Greek Fish with Honey and Ouzo
February 25, 2012 | Updated August 25, 2021
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If you are looking for a classic Greek fish recipe, you’d simply coat a fish with olive oil, grill it, and serve it with lemon and salt. This recipe is only slightly more complicated.
I call this dish Greek fish with honey and ouzo, and it is one of my all-time favorite fish recipes. I first made it with California white seabass, then sturgeon, tuna, halibut, grouper, catfish, tautog… you get the point. Use a firm fish you can cut into chunks.
This Greek fish recipe has everything you could ask for: A crispy crust, tender fish, a hit of sweetness from the honey and a blast of salty umami from the Worcestershire sauce.
Sturgeon and other firm, meaty fish such as white seabass, swordfish, shark or tuna can be tricky to cook. If you cook them too long, they can get dry and impossibly dense. The texture of these fish is really more like beef than fish, and in fact sturgeon was once called “white beef” back in the early 1900s.
Get the pan hot, add oil and then let that get hot. Dust 2-inch chunks of fish in flour, then brown on 3 sides of the cube. If you brown more than that, you run a higher risk of overcooking the fish. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients, toss to combine and you’re done. Stupid easy.
And fast.
I made this recipe start-to-finish in a 3 1/2 minute segment for a Tampa TV station back in 2011 while I was on my first book tour. I made it that time with grouper. When I added the ouzo to the pan it of course flared up, and that’s when one of my favorite moments of the entire book tour happened: I shouted, “Opa!” (This is a Greek dish, after all) and the TV host shouted, “Oompa Loompa!” I almost pissed myself laughing.
At any rate, give this Greek fish recipe a go with whatever large, firm fish you can find. And yes, it’s great with big shrimp, too.
If you want to make this part of a Greek feast, try it as a first course before something like my Greek venison shanks or my recipe for stifado, a rabbit stew.
Greek Honeyed Fish
Ingredients
- 1 to 2 pounds skinless firm fish
- Salt
- Flour for dusting
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, or fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey, ideally Greek thyme honey
- 1-2 shots of ouzo or other anise-flavored liqueur
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano, or 2 teaspoons dried
- Lots of freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cut the fish into chunks of between 1 1/2 inches and 2 inches across. If you are using shrimp, peel and devein them. Salt the fish well and set aside while you chop the garlic and oregano.
- Heat a large sauté pan over high heat for 1 minute. Add the olive oil. Dust the fish pieces in flour, shake off the excess and lay down in the pan. Turn the heat down to medium-high and brown the fish on 3 sides. Move the finished fish to a paper towel to drain.
- Add the garlic and let this fry for 30 seconds. Do not let it brown. Take the pan off the heat and add the ouzo. It will flare up. Shout, "Opa!" Put the pan back on the heat, turn it to high, and scrape off any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Add the Worcestershire sauce and honey and swirl to combine. Let this boil down until its syrupy, then add the fish back along with the oregano. Toss to combine. Turn off the heat, grind fresh black pepper over everything and serve at once.
Notes
Keys to Success
- This comes together very quickly, so have all your ingredients ready before you start.
- You need high heat here, and you'll get some smoke, so use your stovetop fan on high.
- Serve this with rice pilaf, a green salad and some crusty bread. As for a drink, choose a lager beer or a crisp white wine such as a Greek Assyrtiko or an Italian Pinot Grigio.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
We’ve made this recipe probably 4 times now with various fish, most recently with FL caught amberjack. Always such a pleasure. I will say we have used absinthe, but watch how herbaceous your absinthe is–if it isn’t anise-forward enough you may get some off flavors. I think our favorite iteration was made with arak. Have also made it with rice flour to be gluten-free with success. We like high smoke point oils like peanut oil and avocado oil, and find that a medium high heat works well–things get unpleasant if the flour burns! Takes a little longer to get color on the fish but worth it. We take it off the heat to cook the garlic–but of course, you just have to know your stove and your pans. We keep the fish on a lined tray in a 300 degree oven to keep warm while I futz with getting the consistency and seasoning on the sauce right.
Superb, speared a 5lb grey mullet on Saturday. Held together great and the flavour was amazing. Cheers Hank ?
tried it with a little cinnamon and it tasted just awesome……NICE
I made this last night with redfish out of Rockport, TX, & used sage honey since I couldn’t find thyme honey. Oh, man… it was GOOD.
This recipe was outstanding and just unusual enough. The best preparation for sturgeon I’ve found yet. Nicely done!
Do you think this would work well with bottom fish like ling cod or cabezon?
Andrew: I’ve done it with lingcod, and it’s great – go for it!
Made this tonight with a Cretan Spanakorizo using shrimp. Excellent. I always love your recipes; they’re so simple yet so, so good. Opa!
Ha! I always forget how some brackets work in html. I was grumbling about marrying a person who dislikes anise flavors. Usually just my family’s Christmas cookies that are spurned, but more of those for me. Making this dish for dinner wouldn’t work, and that is a major let down.
I think I will try this recipe i been fishing for sturgeon for years here in sacramento and the season its getting started sounds great.
Pinch me! This is so wonderful. Layers of flavors in the syrup. I used pan fish from a Minnesota lake. Smaller fillets but its the sauce! Its the sauce! Thanks for a new addition to my recipe box. Im going back for 3rds…..
wow what a great recipe!! instead of cubing it, i cut 5 oz pieces and scored it and followed the instrucions. 10lb of fresh wild caught…………gone in one night.
i used fresh braised brussel sprouts w/ shiitake mushrooms and wild rice pilaf.
can’t wait to get your new cook bookthanks again, chef Rick
@ semiswede; It’s almost too simple: svärdfisk.
In California 99 Ranch usually carries sturgeon (whole for steak). Some Chinese places on Irving street in SF have it (live). Sometimes Costco as fillet. Personally I have not managed to overcook sturgeon yet. I think it is quite forgiving compared to other fish. I really like it sashimi style. But for that it needs to be the farmed kind (parasites in the wild?) Shark sounds like a good substitute in your recipe, but at least where I live it is harder to get in stores.
This sounds absolutely fantastic. It’s making me shout Opa! and Oompa Loompa! I really want to try this one but I’m afraid it will have to be with shrimp. I don’t think I have seen swordfish at my fish market. I’ll have to figure out the Swedish word so I can ask about it.
Eric: No footage. I tried to get a copy, but they were going to make me pay for it. 🙁
Is there footage of the segment? I’d love to see you cook it, and I’d realllllly love to see the host shout oompa loompa!
This is funny as hell, Hank! “Oompa-loompa”!
Matt: Yep, dust the peeled shrimp with flour.
If you’re making this recipe with shrimp do you dust the shrimp with flour or just cook them directly?
I’ve never tried Sturgeon before but the dish you’ve whipped up really looks delicious!