7 Budget-Friendly, Sustainable Fishes to Cook Now

Save the earth, save some dollars.

Recently, Epicurious editor David Tamarkin was craving halibut. But after checking his grocery receipt, he realized he should have just gone to a restaurant. At almost $17 a pound for some varieties, fish sure ain’t cheap. You don’t need an economist to tell you that price isn't practical for a family of four.

And unfortunately, prohibitively high prices aren't the only thing that's intimidating about shopping for fish. I also care where my fish comes from. It's impossible to eat seafood without thinking about the environmental impact of commercial fishing and dwindling wild fish populations.

Where’s the happy medium between the very best line-caught fish and cheap canned tuna? Is there a way to shop smart for dinner and protect the environment? I spoke to some experts to find the types of fish that you can cook confidently without blowing a hole in your wallet or the ecosystem.

These are just a few types of fish you can check out, listed here from mildest to strongest tasting. And for local varieties, always be talking to your fishmonger. Ask for fish that are abundant, invasive, and in season. These all equate to sustainable and cheap.

Dorade Filet

Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Katherine Sacks
Dorade

Davis Herron, director of retail at The Lobster Place in NYC, offers over 40 varieties of fish on a daily basis. One his favorites is this small member of the bream family. Dorade has a buttery, mild flavor like cod and is often less than $10 a pound. “Dorade’s really a success story for farmed fish,” says Herron, who imports the fish from farms in the Mediterranean.

When it comes to budget-friendly and sustainable fish, farmed is not a dirty word. “People ask wild or farmed, but they don’t necessarily know the difference or what the significance is,” says Adam Geringer-Dunn of NYC’s Greenpoint Fish & Lobster Co.. “Some wild is overfished and has massive amounts of environmental impact.”

Dorade’s small size makes it less intimidating to cook for one or two people, and its price makes it family-friendly. If you've bought it whole, try salt baking it to keep in the moisture. With filets, treat dorade like any bream: baking, pan-frying, or sauteeing are your best options.

Porgy Filet

Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Katherine Sacks
Porgy

Porgies, also known as the "Montauk Sea Bream," come from the same family as dorade. Sourced from the Atlantic, ranging from the Bahamas all the way up to Massachusetts, porgy is abundant and isn’t targeted on a commercial level, after government regulations restricted commercial harvesting.

Look for dusky brown colors in the skin and silvery reflections. “It’s one of the cheapest fish you can get out there, but they’re cheap for a reason,” says Herron. “There’s a lot of bones you have to pick around.” Don’t let that stop you from grilling it whole or pan-frying the filets like you would with more expensive sole.

Skate Wing

Skate is a bottomfish that’s a bit of an outlier on this list. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t include this easy-to-cook and sustainable (but not to mention cheap) option. Skate is often bycatch, but rather than throw it out, fishers are taking it to the market, where chefs are finding ways to use it and save some dough in the process.

If you’re on the West Coast, look for skate caught with bottom longlines or bottom trawl. Avoid longnose varieties from poorly maintained fisheries in British Columbia. Skate’s best when it’s treated like flounder or catfish: dust it in a flour or cornmeal, and pan fry it. “Flour does wonderful things for skate,” says Herron.

Catfish Filet

Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Katherine Sacks
Catfish

Catfish has always had the reputation of being a cheap option for fish fry, but it’s also an incredibly sustainable option, especially if it’s a wild invasive variety, like the Wild Blue variety from the Chesapeake Bay. Sporting four pairs of black whisker-like barbs on its face, weighing up to 100 lbs, and with no scales, this voracious catfish is not something I’d like to meet in a dark ocean reef. But cooked in a pan of hot oil, I’m a lot more comfortable.

“A lot of people think farmed catfish is kind of muddy and nasty tasting,” says Geringer-Dunn, whose fish market thrives on invasive species. “Wild blue catfish is more of a predatory species, so it has a much cleaner flavor than farmed, it’s much fleshier and doesn’t mush apart.”

Red Mullet Filet

Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Katherine Sacks
Red Mullet

If you want something that’s really different without setting you back, red mullet is a standout. When bought whole, red mullet has a beautiful pink skin with moist firm white meat. They’re caught in the Mediterranean, usually around Spain and Portugal. “Red mullet has some nuance to it,” says Herron, “it’s more adventurous in flavor than the mild-tasting fish.” After being stuffed and baked like you would with striped bass, the flaky fish keeps much of its oily, bitter and herbal flavor.

Mackerel Filet

Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Katherine Sacks
Mackerel

Mackerel is the “it” fish of the moment. Its oily flavor goes great with acidic summer tomatoes and meaty eggplants. When shopping, look for wild-caught Spanish mackerel from the Southern to mid-Atlantic. It’ll be sourced anywhere from Florida to Virginia—the big region allows for a lot more suppliers. Don’t be alarmed by the smooth look—good mackerel will have a shiny, colorful skin instead of scales. Grilling or pan searing preserves the stronger flavor and crisps up the skin.

Sardines

If you’re looking to cut back on spending, it’s time to think small. Smaller fish like sardines have much less of an environmental impact and contain less mercury. The health benefits outweigh the heavy hitting species in the fish world. The oily skin of fish like sardines is packed to the gills with fish oil, rich in omega-3’s. They’re also lower in mercury than large varieties of fish like blue tuna. Grill these whole to blister the skin and give the outside a salty, crispy crunch. Throw it on some toast, and you’ve got the ultimate seafood snack.