Skip to content

Easy Lemon Butter Fish in 20 Minutes

This Easy Lemon Butter Fish only takes 20 minutes and a handful of simple ingredients. It’s a delicious and nutritious fish recipe using firm white fish fillets. Pair with rice and vegetables for a healthy weeknight dinner.

Lemon Butter Fish on white plate with fork
This easy fish recipe calls for firm white fish fillets in a simple lemon butter sauce.

Easy Lemon Butter Fish Recipe

A dish like Lemon Butter Fish may be more frequently ordered at restaurants rather than made at home, as it’s not what people tend to think of as Tuesday night fare. But an easy fish recipe can be, and absolutely is a fabulous weeknight dinner. This easy fish recipe with lemon butter sauce goes from stovetop to table top in just 20 minutes, just like our Seared Halibut and Perfect Barramundi.

What You’ll Love about This Simple, Healthy Fish Recipe

  • It’s much healthier than most busy weeknight dinners. You’ll feel fantastic about feeding your family an easy cod recipe instead of pizza (though there’s definitely a time and place for good pizza).
  • This is one fish recipe that’s unbelievably quick, coming together in just 20 minutes.
  • You’ll have a delicious fish dinner on the table using simple pantry ingredients, most of which you probably already have in your kitchen.
  • You can use a number of firm white fish, including cod, halibut, mahi mahi, bass, or snapper.
  • There’s zero frying involved. Your family will be amazed at your ability to make the best fish recipe without any greasy breading.
Fish in Lemon Butter Sauce in a plate with lemon slices
Your family will love this healthy fish recipe, with BIG flavor and no messy frying involved.

What Fish is Easiest to Cook?

This lemon butter fish recipe is fabulous with any tender, flaky, mild flavored white fish. Any firm white fish such as cod, halibut, snapper, or mahi mahi would work beautifully.

You’ll want four generous pieces of firm white fish fillets that are about 6 inches in length and 1 inch thick. Definitely look for that 1-inch thickness, as thinner fish fillets won’t cook up as nicely and tend to fall apart easily. Also look for fish fillets with the same thickness throughout, so your fish cooks evenly.

Watch This Recipe in Action

15-Minute Lemon Butter Fish ⭐️

How to Make Fish With Lemon Butter Sauce

Simple Equipment:

Basic Pantry Ingredients:

  • Melted butter (I use salted, but unsalted is fine) – real butter makes a huge difference in flavor, so skip the butter substitutes.
  • Juice and zest of lemon — avoid bottled lemon juice. If your lemon is on the larger size, use less of it.
  • Kosher salt, plus extra to taste – Here’s why we always, always use kosher salt in our cooking.
  • Paprika, for a bit of smoky flavor and natural color
  • Garlic powder; it serves as your weeknight time-saving aromatic. Note that while freshly minced garlic is fantastic for marinades, it can burn easily in the skillet.
  • Onion powder, for the same reasons as above. 
  • Freshly ground black pepper – we always use fresh peppercorns, with whole black tellicherry as our favorite. Use a pepper grinder to grind your black pepper fresh. It makes a huge flavor difference. 
  • Olive oil; we use olive oil for most of our cooking, which is healthier and works really well with most recipes. We even use it in chocolate cake — ridiculously moist, with no trace of olive flavor.  
  • Freshly chopped basil or parsley leaves, for garnish and flavor
  • Lemon slices for serving – fish always looks prettier with freshly sliced lemon slivers on top.
lemon butter fish fillets on white plate
Serve pan fried fish with your choice of grains and vegetables, for a fast and healthy meal.

Easy Lemon Butter Fish Recipe
Commonly Asked Questions

Is this fish recipe healthy?

Firm white fish fillets such as cod, halibut, and snapper are full of lean protein and a great source of omega-3’s and minerals. You can serve the lemon butter sauce on the side, to keep it super low in fat.

What is the healthiest fish to eat?

Tuna and salmon rank high on the list of healthiest fish to eat, but fish like cod and halibut are packed with nutrients as well.

What is the best tasting fish for this recipe?

Almost any firm white fish fillets that are 1-inch thick will taste fabulous using the cooking method below. Cod has a very mild flavor with flaky texture.
Halibut has a mildly sweet flavor and is a bit more robust in texture, which works wonderfully for this recipe. Sea Bass also has a very mild, delicate flavor, with a matching texture.

How long should I cook fish fillets?

Actual cook time will vary, depending on starting temperature of the fish fillets themselves and thickness of the fish. We recommend starting with 2 minutes per side, to avoid over-cooking, as you never want to over-cook fish.

More to Cook and Eat


Did you make this?

Please give us a rating and comment below. We love hearing from you!

easy fish recipes

Easy Lemon Butter Fish in 20 Minutes

4.70 from 163 ratings
This Easy Lemon Butter Fish only takes 20 minutes and a handful of ingredients. It's a delicious and nutritious weeknight meal the entire family will devour (even non-fish eaters!)
Prep Time: 7 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 19 minutes
Servings: 4
Author: Amy Dong

Ingredients  

  • 4 firm white fish fillets, about 6 inches long, 1-inch thickness throughout (cod, halibut, or mahi mahi are great )
  • 3 TB melted butter
  • Juice and zest from 1 medium lemon
  • ½ tsp kosher salt, plus extra to taste
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 TB olive oil
  • freshly chopped basil or parsley leaves, for garnish and flavor
  • extra lemon slices for serving

Instructions

  • Use paper towels to thoroughly pat-dry excess moisture from fish fillets. This step is crucial for fish to brown nicely in pan – otherwise, it will steam instead of brown. Set aside.
  • In a bowl, combine melted butter, lemon juice and zest, and 1/2 tsp kosher salt. Stir to combine well. Taste and add a bit more kosher salt, if desired.
  • In a separate bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 tsp kosher salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper. Evenly press spice mixture onto all sides of fish fillets.
  • In a large, heavy pan over medium high heat, heat up the olive oil until hot. Once your oil is sizzling,  Cook 2 fish fillets at a time to avoid overcrowding (allows for even browning). Cook each side just until fish becomes opaque, feels somewhat firm in the center, and is browned, about 2-3 minutes per side; lightly drizzle some of the lemon butter sauce as you cook, reserving the rest for serving. Take care not to over-cook, as that will result in a tougher texture. Season with extra kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
  • Serve fish with with remaining lemon butter sauce, basil or parsley, and lemon wedges.

Notes

*Be sure to use coarse kosher salt, not fine table salt. Learn more about kosher salt!
*Actual cook time varies, depending on type, cut, and starting temp of fish. I typically cook 2-3 minutes per side for cold fish fillets that are 1-inch in thickness.
*Check for doneness by lightly pressing fillet centers for firmness. Once it feels somewhat firm, it’s usually done. The key to tender, flaky fish is to not overcook. 
*A large splatter guard helps a ton against random oil splattering during cooking.
*Serve with Perfect Instant Pot Brown Rice or Best Easy Roasted Vegetables Recipe for a healthy meal that happens to be gluten-free.
If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and give it a rating ♡

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 302kcal | Carbohydrates: 9.9g | Protein: 25.7g | Fat: 19.8g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 88.1mg | Sodium: 158.1mg | Fiber: 0.8g | Sugar: 3.2g
Course: Dinner, Main Dish
Cuisine: American
Diet: Gluten Free, Low Calorie, Low Fat, Vegetarian
Method: Skillet

Add a comment

Recipe Rating




126 comments

    • Colleen Richardson
    • 5 stars

    It was very good. My stovetop is the pits, so I will make it again as I loved the flavor!

    • Ashley
    • 5 stars

    Definitely yummy.

    • Wendy
    • 5 stars

    Easy. Delicious. What more could you ask for?

    • Sally Jones
    • 5 stars

    Followed recipe exactly for some pickerel. Couldn’t have been better. We loved it and will definitely make it again. Thanks

    • Jabu Malinga
    • 5 stars

    I will try it alone before with family. Can it be left over?

      • Amy Dong

      Yes, you can microwave leftover in 1-minute increments. Enjoy!

    • Duncan Stuart
    • 5 stars

    Vrek lekker ! (Very nice indeed)

    • Crystal
    • 5 stars

    I’ve made this recipe lots of times, even with slightly cheaper, thinner fillets (most recently skin-on Pacific Whiting). It comes out great every time. My 4 year old gobbles it up. A go-to recipe for me! I’m not even really a fish person, this helps me get more fish in the dinner rotation than I would otherwise.

      • Amy Dong

      That is awesome, Crystal! 🙂

    • Dr Biswaraj Ghosh
    • 5 stars

    Amazing recipe, tastes awesome and easy to cook. Thanks for sharing

      • Amy Dong

      Thank you!

    • Kat
    • 5 stars

    Yummy and so easy.

    • Tyesa Harveys
    • 5 stars

    I used tilapia and a few shrimp probably will use halibut next time. It was good. I exchanged the black pepper for cayenne as well because I just don’t like how black pepper taste with seafood. I also added a little whipping cream to get a creamy sauce. Will definitely add this to my meal plan from now own. Had it over cauliflower rice and didn’t hear a word in my house until they wanted seconds.

    • Tyesa Harvey
    • 5 stars

    I used tilapia and a few shrimp probably will use halibut next time. It was good. I exchanged the black pepper for cayenne as well because I just don’t like how black pepper taste with seafood. I also added a little whipping cream to get a creamy sauce. Will definitely add this to my meal plan from now own. Had it over cauliflower rice and didn’t hear a word in my house until they wanted seconds.

      • Amy Dong

      That’s awesome, Tyesa! 🙂

    • Kate
    • 5 stars

    Made it for my French in-laws today, they loved itAs did my son, who had seconds and thirds

    • Chandra

    I’m going to make this for dinner tonight, but I’m gonna switch around some things. I’m going to add done salted butter and add a Cajun seasoning. Cajun seasoning tends to be on the saltier side, so I don’t think I would need any additional salt. In addition to any and on my fish rub I will add a little bit it in my lemon butter garlic seasoning as well. i’m going to pair it with pasta with store brought parmesan sauce and added a little bit of the Cajun seasoning to that and butter. For veggies I Will slice some green beans or asparagus and add them to the Alfredo sauce to cook. Also if I have any cherry tomatoes I’ll slice them and add them into my Alfredo sauce.

    • Traveler
    • 5 stars

    This was marvelous! I used rockfish (snapper). Next time I will double both the sauce and the rub, except for the paprika. So easy and tasty.

    • Elizabeth

    Is the protein content incorrect on the nutritional panel?

      • Amy Dong

      Updated, thank you!

    • Angelica DeLaGarza

    This was an amazing recipe. I loved it and enjoyed the marriage of the seasonings. I loved the lemon buttered flavored sauce.

    • Pam Woods
    • 5 stars

    Delicious easy lemon butter fish dish. So easy and quick to prepare. Thank you

Get our free email series: 5 Easy Recipes in 30 Minutes or Less

Plus our newest recipes each week