Dinner made real easy: on the table in 15 minutes, this Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce is all made in ONE baking dish! Yup, just throw it all in one pan, bake it, and you end up with a tender juicy fish in a creamy lemon sauce.
The sauce is especially delish because the juices of the fish mingles in with it while it’s baking. It’s like a sauce made with the best stock ever!
Super simple, one-dish Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce
Two seconds before I hit “publish” on this post, I realised that it’s supposed to be Meat Free Wednesday today….?
Does fish count as meat free?
I’m just thanking my lucky stars that I didn’t write up the other recipe that I may have posted today – a big hunk of crispy skin pork belly. Oi. That would’ve been a shocker!!
I have a friend who declares herself a vegetarian but eats seafood. So hopefully this baked fish counts! 😉
You might think the title of this recipe is a bit odd and you would be right because I guess this recipe doesn’t really exist as such. I mean, I’m sure there are other people in this big wide world who make something like this. But it’s not a known recipe, if you know what I mean?
Because yes, this Baked Fish in Lemon Cream Sauce made in one baking dish is another one of my “hmm, I wonder if I….” recipes. 🙂
It took a handful of goes to get it right. As expected, getting the right sauce consistency was the main thing. Not just about adding a thickener – mustard in this case – but also heating up the sauce in the microwave before pouring it all over the fish. The reason this makes a difference is that cold cream and mustard mixed into melted butter = thicker sauce, much of which stayed on top of the fish while baking. This results in less pooling of the sauce in the baking dish which = watery sauce (i.e. ratio of sauce mixing with fish juice was lower).
Fish leeches an amazing amount of liquid when it bakes. You will be surprised.
Just for clarity, this sauce isn’t thick, like gravy thick. But it’s not watery. See? 🙂
I’m actually sharing this recipe after running a poll on Instagram Stories! Did you know that Instagram has live stories now, like SnapChat? They only last 24 hours, so they are very real and very live. I love it, I get to share the real me. Very unglamorous, very ordinary life, lots of cooking bloopers. Today you’ll see a sneak preview of an epic crispy pork belly coming up soon and snaps of giant Dozer squeezed into a teeny tiny convertible car!!
Anyway, I shared a sneak preview of both this and a pan seared crispy fish with lemon butter sauce and asked people which one they wanted me to share this week. And this Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce won by a small margin.
It takes longer to heat up the oven than it does to prepare this recipe. Watch the video and see! (It’s below the recipe).
Dinner on the table in just 15 minutes. Tender, juicy fish with a creamy lemon sauce. A really fantastic way to make baked fish. YUM!!!! – Nagi x
PS Just to describe this sauce: The recipe implies that it’s rich but actually, it is not because the fish juices thins it out. I describe it as kind of light and fresh, yet a bit creamy. The mustard and cream are the thickener, so it isn’t watery. See Note 4 for tips if your sauce doesn’t come out as thick as you want. It really is so delicious, you will be thankful there is a decent amount of sauce because it’s perfect for mopping up with bread or spooning over mashed potato!
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Love how putting these videos together in fast forward not only means fast efficient cooking tutorials, it also means you can barely – just barely – see my Baby Hands. ???
**NOTE: Video says bake at 350F/180C, this is a typo, it works better at a higher temp of 390F/200C per recipe above.**
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Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce (One Baking Dish!)
Ingredients
- 4 x 150- 180g / 5 - 6 oz fish fillets , about 1.5cm / 1/2" thick, skinless and boneless (Note 1)
- 50 g / 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup heavy / thickened cream (See Note 2 for sub options)
- 1 - 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- Salt & pepper
- 1 1/2 tbsp finely chopped shallots / scallions , white part only (Note 3)
- Fresh parsley and lemon slices , to serve
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C / 390F (all ovens).
- Place fish in a baking dish - ensure the fish isn't crammed in too snugly. See video below recipe or photos in post. Sprinkle both sides of fish with salt and pepper.
- Place butter, cream, garlic, mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a microwave proof jug or bowl. Microwave in 2 x 30 sec bursts, stirring in between, until melted and smooth.
- Sprinkle fish with shallots, then pour over sauce.
- Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until fish is just cooked. Remove from oven and transfer fish to serving plates. Spoon over sauce, and garnish with parsley and lemon wedges if using.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition
MEAT-FREE WEDNESDAY?
Yes, here on RecipeTin Eats, it’s Meat Free Wednesday, not Meat Free Monday. Because I do my major grocery shop on the weekends (never mind that I work from home and can do it any day of the week, I can’t shake old habits), I like to have fresh-meat meals early in the week, so I typically go meat-free in the latter half.
Hence Meat Free Wednesday, not Monday. And certainly not Friday because Friday is treat day.
I started Meat Free Wednesday because partway through this year, it dawned on me that I’d completely failed on my New Years’ Resolution to share more “green” things and vegetarian dishes. So I undertook to share one Meat Free Meal For Carnivores every fortnight. 2 weeks ago today, it was this Mushroom Pasta. Before that, it was Cauliflower Chickpea Curry. You can browse my entire Meat Free Collection here.
