6 Store-Bought Cod Fillets, Ranked From Worst To Best

Cod. Even if you don't know it, chances are you're a fan of this unassuming whitefish. One of the untold truths of cod is that it's widely used around the world as the fish in your classic fish and chips. Underneath the breadcrumbs and batter, the meal that has been a comfort food for generations is built on cod.

But what do you do when you can't just pop down to a chip shop to get some freshly fried and battered cod? And what is cod like if it's not covered in batter and fried to a golden brown? Is cod still as mouth watering if you prepare it yourself? Can frozen cod from the grocery store match up to the fish from your cherished memories?

These have long been questions for the philosophers to debate. But today I'm taking those questions out of the realm of the hypothetical and into the realm of your kitchen by sampling and ranking six different brands of frozen grocery store cod. The goal: Determine once and for all which frozen cod fillets are worth your money. Are any worthy of passing your lips? Fire up the french fries and get one of those little paper cones ready, because cod is finally ready for its closeup.

Before I even left the grocery store, I was already skeptical of Salt & Sea's Cod Fillets just from looking at the package. The bleached piece of meat visible through the vacuum bag looked less like fish and more like a desiccated orc ear. A quick inspection provided a likely explanation: Though it was somehow still well short of its listed sell by date, this unfortunate fillet had already been in stasis for 20 long months before I bought it. No wonder it had the aspect of a ghost fish haunting the freezer aisle.

Once I had steeled myself for the adventure of eating it, I discovered my next challenge: The packaging has no instructions at all regarding how to prepare it. As Salt & Sea Cod Fillets have no breading or other seasoning pre-applied, sky's the limit, but some guidance is helpful, especially for shoppers who may not already be expert cod chefs. Ultimately, I decided to follow the directions on the package of another brand's plain cod fillets so this experiment would be a like-for-like taste test.

Dear reader, this fish failed that test. Though I did my best to resuscitate this freezer burn victim using a brush of olive oil and light salt and pepper seasoning, the patient died on the plate. It was both dry and tough, with a robust chewiness more befitting of Bazooka Joe than a cod fillet. I chose the better part of valor and noped out. You should too.

People of a certain age have the classic "trust the Gorton's fisherman" ad jingle burned into their cerebral cortex. And there is a legacy to back those words up, as Gorton's has been in business since 1849. But can you trust this 19th century company to deliver delicious cod to your dinner plate in the 21st century?

Just opening the box sounds a note of warning, as the breaded fillets are just loose in the box, rather than inside a plastic pouch like Gorton's competitors. This could potentially increase the risk of freezer burn, as the Academy of Nutrition and Dieletics advises against using cardboard containers for freezing. Then there's the cooking process. Though the breading gave the cod a nice crunch, quite a bit of it was lost because it stuck to the foil; some competitors avoided this by advising the use of grease or oil.

But how did it eat? Well, the breading was fine, though a bit flavorless. The fillet I ate also had a darker cut of meat than fillets from the competition. This isn't inherently bad, as darker muscle can contain more flavor and nutrition than the white meat. However, as a result it was also denser and chewier than other cod fillets I sampled. Gorton's also had the most calories per gram of any of the brands I sampled. So do I trust the Gorton's fisherman? For fish sticks, maybe. But I'm not sure I want to eat his cod.

Instead of going with breading, Fremont chose a different direction for its Beer Battered Cod Fillets. And you can taste the difference. Though it's subtle, the beer flavoring in the batter does peek through just a bit in the batter, giving the fillet a little bit of earthy roundness that plays nicely against the cod's natural ocean vibe. The batter also provided a slightly different texture compared to breading; while still crunchy, it was perhaps a bit more even in that crunchiness. The battered exterior also didn't stick to the foil, which was nice, but despite this it also wasn't too greasy. Cracked open, the fish inside was nicely flaky as well as pleasantly moist.

