Barramundi with Zesty Cilantro Sauce
with Lemony Carrots & Garlic Couscous
- Wheat
- Fish
- Milk
We’re all about chimichurri! It’s bright, tangy, herbaceous, and oh so versatile: Cilantro, garlic, lemon, cumin, and chili flakes provide punchy flavors that lift everything they touch to delicious heights. This week, the magical sauce is spooned over buttery barramundi fillets. On the side, we’re serving garlic butter couscous, and lemony roasted carrots. Once you take a bite of the harmonious flavors, you may find it impossible to put your fork down.
Ingredients
1 unit
Veggie Stock Concentrate
½ cup
Pearl Couscous
(Contains: Wheat)
12 ounce
Carrot
1 teaspoon
Cumin
1 unit
Lemon
10 ounce
Barramundi
(Contains: Fish)
1 teaspoon
Chili Flakes
2 clove
Garlic
¼ ounce
Cilantro
Not included in your delivery
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
2 tablespoon (tbsp)
Olive Oil
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
1 tablespoon (tbsp)
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
Adjust rack to top position and preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash and dry produce.
Toss carrots on a foil-lined baking sheet with a drizzle of oil, salt, and pepper.
While carrots roast, in a small bowl, combine cilantro, half the cumin (you’ll use the rest later), half the lemon zest, 2 TBSP olive oil (4 TBSP for 4 servings), a big squeeze of lemon juice, and a pinch of garlic to taste. Season with salt, pepper, and chili flakes to taste.
Heat 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4 servings) in a small pot over medium-high heat. Add couscous and remaining garlic. Cook, stirring often, until garlic is fragrant and couscous is lightly toasted, 1-2 minutes.
Stir in ¾ cup water (1½ cups for 4) and stock concentrate. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a low simmer. Cook until al dente, 6-8 minutes.
Keep covered off heat until ready to serve.
While couscous cooks, pat barramundi* dry with paper towels. Season all over with remaining cumin, salt, and pepper.
Heat a drizzle of oil in a large, preferably nonstick, pan over medium-high heat. Add barramundi and cook until opaque and cooked through, 4-6 minutes per side. Turn off heat.
Fluff couscous with a fork; season with salt and pepper.
Toss carrots with remaining lemon zest.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Sep 2026- Flavor: The zesty cilantro sauce is the star — bright, herbaceous, and a perfect match for the mild, buttery barramundi. Some who dislike cilantro or find it soapy simply skipped the sauce and still enjoyed the dish.
- Ease of prep: Quick and easy overall, though the couscous can burn fast — stir it often when toasting and watch the liquid ratio closely, as several reviewers needed to add a little extra water.
- Suggestions: If the fish sticks to the pan, make sure the oil is fully hot before adding it, and use a nonstick pan if possible. Some found cooking the barramundi on the sheet pan alongside the carrots worked just as well and saved a dish. A few wanted to double the cilantro sauce — it's worth making extra. 🍋
- Leftovers: Portions are on the lighter side, so this works best as a fresh weeknight meal rather than a make-ahead dish; the fish doesn't reheat as well as the sides.
- Carrots: Roast time can vary — check at 15–18 minutes to avoid burning, and consider adding a green vegetable alongside for more color and variety.
Reviews from our home cooks
Barramundi is quickly becoming my favorite fish! The cilantro sauce was awesome - even my mom, who isn't crazy about cilantro, was impressed. The carrots were great with the lemon zest. We added a little cumin to the couscous, and the aromatics made it even tastier.
Fantastic! Swapped out the carrots for asparagus as a yummy veggie side. The flavors and textures of the barramundi with the fresh and zesty chimichurri-style relish were perfect, and the couscous rounded everything out nicely. Loved this dish!
The couscous was especially good, considering neither of us a big fans of it. This time we really like it. The barramundi is a great mild fish, and the cilantro sauce was a nice complement to it, especially with a little added lemon juice.
I have never had Barramundi before. It had such a good flavor. There seemed to be a lot of little bones in it, but it was still good. I loved the garlic couscous and the cilantro sauce. The lemony carrots were excellent!
Always love when there's an option for barramundi. The sauce was very nice. I was happy to see more than 1 or 2 cloves of garlic in the bag for once. However the cilantro was very sad and wilted looking and there wasn't nearly enough for a sauce.
The best tasting Barramundi I have had so far from HelloFresh! Doubled chimichurri, added more garlic, cumin and lemon zest. Added Harissa to carrots.
Fun to cook and the zesty cilantro sauce was awesome. We added more heat by fine chopping a Thai pepper into the sauce.
The Barramundi was very flavorful along with that cilantro sauce and the couscous! I would try this one again. I might switch out the couscous for maybe some purple or jasmine rice!
Barramundi is delicious if you don't overcook it. The sauce is the best! I should have chosen a different veggie than broccoli because I've eaten too much broccoli lately. My bad.
The barramundi was so delicious I didn't even want to add the sauce to it even though the sauce was also delicious. I ended up keeping the sauce to put over another entree that didn't have such a great sauce.
