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Lemon Garlic Swordfish Recipe

This buttery Lemon Garlic Swordfish is stunningly delicious. This recipe results in a tender, flavor-packed fish that tastes like you spent way more time on it than you did.

lemon garlic swordfish recipe fish recipe
Tender, flavorful swordfish is way easier than you might iimagine.

The Only Swordfish Recipe you’ll need

This delicious Lemon Garlic Swordfish brought me back to our long-ago BK years (Before Kids) when Hubby and I frequently experimented with various fish, whole grains, and fresh veggies for dinner.

We would take time preparing healthy sautéed greens almost every night. We’d often grill, bake, or pan-sear some kind of fish…Mahi Mahi with Mango Avocado Salsa or Marinated Seared Ahi were among our favorites. Seared Halibut and Lemon Butter Cod made regular appearances on our little kitchen table as well.

Then came the kid-years, when just about the only things we managed to “grill” were cheese sandwiches. And the only kind of fish that made it onto our plates were covered in breading and shaped like sticks. Some of you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, rest assured that you’re not missing out on the food scene.

This Lemon Garlic Swordfish feels like a throwback that’s making a comeback. It’s totally back in dinner rotation. Get ready to devour this buttery, lemony, garlicky goodness.

lemon garlic swordfish recipe fish recipe
Be sure your swordfish fillets are at least 1-inch thick

How to make Lemon Garlic Swordfish

  1. Start off with high quality 1-inch thick swordfish fillets.
  2. It’s important to towel-dry the fish so that all excess water/moisture is removed. Give it a sprinkle of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper on both sides.
  3. Swordfish is a steaky white fish that is firm, with great flavor potential. It stands up really well to pan-roasting with a large oven-proof pan, so that’s exactly what we do here. We start off with browning one side of the fish for a few minutes and then immediately flipping the fish over to its other side and transferring the pan into a hot oven.
  4. It only takes 5-ish minutes for the fish to finish cooking in the oven; as a rule of thumb, always try to have your fish just-cooked and no more. Avoid overcooking at all costs, as that is what makes fish lose its tender texture.
  5. Lastly, you’ll slather on the amazing butter-garlic-lemon mixture. The flavor combination is stunning and perfect over swordfish.
  6. It’ll taste like you spent way more time on it than you actually did. Enjoy 🙂

Watch Us Make This Swordfish Recipe

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lemon butter swordfish recipe

Lemon Garlic Swordfish Recipe

4.72 from 274 ratings
This buttery Lemon Garlic Swordfish is stunningly delicious. This recipe results in a tender, flavor-packed fish that tastes like you spent way more time on it than you did. 
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 4
Author: Amy Dong

Ingredients  

For the Lemon Garlic Mixture:

For the Fish:

  • 2 TB olive oil
  • 2 1-inch thick each swordfish fillets, about 6-7 oz each
  • kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400F with rack on middle position. In a small pan, combine all Lemon Garlic Mixture ingredients and stir to fully combine. Set aside.
  • Use paper towels to pat-dry all excess moisture from the swordfish fillets. 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 medium high heat. Once oil is hot, add the swordfish fillets to pan and let cook until browned on one side, about 3 minutes (do not move fish around much.) Carefully flip fish fillets over to the other side, turn stove off, and immediately transfer pan into hot oven.
  • Let fish roast about 5-6 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, cook 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 swordfish pan as well.

Notes

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Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 241kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 18.5g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 71.4mg | Sodium: 696.4mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 0.4g
Course: fish, Main, seafood
Cuisine: American
Diet: Gluten Free, Low Lactose
Method: Oven, pan fry, roast, Stovetop

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Recipe Rating




211 comments

    • Sharon
    • 5 stars

    I wish I could double the stars for this recipe , at least! This was amazing! And so easy. My hubby said it was better than a nice restaurant meal, we dine out very nice quite a bit. You hit it out if the park with this recipe, thanks!

    • Tanya Clarke
    • 5 stars

    We tried this tonight. It was so easy and tasted amazing!