So what's the downside of beer? Well, there's a reason that the beer gut is a thing. Fremont Beer Battered Cod Fillets easily had the highest calories per gram of any of the cod fillets I sampled, even though you wouldn't know it from the box without taking a real close peek. That's because, while the calories per serving seem totally in line with or even less than other brands, the serving size is significantly smaller. Very sneaky! If it wasn't such a nice bite, I'd be more upset at being forced to do math.

Waterfront Bistro Cod Fillets are no frills, all fish. There's no batter, cheese, breadcrumbs or anything else, just a pure, clean cut of cod. It's a whitefish canvas waiting for you, the artist, to create your masterpiece with.

Helpfully, though, there's also a paint-by-numbers mode for those who may not be a culinary Matisse. The instructions are as simple as the fish itself: Put in a dish and thaw overnight, then lightly brush with oil and season to taste before popping it in the oven. I chose the basics, just salt and pepper, then waited to tuck in to nature's bounty while it cooked.

The result wasn't fancy, but it was crisp. The fish was delicate and flaky while also remaining extremely moist. The simple seasonings allowed the inherent flavor of the cod itself to shine through in a way that battered or breaded cod doesn't. It's not a strong flavor, so it's possible this fillet may not stand up to certain side dishes, but it is a nice, light, natural bite. It was good to eat, and I felt good eating it. If you want to keep things simple, it's hard to do better than that.

Step aside, breadcrumbs and batter. Sea Cuisine is taking it out a whole new door with its Potato and Herb Cod, which coats the whitefish in a mix of cheese, potato, chives, and garlic. Just when you thought there was nothing left to innovate in the world of fish.

It's a bit unorthodox, but it works. Though the crunch is maybe not quite as pronounced as it can be with breadcrumbs or batter, the potato crust still browned up nicely. Some of that potato flavor comes through as well, along with a hint of cheese unctuousness that keeps the coating from eating too dry. The chives and garlic, while fine, were maybe just a bit too mild to really move the flavor needle.

If I had to nitpick, the fact that both fillets in the package were vacuum sealed together rather than individually meant that I had to either cook both of them at the same time or else find new storage for the extra. At 25 to 27 minutes, Sea Cuisine Potato and Herb Cod also had the longest cooking time of any of the cod options I sampled. But these minor inconveniences were offset by the fact that, despite the inclusion of cheese in the recipe, it also had the fewest calories of any of the breaded cod options I tried.

When I took Trader Joe's Breaded Cod Fillets out of the package, something immediately jumped out: It looked like fish. So many breaded fish fillets are just weird trapezoids or other strange shapes that don't occur in nature that seeing a fillet that is very clearly a cross-section of fish was a bit of a shock to the senses. A fish fillet that hasn't been over-processed? Could it be?

It is. This is no cobbled together fish nugget I'm talking about; it's an honest to Pete piece of prime cod that has been lightly breaded. That breading crisped up nicely in the oven, giving it a satisfying textural crunch, but the flavor was light. Some might say underseasoned, but I found that it allowed the natural flavor of the cod to shine through nicely. Unlike some other brands, the breading also didn't stick to the foil, thanks to a simple instruction to lightly grease the baking sheet before cooking.

And cracking into the fillet revealed an interior that was light, flaky, and moist. Simple and clean in purpose and execution, with clear, natural flavors, Trader Joe's Breaded Cod Fillets was the best cod I tried, and one I will be returning to again in the future.

There are a lot of good cod recipes, but in order to make the most even-handed appraisal, I first determined to prepare each brand's cod exactly as instructed on the packaging. This was done in order to try and take the element of cooking ability out of the equation, as cooking skills can vary significantly from one person to the next. This idea was challenged, however, by the fact that the Salt & Sea Cod Fillets had absolutely no instructions on the package at all. I therefore applied the instructions from the other unseasoned cod in this sample group so that those dishes would at least be as much of a like-for-like as possible.

I then scored each fish on a number of criteria, the first among them being the fish itself: How well it represented the cod, and how much of the cod flavor came through, was paramount. I also scored each fish according to ease of preparation, texture, and how well cooked (or over or undercooked) the final fish was based on the provided instructions. I then aggregated these scores to reveal a final score for each fish, which provided the final ranking.