Learn how to cook some whole sea bream in the air fryer. The fish is coated in a coconut yoghurt based marinade with a medley of herbs and spices. Incredibly, easy, delicious and perfect for seafood lovers.
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If you're a fan of seafood then you won't want to this sea bream recipe. Although I am a parrot fish girl at heart, sea bream has a fond place in my heart.
It's very very accessible here, inexpensive and is known for its delicate, sweet flavour and flaky texture.
You can cook it many ways - grilling, frying, oven bake, steaming but my favourite way of cooking it is in the air fryer.
Reasons to make this recipe
- It is cooked in the air fryer which is a great alternative to deep fat frying.
- This is an oil free recipe, the fish doesn't need to be cooked in any oil.
- Sea bream is a great source of protein and can be paired with something that is low in carb,
- Sea bream has a light flavour and doesn't contain a lot of bones compared to other fish such as snapper.
Ingredients you will need
I used a combination of different herbs and spices - paprika, cumin, garam masala, onion/garlic granules, thyme, parsley, ginger, turmeric, chilli, black pepper and pink salt.
It is important to note that coconut yoghurt is used as a dairy free alternative. The brand being "The Coconut Collab".
Recipe preparation
The prep for this recipe is relatively straight forward, as I always recommend in my recipe posts, when pruchasing fish ask your fish monger to gut and scale it.
Although it is not difficult to do this yourself, it's less hassle and clean up by having the fish monger take care of this for you.
I always opt to have my fish scaled and gutted because I hate doing it myself.
The only cleaning that you will need to do is just the typical Caribbean method of using salt/vinegar and lime/lemon with water and make some deep slashes in the fish for the marinade.
The marinade for the sea bream is quite thick because I used coconut yoghurt. I used yoghurt because unlike coconut milk, it would create a much thicker coating which would adhere to the fish.
The thick coating from the yoghurt mixed with various herbs and spices including paprika, cumin, turmeric, coriander seeds, garam masala, onion/garlic graules, thyme, parsley, ginger, chilli, black pepper and pink salt.
All of this above ingredients are mixed together with the yoghurt which gives the fish its delicious flavour.
Air frying is a much better way of cooking meat and fish, where possible. Of course, this does depend on the actual recipe but ultimately this is a much healthier way of cooking.
You don't need to leave the fish in the marinade overnight or for several hours (1-2 hours is enough), unless you want to prepare it ahead of time.
It can be air fried in a short amount of time just make sure to apply the marinade generously (inside and outside of the fish).
The steps
- Place the sea bream in a medium sized bowl.
- Add some lukewarm water to the bowl.
- Squeeze the juice from the lime (you can add vinegar and/or salt at this time too) into the bowl.
- Use your hands to massage and wash the fish with the lime water.
- Rinse off the fish (directly under the tap, it is easier to do this using a colander).
- Rub the lime halves on the outside and in the cavity of the fish and rinse off one final time.
- Place the fish on a chopping board.
- Use sterilised kitchen scissors to trim off the dorsal and pectoral fins and discard.
- Blot the fish off (inside and outside) thoroughly with kitchen towel and discard.
- Use a sharp knife to make 3-4 diagonal scores, leaving about a 3-4cm gap between each line (do this on both sides of the fish, being mindful not to cut too deep into the fish)
- Place the fish in a medium sized bowl then set side.
- Place the paprika, coriander seeds, cumin ,garam masala, onion/garlic granules, turmeric, ginger, thyme, parsley, chilli, black pepper and pink salt in a spice grinder.
- Mill into a fine consistency and set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, add the coconut yoghurt then pour in the spice mix and use a spoon/brush to mix it together.
- Check the density of the marinade, if it is too thick for your liking add a small amount of water (a tablespoon at a time) and test taste and adjust, if needed.
- Rub the fish generously, including the inside and outside with the marinade (use gloves if needed).
- Cover the fish with saran or cling film and leave to marinate for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator.
- When you are ready to cook the fish, unwrap/remove the fish from the bowl (don't throw away the residue from the marinade).
- Line the air fryer basket with parchment paper.
- Carefully place the fish in the basket (use gloves if needed).
- Use a pastry brush to apply some of the leftover marinade, making sure it has been applied evenly.
- Air fry the fish for about 25 minutes at 190C/375F.
- Half way through the cooking time carefully turn over the fish (use an egg spatula to reduce the chance of the fish breaking up).
- Coat the top of the fish with the rest of the leftover marinade and continue to air fry.
