This Baked Fish recipe comes with a Lemon Cream Sauce and is 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 the juices of the fish mingles in with the sauce while it’s baking, as if made from the best fish stock!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Baked Fish
If the idea of baked fish conjures up the words pale, colourless and bland, then this one’s going to be a game changer for you!!
It’s an effortless 15 minute recipe one pan recipe where fish is baked with a creamy lemon sauce. It’s the sort of recipe you can make no matter how hectic your household is, or on a lazy Sunday night because it’s this easy:
Mix butter, cream, garlic, mustard and lemon;
Pour over fish; and
Bake – no flipping required.
And out comes this – tender baked fish fillets with a beautiful lemon cream sauce that’s perfect with fish!
This recipe will work for most fish, but is especially great for white fish fillets
When you bake fish, you just can’t get colour on it like you can with pan frying, and this means loss of flavour. So I like to either have a flavoured crumb, like I do for my other Emergency Fish recipe, Parmesan Crusted Fish (10 minutes, no messy dredging!) or a Sauce.
The Lemon Cream Sauce for Fish
This recipe really is all about that Lemon Cream Sauce for fish which is made in the same pan while the fish is baking. It’s a simple sauce which actually tastes pretty unimpressive when you first mix it up.
But once it’s baked and the fish juices mix in with it, it transforms into an incredible sauce. It’s basically like making a sauce with real homemade fish stock – just like fine dining restaurants do!
What this tastes like
The recipe name implies that the sauce is rich but actually, it is not! I describe it as kind of light and fresh, yet a bit creamy. 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!
What you need
Not very much!
White Fish fillet – any fairly flat white fish fillet is fine here, about 2 cm/ 4/5 ” thick or less. Any thicker, and the fish will take longer to bake which will thicken the sauce too much so you’ll need to thin it with a splash of water.
Escallot/French onion – those small onions, they’re more delicate than normal onions so they work well in a quick fish recipe like this. Use the white part of green onions as a sub, or really finely minced normal onion.
Dijon Mustard – sauce thickener. Can sub with other non seedy mustards.
Garlic – goes in almost everything in my world!
Cream – use heavy / thickened cream if you can, to help with sauce consistency. Low cal sub – evaporated milk. It’s not quite the same, but I’ve been known to use it when I’m trying to be “healthier” 😂
Butter – there is no substitute! 😂
Lemon – lime would work in an emergency situation. Sub: 1/3 cup white wine simmered to reduce to 2 tbsp, use in place of lemon in recipe.
Really QUICK Baked Fish Fillets
I say this is a quick recipe – and I mean it. It takes longer to heat up the oven than it does to prepare this recipe! Watch the video and see!
Dinner on the table in just 15 minutes. Tender, juicy fish with a creamy lemon sauce. A really fantastic way to make baked fish – it’s so, so good! – Nagi x
Try these on the side:
Everyday Cabbage Salad, big juicy Greek Salad
Fresh Garden Salad with Balsamic Dressing, French Dressing or Italian Dressing
Potatoes au Gratin, Easy Creamy Potato Casserole or Mini Potato Gratin Stacks
And more fish recipes:
Watch how to make it
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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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)
- 50g / 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup cream, heavy / thickened (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 eschallots (French onion) , finely chopped (Note 3)
- Fresh parsley and lemon slices , to serve
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F (all oven types).
- Place fish in a baking dish – ensure the fish isn’t crammed in too snugly. See video 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:
- salmon (too fatty, sauce splits)
- very thin delicate fish like flounder, Dover Sole
- small whole fish like sardines or mackerel
Nutrition Information:
Originally published October 2016, updated with much needed new photos, brand new video and updated writing. No change to recipe, it’s a firm reader fave that I wouldn’t dare change!
Life of Dozer
Yesterday was a day of experimenting with slow cooked curries. So there was plenty of downtime spent doing THIS!
And from when I originally published this recipe in October 2016:
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!!
Maureen W. says
Cooked this recipe tonight using NZ Sea Perch. It is truly so good with the sauce that forms from the baking of the fish with the cream, butter lemon juice, mustard and other ingredients.
Will be on the menu again here soon.
Nagi says
Terrific Maureen!
Rakul K. Weber says
Found this recipe maybe a month ago and have already made it at least 4 times. An instant favorite!
Nagi says
That’s great to hear Rakul ❤️
Laura Hill says
I now have this as a dish I serve once a month. We love it! Tonight we had it using tilapia but truly has been used with several different fishes. Yum and never fails!
Nagi says
I’m so glad you love it Laura ❤️
Mihaela says
Loved it, really really yummy
Nagi says
Wahoo! So glad you loved it!
Nige says
Amazing recipe thank you so much.
Nagi says
You’re so welcome!!!
Kelli says
We LOVE this recipe. I make it at least once a month. It is amazing with halibut. But with little kids who don’t appreciate expensive fish, I usually use cod or orange ruffy.
Nagi says
I’m so glad your family love it Kelli!
Jasmine says
Hi Nagi, we have a lot of (my boyfriend bought them in bulk T^T) salted butter blocks at home but not unsalted butter. If we use salted butter instead of unsalted butter, will that still be alright or using salted butter will largely change the taste of the recipe? I’m pretty new to cooking so I try to follow as close as possible to the recipe as I can. Thank you.
Nagi says
Hi Jasmine, you can use salted butter, just don’t add any extra salt until you taste it and make sure it’s seasoned to your liking ❤️
Marilou Garon says
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!!!
Nagi says
Awesome to hear Marilou!!! I’m so glad you loved it!
mary says
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!!
Nagi says
Oh that’s great to know about the lactose free half and half! Thanks for the feedback Mary!
Yan says
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 😊😊😊👍👍.
Nagi says
I’m so happy you loved it!!!
Ian says
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!
Yan says
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👍👍👍😊😊😊.
Nagi says
Sounds fab Ian! So glad you enjoyed it!
Andrea says
Amazing! My whole family loves this recipe. And it’s so easy, my 6 year old son makes the sauce 😋
Sarah says
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!!
Nagi Maehashi says
Great Sarah! I love Brussels sprouts!!
Hannah Sticklus says
Do you think I could use salmon or shrimp for this? It looks amazing!
Nagi Maehashi says
I haven’t tried it with salmon – you may need to cook slightly longer as the fillets would be thicker – N x
marie says
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.
Eric Fosburgh says
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.
Sandra Caswell says
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
Sandra Caswell says
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
Jane says
So simple! SO GOOD!!!!! Thank you!
Nagi says
Glad you enjoyed it Jane!!! Thanks for sharing your feedback 🙂 N
Sandra says
Another winner! So simple, but soo delicious. Thank you Nagi!
Nagi says
Great to hear you enjoyed this one Sandra! Thanks for letting me know – N x