This delightful Black Cod dish is simple, but makes a great date night meal! Firstly, sablefish, a.k.a. black cod or butterfish, is one of the most underrated and amazing fish you’ll ever eat. And when you pair an incredibly delicious fish with an absolutely stunning miso and sake butter sauce, you’ll want to make this again and again!

Looking for more dishes like this? Try out our Crispy Parmesan Crusted Baked Cod or Yellowtail with Lemon Caper Cream Sauce recipes.
Jump to:
- Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- What is Black Cod?
- Ingredients
- Substitutions
- How to Make Black Cod with Miso Butter Sauce
- Equipment
- Step-by-Step Instructions
- Variations
- Storage
- Top Tips
- Troubleshooting
- What to serve with Black Cod and Miso Butter Sauce
- What Wines To Drink with Miso Butter Black Cod
- FAQ
- Related
- Pairing
- 📖 Recipe
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- A delicious way to elevate your date night meal!
- Black cod tastes unlike anything else!
- The flavor of the sauce is irresistible! Just wow! It is made in a similar fashion to a classic beurre blanc, with some umami flavors.
- This entire dish comes together quickly and easily.
- Perfect for date night!
What is Black Cod?
Black cod is a fish in its own class - buttery, silky, and slightly sweet, this dish will shock you with flavor! Black cod (also known as sablefish or butterfish) is getting easier to find, but it is quite common in Asian grocery stores.
Miso black cod is most famous because of Chef Nobu Matsuhisa and it has been featured at his restaurant, Nobu, at various locations all over the world. Chef Nobu uses a miso marinade on the black cod to give it a unique umami flavor (see also Misoyaki butterfish in Japanese restaurants for similar preparations). Sablefish is certainly popular in many parts of the world in different presentations as well.
If you cannot find black cod, there are alternatives that we listed below under substitutions, but we highly encourage you to seek it out to really elevate this dish! Outside of Asian grocery stores, you can find black cod through online seafood vendors. We have ordered it HERE several times and have been happy with the product. We have seen pre-frozen black cod fillets at Costco recently as well. If you can't seem to find it, some seafood counters at grocery stores can order it for you, so you have quite a few options.

Ingredients
Here is what you need to make this recipe with Black Cod with Miso Butter Sauce:
- Black Cod: Two 6-oz filets, preferably the same size and of uniform thickness - skin removed.
- Low Sodium Soy Sauce: A small amount of low sodium soy sauce is brushed on the fillets before cooking. This gives it a nice flavor on its own and complements the sauce.
- Olive Oil: The black cod is cooked in a small amount of oil to prevent it from sticking to the pan and create a nice golden brown color on the outside.
- Sezchuan Peppercorns: These peppercorns are toasted in a dry pan to enhance their flavor in the sauce.
- Black Peppercorns: Black peppercorns are also toasted with the Sezchuan peppercorns for the sauce.
- Shallot: Shallots are a great flavor component in the sauce.
- Sake: We use dry, filtered Junmai sake in this recipe.
- White Miso Paste: This young miso paste is the mildest flavored, also called sweet miso paste and is easy to find at any Asian grocery store. This gives the sauce that unique umami flavor. This is the type of miso paste typically used in miso soup.
- Lemon Juice: Just a little lemon juice (½ of a lemon) adds the acidity needed to balance the sauce
- Sweet Black Soy Sauce: Just a touch of this adds depth of flavor to the sauce. This is also easy to find at any Asian grocery store.
- Unsalted Butter: To finish the sauce, cold butter is used, creating a rich, buttery, umami-filled flavor to pair with the fish.
- Chives: Used to garnish the plated dish.
See recipe card below for quantities.
Substitutions
Here are a couple of common substitutions for the ingredients in this recipe:
- Black cod: If you can't get your hands on black cod, you can instead use halibut, chilean sea bass, or even regular cod fillets in this recipe. The sauce will make any flaky white fish taste incredible!
- Sezchuan Peppercorns: If you can't find these peppercorns, you can omit them from the recipe without too much of a flavor downgrade.
- Sake: You can use any dry white wine in place of the sake if you prefer for a similar outcome.
- White Miso Paste: You can deepen the flavor of the sauce even more by using red miso paste instead of white miso paste. Red miso paste is generally saltier, so be sure to taste as you go to make sure you’re not making your sauce too salty.
- Shallot: Onion can be used instead of a shallot in this recipe.
- Lemon: You can use lime, key lime, meyer lemon, orange or any citrus in the sauce. The sauce is not overly citrusy anyway, so any fruit you choose to use will be a nice addition.
- Chives: Green onions are a good substitute for chives in this recipe if unavailable.
How to Make Black Cod with Miso Butter Sauce
For this recipe, you will roast the fish while you make the sauce, so making this dish is quite simple and pretty quick. The most time consuming part is letting the fish sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes prior to roasting it!
Equipment
Here is what you need to make this black cod recipe:
- A small shallow sauce pan for the sauce
- A fish spatula is highly recommended since black cod is very delicate to transfer
- A mesh strainer for the sauce
- A ¼ sheet pan or rimmed baking sheet and rack to prep the fish
- An oven-safe nonstick skillet to cook the fish

Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Prep the fish
- Pat the fish fillets dry with a paper towel. Remove the fish skin with a very sharp knife or have it removed at the market. Brush the fillets with the soy sauce on both sides and place on a wire rack (skin side down) over a sheet pan and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425°F
Step 2: Start the sauce
- For the sauce, add both types of peppercorns to a dry saucepan over medium heat. Once the peppercorns become quite fragrant (a couple of minutes), reduce the heat to low and add the shallots. They may stick to the pan at first, but that is fine. Add the sake and stir. Next add the miso paste, lemon juice and black sweet soy sauce and whisk until fully incorporated. Turn the heat back up to medium and cook for 3 minutes. Strain the sauce and return to the saucepan without any solids.
Step 3: Cook the fish
- In an oven-safe nonstick skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil and then add the fish that has been brushed with soy sauce and has rested in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Cook for about 4 minutes with the flattest side down. Then put the fish in the preheated oven for 6-10 minutes depending on how thick your filets are. The internal temperature should be 145°F. Once the fish is done, gently transfer the fish fillets to plates and loosely cover with aluminum foil to rest while you finish the sauce.
Step 4: Finish the sauce and serve
- While the fish is cooking, reduce the sauce over medium low to low heat. It will become thicker (from the miso paste) and the sake will cook down. Once the fish is done, remove the reduced sauce from the heat and whisk in the cold butter, one piece at a time while the fish rests. Serve the black cod with some sauce and garnish with chives. Serve with your favorite side dishes.
Variations
Here are a couple ways to change up this butterfish recipe:
- Other white-fleshed types of fish work with this recipe as well. Simply adjust the cooking time for the thickness of the fish. Halibut and Chilean sea bass are great, but we’ve also had great success with cod and flounder as well. Honestly, even salmon fillets or mahi mahi would be great with this miso butter sauce!
- You can deepen the flavor of the sauce even more by using red miso paste instead of white miso paste.

Storage
How to store leftover black cod
- Chances are high if you make this recipe, there won’t be leftovers. If for some reason there are, store for up to 2 days in a covered container in the refrigerator.
How to reheat leftover black cod
- Place the cod in the oven at 325°F until warmed through - about 10-15 minutes.
Can you freeze leftover black cod?
- This is not recommended.
Top Tips
- Making the sauce ahead of time is a great idea. Just make the sauce up to the part of straining it and it can sit off the heat until you’re ready to finish it. Once the fish starts cooking, you can start reducing the sauce. By the time the fish is done and is resting, you can finish the sauce with butter and serve!
- Like other proteins, you can enhance the flavor and texture of the black cod by letting it sit on a rack over a sheet tray in the refrigerator for a half hour prior to cooking.
Troubleshooting
Most fish are delicate, so be very careful when turning transferring them from the roasting pan to the plate. A fish spatula comes in handy here.
Also, if you find that your sauce is way too thick, you can add a touch of water to thin it out. You want the sauce to be thick, but it should be easily pourable.
What to serve with Black Cod and Miso Butter Sauce
While this can be served with a wide variety of things, we find it difficult to beat a nice steamed jasmine rice made with a touch of coconut milk. Baby bok choy is also a great addition - we love to pan cook it with a touch of olive oil and add a touch of citrus and soy sauce to finish.

