Tilapia with lemon butter sauce is an easy recipe to make on a busy weeknight. Whenever we are looking for a nice, light meal, this always delivers.
Jump to RecipeTilapia with Lemon Butter Sauce originally came from a recipe I found when we were shopping at Publix when we lived in Florida. It’s funny, I never knew that it would be possible to miss a grocery store until we moved to Texas. They haven’t even heard of Publix stores here!
Anyway, when we would go grocery shopping, they always had a turn-style holder with a bunch of free recipe cards that you could take. We always looked through them. I am not a big fan of fish, but Justin enjoys it. I compromised by getting tilapia. It’s a very mild tasting fish, and I can eat that.
We decided to get the ingredients for this recipe while we were at the store and try it. Whenever we are looking for a nice, light meal, this always delivers. The lemon butter sauce is not heavy since it isn’t a cream. And has just enough flavor but isn’t overpowering.
Extra Seasoning
While I prefer to use seasoned salt and fresh parsley only on this, there are a lot of options to dress up your meal.
- Fresh Lemons or Lemon Slices to squeeze on top of the fish
- Garlic Powder or Fresh Garlic
- Black Pepper and Sea Salt
- Lemon Pepper Seasoning
Serving Suggestions
We oftentimes get frozen fish so we can store it in the freezer for when we need a quick easy dinner or weeknight meal. If you can, try to get fresh fish as it will taste much better. Tilapia is great because it’s a mild fish, but you could also make this recipe with other flaky white fish such as cod and snapper. The cooking process will be the same, but it might take a few minutes longer depending on the thickness of the fish.
The original recipe said to make it with some angel hair pasta, and we often do. Sometimes we have just the fish, but others we have some kind of pasta with it as our side. This also goes great with some steamed vegetables. Especially if you double the sauce and have enough to pour over the pasta and veggies. I’ve also made a salad with homemade lemon dressing. Or, a side that goes with almost any seafood recipe is cheddar biscuits.
Tilapia with Lemon Butter Sauce Step by Step
Ingredients
- 1 tsp seasoned salt
- 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 tilapia fillets
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 4 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp parsley
Preparation
Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Melt the butter.
Place the seasoned salt and 3 tsp of flour on a plate. Pat the tilapia filets dry with a paper towel. Dredge the tilapia in the flour mixture.
Add the fish to the pan with melted butter. Cook for about 2-3 minutes over medium heat.
Add another 1 tbsp of butter.
Flip the tilapia and cook another 3-5 minutes, or until the fish is golden and the thickest part of the fillet is flaky and reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F.
Remove the fish from the pan and cover to keep it warm. Pour the white wine, 1 tbsp of butter, 1 tsp of flour, and lemon juice into the pan.
Heat and stir for 1-2 minutes or until it has thickened. Stir in the parsley. Serve the fish warm with the lemon butter mixture drizzled on top.
Tilapia with Lemon Butter Sauce Leftovers
I don’t recommend saving leftovers from this meal. The fish will get very tough when reheated and the pasta loses its texture when reheated most of the time.
Recipe
Originally Published On: February 3, 2017
Last Updated On: September 13, 2023
Tilapia with Lemon Butter Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tsp seasoned salt
- 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 tilapia fillets
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter (divided)
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 4 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp parsley
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat large saute pan on medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes
- Place seasoned salt and 3 tsp flour on a plate and dredge the tilapia in the flour mixture
- Place 1 tbsp butter in pan, then add fish
- Cook 3-5 minutes then add 1 tbsp butter
- Flip fillets and cook 3-5 more minutes or until fish is golden and flakes easily, flipping again if needed
- Remove fish from pan and cover to keep warm
- Add wine (NOTE: turn off the heat on a gas stovetop before adding wine), 2 tbsp butter, 1 tsp flour, and lemon juice to the pan
- Heat and whisk 1-2 minutes or until thickened
- Stir in parsley and serve butter sauce over fish
Notes
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Other Fish Recipes to try
- Broiled Tilapia Parmesan
- Fried Tilapia Sandwich
- Sheet Pan Baked Tilapia with Roasted Vegetables
- Lemon Rosemary Tilapia
- Dijon-Herb Tilapia
- Tilapia with Pinot Noir Sauce
- Coconut-Turmeric Tilapia and Rice
- Tilapia with Lemon Butter Sauce
- Swai Fish with Orzo
- Cornmeal-Crusted Salmon
- Sheet Pan Salmon with Smashed Potatoes
- Orange-Ginger Salmon with Toasted Snow Peas
- Salmon Cakes with Buttermilk Sauce
- Super Simple Cilantro and Lime Fish Dinner
- Avocado Fish Tacos
- Fish Cakes with Dipping Sauce
- Teriyaki Salmon
- Sesame Salmon
- Salmon with a Bold Soy-Molasses Glaze over Rice and Vegetables
Recipes with Lemon Flavor
- Watermelon Lemonade
- Lemon Crepes
- Lemon-Herb Chicken Kabobs
- Simple Strawberry Lemonade
- Instant Pot Lemon-Garlic Chicken
- Lemon-Tahini Chicken with Green Beans
- Lemon Bars with Prickly Pear Juice
- Tilapia with Lemon Butter Sauce
- Lemon Thyme Chicken Dinner with Potatoes and Green Beans
- Chicken and Carrots with Rosemary and Lemon Sauce
- Chicken Tortellini Salad with Lemon Dressing
- Lemon Rosemary Tilapia
- Pasta with a Lemon Butter Sauce
- Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy Lemonade
- Shrimp Orzo with Lemon
- Kid-Friendly Lemon Bar Dessert
- Creamy Lemon Pasta
- Dairy-Free Sour Cream Substitute with Only 2 Ingredients
- Delightfully Tangy Chicken Piccata
This looks like a perfect recipe to try out on our hectic weeknights! I love that it’s healthy and different form what I normally cook! I will give this a go!
