This is the Lemon Butter Fish Recipe you'll go back to over and over again. It's quick and easy to prepare and tastes like a high-end restaurant dish. I've made fish with lemon caper sauce dozens of times and it always impresses. Use rich and flaky sablefish, or substitute your favorite white fish fillets in this 3-ingredient lemon butter sauce recipe for a low-stress, high-flavor fish dinner!
As a full-time seafood recipe developer, sablefish (also called black cod) is a true joy to prepare. It brings all the light, sweet, flakiness of white fish, but with a rich and buttery texture.
Unless you live near the ocean, sablefish can be hard to find in your local grocery stores. I got mine from our friends at Sena Sea, and if you want a guaranteed fresh fish experience, Sena can have a box of Alaskan sablefish on your doorstep in no time!
If love fancy fish that's ridiculously easy to prepare, try my Italian Sablefish Recipe or Baked Garlic Butter Chilean Sea Bass next!
Ingredients for Black Cod with Lemon Butter Sauce:
- Fish: sablefish (aka Black Cod) is what the recipe calls for, but use your favorite fish fillets. This sauce is especially delicious paired with a mild fish like mahi-mahi, cod or branzino.
- Fresh lemon juice: when you're making a 3-ingredient sauce, every component matters. So spring for fresh lemons and squeeze your own juice. Skip the bottled juice on this one!
- Capers: the perfect briny touch to balance the richness of both the fish and the butter sauce. Substitute diced green olives, if needed.
- Butter: I used a good quality salted butter in this recipe. Substitute unsalted butter if that's all you have, but taste and adjust seasoning before serving.
- Variations: use dry white wine in place of the lemon juice. Or add garlic and fresh herbs like dill, parsley or even basil in place of the capers for an easy lemon garlic butter sauce.
Full ingredient list and measurements included in printable recipe card below.
Step by step instructions:
Dry fish fillets well. Season liberally with salt and pepper, then dredge lightly in flour.
Add to a nonstick skillet with olive oil and sear for 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove fish from pan and wipe out the skillet.
Return skillet to heat and add capers and lemon juice, cooking just long enough to reduce a bit. Then reduce heat and add butter in 2-3 batches, whisking continuously. Remove pan from the heat and keep whisking butter until the sauce is creamy and smooth.
Spoon over seared fish fillet and serve with lemon wedges.
Tips for Preparing Sablefish (Black Cod):
To thaw frozen sablefish: defrost in refrigerator overnight, or thaw quickly by soaking vacuum-sealed package in cold water for 30-45 minutes, until defrosted. Cut open packaging, rinse and dry very well with paper towels before seasoning and cooking. If you have tweezers, run your hands over the fish and remove any pin bones. Or wait until the fish is cooked, when it is easier to pull out the bones with simple kitchen tongs.
To cook sablefish: I find sablefish to be a white fish fillet that acts more like salmon. It is rich and meaty and fatty, lending itself to preparations like pan-searing and even broiling. For this seared fish recipe, I tested cook times up to 5 minutes per side, and found that around 2 minutes per side over medium heat, then resting the fish while making the sauce, gave the best results. But burners come with different levels of heat, so using an instant-read thermometer is the best way to ensure your fish is cooked to 140-145 when serving.
What to Serve with Pan-Seared Fish:
Green Beans with Garlic, Lemon Ricotta Pasta or Grilled Asparagus would be great side dishes. Duchess Potato Casserole is an easy recipe that can be made ahead and would be the perfect pairing for this saucy fish.
How to Store Leftover Sablefish:
Transfer fish to an airtight container and keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. To reheat, warm gently in a small saucepan until just heated through.
Don't forget to order your box of Alaskan Sablefish from Sena Sea! She'll have it delivered to your front door, perfectly packed and still frozen. After a quick soak in cold water, it will be ready for the skillet.
Print
Sablefish with Lemon Butter Caper Sauce
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
Description
If you need an easy but impressive Lemon Butter Fish recipe, here's the one that will have everyone begging for your secrets.
Ingredients
2 6-ounce sablefish fillets
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ tablespoons capers
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons butter, very cold and cut into 4-6 pieces
Instructions
- Dry fish fillets very well with paper towels. Season generously with kosher salt and black pepper. Dredge lightly in flour.
- Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil. When hot, add seasoned fish fillets and cook undisturbed for 2 minutes. (If cooking skin-on fish, start with the skin down in the pan.) After 2-3 minutes, gently flip fish fillets, ensuring they are cooking in the oil (add a drizzle more to the pan, if needed). Cook for 1 ½-2 minutes on the second side (if your stovetop runs cool, test and leave for another minute). I remove the fish from the skillet when it registers 130-135 internal temperature. Carry-over cooking will take it to 140, which is perfect.
- When the fish is cooked through and golden brown, remove to a plate and wipe out the skillet. Return to the burner at medium heat. Add capers and fresh lemon juice, letting the acid sizzle up and reduce for about 20 seconds. Turn your burner to low, then add a few pieces of butter, whisking continuously to emulsify the sauce as the butter melts. Remove the pan from the heat and add the final butter to the skillet, whisking. If the butter stops melting, return the pan to the heat for a few seconds, just long enough to heat it up a bit and melt the butter.
- Serve fish fillet drizzled with lemon butter sauce and a lemon wedge.
Notes
- Substitute grouper, snapper, mahi or your favorite white fish in this recipe.
- Use skin-on or skinless fillets in this pan-seared fish recipe.
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: Easy Recipe
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ½
- Calories: 423
- Sugar: 0.4 g
- Sodium: 1849.2 mg
- Fat: 32.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 7.3 g
- Protein: 27.2 g
- Cholesterol: 125.7 mg
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