What Wines To Drink with Miso Butter Black Cod
Our go to with this miso butterfish dish is a nice dry sake (such as Junmai). It pairs perfectly with the miso sauce and the fish, and since you are already using it for the sauce, it won't go to waste! An off-dry gewürztraminer or a dry to semi-dry riesling are also great choices to pair with this dish.
FAQ
Black cod, and butterfish are both names given to sablefish, and all three names are commonly used in North America.
Well, the texture is so buttery and silky that "butterfish" became a nickname for this amazing fish species. The special part of this fish is that it flakes but stays so juicy while keeping a flavor that is absolutely stunning.
Miso paste is made from fermented soybeans. Salt and other ingredients are also present, but soybeans are the main ingredient. The longer the paste ages, the stronger and more complex it becomes.
Related
Looking for other seafood recipes? Try these:
Pairing
These are our favorite sides to serve with this recipe:
📖 Recipe

Roasted Black Cod with Miso Butter Sauce
Equipment
- 1 sauce pan
- 1 baking sheet with rack
- 1 fish spatula
- 1 oven-safe nonstick skillet
Ingredients
- 2 Black Cod fillets roughly 6 oz each, skin removed
- 2 Tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium)
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 10 Sezchuan peppercorns whole
- 10 Black peppercorns. whole
- 1 medium shallot diced small
- ¾ cup sake Junmai or other dry filtered sake is best here
- 1 Tablespoon white miso paste
- Juice of ½ of a medium lemon
- ½ teaspoon sweet black soy sauce
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter - cold and diced
- chives for garnish
Instructions
- Pat the fish fillets dry with a paper towel. Remove the fish skin with a very sharp knife or have it removed at the market. Brush the fillets with the soy sauce and place on a wire rack (skin side down) over a sheet pan and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425°F.2 Black Cod fillets, 2 Tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium)
- For the sauce, add both types of peppercorns to a dry saucepan over medium heat. Once the peppercorns become quite fragrant (a couple of minutes), reduce the heat to low and add the shallots. They may stick to the pan at first, but that is fine. Add the sake and stir. Next add the miso paste, lemon juice and black sweet soy sauce and whisk until fully incorporated. Turn the heat back up to medium and cook for 3 minutes. Strain the sauce and return to the saucepan without any solids.10 Sezchuan peppercorns, 10 Black peppercorns. whole, 1 medium shallot, ¾ cup sake, 1 Tablespoon white miso paste, Juice of ½ of a medium lemon, ½ teaspoon sweet black soy sauce
- In an oven-safe nonstick skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil and then add the fish that has been brushed with soy sauce and has rested in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Cook for about 4 minutes with the flattest side down. Then put the fish in the preheated oven for 6-10 minutes depending on how thick your fillets are. The internal temperature should be 145°F. Once the fish is done, remove to a plate and loosely cover with aluminum foil to rest while you finish the sauce.1 Tablespoon olive oil
- While the fish is cooking, reduce the sauce over medium low to low heat. It will become thicker (from the miso paste) and the sake will cook down. Once the fish is done, remove the reduced sauce from the heat and whisk in the cold butter, one piece at a time. Serve the black cod with some sauce and garnish with chives. Serve with your favorite side dishes.4 Tablespoons unsalted butter - cold and diced
Nutrition

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