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Home Fish

Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce

By:Nagi
Published:8 Jul '19Updated:11 Oct '22
1,164 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

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”!

Close up photo of Baked Fish recipe with Lemon Cream Sauce in a white pan, fresh out of the oven

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:

  1. Mix butter, cream, garlic, mustard and lemon;

  2. Pour over fish; and

  3. 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

Overhead photo Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce in a white baking dish, fresh out of the oven

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!

Spoon drizzling Lemon Cream Sauce over Baked Fish (one pan fish and sauce recipe!)

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.

Ingredients in Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce

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

  • Fresh Lemon Potato Salad or Greek Lemon Roasted Potatoes 

  • Potatoes au Gratin, Easy Creamy Potato Casserole or Mini Potato Gratin Stacks

  • Mushroom Rice, Kale Garlic Butter Rice or Tomato Basil Rice

And more fish recipes:

Overhead photo of 2 plates of Acqua Pazza - Italian Poached Fish
Acqua Pazza – Italian Poached Fish
Crispy Skin Salmon in a skillet, fresh off the stove
Crispy Skin Salmon
Overhead photo of a crispy pan fried fish fillet drizzled with Lemon Butter Sauce and sprinkled with parsley. On a white plate.
Killer Lemon Butter Sauce for Fish
Overhead photo of Crispy Pan Fried Fish with a side of asparagus and beans
Crispy Pan Fried Fish
Close up of Brazilian Fish Stew in a bowl, ready to be eaten
Brazilian Fish Stew (Moqueca Baiana)
A spectacular way to serve salmon which is crazy fast, crazy easy and crazy delicious! Honey Garlic Salmon recipetineats.com
Honey Garlic Salmon
If this Lemon Honey Glazed Salmon takes more than 8 minutes to make, you've overcooked the salmon. That sauce is lip smackingly delicious! recipetineats.com
Lemon Honey Glazed Salmon
Two Homemade Filet-O-Fish (BAKED!) stacked on top of each other with a side of fries
Homemade Filet-O-Fish (BAKED!!)
Close up of Fish Pie in white baking dish showing creamy filling with fish flakes
Fish Pie (for Easter!)
Fish Chowder Soup in a bowl, ready to be eaten
Fish Chowder Soup
Close up of Asian Glazed Baked Barramundi on coconut rice with a side of cucumber salad
Asian Glazed Baked Barramundi recipe
Fish
Overhead photo of Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce on a plate with mashed potato and a side salad (rocket parmesan balsamic dressing)

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!

Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.

Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce

Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce (One Baking Dish!)

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats
Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 10 mins
Total: 15 mins
Dinner
Western
4.97 from 430 votes
Servings4
Tap or hover to scale
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Recipe video above. A fantastic quick-fix dinner – baked fish in a lemon cream sauce, all made in ONE PAN! Don’t let the short ingredient list fool you, this tastes so good! The key to the tasty sauce is the fish juices that leeches out while baking and is essentially the broth for the sauce! 

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:

