This easy Baked Tilapia Recipe with Creamy Lemon Butter Sauce can be on the table in 20 minutes and uses just a handful of simple ingredients from your pantry! Customize the seasonings to your liking, then whip up this 6-minute, restaurant-quality lemon butter sauce to turn your Fish Friday dinner into a chef's table experience.
As a fish-forward recipe developer, I've spent a lot of time with tilapia. Its uncomplicated flavor pairs well with almost any seasoning or sauce. And it's a budget-friendly option for adding seafood to your weekly meal plan!
In addition to this 20-minute baked tilapia dish, two more reader favorite tilapia fillet recipes are Asian Tilapia with Ginger and Soy and Fajita Spiced Tilapia with Avocado Sauce.
Ingredients for Lemon Butter Baked Tilapia:
Before we get to the step by step directions, a few notes about the ingredients:
Fish: the recipe calls for tilapia, but your favorite white fish fillets like cod, haddock or catfish will also work. Fresh or frozen fish works in this recipe. If using frozen tilapia fillets, be sure to thaw fully and dry well with paper towels before seasoning.
Butter: for the lemon butter sauce, I use salted butter, but use what you have, then taste and adjust the seasoning.
Parsley: the recipe calls for diced flat leaf parsley as a garnish. Substitute fresh diced chives, basil, or skip the greens altogether.
Lemon: I like to add sliced lemons to my dish of baking fish. It adds a light citrus note. But it's optional!
Full ingredient list and measurements included in the printable recipe card below.
Step-by-step instructions:
1. Prep and bake fish
Dry fish fillets well. Add them to a lightly oiled baking dish.
Combine salt, pepper and paprika and dust the seasoning mixture over the fish, ensuring a good amount of seasoning on the thickest part of the fillet. Add a sliced lemon to the dish, if you have it.
Bake fish in preheated oven for 10-14 minutes, or until fish flakes easily and is cooked through (remove fish when internal temp reaches 140-145).
2. Make lemon butter sauce
Combine freshly squeezed lemon juice and dry white wine in a small, heavy saucepan. Add the lightly crushed garlic clove to the pot, then bring to a simmer and reduce the mixture for 2-3 minutes.
Pour in heavy cream and return to a simmer (this will only take about 30 seconds). Remove the pan from the heat. Begin adding pieces of cold butter and whisking.
As the added pieces melt, add a few more. If the sauce cools and the butter has stopped (or slowed) melting, return the pan to heat for 10-15 seconds - just long enough to begin melting the butter again - then remove from the heat and continue adding butter and whisking.
Once the butter has incorporated, remove the garlic clove from the sauce.
Taste the sauce and add a pinch of salt, if needed.
3. Garnish and serve
Plate the tilapia, drizzle with lemon butter sauce and top with fresh parsley.
What to serve with simple baked fish?
Garlic Lemon Seasoned Green Beans and Mediterranean Basmati Rice would be a perfect complement to these fish fillets with creamy lemon sauce. Or check out my post What to Serve with Tilapia for 28 of my favorite side dishes for fish.
How to keep lemon butter sauce from breaking?
Lemon butter sauce is famously finicky and easy to break, meaning the milk solids in the butter break away from the emulsion and you are left with a curdled sauce. This happens if the sauce gets to hot, the balance of fat and water is thrown off, which causes the split. By adding cream in this recipe, we stabilize the emulsion a bit more. But we can’t outsmart science, so if the sauce is heated too much or the whisking is inconsistent, the magic sauce will curdle. If this happens, try adding a teaspoon or two of wine or lemon juice to the mixture and whisking vigorously to re-form the emulsion.
How to store leftover tilapia?
Ideally you want to store any sauce separate from baked fish leftovers. Keep in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Print
Baked Tilapia with Creamy Lemon Butter Sauce
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 3-4 1x
Ingredients
For the fish:
1 ½ pounds tilapia fillets (3-4 pieces)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons coarse kosher salt (or, to taste)
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 lemon, sliced
1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, diced (for serving)
For lemon butter sauce:
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons dry white wine
1 garlic clove, lightly crushed
2 tablespoons heavy cream
7 tablespoons butter, chilled and diced
Salt, to taste
Instructions
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For the fish, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add olive oil to a baking pan or sheet pan. Lay out fish fillets in pan.
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Mix seasonings together and dust over fish, ensuring the thickest part of each fillet is well seasoned. Arrange sliced lemon around the dish.
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Bake for 10-14 minutes, until fish is flaky and about 145 degrees internal temperature.
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For the creamy lemon butter sauce, add lemon juice and white wine to a small, heavy saucepan. Add lightly crushed garlic clove, then bring to a simmer and reduce the mixture for 2-3 minutes. Add heavy cream and return to a simmer (this will only take about 30 seconds). Remove the pan from the heat. Begin adding pieces of cold butter and whisking. As the added pieces melt, add a few more. If the sauce cools and the butter has stopped (or slowed) melting, return the pan to heat for 10-15 seconds - just long enough to begin melting the butter again - then remove from the heat and continue adding butter and whisking. Once the butter has incorporated, remove the garlic clove from the sauce. Taste the sauce and add a pinch of salt, if needed.
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Plate baked tilapia and drizzle with lemon butter sauce. Garnish with diced parsley and serve.
Notes
Substitute cod, haddock, grouper, or your favorite white fish in this baked seafood recipe.
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 20
- Category: main dish
- Method: oven and stovetop
- Cuisine: American, French
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