    • Matt Harrison
    • 5 stars

    Absolutely loved this recipe. The second time I made it, I did omit the lemon zest and made sure not to use too much salt (first time I got carried away with the salt-my bad). I also think it might not need the oven to finish it, just keep it on the stove until done. Finally, I put the lemon-garlic mixture in a microwave safe bowl, heated it first and let it sit, blending the flavors until the fish was done. After the fish was cooked I plated the fish and poured the sauce over the filets.
    Thanks for a great recipe!

    • Valerie Smith

    “Then came the BK years,* when just about the only things we managed to “grill” were cheese sandwiches. And the only kind of fish that made it onto our plates were covered in breading and shaped like sticks.” *I think you meant to say, Then came the After Kids years!

      • Amy Dong

      Ahh, thank you, Valerie 🙂

    • Becky
    • 5 stars

    So simple, yet delicious. I imagine this sauce would pair well with many types of fish… Which is good, because swordfish is high in mercury.

    • Laura

    This site has great recipes but when you TRY to watch the video, you only get a part of it and then a shit load of ads and OTHER recipes for stuff you don’t care about… NEVER GETS BACK TO THE VIDEO OF THE ONE YOU WANTED!!!

      • Amy Dong

      Oooh, so sorry about that, Laura. I’ll work with my developer on this. Thank you.

    • Jill
    • 5 stars

    I used this on sea bass and we loved it! I got too much lemon but otherwise I wouldn’t change a thing.

      • chewoutloud

      Love that you tried it on sea bass, too!

    • Betty J
    • 5 stars

    Delicious. Followed recipe as written. Definitely a keeper. Thanks for sharing.

    • b
    • 5 stars

    This was terrific. Fresh squeezed lemon juice was the key. I am just an amateur cook. so I appreciate this ez recipe. Bravo

    • Julia S.
    • 5 stars

    This was just delicious. The swordfish was very tender, and the sauce made the dish fabulous. We will make it again, and I will try the sauce on other seafoods as well.

      • chewoutloud

      Awesome, Julia! The sauce is fantastic for other seafood dishes 🙂

    • Tracie
    • 5 stars

    This was absolutely FABULOUS – I made it for New Years Eve dinner for my fiancé and I and he can’t stop raving about it! Said it was better than any restaurant swordfish he’s ever had. We had some lobster tail, potatoes and asparagus alongside and the whole thing looked and tasted out of this world. I followed the recipe exactly, being brave and using all the garlic. So glad I did as it was perfect. Thank you for such a memorable meal!

      • chewoutloud

      SO happy you guys loved it; sounds like a fabulous NYE all around 🙂

    • Ana
    • 5 stars

    Great my boyfriend love it delicious

    • jack
    • 5 stars

    very good

    • NYFiremanMom
    • 5 stars

    Thank you so much. This was fantastic and cooked to perfection. I followed your instructions to the tee. Delish.

    • Valentina
    • 5 stars

    I made this recipe a couple days ago. The fish cooked perfect and the sauce made the dish. I followed the recipe precisely and results were outstanding. I will make it again

    • Rachel
    • 5 stars

    Easy and very tasty. I’d never had swordfish before but my husband was requesting. His mother used to make it.

      • chewoutloud

      SO glad you both enjoyed this dish!

    • Christine
    • 5 stars

    Excellent! Made this last week – it was so good, we’re having it again tonight.

      • chewoutloud

      Thank you, Christine!

    • Carol Richards

    My friend raves about your recipe – so I can’t wait to cook it. PLEASE advise how to adjust the ingredients to serve 3 or 4 servings.

    thank you in advance – Carol

      • chewoutloud

      You can adjust servings automatically within the recipe card. Hope you love it, Carol! 🙂

    • Christina
    • 5 stars

    I’m not a seafood person but my husband and son loved it! Very easy to prepare too!

    • Wen
    • 5 stars

    Love this! This was amazing!

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