Gordon Ramsay’s tandoori halibut recipe is halibut fillets coated in spiced yogurt, seared golden and finished in the oven, served with a cool cucumber and mint raita. From his Fast Food cookbook, the whole thing takes about 15 minutes.
In The F Word, Ramsay calls halibut “a great alternative to cod” with “this really nice snowflake appearance, bright, wide, full of flavour and packed with protein.” He makes his own tandoori paste from scratch on the show, though the cookbook version uses shop-bought paste for speed.
The key is scraping off the excess marinade before searing so the yogurt doesn’t burn. A thin coating gives you the colour and flavour while the reserved marinade goes back on for the oven finish.
Gordon Ramsay Tandoori Halibut
Course: DinnerCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy4
servings10
minutes5
minutes279
kcal15
minutesTandoori spiced halibut from Gordon Ramsay’s Fast Food cookbook. Halibut fillets marinated in spiced yogurt, seared and oven-finished with a fresh cucumber and mint raita. 279 calories per serving, in season April to November.
Ingredients
4 halibut fillets, about 150g (5 oz) each, skin removed
1 tbsp tandoori or hot Madras curry paste
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp caster sugar
150g (5 oz) natural yogurt
2 cucumbers, peeled
Handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped
Squeeze of lime juice
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
Directions
- Preheat the oven: Set to 200°C (400°F) / Gas 6.
- Make the marinade: Mix the curry paste with the olive oil and sugar. Stir in all but 3 tablespoons of the yogurt.
- Coat the fish: Lay the halibut fillets on a plate and coat with the spiced yogurt. Set aside while you make the raita.
- Make the raita: Cut the cucumbers lengthways with a swivel peeler into long wide strips, avoiding the seeds in the middle. Toss with the reserved yogurt, chopped mint and lime juice.
- Sear the halibut: Heat the vegetable oil in an ovenproof pan over high heat. Scrape off the excess marinade from the fillets and reserve it. Place the fillets in the pan and sear for 1-1½ minutes on each side until golden brown.
- Finish in the oven: Spoon the reserved marinade over the fish and place the pan in the oven for a few minutes until cooked through.
- Serve: Transfer to warm plates, drizzle with the pan juices and serve with the cucumber raita alongside.
FAQs
Can you make your own tandoori paste?
Ramsay does exactly that in The F Word. He toasts cumin and coriander seeds, grinds them with garlic, ginger, chilli, turmeric, paprika and garam masala, then mixes the lot with tomato puree and groundnut oil. He says “you never get that colour when you buy a tandoori paste.”
The cookbook version works with a shop-bought tandoori or hot Madras paste because the yogurt and sugar balance the flavour either way. If you have 10 extra minutes, the from-scratch paste gives a sharper, more vibrant heat that you can smell before it even hits the pan.
Why does Ramsay scrape the marinade off before searing?
Yogurt burns fast in a hot pan, which gives you black patches instead of the golden colour you want. Scraping off the excess leaves a thin coating that caramelises quickly without scorching, so you get that tandoori char in 90 seconds per side.
The scraped-off marinade goes back on before the oven finish, where the lower heat cooks it gently without burning. That two-stage approach is why the fish comes out golden rather than blackened.
How is this different from Ramsay’s other halibut recipes?
This is the quick Indian-spiced version from Fast Food. For a completely different approach, the pan-seared halibut from Bread Street Kitchen uses a butter and stock emulsion to keep the fish moist, while the potato-crusted version wraps each fillet in mandolined potato scales and bakes it.
All three are from different cookbooks, which is why the techniques are so different. The tandoori is the fastest at 15 minutes, the potato-crusted is the most impressive-looking, and the pan-seared emulsion is the most restaurant-like. I compare all his techniques side by side in the halibut cooking guide, including his rules for keeping the fish moist no matter which method you choose.
What other fish works with tandoori spices?
The cookbook says the recipe works with any firm white fish, so cod, haddock and sea bass are all safe swaps. Ramsay uses a similar spice approach in his southern Indian fish curry from Ultimate Fit Food, which uses tamarind and mustard seeds instead of tandoori paste.
Avoid delicate fish like sole or plaice because they fall apart when you flip them in the hot pan. You need something thick enough to hold its shape through the sear and the oven finish.
What goes with tandoori halibut besides the raita?
The cucumber raita is built into this recipe and does the heavy lifting on the side. If you want more on the plate, Ramsay serves turmeric potatoes with black mustard seeds alongside the tandoori halibut in The F Word, which adds a warm starchy element.
A fresh mint sauce thinned with a splash of lime works as a drizzle if you want more punch on top of the raita. Warm naan or roti on the side soaks up the spiced pan juices.
Does tandoori halibut keep well?
The fish itself keeps in the fridge overnight, but the yogurt coating gets watery once it cools and the sear loses its colour. This is genuinely a 15-minute dish, so making it fresh is easier than reheating leftovers.
If you do have leftover fillets, flake them cold into a salad with the remaining raita as dressing. The tandoori spice works well at room temperature, which is something you can’t say about most reheated fish.
