is a quick way to sneak in one more meat dish to the dinner table effortlessly.
STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS (BAKED MACKEREL/SABA FISH]
Preparation is really easy. If using frozen saba fish like I did, thaw them before cooking. Line baking tray with parchment paper for easy cleaning, then place the de-boned fish fillet skin side up without overlapping each other on the tray. Brush olive oil over the mackerel skin. Season the fillet with salt and black pepper.
Bake the saba fillets for about 20 minutes, or until the skin starts to brown & crisp. The ingredients are few and this is a super easy recipe!
ooo.. baking it looks just as good as grilling it. I’m intrigued since baking means less fuss!
I don’t cook fish nearly as much as I should — thanks for the easy recipe!
Pretty shots!! Makes me wanna grill this fish SOON!
Easy dishes, don’t just love them? :)
That’s a delicious way of doing saba – goes esp well with lemon chilli!
Where do you get fresh saba fillets? I’ve always only seen frozen ones from the supermarket but would love to get my hands on the fresh stuff. Is it from the wet market? If so, what’s it called in chinese?
if you want fresh fillets, get from the wet market (I am assuming you are from Singapore too), tell the uncle you want saba and he’ll probably fillet them for you.
yes, I’m from Singapore too. :)
really? i’ve never seen it in the wet market though. thought there might be a “local” name for it like batang / ngor hng etc. ok – i’ll try next time. thanks!
I love baked fish too. They just taste SO good. Also, no greasy kitchen to clean up. I had just bought 2 rainbow trouts and going to bake for dinner later.
It’s kinda a stupid question, but is mackeral the same as the ‘batang’ fish we see at NTUC? I get so confused by the different names used! I’ve never seen any fresh fish labelled ‘mackeral’ at NTUC.
it’s not stupid at all. I don’t think it’s batang, should be saba. If you check out the frozen seafood section, you should see this fish vacuum pack (not sure the labelled name but the appearance is distinctive) :)
great! anyway frozen is cheaper too:)
Have fun on your vacation!
Wow this actually does look and sound very easy! Love your pretty lime garnishes too!
Lovely, simple and tasty. I’m pretty lucky that I can get fresh mackerel any time I like; they’re common in UK waters, and quite cheap. As a tip to get rid of the pesky pin bones (if your fishmonger won’t do it for you – you can always ask) is do V-cut them. Lie the fillets flesh side up, so that you can see/feel the strip of fine bones along the middle. Use a sharp knife and cut along the fillet on both sides of the strip of pin bones, angling the knife in slightly – take care not to pierce the skin. You should now be able to peel out a thin V-shape bit of flesh along with all the bones, leaving your fillet completely boneless. It’s much easier to do than to describe – a matter of seconds a fillet.
Yummy, simple and looks so delicious! The skin of the fish has a nice golden brown colour and looks crispy as well. Delicious with just a slight squeeze of lemon and a hot bowl of steaming rice.