Baccala alla Napoletana is an Italian dish made with salt cod, otherwise known as baccala, olives, tomatoes, capers, and potatoes. This dish is perfect for the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve. This step-by-step recipe walks you through the process of soaking and preparing the salt cod if you choose to go the traditional route, but could just as easily be made with fresh cod.
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In New York and New Jersey, you can tell that Christmas is right around the corner when you start finding baccala in your local Italian grocery stores.
While fresh cod is widely available, it’s the tradition of preparing baccala, salted preserved cod, that makes baccala alla Napoletana such a special and beloved dish for Italian-Americans, especially on Christmas Eve as one of the Seven Fishes alongside other dishes like calamari salad, baked clams, or lobster oreganata.
And when it comes to food, carrying on tradition can often mean extra work as it harkens back to a time where ingredients were less abundant, and electric appliances didn’t exist.
Since this fish is preserved/dried with salt, before it is edible, it needs to be soaked in water and changed frequently to reconstitute it and remove the salt.
The steps below walk you through the entire process of how to prepare the baccala and get it ready for the olive and caper sauce which is similar in flavor and ingredients to puttanesca.
How to make Baccala alla Napoletana
Each number corresponds to the numbered written steps below.
- Below is 1 1/2 pounds of baccala. It comes packed in a ton of salt and that heavy saltiness needs to be removed before it can be cooked.
- Start by rinsing the baccala pieces and remove as much exterior salt as you can. Place the baccala into a very large bowl, fill it with cold water and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2-3 days and change the water every 6-8 hours. By changing the water, the salt will be removed each time until finally, the cod will be able to be eaten without being overly salty. Note: I recommend using thick fillets for this dish. Save the thinner pieces for baccala fritters or salad if you plan to make more than one dish.
- 2-3 days later and once the salt has been removed, start prepping the ingredients. Mince a 1/4 cup parsley, slice 3 cloves of garlic, and slice a 1/4 cup of pitted Gaeta olives (or Kalamata, Sicilian, etc). Also, boil 2 pounds of quartered Yukon Gold potatoes until they are almost tender, but not quite, then drain and set aside. Also, at this time you can preheat your oven to 400f and set the rack to the middle level.
- In a very large oven-safe pan, saute the garlic in a 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil until golden then add a 1/2 cup of dry white wine and turn the heat to medium-high. Cook for 90 seconds or so to burn off some of the alcohol.
- Next add in the plum tomatoes, olives, and capers and stir it all together. Once simmering turn heat down to keep the sauce at a low simmer.
- Pat the baccala dry then season with pepper on all sides. Dredge the pieces in the flour then shake off all of the excess.
- Heat a nonstick pan to medium and sear the baccala pieces for 2-3 minutes on both sides. If required, work in batches.
- Place the seared pieces into the sauce. Spoon a bit of the sauce onto the top of each piece.
- Nestle the parboiled potatoes around the cod pieces, then bake in the oven.
- After about 20 minutes of cooking the baccala should flake a bit. Just make sure the pieces are cooked all the way through. Taste test the fish and the sauce. If needed add more pepper or hot red pepper flakes. If for some reason you need extra salt, add it now, but I seriously doubt that would be the case as the baccala is quite salty as are the capers and olives. Sprinkle the parsley all over the baccala alla Napoletana and serve. A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil onto each plate would be a nice finishing touch.
Top tips
- Water changes. Baccala has a ton of salt and nothing would be worse than rushing the process and ruining your special meal. Thicker fillets are much better for this dish, but those thick pieces will take at least 48 hours to remove the salt. I often let it go for 3 days. Trust me on this – I see plenty of recipes online saying you only need a 24-hour soak. In my experience that simply won’t work and you’ll be left with inedible overly salty pieces. To be extra certain you can break off a piece after 48 hours and boil it until cooked. Eat it and find out if it needs an extra day of soaking and water changes. It is that simple!
- Using fresh cod. If you can’t find baccala you can use fresh cod. Just skip the soaking process and the cook time will be roughly the same.
- Serve promptly. Baccala alla Napoletana is best when served right away.
More feast of the seven fishes dishes
Here are a few more of our favorites for Christmas Eve’s feast!
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Baccala alla Napoletana
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds baccala soaked and rinsed then cut into 4 equal size pieces – see notes below
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup flour for dredging, will not use all of it
- pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes quartered
For the sauce
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic sliced
- 1 28-ounce can plum tomatoes hand crushed or blender pulsed
- 1/4 cup Gaeta olives pitted and sliced
- 2 tablespoons capers rinsed
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup parsley minced
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper flakes
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Instructions
Soaking Instructions
- Rinse baccala pieces of all salt then place them into a very large bowl submerged with water and covered with plastic. Store in the refrigerator for at least 2 days (thicker pieces might need 3 days).
