Your Baked Fish Could Definitely Use A Creamy Upgrade

Baked fish is a nutritious, delicious, and easy-to-make dish that can please and satiate a crowd in equal parts. However, it's easy to let accessible meals become monotonous due to their simplicity. To give baked fish a decadent upgrade with minimal extra work, try introducing cream cheese.

With its plush, fatty texture, mild taste, and delicate whispers of tanginess, cream cheese bolsters the mouthfeel of baked fish with luxury and lusciousness without compromising the delicate, nuanced flavors of the dish. If your baked fish recipes come out dry, cream cheese can preserve or re-introduce some much-needed moisture. Plus, thanks to its mild-mannered flavor, cream cheese works well with many other ingredients like herbs, seasonings, and sauces, ensuring that you never have to omit or compromise on your favorite fixings.

Adding cream cheese to your favorite baked fish recipe doesn't require Michelin-level skills. Both expert chefs and newbies alike will enjoy the low-stakes effort that goes into introducing the spreadable cheese into their platter of baked fish, which is just as easy as adding seasonings, condiments, or other toppings to the fish.

Adding cream cheese to baked fish is great in theory. But what's theory without praxis? To make a meal worth raving about, you'll need fresh, out-of-the-box ideas for combining the two ingredients.

The most obvious fish and cream cheese pairing is salmon (see: bagels and lox). But it's not just baked salmon that marries well with cream cheese. Tuna casserole anyone? A layered one-pan meal featuring albacore tuna, macaroni, peas, herbs, and cream cheese encased in crunchy, toasty breadcrumbs, this rich and protein-heavy dish fit for a family is as easy as assembling your ingredients and letting the oven do the work.

To keep things simple, lather a spread of cream cheese atop a flakey fish filet such as cod or haddock and let the cheese turn golden brown. Top with fresh herbs, a squeeze of lemon, and enjoy over a bed of grains and veggies for a nutrient-dense dinner. Of course, you can always branch out to shellfish. Baked lobster tails stuffed with a dill-infused cream cheese filling finished with grated parmesan is decadent. You might also try preparing baked quiches and dips featuring cream cheese and fish – your new favorite combo.