We like to make it on crazy nights, too, since it’s so quick and easy.
This looks like a very yummy recipe! I love things that are simple with only a few ingredients, because our life tends to be very hectic, especially during the week!
Recipes with little ingredients are perfect for weeknight meals. It’s easy to keep everything on hand for this one to make in a pinch.
I’m not a huge fan of fish, but I bet that sauce would taste good on chicken too. Totally going to try it out.
I don’t like a lot of fish, either. I haven’t tried this on chicken, but I never thought about it. I’ll have to try it soon.
Oh I am not a fish person but my husband loves Tilapia and I bet he would love this recipe!
I only like fish every now and then, and tilapia is one of the few I will eat since it isn’t very fishy.
Oh, I loooooove those spinning recipe-card thingies! I have gotten some REALLY good recipes from those, but they don’t have them where I live now, either. This, though, sounds like a super recipe that my daughter who claims she dislikes fish would actually like!
I know, I really miss them! Anytime I go to Florida and take a trip to Publix I look through the recipe cards.
I never would have thought to take out the fish and make a sauce with the left over butter .It sounds so good and I love lemon!
There are a few things now that I use the leftover butter or whatever I am cooking in. It adds a lot of flavor to the sauce and uses up what would otherwise be wasted.
I believe butter makes everything better. 😀 I love meals that are easy and flavorful.
Isn’t it amazing that something as simple as butter can add so much flavor?!
It does look amazing. And I can see that a good pasta with a white wine sauce might be good. But I’m with you and would probably go the steamed veggies route. Healthy and delicious.
Either one works well. My boys are picky and won’t eat a lot of veggies, so they prefer pasta. No matter which you make, the sauce is what brings it all together!
What I love about your recipes is they are simple but super yummy. My partner will be giving this a go for sure xx
As my boys get older, we have less and less time to pull dinner together, so we often need quick meals.
We can definitely get on board with this as well. We usually have a fish dish in our weekly rotation and this is a delicious addition! Can’t wait to try it.
It’s so easy to make, too, but so flavorful. I hope you enjoy it!
Tilapia is one of my favorite fish. I am definitely going to have to try this delicious lemon butter sauce too!
The sauce is great for the fish and it works for pasta as well.
That’s weird, I’ve never been to Texas. This is looks delicious recipe.
I had never been to Texas before we moved here, so things were all new to me!
I love this recipe! Fish being one of my favourites, I enjoy the idea of lemon flavour with it. I have to try this out… The fish & lemon sauce combination looks wonderful.
I have found that almost any citrus tends to work well with fish, especially lime and lemon.
This will be going straight to my other half, he loves fish. The lemon sauce along with butter he would like too xx
This sounds like a great meal for him, then! I hope he enjoys the recipe.
I love making fish for dinner and this tilapia sounds fantastic! I can’t wait to give it a try!!
Fish is our go-to when we need a quick meal since it never takes long to prepare.
LOVEEE lemon butter sauce! Its so yummy but I have to refrain from doing it all the time!
I love how light and fresh it is! We would do it a lot, too, if we weren’t always trying new foods! 🙂
Yum! My kids love fish dinners, this would be perfect for a quick weeknight meal. The lemon butter sauce sounds so good!
My kids haven’t decided if they like fish or not yet! But the lemon butter is delicious on fish.
Oooo now this sounds all sorts of delicious! It’s been awhile since I’ve made any type of fish for dinner! May give this recipe a try
We tend to have fish about every other week. I am still acquiring a taste for fish, so we are taking it slow. And it helps to slowly introduce it to the kids, too.
This is a lovely way to season such a delicate tasting fish. I must try that next time.
It’s delicious, but also simple which works so well with seafood most of the time.
I share this with my mother. I am not huge on cook fish but she loves making fish.
Thanks for sharing then! We make fish about every other week. It isn’t a staple here, but we have it often enough.