Lean, mild, and mighty wild Alaska pollock is our favorite blank slate for healthy, crowd-pleasing seafood meals. Portioned into 6-ounce packs of “quick cuts,” our wild Alaska pollock is bite-sized and ready to go. One of the quickest ways to prepare these pollock quick cuts is to give them a spin under the broiler.
Knowing how to broil pollock quick cuts the right way ensures that you’ll always end up with tender, heat-kissed chunks of white fish every time. Perfect for tacos, wraps, sandwiches, bowls, or even over a bed of salad greens, broiled pollock quick cuts are a protein that can be ready in a flash.
Setting Up Your Broiler
You need to use a proper broiler that gets hot enough to give your pollock quick cuts some color and the faint flavor of char in a short period of time. Under a cooler source of heat, they’re more prone to getting dried out before they can be cooked through, so make sure you’re using a broiler in a real oven, not the one in your toaster oven that merely approximates the real thing. A blast of intense heat is exactly what you want from this cooking method, especially with smaller cuts of fish like our pollock quick cuts.
Make sure your oven rack is as high up as possible before you turn on the heat. This usually sets up your pollock quick cuts to be 4 to 6 inches away from the broiler element, which is far enough that the pieces won’t burn but close enough that they will get a relatively direct exposure to heat. Once you turn your broiler on high, don’t get impatient as it preheats. Give it plenty of time to do its thing.
Meanwhile, pat your pollock dry, then season with salt and pepper. If you want to season them with a rub or dusting of dry spices, now is the time. Broiled pollock quick cuts, tossed in your favorite taco seasoning and enough vegetable oil to coat the pieces, are a quick and healthy protein option for tacos and taco-themed lunch bowls. Or, marinate the quick cuts in a Mediterranean-inspired mix of olive oil, herbs, and lemon juice and broil to enjoy in a wrap — just don’t forget to pat the marinated pollock dry so that their exteriors can broil rather than steam in the oven.
Arrange the pollock quick cuts on a broiler-safe baking dish, oven-safe skillet, or a cast iron pan. Avoid crowding the pieces to ensure that your quick cuts will cook evenly.
A Quick Broil
Slide your pan of pollock beneath the broiler and set your timer for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes is up, take a peek at the doneness by cutting into one of the pieces. If it’s opaque in the center, it’s ready to go.
If the fish Is still a little translucent and isn’t quite flaking easily, leave the pan under the broiler for no more than another minute. This should give them plenty of time to cook through inside, as you generally won’t need more than 4 minutes for the pollock to finish cooking when it has been cut into these smaller bites.
Serve immediately.
Broiled Pollock Recipe Ideas
You can follow along with this super basic template for fish tacos from Martha Stewart and jazz things up by adding a pinch of chipotle powder or smoked paprika to your pollock before broiling it. Or, instead of using a marinade or rub, take a cue from Serious Eats and paint on a layer of herbed mayo onto the pollock once you’ve arranged it in the pan; it’ll brown up nicely and keep the fish moist.
