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Seafood · Liguria

Branzino al Forno – Baked Sea Bass with Lemon & Herbs

Branzino al forno is one of Italy's most beloved coastal classics — a whole sea bass roasted with fragrant herbs, bright lemon, and golden potatoes until the flesh is just tender and the skin crisps beautifully. It asks for very little work and rewards you with something that looks and tastes genuinely special. This is the kind of dish Italian home cooks have been making for generations along every stretch of Mediterranean coastline.

15Prep (min)
35Cook (min)
50Total (min)
2Serves
EasyDifficulty
Branzino al Forno – Baked Sea Bass with Lemon & Herbs

Ingredients

  • 2 whole sea bass (branzino), about 400–450 g each, gutted and scaled
  • 400 g waxy potatoes, peeled and sliced 4 mm thin
  • 1 unwaxed lemon, half sliced into rounds, half juiced
  • 4 garlic cloves, 2 halved, 2 lightly crushed
  • 6–8 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
  • 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 120 ml dry white wine
  • Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 200 °C (fan 180 °C). Pat the sea bass dry inside and out with kitchen paper, then season the cavity generously with salt and pepper.
  2. Stuff each cavity with 2–3 lemon slices, 1 crushed garlic clove, 2 sprigs of thyme, and 1 sprig of rosemary. Close the fish and score the skin 2–3 times diagonally on each side with a sharp knife.
  3. Toss the potato slices with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the halved garlic cloves, salt, pepper, and the remaining thyme. Spread them in a single layer in a large baking dish.
  4. Roast the potatoes for 15 minutes until they begin to soften and turn golden at the edges.
  5. Lay the stuffed sea bass on top of the par-cooked potatoes. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the fish, pour in the white wine around the potatoes, and squeeze the lemon juice over everything.
  6. Roast for 20–22 minutes, until the skin is golden and the flesh flakes easily when tested with a fork at the thickest part behind the head.
  7. Remove from the oven, scatter the chopped parsley over the dish, and let it rest for 2 minutes before serving directly from the baking dish.

Tips from the kitchen

💡 Ask your fishmonger to gut and scale the branzino for you, but always check the gills — they should be bright red and the eyes clear; these are the freshness markers Italian cooks look for first.
💡 Slice the potatoes as evenly as possible — a mandoline is ideal — so they cook at the same rate and none turn mushy while others remain undercooked.
💡 Do not cover the dish with foil at any point. Branzino skin crisps best in open, dry oven heat; covering it traps steam and makes the skin rubbery.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use sea bass fillets instead of a whole fish?

You can, but the result will be quite different. The whole fish keeps the flesh moist and delivers far more flavour because the bones act as a natural stock during roasting. If using fillets, reduce the cooking time to around 12–14 minutes and place them skin-side up so the skin crisps.

What white wine works best for this recipe?

Use a dry, light Italian white — Vermentino, Pinot Grigio, or Verdicchio are ideal. Avoid anything oaky or heavily aromatic; the wine should enhance the fish, not compete with it. If you prefer not to use wine, substitute with fish or vegetable stock and a small extra squeeze of lemon.

How do I know when the branzino is perfectly cooked?

Insert a fork or the tip of a small knife into the thickest part of the fish, just behind the head, and gently twist. The flesh should flake away cleanly in large, opaque white flakes with no translucency remaining. Overcooked branzino becomes dry very quickly, so check it at the 20-minute mark rather than waiting for 25.