Easy Perfect Mahi Mahi Recipe
- By Amy Dong
- Updated Jun. 3, 2025
I’ve been perfecting this mahi mahi recipe for years, as we are a family of fish and seafood lovers. When fish is cooked correctly, it’s tender, flaky, and deliciously flavorful. This lemon garlic butter sauce tastes like it came from a restaurant.
In This Article
- Video: Watch Me Cook This Recipe
- Amy’s Notes
- Key Recipe Ingredients
- Tips for Buying Mahi Mahi
- Substitutions and Variations
- Easy Recipe Instructions
- Pro Tips for Success
- How To Prep Ahead
- What to Serve with Mahi Mahi
- Did you make this?
- Easy Perfect Mahi Mahi Recipe Recipe
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More To Cook and Eat
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Video: Watch Me Cook This Recipe
Amy’s Notes
I grew up in a family that cooked and ate fish and seafood nearly every other day. My parents used all methods of cooking with their delicious fish recipes, from whole branzino fish to pan fried cod. I’ve personally been cooking fish for at least 30 years and could eat it every day. This mahi mahi recipe has become our own family favorite, as it is all these things:
- Restaurant-Quality Made Easy: Anyone can make at home without fear, even if you’re new to cooking fish.
- Popular With Family and Guests: People rave over this dish, with its buttery lemon garlic sauce.
- Non-Fishy, Mild Tasting, Firm Texture: It’s not fishy-tasting at all, as mahi mahi has a mild, delicious flavor.
Key Recipe Ingredients
- Olive Oil: Use oil generously, as it prevents the fish from sticking to pan. Do not use a nonstick pan for this recipe, as you’ll need a good steel pan that can go from stovetop to oven.
- Mahi Mahi: Look for fish fillets that are 1-inch thick throughout the entire fillet, and roughly 4 ounces per fillet. Frozen or fresh fillets are fine. If using frozen fillets, drain them well and fully towel dry them before using.
- Fresh Garlic: Plenty of freshly minced garlic is essential to the lemon butter sauce.
- Fresh Lemon Juice: Squeeze 1 TB of juice from a fresh lemon. Try to avoid bottled lemon juice, as the flavor is subpar to fresh juice.
- Lemon Zest: Zest the peel of one fresh lemon for more intense lemon flavor.
- Butter: I prefer to use salted butter, but feel free to use unsalted.
- Freshly Chopped Parsley: You can also use chives, basil, or oregano for garnish.
Tips for Buying Mahi Mahi
- Be sure fillets are at least 1-inch thickness. If your portions are thin or uneven, they’ll cook up unevenly or thin pieces become overcooked quickly.
- Get either super fresh or flash-frozen, high quality mahi mahi. Wild is best and will provide best flavor.
Substitutions and Variations
- Type of Fish: You can use any other firm, white fish for this recipe. Try halibut, cod, swordfish, grouper, sea bass, or red snapper. Just be sure fillets are 1-inch even thickness throughout.
- Type of Oil: You can substitute with canola, safflower, sunflower, refined avocado oil, refined coconut oil, or any cooking oil with a higher smoke point.
- Fresh Herbs: Sprinkle on your favorite; try freshly chopped basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary, or chives.
- Seasonings: If you like the flavor of paprika, sprinkle a light layer prior to cooking the fish.
Easy Recipe Instructions
We use the stovetop-to-oven method of cooking here, like we do with this trusty lemon garlic swordfish, which yields a nicely browned exterior yet tender, flaky center.
- Combine and cook all Lemon Butter Sauce ingredients in a pan.
- Very thoroughly pat-dry excess moisture from the fish fillets with paper towels. This step is important, as excess moisture causes fish to steam instead of brown.
- In a large oven-proof pan, heat oil until sizzling hot. Add fish to pan and cook until browned on one side, about 3 minutes – do not move fish around. Flip fillets and immediately transfer pan into hot oven.
- Roast fish at 400F about 5 minutes or just until the top is golden and center is just cooked through. Do not overcook.
- Pour warm lemon butter sauce over the cooked fish and serve.
For complete list of ingredients and instructions, see recipe card below.
Pro Tips for Success
- Remove Moisture: Pat dry excess moisture from the fish; this step is super important, as it affects how well your fish will brown instead of steam.
- The Right Pan: Use a large, oven-proof pan that heats evenly. The right pan makes a difference!
- Sizzling Hot: Oil needs to be very hot before adding the fish. This allows for quick and even browning of exterior.
- Keep Still: Do not keep moving fish around in the pan. Let it sit and brown for 3 minutes. It helps to have a large splatter guard.
- Preheat: Preheat oven ahead of time so that it’s ready for transferring fish directly from stovetop to oven.
How To Prep Ahead
- Thaw Ahead: If using frozen mahi mahi, thaw it in the fridge 1-2 nights before using.
- Make Sauce Ahead: Lemon butter sauce can be prepared ahead of time, covered, and chilled until you’re ready to warm it up for serving. It’s a great sauce to have on hand.
- Leftovers: Cover and chill leftovers. Cooked fish and sauce can be put into separate airtight containers and kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat fish in the microwave, stovetop, or oven.
- Freeze: To freeze leftover fish, place it in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight and reheat in the microwave, stovetop, or oven.
What to Serve with Mahi Mahi
Rice Dishes
- I love this Perfect Instant Pot Brown Rice, as it goes so well with most meals and is healthy yet easy.
