Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Fried Bakes and Saltfish
Sautéed salt cod with onion, tomato, and pepper tucked into hot fried bakes, the everyday breakfast of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Vincentian · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 20 min
~500 cal · 19g protein · 74g carbs · 13g fat · 4g fiber · 10g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Fried bakes and saltfish is the everyday breakfast of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a humble plate found on tables across the islands each morning. It pairs two Caribbean staples, fried bread and salt cod, into comforting harmony.
The salt cod is soaked, flaked, and sauteed with onion, tomato, and sweet pepper into a savoury topping, while the bakes are fried until golden and puffed. The hot, crisp bread is split and stuffed with the flavourful fish.
Filling and satisfying, it is the sort of breakfast that starts a working day well. Fried bakes and saltfish is honest Vincentian home cooking, the resourceful, everyday plate that generations have relied on.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
8 oz salt cod (saltfish), soaked and flaked
2.5 cups all-purpose flour (for bakes)
1 onion
1 tomato
1 sweet pepper
1 tsp thyme
3 cloves garlic
to taste hot pepper
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp dried yeast
2 tbsp brown sugar
3/4 cup water
3 cups , for frying
Instructions
1
Soak the salt cod in cold water for several hours, changing the water two or three times, then drain, boil briefly and flake it.
✎ Chef’s note
Change the water rather than soaking it once in the same bowl all day. The salt comes out into the water and then stops coming out.
2
Make a soft dough with the flour, baking powder, yeast, brown sugar, salt and warm water, knead it smooth, and leave it to rest 30 minutes before shaping into rounds about a quarter inch thick.
✎ Chef’s note
Vincentian bakes take both yeast and baking powder and a little brown sugar, which is why they come out denser and slightly sweeter than the puffier bakes of the other islands. They are called floats elsewhere in the Caribbean, after the way the discs rise up and float when they hit the oil.
3
Fry the bakes in hot oil until puffed and golden.
✎ Chef’s note
The oil should be hot enough that the dough puffs up quickly. Too cool and the bakes soak up grease and turn heavy.
4
Saute the onion, garlic, pepper, and thyme in oil, then add the tomato and flaked saltfish and cook a few minutes.
5
Split the hot bakes and stuff with the sauteed saltfish to serve.
Vincentian everyday breakfast.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Kingstown. Ground provisions are the base of nearly everything: dasheen, yam, eddo, sweet potato and green banana, boiled and served in quantity. Saltfish and callaloo do the seasoning work, coconut turns up in the sweets and the sauces, and the pepper sauce is never far from anyone's elbow.
🗺️
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines calls roasted breadfruit and fried jackfish its national dish. Ground provisions, callaloo, and fresh seafood define a lush, volcanic Eastern Caribbean table.
🌍
North America. Almost every regional cooking here records who arrived and on what terms. Enslaved West Africans brought rice, okra, black-eyed peas and the techniques behind Lowcountry and Creole food; Chinese railway labour and later Italian, Jewish, Mexican and Vietnamese arrivals built the way the cities eat; and Indigenous foodways sit underneath all of it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Roast Breadfruit and Fried JackfishThe national dish of St. Vincent: fire-roasted breadfruit with seasoned fried jackfish and a tomato sauce.
DuckanooSweet spiced cornmeal and coconut tied in banana leaves and boiled, a West African legacy sweet of Saint Vincent.
Tri-Tri CakesTiny river fish folded into a herbed batter and fried into crisp golden fritters, a seasonal Saint Vincent delicacy.
Browse all Saint Vincent and the Grenadines recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Saint Vincent and the Grenadines meal
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DuckanooDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Fried Bakes and Saltfish?
Sautéed salt cod with onion, tomato, and pepper tucked into hot fried bakes, the everyday breakfast of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Where does Fried Bakes and Saltfish come from?
Fried Bakes and Saltfish is a Vincentian dish from Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Can Fried Bakes and Saltfish be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Fried Bakes and Saltfish recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Fried Bakes and Saltfish safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Fried Bakes and Saltfish take to make?
About 40 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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