- The water needs to be changed every 8 hours to help flush the baccala of its saltiness.
Baccala alla Napoletana Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400f. Par boil the potatoes to almost but not quite fork tender (about 10 minutes). Drain and let cool.
- In a large oven-safe pan saute the garlic over medium-low heat in extra virgin olive oil until lightly golden (about 2 minutes). Add the hot red pepper flakes, cook for 30 seconds, then add the wine. Turn heat to medium-high and cook for 1-2 minutes to burn off some of the alcohol.
- Turn the heat back down to medium-low and add the tomatoes, capers, and olives. Let the sauce simmer over very low heat stirring occasionally.
- Heat a large nonstick frying pan to medium heat with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Season the baccala with pepper on both sides then dredge into the flour and shake off the excess. Fry pieces in the pan until brown on both sides (about 2-3 minutes per side). If required, work in batches.
- Place the seared fish into the sauce along with potatoes and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and add the parsley, mix, and serve. A healthy drizzle of extra virgin olive on top of each piece is a good idea. Enjoy!
Notes
- Baccala should be rinsed then soaked. To soak, place baccala into a very large bowl submerged with water and covered with plastic and store in the refrigerator for at least 2 days (thicker pieces might need 3 days) with water changes every 6-8 hours.
- Because baccala is so salty, no extra salt was added to the dish. You can test a piece of cooked fish right before serving and add extra salt if needed, but because of the salty capers and olives, no extra salt is usually required.
- Cooked baccala can be saved for up to 3 days, but is best served and eaten right after cooking.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is a very different use for salt cod than I am used to Jim. I’m from the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. We hold the distinction of being Britain’s oldest North American Colony. St. John’s, the provincial capital, is the Oldest English speaking city in N.A. as well.
The only reason people came here was because of cod fish. In 1477 an Italian man named Giovani Caboto (John Cabot), “discovered” this place for the Britt’s. It was his report of the abundance of cod that started this place.
Now for century’s we’ve fished for the stuff, almost destroyed the cod stocks and had to endure a moratorium on cod fishing for decades wait for them to rebuild. Our relationship with cod is kinda weird. To our forbears it was money. They bartered it for food and other supplies. Here when someone says fish they mean cod, everything else has a name. Yet they never really respected it and NL food culture in the past was pretty basic.
As much as we depended on cod, for our livelihoods, and very origins, it seems almost every European culture found more interesting ways to use it. From the Spanish and the Portuguese, the British, the Italians, and even some Caribbean countries have colorful, flavorful, interesting ways to eat salt cod.
Here salt cod was soaked, and either boiled and served with potatoes, could be made into fish cakes, or used in making something called “Fish and Brewis”. That’s cakes of Hard Bread (Biscuits) aka “Hard Tack” soaked over night in water. Brought almost to a boil, drained, and then mixed with soaked and boiled salt cod. Then rendered pork fatback is poured over the top.
So interesting, Grant! Thanks for sharing the history with us!
Sorry to say, there was a typo in the comment. Cabot showed up here in 1497 not 77. Some folks say that St. John’s is so old, that the passengers on the Mayflower stopped in for supplies on their way to Plymouth Rock.
I made your Baccala receipe for dinner this evening and we loved it… was amazing. Needed just a little salt, like you suggested at the end, the soaking of the salted cod over 3 days worked very well. This is a keeper and will share it with my brothers. Tante Grazie! Giovanni Di Vincenzo, Calgary, Alberta
So happy you enjoyed it, Giovanni!
Thank you for your recipe, loved it and so did my husband, easy instructions which i love …
I made this last night for Christmas Eve dinner but used fresh cod instead of salt cod. It turned out very well. The only change that I would make next time is adding more salt to the water when parboiling the potatoes.
I tried it using regular cod and it turned out perfect. Thanks for the great recipe and video!
Hi Jack, thanks for the comment and so happy you liked the recipe!
Tried this and it was fabulous!! Can’t wait to try some of the other recipes. It really came out 100% like what I saw on the video.
Thank you
Hi Tanya, so happy you enjoyed this one! Thanks so much for the comment!
Do you boil the baccala, then flour/fry after soaking??? Or just go straight to flour/fry after soaking?
Hi Lynn, after the baccala is soaked for 2-3 days, I pat it dry, then flour and fry. The only thing I am boiling with this recipe is parboiling the potatoes. Hope that helps.
Thanks
Jim, can this be made a day earlier and reheated?
Hi Jane, you can do this but it will be much better made the day of.
Excellent recipe! Will definitely be making it for our Christmas Eve celebration.
Thanks and I hope you enjoy it!