LIFE OF DOZER
From a little camping trip last weekend – getting smashed in the waves at beautiful Jimmy’s Beach, NSW Australia. He’s a sucker for punishment, that one. I really have to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t get swept away by a rip!!
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All the way from Montréal, I can only say: AMAZING! Since I had 6 filets, I doubled the recipe for the sauce, forgetting to double the quantity of butter. The sauce turned out perfect nonetheless with half the amount of required butter. I’m not sure if I sould adore you, Nagi, or curse you, because from now on, I’ll want to drop the “lighter” tomato-based sauces I normally make in favour of this luscious cream-butter-lemon sauce!!!
Awesome to hear Marilou!!! I’m so glad you loved it!
This was delicious, easy, and the sauce was perfect consistency. Made it with tilapia and lactose free half and half. I also doubled the recipe (large family). Super yummy!!
Oh that’s great to know about the lactose free half and half! Thanks for the feedback Mary!
A great dinner meal I use spanish mackerel and use both onion and shallot. My son loved the cream sauce I served it with white rice. I will be making this again maybe with salmon 😊😊😊👍👍.
I’m so happy you loved it!!!
I loved this recipe, however I did make the sauce over the stove instead of microwave, and I added some stone ground mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Also put some blanched broccoli florets under the fish before it baked. Delicious!
Sounds fab Ian! So glad you enjoyed it!
A great meal made it spanish mackerel I used both onion and shallots. My son 10 enjoy the cream sauce I served it with white rice will be making this again maybe with salmon👍👍👍😊😊😊.
Amazing! My whole family loves this recipe. And it’s so easy, my 6 year old son makes the sauce 😋
This fish recipe is so easy and so delicious!! I’ve made this three times and it’s now on our regular rotation. It’s great with roasted Brussels sprouts and cauliflower rice. The sauce even makes the cauliflower rice delish. So happy to have found this recipe!!
Great Sarah! I love Brussels sprouts!!
Do you think I could use salmon or shrimp for this? It looks amazing!
I haven’t tried it with salmon – you may need to cook slightly longer as the fillets would be thicker – N x
I made this last night for a dinner with friends using Halibut. All I can say is WOW! It is perfect. Not heavy but light and delicious. I used convection cooking and the sauce did dry a bit so next time I will either double the recipe of use conventional baking. So glad I stumbled upon this gem and this blog.
SO GOOD. It’s hard to go wrong with this list of ingredients, but that said, it’s the perfect ratio of buttery/creamy richness to the savoriness and tanginess of the other ingredients and the fish. We used turbot (with the skin on) and it was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I imagine any kind of flaky white fish would lend itself to this recipe.
This is the absolute best!!!!! Delicious and Easy! My husband immediately said this is a keeper and wants it added to our menu rotation! Thank you so much, Sandy
This was incredible, delicious and easy!!! My husband immediately called it a keeper and siad to add it to the menu rotation!!!!! Thank you!!!!!! Sandy
So simple! SO GOOD!!!!! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it Jane!!! Thanks for sharing your feedback 🙂 N
Another winner! So simple, but soo delicious. Thank you Nagi!
Great to hear you enjoyed this one Sandra! Thanks for letting me know – N x
OMH… I LOVE this sauce. Is it bad I ate it without the fish? 🤔🤔😂😂
Thank you. You are so amazing
I saved the rest of the sauce that the fish cooked in to eat on potatoes or something!
Magi… this recipe was sooo delicious! I made it twice this week and my friends and family and I LOVED it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I just served it with jasmine rice and peas and it was so easy and quick and delicious 😋
Thank you for sharing! This will be one of my go-to recipes ⭐️
I try new recipes when my wife travels. Some she hears about, many stay secret. I went fishing this weekend and caught several Georgia whiting and instead of my go-to fish tacos, I tried your recipe. Wow! I definitely have a new favorite and I cannot wait to prepare it for my wife. Guess I’ll have to go fishing again!
Nagi,
I needed a fish recipe for friends who don’t eat meat. I served this with your kale rice and the results were amazing! Many compliments especially from those who make fun of kale…they thought it was parsley! It is the first time I have made your recipes, but certainly not the last.
Thank you!
Hi Nagi. I found your recipe whilst looking for a different sauce and wow I wasn’t,t disappointed the favours where just mouth watering so easy to make too this has to be my all time favourite sauce for my fish. And I will be for sure making this again and again.
Thk you so much. 😀😀😘
FANTASTIC!!! So glad you enjoyed this Linda, thanks for letting me know! N x
Delish! Hubby says ‘restaurant quality’. Definitely making this again. Thanks
So simple to make and unbelievably delicious! I’ve cooked this several times now and it’s perfect every time – thank you, Nagi! 🙂
I’m so pleased you enjoyed this Amy! Thank you for letting me know! N x