Cooking fish can be a challenge, and if you don't want to use nonstick cookware you might think you can never cook fish well. Fish is delicate and can be ruined easily by sticking to the pan or getting overcooked.
Like many basic foods, fish takes a little practice to get right. But it is actually one of the simplest meals to make. It's fast, easy, and delicious--not to mention healthy--especially when you choose the right method and the right pan--and trust us, you do not need a nonstick pan.
Best Pans for Cooking Fish at a Glance
Cooking Method | Best Pans | Important Features |
|---|---|---|
Pan Frying, with or without breading, and Pan Roasting | -Heavy bottom -Holds heat -Shallow to turn fish easily -Can use high heat to brown -Can go in oven up to 500F | |
Baking | -Insulates for even baking -At least 2" deep | |
Steaming and poaching | -Perforated so steam can reach fish -Can use for one-pot meals | |
Indoor Grilling | -Heavy bottom -Holds heat -Can use high heat -Raised marks to keep fish from fat and give it grill marks | |
Deep Frying | -Heavy bottom -Holds heat -Deep enough to hold hot oil safely |
Is Fish Safe to Eat?
We aren't food safety experts, but from the research we've done, we believe that yes, fish are safe to eat.
In fact, fish is high in protein and other nutrients, and should be consumed at least once a week. This is true even for children and pregnant women, who need to watch their mercury intake.
Mercury is the biggest concern when eating fish and because of it, most advisory groups advise people to eat no more than two servings (12 ounces) per week of low mercury fish and one serving per week of high mercury fish.
High mercury fish include shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish (golden snapper or golden bass).
Shrimp, tuna, salmon (including farmed salmon), pollock, and catfish are low in mercury.
See this article from Harvard for more information.
Types of Fish (And How to Cook Them)
There are dozens of fish breeds to choose from, but they fall into two categories: fatty fish and lean fish.
Both are healthy choices, but fatty fish contains large amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids, which most people don't get enough of in their diet. So if you want to eat more fish for health reasons, fatty fish is an excellent choice.
Fatty fish includes salmon (wild and farmed), tuna, herring, sardine, mackerel, and trout. Salmon is considered one of the healthiest fish you can eat, especially wild-caught, which has higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids than farmed salmon.
Lean fish is also very healthy. It is high in protein and low in calories, though does not have the high Omega 3 content of fatty fish. Lean fish includes snapper, cod, halibut, bass, flounder, sole, cod, perch, and pike.
Shellfish, like shrimp and lobster, are also considered lean seafood.
Both fatty and lean fish cook quickly, and are a great way to get a meal on the table fast. In general, you can pan fry, pan roast, grill, or bake any type of fish, although only lean fish are typically breaded or battered.
How to Choose Fresh Fish
According to Eatwell101.com, here are the criteria for choosing fresh fish:
- The body of the fish must be rigid or arched.
- The fish should be bright, with a metallic luster
- The eye should be bright, vivid, and brilliant.
- The gills should be bright, wet, pink or red.
- The smell should be pleasant and mild. (If fish has a strong fishy smell, keep looking.)
- Scales should be shiny and not detach themselves.
- The abdomen should not be stretched or have green spots.
- The skin should be shiny, and slippery to the touch.
We'd like to add that one of the best ways to find good quality fresh fish is to find a good fishmonger in your area. If you find someone you trust, you will always have a reliable source of fresh fish.
Why Not to Use a Nonstick Pan
You may have noticed that none of our pan recommendations include nonstick.
There are so many reasons not to use a nonstick pan. We don't want to lecture you about it, but these pans are a bad choice for many reasons. Even a dedicated nonstick pan for fish and eggs is a bad idea.
Here's why.
Ceramic nonstick may be a safer option, but these pans are made using a number of toxic chemicals, too, so we no longer recommend them as a safe alternative to PTFE.
For more information, see our Guide to Nonstick Chemicals.
How to Stop Fish From Sticking to Any Pan
Don't skip this section--it's probably the most important one in the article.
The dreaded sticking is what gives many people pause when frying fish, or makes them reach for a nonstick pan. But you don't need to worry--and you don't need to use a nonstick pan.
The right technique is all you need.
Proteins tend to stick to pans, especially when cooked slowly. This is especially true for lean cuts, like fish, that don't release a lot of fat when they cook.
Thus, cooking proteins quickly is the key to them not sticking.
You should also make sure the fish is patted dry before you add it to the pan, as moisture will interfere with the oil barrier.
For pan frying, the key is to pre-heat the pan for several minutes. This allows the pan to heat to the right temperature and for the heat to be evenly distributed throughout the pan. (How hot? Medium-high is a good place to start; if you're an experienced cook, high is fine too, as long as the pan isn't nonstick.)
When the pan is hot, add your oil or butter--enough to thinly coat the pan surface--and wait until it starts to shimmer, probably less than a minute. When the fat is shimmering, add the patted-dry fish (or other protein).
Allow the fish to cook undisturbed for a few minutes, or several if it is a thick fillet or steak. The fish will form a crust and should release naturally from the pan. When it does, it's ready to flip.
Cook a few minutes longer on the other side. Use an instant read thermometer to check for doneness, or pull the fish when the meat easily flakes apart.
Do not turn the fish more than once, as this can cause it to fall apart.
That's really all there is to it.
If there are crispy bits left in the pan, you can de-glaze with a little bit of wine or water, add some stock and seasonings (a generous squeeze of lemon is great here!) and let them reduce for a few minutes, then finish with a couple of tablespoons of butter for a delicious pan sauce.
This method works really well for a stainless steel cooking surface, which gets the most complaints about stickiness from cooks who are used to nonstick. And you can use it for any protein, not just fish.
It also works with cast iron and carbon steel pans.
Once you get the hang of this technique, using stainless steel pans becomes second nature, and they are almost never hard to clean, either.
Don't fret about the fat! Fat is flavor, and your body needs it to function normally, as well as to absorb certain nutrients.
Do You Need a Special Pan for Fish?
The short answer is no, you don't need a special pan for cooking fish, and buying one won't make your fish turn out better than if you use a regular cast iron or stainless steel skillet.
You can buy special fish pans, but these are mainly for presentation, if you're cooking a whole fish and want to display it on the table this way.
The problem with specialty pans is that they're only good for one dish: in this case, fish. That makes them a poor choice for your budget.
Unless you routinely cook whole fish for guests, the better bet is to buy a good quality all-purpose skillet, grill pan, or baking pan. And if you ever do want to cook and present a whole fish for guests, any long, narrow pan will work (such as a Pyrex cake/lasagna pan).
Cookware Factors to Consider
There's no one perfect pan for searing, pan roasting, baking, steaming, or grilling fish (or any other food, for that matter). To find a pan that's right for you, need to take into account basic heating and quality features, as well as your own preferences: weight, handle design, depth, versatility, and whether a pan fits with your basic cooking style.
For example, don't buy a cast iron pan (or grill pan) if you don't like heavy cookware. You'll hate it and you'll never use it.
And you probably don't need a dedicated fish pan. You can find a good pan that you can also use for other tasks.
The pans we recommend here are the best not just for fish, but the best in general. If you want to spend more on a smoother cast iron pan or you want a lighter clad stainless skillet than the Proline, we give more options. But in general, the pans we recommend here are the best and most versatile options.
Here are the most important factors to consider when choosing a pan for cooking fish.
Heating Performance
The most important features for cooking fish are a pan heats evenly and retains heat fairly well, although retention is more important for thick fish steaks than it is for fillets. Fillets cook quickly, while thick steaks take longer (which is why they're a good candidate for pan roasting: searing on the stove top and finishing in an oven).
The best skillet for frying fish is the best skillet for most things: a thick, heavy pan that heats evenly and holds heat reasonably well.
We like clad stainless steel. It's the best skillet material because it's so versatile. It pan fries and sears well, and you can put it in the oven, too: most brands are oven safe to at least 500F.
Cast iron and carbon steel are also great choices for fish. You don't need the exceptional heat retention, but it won't hurt anything either as long as you know when to take the fish out of the pan.
Not all pans are created equally, especially clad stainless. There is a wide range of quality among brands. We have several articles on this site about choosing clad stainless cookware; see our Cookware page for more information, or scroll down for our fish recommendations.
Durability
You don't need a durable pan for fish, but durability is an important all-around feature of good quality cookware, and it's something you should look for in any cookware you buy.
Clad stainless steel, cast iron, and carbon steel are all good choices for skillets. If stainless steel or carbon steel is too thin, it can warp, so you have to be careful about cheap or non-recommended brands. Our recommendations are all heavy duty, well-made pans that shouldn't warp or corrode.
For bakeware, you'll want a glass or ceramic baking dish. These aren't as durable as skillet material, but they're a good choice for baking because they insulate from the heat and help food cook more evenly.
However, you can also roast fish in stainless steel, carbon steel, and cast iron pans. If you do a lot of pan roasting, you may want to invest in a short-handled pan, as they go in and out of the oven more easily.
Safety
By safety, we mean cookware material that won't react with your food or the environment. We are most concerned with nonstick cookware chemicals, which are toxic and can be released from scratched and overheated pans.
The best cookware choices for safety are the materials we recommend: stainless steel, cast iron, carbon steel, and glass or ceramic baking dishes.
You can read more about cookware safety in our Guide to Safe Cookware.
Size
The right pan size is dependent on how much food you're cooking, but for fish, you want a pan large enough to fit at least a couple of fillets at a time.
For skillets, the smallest you should go is 10-inches, and we think 12-inches is a more versatile size. Diameter is measured across the top, so a 10-inch skillet has a flat cooking surface of 7-9 inches; a 12-inch skillet has a flat cooking surface of 8-11 inches, depending on how angled the sides of the skillet are.
The standard baking dish size--for baking fish--is 9 by 13 inches, which will accommodate most whole fish as well as several smaller fillets or steaks.
If you're cooking just for yourself, smaller pans will work: an 8-inch skillet or a 8 by 8 inch baking pan. But if you're cooking for two people or more, you definitely want a larger size.
Best Pans for Pan Frying and Pan Roasting Fish
So we're on the same page, here are quick definitions:
Pan Frying: Pan frying, or just frying, is cooking food in a shallow amount of oil at a medium to medium-high temperature until done. Pan frying is a fast method, which makes it an excellent option for fish fillets, which are thin and will cook through quickly.
Searing/Pan Roasting: Searing is heating a pan to very high heat, cooking food in a small amount of oil to get a crispy crust, such as on a steak, then turning down the temperature and covering, or putting in the oven to finish.
This is an excellent way to cook thick fish steaks, but would be likely to overcook most fillets.
We love clad stainless for pan frying and pan roasting because it heats evenly and goes in the oven without a problem (as long as you buy a brand with stainless steel, not plastic, handles).
Cast iron and carbon steel are also good choices, especially if you're on a tighter budget and don't want to spend for a top-notch clad stainless steel skillet: you're better off buying an inexpensive cast iron or carbon steel skillet than skimping on a stainless one.