Baked Lemon Butter Tilapia
The easiest, most effortless 20 min meal ever from start to finish. And it’s all made in a single pan. Win-win situation here.
Okay, guys. I figured we all needed a little bit of a chicken thigh break.
I clearly love to create a new chicken thigh recipe once a week but we were due for a change. But still, we’re keeping the basics down with the whole lemon-garlic-butter situation.
Because let’s face it. We don’t want to mess with that combination.
So that’s exactly what’s happening here. We’re using budget-friendly tilapia, which cooks in just 10 minutes, drizzled with that butter sauce. It goes right in the oven from start to finish, making your life just that much easier.
You can thank me later.
Baked Lemon Butter Tilapia
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more, to taste
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 4 6-ounce tilapia fillets
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9×13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.
- In a small bowl, whisk together butter, garlic, lemon juice and lemon zest; set aside.
- Season tilapia with salt and pepper, to taste and place onto the prepared baking dish. Drizzle with butter mixture.
- Place into oven and bake until fish flakes easily with a fork, about 10-12 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Very good recipe!! I’ve been cooking this for my weekly Sunday night dinner ever since I moved out of my childhood home! Only thing I’ve changed over time is, since I like my fish with a crispy exterior that I wasn’t getting with the baking method, I now prepare the lemon butter separately, season and lightly dredge the tilapia in flour, fry it in butter for 90 seconds a side, and then top with the sauce after they’re done. Yields a much more satisfying result in my honest opinion. 😛
Awesome, thank you, Jimmy!
Wow!!! You are my new and favorite tutor! That’s not platitudes, let’s break it down. NOTE: I visited your site for a Baked Tilapia recipe. Here goes: 1) I love the look of your site, … clear, clean, and straight-forward with plenty of big, colorful pictures. 2) It is always time for a new chicken thigh recipe. 3) The video was spot on, straight to the point, clear, concise, and clear. Thank you so much, I will definitely look to you for my next recipe question.
Thank you so much for your feedback, Grady!
Ohhh wow! I really loved the recipe, very easy and tasty. Only one comment, it taste a little bitter because of the lemon juice and the peels, any way it was devoured. Thank you 😉
Happy you enjoyed it!
Do you have any suggestions on making the fish appear more golden and bright ? It looks more like it in the picture but less in that video . Just experimenting with making my food more pleasing to the eye .
Moniquee, some brand of butters can be more “golden” than others. You can also garnish with parsley and lemon slices to make it more pleasing to the eye! 🙂
Tried making it! It’s easy and delicious! Thank you got the recipe!
Great!
Yummy recipe!!!
This is my new favorite way to make tilapia! It really is damn delicious. Thank you for sharing!
The garlic turned blue/green on mine as well, which I noticed another person also experienced. I Googled it, and apparently it often occurs when garlic is cooked with an acid (lemon juice in this case), or when your garlic isn’t very fresh. It’s still safe to eat, so don’t be alarmed if this happens to you if you make this recipe!
What a delicious recipe! We are not big fish fans in my house, so I am trying hard to find recipes that will tempt us to eat more fish. This recipe was a hit with both adults, and two out of three kids. My third child needs her food separate and has a difficult time acclimating to change, so I expected her to not rave about it…but she ate it! Success! We served it with rice pilaf which was also a hit with the kids. Thanks for posting!
would you recommend putting parchment paper under the fish so it doesn’t stick?
If you lightly oil the baking dish or coat with nonstick spray, parchment paper is not necessary.
Loved this recipe making it again tonight. The side dishes I used were jasmine rice and microwaved fresh asparagus. My husband liked it also. Thanks
Just tried it and we all loved it! Very quick, Super moist and flavored recipe. My 8 & 4 years old enjoyed it as well. Thank you!
I love this fish ppl say its bad for u any truth to that
So yummy! Absolutely delicious! Divinely easy to make! Mahalo!
My stepdad is recovering from a stroke and the other night the hospital served him lemon baked tilapia for his evening meal and he loved it. I started looking for a similar recipe so that once he’s home I can make it for him. According to Dad your photo looks the most like what they served him. Soon as he’s home again, I’ll try to fix this for him. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
On a side note, do you think I could cook some shrimp in with this recipe? I don’t care for fish, but I do enjoy shrimp.
Yes, absolutely! Hope your stepdad makes a speedy recovery!
This was damn delicious! Thank you for the inspiration! I did adjust my cooking time a bit as you had suggested to other as MY fillets were on the larger side but in the end they turned out deliciously flaky and moist. The butter sauce is flavour full and bang on!
We served ours over a mound of sautéed spaghetti squash; sautéed with fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic and spicy calabrese olives! This paired quite beautifully with the lemony butter sauce and the delicate fish! YUM
Thanks again!
Can I sub lime for lemon
Yes, absolutely.
Holy amazeballs this was SO SO SO good. Yes, SOx3. I broiled it at the end for extra umph and burned my mouth trying a bite. So yummy.
Turned out perfectly! Will definitely cook this again
I have to say, I’ve been looking for a good baked lemon, garlic and butter recipe for a while and I thought I hadn’t found the perfect one when I clicked the link to this recipe…. However, the picture looks nothing like the end result in the instructional video. I’m a little disappointed.
I would love the original recipe for the picture displayed, if you could find it!!
The recipe in the video is made just as written.