- Instant Pot Jasmine Rice is a fluffy side dish that you can drizzle with warm butter and serve alongside fish.
- Wild Rice Pilaf – this is a reader-favorite recipe, for good reason. It’s robust and flavorful.
- For a skillet easy rice dish, this Easy Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms is fantastic.
Vegetables and Salads
- We really like this 20-Minute Lemon Spinach Orzo Salad for some greens and a complete meal.
- A nice serving of this Best Easy Roasted Vegetables Recipe makes an amazing dinner with your fish as well.
- Get more vegetables with our 21 Best Salad Recipes.
Potatoes
- If potatoes are your thing, Garlic Roasted Potatoes with Lemon is a favorite recipe that includes a section on How to roast potatoes perfectly.
- Instant Pot Baby Potatoes – this is a fan-favorite dish that turns out tender and flavorful.
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes (5 Ingredients) – this one is an instant hit!
Did you make this?
Please give us a rating and comment below. We love hearing from you!
Easy Perfect Mahi Mahi Recipe
Ingredients
For the Lemon Butter Sauce
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, softened to room temp
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoons chives or parsley, freshly chopped
- ⅛ teaspoons kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoons juice from fresh lemon
- 1 tablespoons grated lemon peel
For the Mahi Mahi
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 fillets mahi mahi, 1-inch thick, 4oz each
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F with rack on middle position.
- Lemon Garlic Mixture (can be made ahead) – in a small pan, combine all Lemon Garlic Mixture ingredients and stir to fully combine. Set aside.
- Pat-dry all excess moisture from the fish fillets with paper towels. This step is important, so be sure to pat off as much moisture as you can.
- Evenly sprinkle both sides of fillets with pinches of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.
- In a large oven-proof pan, heat the olive oil over high heat. Once oil is sizzling hot add the fish fillets to pan and let cook until browned on one side, about 3 minutes – do not move fish around.
- Carefully flip fish fillets over to the other side, turn stove burner off, and immediately transfer pan into already-hot oven.
- Roast fish at 400F about 5 minutes or just until the top is golden and center is just cooked through. Take care not to overcook.
- A minute before fish is done cooking in oven, heat your small pan of prepared lemon-garlic mixture over medium high heat, constantly stirring, just until melted and bubbly.
- Immediately turn heat off and pour mixture over the cooked fish. Be sure to pour on any juices from the fish pan as well. Serve with extra lemon slices for garnish.
Equipment
Notes
- Be sure to use kosher salt (see why use kosher salt) and not fine table salt. Fine salt is much saltier than kosher in recipes.
- Lemon Butter Sauce can be made ahead of time and reheated to serve.
- A large splatter guard is helpful whenever pan frying. It really helps with random oil splatters.
- This recipe is part of our easy fish recipes collection.
- If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and give it a rating. We ❤️ hearing from you!
Nutrition (per serving)
Frequently Asked Questions
Mahi Mahi is the Hawaiian name for dolphinfish, Coryphaena hippurus, or dorado, though it is completely unrelated to dolphins. It was so named, as this fish tends to swim in a similar fashion to dolphins. Mahi Mahi is a surface-dwelling fish that’s commonly found near the Gulf of Mexico, Costa Rica, Hawaii, and the Indian Ocean.Due its mild flavor and firm yet moist texture, mahi mahi is a popular fish to serve at restaurants around the world.
Mahi Mahi is famous for its mild and delicate flavor, and is easily one of the most popular fish served in restaurants. When cooked properly, mahi mahi is somewhat firm yet tender and moist.
Mahi Mahi is the Hawaiian name for dolphinfish. However, this fish is completely unrelated to dolphins.
Though we highly recommend using mahi mahi for this specific recipe, you can also substitute with swordfish, cod, red snapper, or sea bass. Be sure to use 1-inch thick fish fillets. We do not recommend thinner fillets such as tilapia for this recipe.
Yes, frozen fillets will work just as well as fresh fillets. Be sure to fully thaw and drain the fish fillets prior to using. Additionally, always pat-dry excess moisture after draining. Defrosted fillets will have much more excess water that needs to be removed.
Thaw fish in the fridge 1-2 nights before you want to cook it. If you forgot to thaw fish and need to use it the same day, submerge frozen fillets in a bowl of cool water just until thawed. Drain well and thoroughly pat dry.
Removing moisture from the raw fish fillets is an important step to ensuring you’ll get nicely browned fish. When excess moisture is present, the fish will steam rather than brown, and it will not hold seasonings nearly as well.
More To Cook and Eat
- Easy Lemon Butter Fish in 20 Minutes – It’s a delicious and nutritious white fish recipe.
- Fish with Black Bean Sauce – This dish is savory, flavorful, and perfect over a bed of rice.
- Crispy Baja Fish Tacos with Creamy Lime Sauce – This one is sure to become a fast family favorite! They’re a healthy and tasty addition to your Tex-Mex menu.
- White Fish with Lemon Butter Sauce –The flavors of garlic, butter, and lemon fuse together to create a healthy and mouthwatering meal the whole family will devour.
- Honey Lime Grilled Salmon – This Honey Glazed Salmon is zesty, sweet, savory, and full of flavor in every bite.
- Lemon Butter Cod Recipe – This tender, flavorful cod recipe is quick enough for busy weeknights. It’s sure to become a favorite.
- Sheet Pan Salmon – Lemon and basil make this a dinner favorite.
- Pan Seared Halibut – Restaurant quality halibut is made easily at hone.
