Bacalao a la Riojana, or Tomato and Piquillo Pepper Poached Cod, is a rustic Spanish dish where tender cod fillets cook gently in a rich tomato and piquillo pepper sauce infused with smoky paprika and aromatic bay leaf. Perfect for a quick weeknight dinner, this poached cod recipe comes together fast. Crusty bread is a must to soak up every drop of savory sauce.

A close up of a tomato sauce poached cod fillet on a plate with a fork and some crusty bread. — Photo Credits: Mark Beahm

This summer, I went on a short road trip in northern Spain, starting and ending in Logroño, the capital of La Rioja. The region is famous for its world-class wine, but it’s also a beautiful region of mountainous farmland growing much more than grapes.

In Logroño, I spent my time in the historic city center slowly hopping from tapas bar to tapas bar, dragging lunch into dinner and late-evening snacks. In a region full of wine, cured pork, and grilled meats, I was surprised by Bacalao a la Riojana, a dish of poached cod that appeared on menu after menu.

When I finally tried it, I was presented with a cod filet poached in a sweet and smoky red pepper, tomato, and paprika sauce with bread for dipping. The sweet, savory, and smoky sauce infused the fish with its vibrant flavor.

Luckily, it’s not just a tapas bar specialty but an easy dish to make at home. Bacalao a la Riojana is a flavorful one-pan vegetable and fish meal that is easy to put together. The shortcut ingredient that adds tons of flavor is a jar of piquillo peppers, a type of sweet red Spanish peppers that are roasted over embers before jarring.

Table of Contents

Ingredients for Bacalao a la Riojana
What is Bacalao?
How to Make This Poached Cod Recipe
What to Serve with this Poached Cod Recipe
Saucy Mediterranean Fish Dishes
Tomato and Pepper Poached Cod (Bacalao a la Riojana) Recipe

Ingredients for tomato sauce poached cod including cod fillets, olive oil, onion, garlic, roasted peppers, crushed tomatoes, smoked spanish paprika, salt, black pepper, and a bay leaf.

Ingredients for Bacalao a la Riojana

This poached cod recipe gets a big boost of flavor from jarred roasted piquillo peppers and Spanish smoked paprika. Here’s what else you’ll need:

Extra virgin olive oil: enriches the sauce and helps caramelize the onions. Choose a high-quality extra virgin olive oil for the best flavor. For this recipe, I’d recommend extra virgin Hojiblanca olive oil grown in Spain.
Onion sautés in the olive oil to form the aromatic base of the sauce. Use a yellow or white onion.
Garlic: At once nutty and pungent, garlic adds a sweet and savory flavor to the sauce.
Roasted piquillo peppers are small, sweet red peppers popular in La Rioja and Navarre that are roasted over embers. You can usually find them jarred in the canned vegetable aisle of the grocery store. If you can’t find them, use any other type of fire-roasted sweet red peppers.
Crushed tomatoes: Use good quality canned crushed tomatoes to act as the base of the sauce.
Spanish smoked paprika: Made from finely ground smoked and dried sweet red peppers, smoked paprika adds a fruity, smoky flavor to the sauce and a deep red hue.
Salt and pepper: You need these essential seasonings to bring out the other flavors in the dish.
Bay leaf: is the leaf of the laurel tree and in this dish it adds a subtle herbal and floral fragrance to the sauce. You can use fresh or dried bay leaves for this recipe.
Cod: cod filets have a mild flavor that soaks up the flavor of the sauce they’re poached in. You can use either fresh cod or desalinated bacalao or salt cod. More on this below.
Parsley: a garnish of fresh chopped parsley adds a bright green color and a fresh, herbal flavor to finish the dish.

What is Bacalao?

In Spanish cuisine, the word bacalao refers to dried, salted filets of cod fish. Spanish recipes call for bacalao, aka salt cod, more often than fresh cod.

Cod has a long history as an important commodity in international trade, but the fresh fish doesn’t keep very well. To preserve it, fishermen traditionally salted and dried the fish to transport and trade it worldwide. While salt cod has fallen out of favor in the US, it is still an essential ingredient in many Mediterranean countries, including Spain.

Before cooking, salt cod must be soaked for up to three days to desalinate and rehydrate it. The salting process gives cod a stronger, savory flavor and a distinctive, firm texture. In bacalao a la Riojana, salt cod soaks up the sauce’s flavor and adds its own.

Fresh cod, in contrast, has a mild flavor and flakes easily. It absorbs the flavorful sauce but is too mild to contribute to it. I’ve called for fresh cod in my version of Balacao a la Riojana, but you can use either one.

A close up of tomato sauce poached cod fillets in a skillet.

How to Make This Poached Cod Recipe

Bacalao a la Riojana is an easy, one-pan meal you can serve in less than an hour. Plan on spending 25 minutes making the sauce and 10 to 15 minutes poaching the cod. Here are the steps:

Cook the onions and peppers. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and just turning golden on the edges, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the sliced piquillo peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
Make the tomato sauce. Add the tomatoes, paprika, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes until the sauce has thickened slightly.
Poach the cod. Nestle the fish into the tomato sauce skin side up. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, then flip and continue simmering until the fish is opaque throughout and flakes easily, 5 to 6 minutes.
Garnish and serve. Serve portions of cod with a generous spoonful of the tomato and pepper sauce. Garnish with parsley.

What to Serve with this Poached Cod Recipe

There will be plenty of extra red pepper and tomato sauce, so I usually serve bacalao a la Riojana with a starch to mop up the sauce, plus a refreshing salad on the side.

I love slathering slices of crusty bread with the sauce, like focaccia, olive bread, or pan con tomate. While you could serve this with a simple side of brown rice, I prefer a more flavorful saffron rice. Boiled potatoes with fresh herbs are easy and elegant, but you could prep these roasted Greek potatoes and let them bake while cooking the fish on the stove.

For a lighter side, I like the contrast of this bittersweet endive salad with rosemary croutons and citrus. I tie it in by adding 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika to the anchovy dressing. Or go green with a wilted spinach salad loaded with cannellini beans, goat cheese, and walnuts, or a kale salad with roasted pistachios and parmesan.