July 10, 2026

More Protein Per Calorie Than Chicken Breast: Mediterranean Baked Cod with White Beans

A 25-minute one-pan Mediterranean bake that lets a lean white fish do the heavy lifting: flaky cod in a briny tomato-olive-caper sauce over cannellini beans and wilted spinach. Forty-five grams of protein and ten grams of fiber, and it tastes like a seaside holiday dinner, not a health-food penance.

This is the dinner to make when you want a restaurant Mediterranean fish plate but not the price or the wait. Atlantic cod runs about 18 grams of protein and 82 calories per 100 grams, per the USDA FoodData Central database, which is slightly more protein per calorie than skinless boneless chicken breast. A seven-ounce fillet alone clears 35 grams of protein with barely a gram and a half of fat, so you have room to build a real sauce and a bean base around it and still land under 500 calories. The catch with cod is that it is mild, flaky, and bland on its own, so it needs a sauce that does the talking. Here a briny tomato-olive-caper base does that work, and cannellini beans are the satiety play: roughly 6 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber for about 100 calories per half cup. That is the kind of protein-plus-fiber volume that keeps you full for hours without weighing the plate down.

Per serving (makes 2): about 485 calories, 45g protein, 31g carbs, 20g fat, 10g fiber.

Ingredients (2 servings)

• 14 oz (400g) cod fillets, 2 pieces, patted very dry
• 1 cup canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 12 Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
• 2 tbsp capers, drained
• 4 cups baby spinach
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice, plus 2 lemon slices
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• Fresh parsley, chopped, to finish

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Pat the cod fillets completely dry with paper towels and season both sides with salt and pepper. Wet fish steams instead of roasting, so do not skip the pat-down.
2. In a 10-inch oven-safe skillet or a small baking dish, combine the cherry tomatoes, cannellini beans, olives, capers, garlic, 1 tbsp of the olive oil, the lemon juice, oregano, red pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Toss to coat and spread in an even layer.
3. Roast the tomato-bean base alone for 8 minutes, until the tomatoes start to burst and release their juice. This is the step that decides the texture: a hot, already-juicy base keeps the cod custardy instead of rubbery.
4. Pull the pan out. Pile the baby spinach on top of the hot base and stir it in until it wilts, about 30 seconds. Nestle the cod fillets into the mixture, spooning some of the juices over the fish. Drizzle the fillets with the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and lay a lemon slice on each.
5. Return to the oven and bake 10 to 12 minutes, until the cod flakes easily at the thickest part, about 140°F internal. Thinner fillets are done at 10 minutes, so check early and pull the moment it flakes.
6. Spoon each fillet over a scoop of the tomato-bean-spinach base, making sure to get the pan juices. Finish with chopped parsley and an extra squeeze of lemon.

Make it better

The two moves that decide this dish are roasting the tomato-bean base before the cod goes in, and pulling the fish the instant it flakes. A dry fillet laid on a hot, bursting base sears gently and stays silky, while a cold fillet dropped into a raw tomato pile steams into rubber. Cod also goes from perfect to chalky in about a minute, so set a timer for 10 minutes and check at the thickest part. For a sharper, brighter finish, swap the dried oregano for a tablespoon of fresh oregano or thyme leaves stirred in right before serving, and add a pinch of orange zest to the base for a Mediterranean brightness that cooked lemon alone cannot give you.

Batch-prep note

This scales cleanly to four. The tomato-olive-caper base keeps for three days in the fridge and tastes better on day two, so make a double batch of the base and just roast fresh cod when you want it. Leftover cod flakes beautifully cold over the leftover base with extra greens for a next-day lunch bowl, and the bean base freezes well on its own.

Adapted from Gina Homolka's Baked Cod with Cherry Tomatoes, Fennel, and Capers at Skinnytaste (April 9, 2025). I swapped the fennel-and-onion base for cannellini beans and spinach to add protein and fiber, scaled the olive oil, and built it as a complete bowl. The macro math is mine, worked out from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient.

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