Learn how to cook Conger eel steaks in the oven with our simple roasted method with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and lemon. It's a Whole Lotta Yum!
You'll love this easy Mediterranean eel recipe!
If you've seen Conger eel (or Conga eel as some call it) at the seafood market and you don't know how to cook it, you're in for a treat. It's super simple to prepare!
Conger eel is a bony, mild, and delicate white fish that has a similar texture to halibut. It's commonly used for making fish stock with or cooking into a fish stew. You can find it in the Mediterranean or Northeast Atlantic, which is where we currently are in the Azores.
We're sharing our simple freshly baked eel recipe you can roast in the oven with onions, tomatoes, garlic, and lemon. Feel free to tweak the seasonings to your liking, Conger is a mild fish and adapts well to a variety of flavors and sauces like citrus, a mild marinade, and fresh herbs.
Can you eat Conger eel?
We'll admit, Conger eel is a bony fish that takes a little bit of effort to avoid the bones when you're eating it. But honestly? The flavor is so delicious, they're cheap to buy, and this mild white fish pairs with many different flavors.
We recommend buying eel prepped, cleaned, and cut into steaks from the seafood market. One difficult task of cooking eel is peeling it since it's so slippery, thankfully when you're baking eel steaks, you cook it with the skin on!
What you'll need
- Conger eel steaks - buy them cut into steaks from the fish market. Let someone else gut and clean these for you!
- tomatoes - whole medium sized tomatoes
- onions - yellow, red, white, or sweet
- garlic cloves
- lemon juice - fresh lemon, you can add lemon slices too if preferred
- olive oil - or another type of mild cooking oil
- salt and pepper
How to cook Conger eel
- Preheat your oven to 375 F (190 C).
- Place the eel steaks in a casserole dish. Place the tomato wedges around the eel steaks.
- Heat a large skillet to Medium heat, add a little oil to the pan. Saute the sliced onions and garlic in the skillet for 3-4 minutes or until they start to soften
- Top the eel and tomatoes with the sauteed onions and garlic.
- Drizzle with the olive oil, the lemon juice, and add salt and pepper to taste. Feel free to add lemon wedges and fresh or dried herbs if you prefer.
- Bake the Conger eel steaks until the internal temperature reaches 160 F (71 C), which will take about 25-30+ minutes. We highly recommend using a digital meat thermometer so you don't overcook the fish.
- Serve with the pan juices, we highly recommend cooked potatoes as a side dish and a simple side salad. Enjoy!
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Recipe
Baked Conger Eel Steaks
Equipment
- casserole dish
Ingredients
- 4 Conger eel steaks 1 ½" thick, skin on
- 2 onions, sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice or more if you love lemon
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 F (190 C).
- Place the eel steaks in a casserole pan. Place the tomato wedges around the eel steaks.
- Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the sliced onions and garlic in a non-stick pan for 3-4 minutes or until starting to soften. Add oil if you aren't using a non-stick pan.
- Top with eel and tomatoes with the sauteed onions and garlic.
- Drizzle everything with the olive oil, the lemon juice, and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Bake the Conger eel steaks until the internal temperature reaches 160 F (71 C), which will take about 25-30+ minutes (depending on the size of your steaks.) We highly recommend using a digital meat thermometer so you don't over cook this, it gets mushy!
- Serve with cooked potatoes and enjoy!
Notes
- Our Conger eel steaks were cut into 1 ½" sections at the fish market. Try to buy uniform pieces.
- Try to buy pieces that are the full eel rounds and not pieces that have the main blood line running through it. The fishmonger does remove the bloodline, but the pieces aren't as uniform and overcook easily.
- This type of eel is found in the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and Northeast Atlantic Sea.
- Feel free to add even more seasoning like lemon slices, chopped fresh basil, fresh parsley, or even add other vegetables.
- Please use a digital meat thermometer so you know when the eel is cooked through. The internal temp should be 160 F (71 C), which is higher than most white fish.
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