15-Minute Steamed Fish, Chinese Style
- By Amy Dong
- Updated Oct. 11, 2024
This easy recipe for This Chinese Style Steamed Fish is spectacularly delicious and healthy. It comes together in just 15 minutes and you don’t even need a steamer. Here’s our technique for steaming fish fillets in the microwave!
In This Article
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Steamed Fish Without a Steamer
The best Asian steamed fish involves fresh whole fish and big steamers. In my old hometown L.A. markets, that means doing some high-jumping plyometrics among a chaos of grandmas in order to get the fishmonger’s attention, followed by brazenly pointing to the live red snapper you want. Thankfully, you don’t have to do any of that. This is my super easy Monday night version of Asian steamed fish that’s so easy and tasty, you’ll never need anything else.
Why This Recipe Works
- Super Easy: This 15-Minute Ginger Soy Asian Steamed Fish is based on the whole-fish recipes I grew up on, but way more manageable for weeknights.
- No Bones: There are no fish heads, tails, nor bones to mess with.
- Very Little Oil: It’s so delicious, it doesn’t even need the classic hot oil drizzle at the end, which saves a load of calories.
- No Special Equipment: You do not need a steamer. Repeat: no steamer needed.
- Unbelievably Fast: Do you have a microwave and 6 minutes? Then you’re all set.
Key Ingredients
- White Fish Fillets– should be 1-inch thickness throughout.
- Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce or Tamari sauce, which is naturally lower in sodium.
- Asian Sesame Oil – be sure to get the Asian toasted sesame oil, which is darker in color and highly aromatic.
- Rice Cooking Wine – we love the Shaoxing style.
- Fresh Ginger – thinly sliced into matchstick slivers
- Granulated Sugar – a bit of sweet is important to offset the savory.
- Garlic Powder – you can opt for minced fresh garlic instead.
- White Pepper – white pepper has a brighter, sharper, and earthy flavor compared to black pepper.
- Cilantro – fresh leaves, for fragrant garnish
- Green Onions – aromatic garnish
Substitutions and Variations
- The Fish: Any variety of good quality fish fillets can be used. We really like basa or swai, catfish, bass, tilapia, haddock, flounder, sole, or red snapper. Just be sure they’re about 1-inch thickness throughout.
- Whole Fish: You can definitely use whole fish instead of fillets as well. Try whole branzino, tilapia, or snapper. You’ll need to double the cook time if using whole fish.
- The Soy Sauce: For a gluten-free soy sauce, use Tamari sauce. Tamari is not only naturally gluten-free, but has delicious depth of flavor.
- The Wine: Use any variety of rice cooking wine found at your local Asian grocery store. We are partial to Shaoxing style cooking wine.
Easy Step-By-Step Instructions
- Dry fish fillets thoroughly with paper towels. Place fish in a single layer in a 9×13 glass dish or other large microwavable dish.
- In a bowl, whisk together all remaining ingredients (except for cilantro and green onions) until well combined.
- Pour sauce evenly over the fish, ensuring that both sides of fillets are coated with sauce. Sprinkle evenly with cilantro and green onions on top of fillets.
- Tightly cover dish with cling wrap. Microwave on high for 4-6 minutes, depending on thickness of fish. If needed, add another 1-2 minutes. Fish should be firm and flaky at the center.
Pro Tips for Success
- Always use clean paper towels to pat dry fish fillets completely, removing as much excess moisture as possible, prior to seasoning.
- Be sure to use a mild-flavored, flaky white fish, such as basa/swai, haddock, sole, flounder, or tilapia, bass, or red snapper.
- If using a thinner fish fillet, as tilapia often is, lessen the cook time.
- For thicker fillets, microwave for 6 minutes on high. For thinner fillets, cook about 4 minutes.
- Actual cook time will vary depending on the thickness of fish fillets. Start off with less cook time, and add more minutes as needed.
- Double-wrap the dish with cling wrap, in order to form a strong and tight seal, allowing fish to steam in the microwave.
What to Serve with Chinese Steamed Fish
- Chinese Sticky Rice (Meal Prep Friendly) – this one is so easy and flavorful, a dinner in itself.
- Perfect Instant Pot Brown Rice – super quick and perfectly healthy brown rice is the ideal side dish.
- Chicken Chow Mein: How to Stir Fry Noodles – omit the chicken for a vegetable chow mein.
- Best Easy Roasted Vegetables Recipe – super easy and nutritious side for all meals.
- Chinese Chicken Salad – crispy, crunchy, flavorful salad everyone will love.
- Asian Pasta Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing – change up your pasta salad profile with this tasty option.
- How to Cook Tofu – tofu is one of our favorite side dishes to serve with any Asian style dinner.
commonly Asked Questions
In Chinese cuisine, whole fish with firm and tender flesh are commonly used for steaming. Some popular choices include whole tilapia, sea bass, red snapper, and grouper. However, we use fish fillets for easy weeknight dinners.
Common seasonings and sauces used for Chinese steamed fish include soy sauce, ginger, garlic, green onions, cilantro, sesame oil, Shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine), and white pepper. These ingredients collectively provide a fragrant, aromatic flavor profile that eaters love.
he steaming time depends on the size and thickness of the fish. As a general guideline, for a medium-sized whole fish, steaming for about 8 to 10 minutes should be sufficient. The flesh should be opaque and you should be able to flake it with a fork easily when cooked. It takes only half the time to microwave-steam fish fillets.
Yes, you can add vegetables such as bok choy, Napa cabbage, or mushrooms to the dish for added flavor and nutrition. Place the vegetables around the fish during steaming so they can absorb the flavors from the fish and seasonings.
Did you make this?
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15-Minute Steamed Fish, Chinese Style
Ingredients
- 1 ½ to 2 lbs white fish fillets, 1-inch thickness (see note below)
- 6 TB Tamari sauce, or reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 TB Asian sesame oil
- 2 TB rice cooking wine
- 4 TB fresh ginger, thinly sliced (matchsticks)
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp white pepper, or freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves
- 4 stalks thinly sliced green onions
Instructions
- Dry fish fillets thoroughly with paper towels – this step is important to ensure flavors don't become diluted from excess water. Place fish in a single layer in a 9×13 glass dish or other large microwavable dish.
- In a bowl, whisk together all remaining ingredients (except for cilantro and green onions) until well combined. Pour evenly over the fish, ensuring that both sides of fillets are coated with sauce. Sprinkle evenly with cilantro and green onions on top of fillets.
- Tightly cover dish with two layers of cling wrap. Microwave on high for 4-6 minutes, depending on thickness of your fish; if your microwave doesn't have a turntable, be sure to rotate the dish halfway into cook time. If needed, add another 1-2 minutes of cook time; cooked fish should be firm and flaky at the center. Carefully remove cover and serve immediately.
Notes
- It’s important to use the right kind of fish. A mild, semi-firm, somewhat flaky white fish is best. Use 1-inch-thick fillets of: sea bass, flounder, halibut, cod, or red snapper (also known as rockfish); our favorite option is swai or basa.
- I used toasted black sesame seeds for garnish. Feel free to use regular sesame seeds, if you’d like.
- We use reduced sodium tamari soy sauce, as it has more depth of flavor and is gluten-free.
- For a super healthy meal, serve with Air Fryer Broccoli and Perfect Brown Rice.
- If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and give it a rating ❤️