1. Fish – Any fillets or cutlets/steaks about 1.5 – 2 cm / 1/2 / 4/5″ thick will work great with this because they cook quickly in the oven. 
Great for: Ling (pictured), Tilapia, Snapper, Barramundi, Silver Dory, John Dory, Basa, Hokki, Perch, Flathead
OK for very lean fish like Swordfish, tuna (sauce adds richness!) but be VERY careful about not overcooking the fish.
Not great for:
  • salmon (too fatty, sauce splits)
  • very thin delicate fish like flounder, Dover Sole
  • small whole fish like sardines or mackerel 
If using thicker fish fillets that take longer to cook, you might need to thin the sauce out a bit at the end with a tiny bit of water.
Frozen fish – thaw completely, PAT DRY with paper towels to remove as much excess water as possible. Chances are, your sauce will be a little thin for your liking because frozen fish drops so much more liquid than fresh – see Note 4 for how to fix this. 
2. Healthier options – the cream can be substituted with evaporated milk which is still quite nice. If swapping with light cream, increase mustard by 2 tsp.
3. Eschallots – the small onions, also called French Onions in Australia, and just simply shallots in the US.
Sub with the white part of green onions or really finely minced normal onions. Adds a little something-something to the sauce so don’t leave it out!
4. Sauce – not intended to be thick and gravy-like. It is a light lemon cream sauce, suited to fish. However, it should not be watery.
Sauce consistency will differ depending on the fish that you use – different fish leech different amounts of water while baking. If you really want to thicken the sauce, just take the fish out of the baking dish and return the pan to the oven for a few minutes (it will thicken quickly so keep an eye on it!)
5. Nutrition per serving, assuming 180g/6 oz white fish fillets like John Dory/Tilapia are used and that all sauce is consumed.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 213gCalories: 282cal (14%)Carbohydrates: 1gProtein: 34.1g (68%)Fat: 16.1g (25%)Saturated Fat: 9.8g (61%)Cholesterol: 128mg (43%)Sodium: 194mg (8%)Potassium: 28mg (1%)Vitamin A: 450IU (9%)Vitamin C: 4.1mg (5%)Calcium: 50mg (5%)Iron: 2mg (11%)
Keywords: baked fish, lemon cream sauce for fish
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @RecipeTinEats.

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!

Nagi and Dozer snoozing in winter sun - July 2019

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!!

dozer-jimmys-beach
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1,164 Comments

  1. Bill Gough says

    February 11, 2022 at 7:32 am

    5 stars
    Brilliant, basic white fish fillets from freezer transformed in to loveliness. I chucked in some mushrooms and capers and used coriander rather than parsley, still worked really well.

    Reply
  2. katie says

    February 9, 2022 at 9:39 pm

    5 stars
    Made this for dinner tonight because I was tired and wanted to cook something quick….OMG, soooo delicious! My whole family said “make sure that goes straight to your keeper book”
    I used Moses Snapper, seriously tasted just like an expensive restaurant dish. Thank you for the recipe!

    Reply
  3. Angelina says

    February 1, 2022 at 3:59 pm

    5 stars
    The fish was so yummy in the sauce – picky husband approved! I used basa fillets and it was so quick and easy to make. We served with plain rice to go with the yummy sauce and baked crispy broccoli. Thank you Nagi!!

    Reply
  4. Gail says

    January 18, 2022 at 4:56 am

    Oh my word ..,,,made this dish tonight, my husband and I both loved it, simple and very tasty. Will make it again

    Reply
  5. Em says

    January 18, 2022 at 1:43 am

    Oh.my.goodness.

    I made this and served it with brown rice to soak up all that yummy sauce.

    This will be a staple now. So easy and so perfectly tasty.

    All your recipes are spot on.

    Reply
  6. Manisha says

    January 16, 2022 at 4:25 pm

    5 stars
    Such a great recipe!! The sauce was not too rich, it had a lovely freshness to it with the lemon juice. I will be using it again for sure, thank you for this wonderful recipe!

    Reply
  7. Solange alonso says

    January 12, 2022 at 9:15 am

    Would this work with halibut or Chilean Sea bass?

    Reply
  8. MJ says

    January 8, 2022 at 12:20 am

    5 stars
    One of my favorite! so easy yet tasty! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!

    Reply
  9. Fiona says

    December 23, 2021 at 12:50 pm

    5 stars
    This recipe is just, wow, absolutely delicious! I was expecting something tasty, but the balance of flavours was exceptional. Definitely going on my list of favourite things to do with a piece of fish.

    Reply
  10. Hanna says

    December 17, 2021 at 2:52 pm

    5 stars
    Omg so bomb I’m licking my bowl. I used tilapia and realized I only had half and half rather then cream, can only imagine how much better it is with cream!! Love love love, making this often. Paired over rice and green beans. Poured sauce on everythingggggg.

    Reply
  11. Ajuah R. Neufville says

    December 9, 2021 at 9:16 pm

    I will like to try this.

