Tilapia with lemon butter sauce over a bed of spaghetti noodles on a round white plate next to a white bowl of salad and a stainless steel fork with a white and brown towel behind all on a wooden surface (with logo overlay)

Pan-Seared Tilapia with Lemon Butter Sauce

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 Recipe

Tilapia 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 over a bed of spaghetti noodles on a round white plate next to a white bowl of salad and a stainless steel fork with a white and brown towel behind all on a wooden surface

Tilapia with Lemon Butter Sauce

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. 
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course:
Main Dish
Cuisine:
American
Keyword:
butter
|
fish
|
lemon
|
tilapia
Servings: 2 fillets
5 from 6 votes

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

Src: http://www.publix.com/aprons-recipes/tilapia-with-lemon-butter-sauce-and-angel-hair-fresca
Click the buttons below to share and print this recipe
Pin Recipe Print Recipe
Nutrition Facts
Tilapia with Lemon Butter Sauce
Amount Per Serving (1 fillet)
Calories 356 Calories from Fat 180
% Daily Value*
Fat 20g31%
Saturated Fat 12g60%
Cholesterol 130mg43%
Sodium 1405mg59%
Potassium 557mg16%
Carbohydrates 5g2%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 1g1%
Protein 35g70%
Vitamin A 862IU17%
Vitamin C 8mg10%
Calcium 28mg3%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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

Recipes with Lemon Flavor

40 thoughts on “Pan-Seared Tilapia with Lemon Butter Sauce”

  1. 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!

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. This will be going straight to my other half, he loves fish. The lemon sauce along with butter he would like too xx

  6. 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

    1. 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.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating