Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Roast Breadfruit and Fried Jackfish
The national dish of St. Vincent: fire-roasted breadfruit with seasoned fried jackfish and a tomato sauce.
Vincentian · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 50 min
~457 cal · 42g protein · 49g carbs · 10g fat · 7g fiber · 15g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Roast and fried jackfish is the national dish of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a pairing that speaks to island self-sufficiency: the tree, famously introduced to the region by Captain Bligh, became a reliable staple, and the surrounding sea provides the fish.
A whole is roasted over an open flame until the skin blackens and the dense flesh turns tender, then peeled and sliced. Alongside it, jackfish (or other reef fish) is seasoned with lime and herbs and fried crisp, and a quick tomato-based Creole sauce ties them together.
Smoky and satisfying, it is honest food built on what the land and sea readily provide. Roast and fried jackfish is a proud emblem of Vincentian identity and resourcefulness.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, egg-, nut- 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
1.5 lb small whole fish (jacks) or fillets
1 medium
1 onion
3 tomato
3 cloves garlic (for sauce)
1 lime
1 tsp thyme
1/2
2 tbsp chives
1/2 cup flour, to coat
1 tsp tomato paste or ketchup
for frying oil
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Pierce the whole breadfruit with a fork or skewer, then roast it over an open flame or in a moderate oven for about an hour and a half, until the skin blackens and the inside is tender.
✎ Chef’s note
Pierce it before it goes near the heat: a sealed breadfruit builds steam. Turn it as it roasts so it chars evenly, and judge it done when a skewer slides easily into the centre.
2
Peel off the charred skin and slice the tender breadfruit.
3
Pour lime or lemon juice over the cleaned fish and leave it 15 minutes, then rinse it off and pat it dry.
✎ Chef’s note
The citrus soak is a cleaning step, not a marinade. Vincentians pour it over, leave it a quarter of an hour, then rinse it away, which takes the muddy edge off the fish before any seasoning goes on.
4
Mince the onion, chives, garlic and thyme together with salt into a seasoning paste and rub it over the fish (or hearts of palm), then coat them in flour and shake off the excess.
5
Fry in hot but not smoking oil, about 4 minutes a side, until browned and crisp, then set aside.
6
Make the sauce: soften more onion, garlic, thyme and sliced tomato in oil, stir in the tomato paste and a cup of water, add the Scotch bonnet, and simmer until slightly thickened.
7
Peel and slice the breadfruit and serve it with the fried fish and a spoon of the sauce.
✎ Chef’s note
The traditional Vincentian pairing is a glass of golden apple drink, which is the national drink. Saltfish, often as buljol with tomato, sweet pepper and onion, and fried tri tri in season are the other two things Vincentians put alongside roast breadfruit.
Kingstown tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Kingstown. The breadfruit is roasted whole over an open fire until the skin blackens and the flesh inside turns soft, then split and eaten hot. The jackfish is marinated in lime, floured and fried, usually with an onion, tomato and thyme sauce over it, and the plate is as much a lunch as a breakfast.
🗺️
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Breadfruit arrived here on purpose. Captain Bligh brought it from Tahiti to the Saint Vincent Botanical Garden, founded in 1765 and among the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, and the country now recognises more breadfruit cultivar names than anywhere else in the Caribbean, at least thirty-eight recorded.
🌍
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
Fried Bakes and SaltfishSautéed salt cod with onion, tomato, and pepper tucked into hot fried bakes, the everyday breakfast of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
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
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
Make it a Saint Vincent and the Grenadines meal
Peanut PunchDrink
DuckanooDessert
Saltfish BuljolLunch
Similar dishes from around the world
Grilled Chambo with NsimaMalawi
Peixe GrelhadoSão Tomé and Príncipe
Camarão Grelhado (Grilled LM Prawns)Mozambique
Bourzwa Griye (Grilled Red Snapper)Seychelles
Poisson BraiséGabon
MasgoufIraq
Cuisine
Diet
Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Nut-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Vincentian Recipes
Dairy-Free Dinners from Around the World
Nut-Free Dinners from Around the World
Egg-Free Dinners from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Roast Breadfruit and Fried Jackfish?
The national dish of St. Vincent: fire-roasted breadfruit with seasoned fried jackfish and a tomato sauce.
Where does Roast Breadfruit and Fried Jackfish come from?
Roast Breadfruit and Fried Jackfish is a Vincentian dish from Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Can Roast Breadfruit and Fried Jackfish be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Roast Breadfruit and Fried Jackfish 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 Roast Breadfruit and Fried Jackfish 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 Roast Breadfruit and Fried Jackfish take to make?
About 75 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 50 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.