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.
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I get all my recipes from the Internet. I will read 10 or 12, and take a little bit from this one a little bit from that one. This is the first recipe that I have done it exactly as instructed. It was fantastic! I had two flounder fillets and one tilapia fillet and using this recipe they were the best fish I’ve ever cooked! I usually avoid cooking fish because it never comes out as good as I want. This recipe is the bomb!! This is now my go to fish recipe!
P.S. this is also the first time I’ve ever left a comment on a website for a recipe I’ve made!
Hi. Any changes recommended to do when using full fish? I have the tilapia cleaned and ready.. But not fillet
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
I’ve made this dish probably 20-30 times at this point. My family loves it and anyone who eats with us loves it. Thank you for this easy, healthy, affordable, delicious recipe!
I’m so glad I came across this! I will make it later. My family loves tilapia!
My fish was swimming in liquid. I used a white fish called cod. Is it more of a fatty fish and caused the excess liquid? TIA
Oh no – what a bummer! I’m not entirely sure why this happened. I haven’t used cod in this recipe.
In the nutrition facts, it says this recipe contains trans fats. Does that come from the unsalted butter?
Yes.
About to have a late dinner, I wish I had seen this dish earlier. I will be making this this week.
No, we did not have Easter Dinner this year…. Long story
So quick and easy and it looks delicious! Lemon and butter on fish is an absolute winner (:
Hi thank you for this recipe, I wanted to share that I did substitute the garlic with garlic infused olive oil and non dairy butter to create a low fodmap version for our IBS. To get the golden finish I did broil them for 5 min at 500F. This dish was a hit, my picky eater had seconds!! Thank you so much!! We did pair with brown rice and zucchini squash/ peppers stir fry. Great dinner.
What are the reheating instructions? I am planning to make this for a meal train dish for a friend in need.
You can reheat via stovetop, oven or microwave.
Omg, thank you so much!
Made it for a first home dinner with my boyfriend last night. When he saw the dish, he went “Sorry, I don’t eat fish. At all”, but agreed to try it for me… Hahaha, apparently from now on he DOES eat fish, cuz he loved it so much that asked for the second round after!
😀 And I’m so happy with how fast and easy the whole thing is, thank you, you made my night yesterday! 🙂
Thissss is theeee best tilapia I’ve ever had! And this is me a non fish eater!
This looks delicious what can i pair it with as a side?
My absolute favorite side dish is the garlic parmesan roasted potatoes. But please feel free to check out all of my side dish recipes here.
I am not a big fan of anything fish. At the same time I didn’t want to deny making seafood dishes for my hubby. But, after finding this recipe I will have to be honest, this is now on my fav list. It was super easy to make and it didn’t take long to cook! Thank you for the amazing recipe. You have now made me a new seafood fan.
This was delicious! I doubled the sauce and put half in the brown rice. And instead of salt and pepper I used a spicy citrus rub. Thanks !!
What a great recipe. My family loved it! Thank you.
I seriously have loved all of your recipes! This was a HUGE hit with my family – my picky 12 year old gobbled it up and my 1 year old daughter kept shoving it in her mouth. This was her FIRST fish dish to try ever. = ) So easy and so delicious. But really, you can never go wrong with butter, garlic and lemon. Thanks again for another fabulous recipe!
Is there anyway to cut this down for just one fillet? Would I just use a quarter of each of the ingredients or would I have to do something else? I’m new to cooking and I only cook for myself. So any advice would be great!
Yes, you can try to quarter the recipe!
Delicious! Got rave reviews at my house the fish came out super fluffy and yummy garlic and lemony goodness. Will definitely be stalking your site for future dinner ideas 🙂
Can I use SWAI?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.