- Once the fish has finished cooking, lightly brush the top with olive oil (this is optional but it will keep the fish moist).
Notes and tips
- You many need to cook the fish in batches depending on capacity of your air fryer.
- Sea bream cooks quite quickly so keep a watchful eye on the cooking time and use it as a general guide.
- You can clean, trim and score the sea bream ahead of time.
- The marinade can also be prepared a day in advance if needed.
- Feel free to use another type of fish i.e butter fish, doctor, mullet, snapper, parrot etc...
- Make sure to use ALL of the seasoning after you have milled it, it will seem like a large quantity but all of it is needed for optimal flavour.
- Have a small amount of water on standby incase you want to thin out the marinade, you should only need afew tablespoon as you don't want the marinade to be too thin.
- You can leave the fish wrapped in a bowl overnight instead if you plan to make the recipe on another day instead.
- Make sure to have gloves and sterilised scissors to hand.
More fish recipes to try
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Sea Bream Recipe (Air Fried)
Equipment
- Air fryer
- 2 bowls
- sharp knife
- Pastry brush
- chopping board
- colander
- kitche scissors
- liners for the air fryer
Ingredients
- 2 sea bream gutted and scaled
- 2 tablespoon paprika
- ½ tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon onion granules
- 1 teaspoon garlic granules
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon parsley
- ½ teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon pink salt
- ½ cup coconut yoghurt (122g)
- water on standby (about ¼ cup) if needed
Instructions
To clean the sea bream
- Place the sea bream in a medium sized bowl.
- Add some lukewarm water to the bowl.
- Squeeze the juice from the lime (you can add vinegar and/or salt at this time too) into the bowl.
- Use your hands to massage and wash the fish with the lime water.
- Rinse off the fish (directly under the tap, it is easier to do this using a colander).
- Rub the lime halves on the outside and in the cavity of the fish and rinse off one final time.
Triming and scoring the fish
- Place the fish on a chopping board.
- Use sterilised kitchen scissors to trim off the dorsal and pectoral fins and discard.
- Blot the fish off (inside and outside) thoroughly with kitchen towel and discard.
- Use a sharp knife to make 3-4 diagonal scores, leaving about a 3-4cm gap between each line (do this on both sides of the fish, being mindful not to cut too deep into the fish).
Marinating the fish
- Place the fish in a medium sized bowl then set side.
- Place the paprika, coriander seeds, cumin, garam masala, onion/garlic granules, turmeric, ginger, thyme, parsley, chilli, black pepper and pink salt in a spice grinder.
- Mill into a fine consistency and set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, add the coconut yoghurt then pour in the spice mix and use a spoon/brush to mix it together.
- Check the density of the marinade, if it is too thick for your liking add a small amount of water (a tablespoon at a time) and test taste and adjust, if needed.
- Rub the fish generously, including the inside and outside with the marinade (use gloves if needed).
- Cover the fish with saran or cling film and leave to marinate for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator.
Air frying the fish
- When you are ready to cook the fish, unwrap/remove the fish from the bowl (don't throw away the residue from the marinade).
- Line the air fryer basket with parchment paper.
- Carefully place the fish in the basket (use gloves if needed).
- Use a pastry brush to apply some of the leftover marinade, making sure it has been applied evenly.
- Air fry the fish for about 25 minutes at 190C/375F.
- Half way through the cooking time carefully turn over the fish (use an egg spatula to reduce the chance of the fish breaking up).
- Coat the top of the fish with the rest of the leftover marinade and continue to air fry.
- Once the fish has finished cooking, lightly brush the top with olive oil (this is optional but it will keep the fish moist).
Video
Notes
- You many need to cook the fish in batches depending on capacity of your air fryer.
- Sea bream cooks quite quickly so keep a watchful eye on the cooking time and use it as a general guide.
- You can clean, trim and score the sea bream ahead of time.
- The marinade can also be prepared a day in advance if needed.
- Feel free to use another type of fish i.e butter fish, doctor, mullet, snapper, parrot etc...
- Make sure to use ALL of the seasoning after you have milled it, it will seem like a large quantity but all of it is needed for optimal flavour.
- Have a small amount of water on standby incase you want to thin out the marinade, you should only need afew tablespoon as you don't want the marinade to be too thin.
- You can leave the fish wrapped in a bowl overnight instead if you plan to make the recipe on another day instead.
- Make sure to have gloves and sterilised scissors to hand.
Nutrition
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