    Reply
  12. Joseph S- AUS says

    December 4, 2021 at 3:18 pm

    5 stars
    Great recipe! I was leery about the Dijon mustard’s influence over the flavor of the sauce. I was very pleasantly surprised how beautifully all the flavors came together. And as described, the sauce would be perfect to dip bread into. I also think that it would also be great to serve on top of a bed of rice or angel hair pasta.
    I do prefer a thicker, more coating sauce, so next time I am going to try to add a cornstarch slurry to the sauce blend.
    Thanks Nagi!!!

    Reply
    • Pat says

      January 9, 2022 at 5:04 am

      For thickening, I use instant mashed potatoes (also known here as potato flakes). Unless you wan to enhance the flavor, I would use plain flakes. Otherwise I use appropriately flavored (sour cream and onion, four cheese, etc.) to enhance whatever flavors my dish has or needs). Unlike flour, the un-flavored potato flakes have no detectable flavor in the finished dish, and are quicker to thicken and easier to control.

      Reply
  13. Barb says

    December 3, 2021 at 1:24 pm

    5 stars
    Made this for supper tonight & it was yummy!!! Super easy.

    Reply
  14. Azimah says

    December 2, 2021 at 1:40 am

    Hi Nagi,
    Can i sub the fish for chicken? 😅

    Reply
    • Melissa says

      December 18, 2021 at 1:27 pm

      5 stars
      I’ve MOSTLY used this with chicken and just cook it stovetop…it’s absolutely delicious

      Reply
  15. Silvia says

    December 1, 2021 at 9:51 pm

    5 stars
    I did it yesterday and was great, excellent flavors, the winner!!

    Reply
  16. Miriam says

    November 30, 2021 at 9:37 pm

    This recipe, like all of Nagi’s recipes was delicious. I only use this website for cooking ideas. This is the first one though that i’m not sure if I will make again. Despite it being very tasty, i felt that the cream or the dijon were a little bit overpowering/ heavy for the fish. Maybe less mustard next time? I used basa fillets and it came out so soft and tender. Good cook time. Overall a good recipe though. Maybe reduce the mustard or use lite cream if that works with this recipe?

    Reply
    • Virginia says

      December 7, 2021 at 12:16 pm

      Can I cover this to cook in the oven?

      Reply
  17. HW says

    November 30, 2021 at 8:16 pm

    Hello Nagi!

    I love your website and have tried several of your recipes, the oven baked chicken and rice is one of my family’s all time favorite dinner.

    I just came across this fish recipe since I am trying to make a fish dish for a friend who is very ill and is on a strict diet. She needs to avoid dairy and needs good oils, like olive oil. Can I use olive oil instead of the butter in the recipe and would the dish still turn out ok?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      December 1, 2021 at 11:31 pm

      Hi Hw – sorry but without the butter and cream you won’t get the creamy sauce! N x

      Reply
      • Julie says

        December 6, 2021 at 9:54 am

        You can sub vegan butter instead of butter and oat cooking cream instead of regular cream and it turns out amazing. I’m dairy free and am always subbing for dairy free options.

        Reply
  18. Megan says

    November 24, 2021 at 3:19 am

    Oh my Nagi!! This looks absolutely amazing!! I would like to make this for one of the dishes for this Christmas. It would be for about 18 people. Any idea on how many filets/trays I would need 😆🙃

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      November 24, 2021 at 11:07 am

      Hi Megan – just use the scaling bar at the top of my recipes to change the number of servings! N x

      Reply
  19. Wachuka says

    November 15, 2021 at 5:16 pm

    Tried this recipe yesterday and it is a winner! Definitely going to feature it more in the menu. My guests felt.. Fancy just eating it. 😂 Fish was tasty and creamy. Thank you Nagi!

    Reply
  20. Suz says

    November 14, 2021 at 4:29 pm

    5 stars
    I don’t know why I saw basa as bass😔. Will bass work? I already bought it! Plan on making it Monday.

    Reply
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Hi, I'm Nagi!

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative! Read More

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