Pike-Perch Baked in the Oven with Vegetables

Name: Pike-Perch Baked in the Oven with Vegetables
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: Pike-perch – 1-1.2 kg. Onion – 2 pcs. Carrot – 2-3 pcs. Bell pepper – 300 g. Lemon – 0.5 pc. Italian herbs – 1 tsp. Salt – to taste. Ground black pepper – to taste. Thyme – 2 sprigs. Olive oil / sunflower oil – 2 tbsp.

Published: 05.09.2026

Updated: 05.09.2026

🤤 Здорові рецепти щодня

Cooking time 60 minutes Portions 4 servings

The lemon here doesn't lie on top — it stands in slashes on the sides of the carcass. The difference is noticeable: wedges placed on top release their juice onto the tray, while wedges inserted into the slashes release it straight into the meat, where the acid otherwise wouldn't reach in forty minutes.

The vegetable bed does two jobs at once. It lifts the pike-perch above the dish so the bottom doesn't burn, and at the same time it catches the juice that the lean fish releases anyway — the result is a ready-made side dish, not a wet bottom.

Thyme goes into the belly cavity, not on the vegetables. Pike-perch is lean and has no pronounced flavor of its own; an aroma that works from the inside is felt in the finished fish, while one scattered around it flavors only the vegetables.

The vegetables under the pike-perch give up their juice to it. For something faster and heartier, there's pike-perch baked with mayonnaise and garlic, and swapping the vegetable moisture for wine gives wild carp fillet baked in white wine.

Caloric content: 105kcal

Ingredients

Pike-perch – 1-1.2 kg.
Onion – 2 pcs.
Carrot – 2-3 pcs.
Bell pepper – 300 g.
Lemon – 0.5 pc.
Italian herbs – 1 tsp.
Salt – to taste.
Ground black pepper – to taste.
Thyme – 2 sprigs.
Olive oil / sunflower oil – 2 tbsp.

Prepare the fish

Rinse and clean the pike-perch, and make deep slashes on the sides. Rub with salt, pepper, and herbs, and put thyme into the belly cavity.

Cut the carrot

Peel and rinse the carrot, and slice it into thin rounds.

Cut the onion

Peel the onion and cut it into small quarters.

Season the vegetables

Combine the onion with the carrot and bell pepper in a bowl, salt and pepper them, drizzle with olive oil, and mix.

Assemble the dish

Spread the vegetables in the dish, place the fish on top, and insert the lemon wedges into the slashes on the carcass.

Bake

Place the dish in an oven preheated to 180 °C for 35–40 minutes.

Serve

Serve the pike-perch whole, together with the vegetables from underneath.

Notes

Make the slashes deep. A lemon wedge needs to stand in them, not lie on top. A shallow slash won't hold it.
Season the vegetables separately. Mix salt, pepper, and oil with the vegetables in a bowl before adding them: on the tray they'd distribute unevenly.
Use meaty bell peppers. Three hundred grams give enough juice to keep the bed from drying out in forty minutes.
Thyme goes in the belly cavity. On the outside, its aroma reaches the vegetables, not the fish.
Pike-perch is lean. The olive oil in the vegetables isn't there for flavor — this fish has almost no fat of its own.

Questions and Answers

How long to bake pike-perch with vegetables?

Thirty-five to forty minutes at 180 °C for a carcass around one kilogram.

Why insert lemon into the slashes?

So the acid reaches inside the meat. Wedges placed on top release their juice into the dish, not into the fish.

Can other vegetables be used?

Yes, zucchini and tomatoes work. The main thing is a juicy bed: a dry vegetable base burns before the fish is done.

Why does pike-perch often turn out dry?

It's almost devoid of its own fat. The vegetable bed underneath and the oil in it are exactly what compensates for that.

Recipe and step-by-step photos — kolizhanka.net.ua.