Authentic Jamaican Steamed Fish Recipe
This is the ultimate recipe guide to making the best Jamaican steamed fish with authentic flavour. This Jamaican steamed fish recipe makes a delicious fish dinner. Comes with a savoury sauce and made in ONE pot. Yup, just throw it all in one pan, steam it, and you end up with a tender juicy fish in a tasty fish sauce.
Now, if you are ready to learn and try the best Jamaican steamed fish recipe, let’s dive in, starting with why Jamaican steamed fish is so popular and how it differs from steamed fish recipes. Then I will show you how to prepare it in your own kitchen using an authentic recipe shared below.
Jamaican steam fish
Steaming is a common way for Jamaicans to cook fish. Once upon a time, the doctor fish was the most popular fish to steam. Nowadays, snapper fish have become more popular due to access to both wild-caught and aquaculture-raised snapper. However, you will find Jamaican steaming just about any of their favourite fish, including parrotfish, trout, butterfish, soursop fish (pufferfish) and many others.
Jamaican steamed fish is an easy recipe and is often cooked and eaten as a mid-week dinner. It is also a very popular choice at any Jamaican restaurant on the island or abroad.
Steamed fish recipe variations
The versatility of Jamaican cooking and the uniqueness of Jamaican people have brought about many variations of Jamaican-style steamed fish, from the easy and simple recipe where fresh fish is steamed with onion, thyme, scotch bonnet pepper, scallion and pimento, to the one-pot dish where you would steam the fish with all the vegetables you desire, to stuffing the fish with callaloo and okra, wrapping it in aluminium foil and placing it in the oven to cook. And there is also steamed fish and bammy, and steamed fish and water crackers. Let’s just say, there are multiple Jamaican-style steamed fish recipes. Below is the one-pot version, cooked with vegetables such as pumpkin and sweet corn.
Ingredients for Jamaican style steamed fish
The ingredients for Jamaican-style steamed fish depend on the steamed fish recipe variation. There are the essential ingredients such as onion, garlic, thyme, scallion, scotch bonnet pepper, pimento, okra and whatever you’re using for flavour. A combination of all these ingredients (corn, pumpkin, carrot, chocho, bammy, and crackers) is also used in the Jamaican steamed fish recipe. Below is the list of ingredients used in our steam fish recipe.
- Fresh fish: These days, red snapper is the most commonly used fish for steaming in Jamaica, and the one you are most likely to use, because the culture promotes it. However, you can use practically any fresh fish for this steamed fish recipe. I like to use parrotfish because it is my favourite fish to eat.
- Okra: Don’t leave it out, because okra is an essential ingredient in the Jamaican-style steamed fish. Chop the okra into 1.5-inch lengths so they are not too small and cook too quickly.
- Pumpkin: Not essential, but I always make my Jamaican steamed fish with pumpkin because it adds a sweet flavour. Pumpkin gets really soft when cooked, so chop it into chunky pieces, and it won’t mash during cooking.
- Carrot: If you’re going to use pumpkin, add carrots as well.
- Sweet corn: This is optional, but I love it in steamed fish.
- The essentials: Scallion, thyme, scotch bonnet pepper, garlic, onion, and pimento (allspice) are all essential ingredients in Jamaican steamed fish for that authentic Jamaican flavour.
- Soup mix: Fish tea soup mix is the powdered seasoning used to make fish broth, once mixed with water, it is used by Jamaicans when making soup and steamed fish. Grace fish tea mix has been the most popular for the longest time, but there are other brands to use.
- Black pepper: I combine black pepper with salt to make my fish seasoning. But you can use a ready-made fish season if you prefer.
- Salt: A little bit of salt to enhance the flavour.
How to steam fish Jamaican style
The step-by-step instructions are for Jamaican steamed fish with okra, pumpkin and sweet corn. If you want to add crackers to your Jamaican steam fish, do so at the end, just before turning the stove off.
- Clean fish: Wash the fish with fresh lime/lemon juice, which helps to cut the fishy smell. I like cutting the fins and making sure to remove any remaining intestines.
- Season fish: Pat the fish dry with a paper towel. Since the fish is for steaming, it doesn’t need to be really dry. Season the fish. My seasoning is just salt and black pepper, but you can use your favourite fish seasoning.
- Prep veggies: The size you chop the vegetables into is important because they each take a different time to cook. Corn takes longer to cook than pumpkin, so chop the corn smaller and the pumpkin more chunky.
- Sieve soup mix: Soup mix has small bits of noodle in it, and you don’t want them in the steamed fish sauce. Sieve the soup mix to remove the noodle bits and use only the powder.
- Saute veggies: Get the veggies slightly soft before adding the fish to the pot. Start by cooking the sweet corn, since it is a harder vegetable and will never break apart if overcooked. Add all the other ingredients, except for the orka, which goes in with the fish, and cook until they are just about soft but not fully cooked.
- Add fish: Add the fish and okra, turn the heat to low, cover, and let the fish steam until cooked, about 15 to 20 minutes.
What do you eat Jamaican steam fish with
Depending on the recipe variation, Jamaicans usually eat steamed fish on its own. In recent times, the most popular steamed fish variation is the one-pot version, where Jamaicans steam the fish with vegetables such as carrot, corn, pumpkin, okra, and sometimes chocho, yams, or Irish potatoes. Steamed fish and crackers, or bammy, are eaten as a main meal. The simpler version of Jamaican-style steamed fish is eaten with rice and peas or hard food
FAQ
The best fish for steaming is snapper, parrotfish, butterfish or doctorfish. The most popular is snapper.
Including prepping the other ingredients, it takes about 30 to 40 minutes.
Yes, seasoning the ish before steaming it adds more flavour to the whole dish.
Yes, okra goes well with fish, which is why Jamaicans always add okra to their steamed fish recipe.
Less than five minutes. When you chop okra to add to steamed fish, it will take less time to cut, so add it last to the pot.
Jamaican Steamed Fish
Ingredients
Method
- Wash and clean the fish with lime juice and tap water. Drain away the water, then pat the fish dry with a paper towel.
- Combine the salt and black pepper, then rub the combination onto the fish to season it. If you prefer, you can use your favourite fish seasoning instead.
- Chop and prepare the other ingredients. Including sieving the soup mix.
- Heat the coconut oil in a saute pan on medium to high heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic, and cook until they soften.
- Add the chopped corn, a pinch of salt and about 150 ml of water. Cover and cook for about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the pumpkin, carrots, okras, scallion, scotch bonnet pepper, thyme, pimento, and the fish tea soup mix. Add another 200 ml of water. Cover and cook for another 3 minutes.
- Taste and add salt if needed. Add the fish, reduce the heat to low, and steam for 15-20 minutes.
Nutrition
Notes
- You can use any fish for this recipe, but the best is snapper or any fish that doesn’t break apart easily when it’s cooked. If you are using softer fish like sea bass, reduce the fish cooking time.
- I use salt and black pepper to season the fish, but you can use your preferred fish seasoning.
- Make sure to sieve the fish tea soup mix. That way, you only use the powdery part. Have a read of the blog post to find out why soup mix is best to use, and a detailed write-up about the ingredients.
- Just before turning the stove off, add excelsior water crackers if you want the steam-fish-and-crackers version. Make sure to add about 50ml more water during cooking so the crackers can absorb it.
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I love your recipe and i’m going to try and cook it someday
Great Recipes
Looking forward to making it, thanks for the recipe 😊
I just recently found your site. I was looking for a steamed fish recipe that was relatively fast and easy. I tried yours yesterday and my family loved it so I’m looking forward to coming back and getting more delicious recipes. Thank you.