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!
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 (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!!
Made this tonight my husband and I both thought it was the best fish we’ve ever tasted.
Love trying out your recipes and never disappointed
That’s awesome Leanne! N x
Great little recipe but 5 mins prep is a lie or a typo. 50 mins prep(I just did it) unless you are in a commercial already set up kitchen and have staff. Also quicker to add onion to sauce elements and blend. For the rest…big ticks.
Hi Chris, the dish should only take 15 minutes to get on the table definitely not 50 as there really isn’t much prep!
So easy! So tasty! Thank you Nagi for this amazing recipe ☺️
You’re so welcome Anissia! N x
Just tried this baked fish and it was absolutely delicious!
Wahoo, that’s awesome Gillian! N x
Just tried your baked fish and the family enjoyed it with mashed potato. Flavors are quite subtle not overpowering. Hiwever I noticed that the sauce curdled when I took it out of the microwave. So the end product didn’t look as creamy. How to avoid this
Hi Fairy, sounds like it boiled in the microwave causing it to split. Try heating on a lower setting 🙂 N x
Thanks Nagi! This is the second recipe of yours that I’ve tried. Both times they have been a hit with the family and have gone gone into our favourites list so I decided it was time to say thank you. My eight year old daughter who does not normally eat fish gave it a try, ate a whole piece and said it was nice. After reading comments of others I doubled the sauce. With all of us coming back for seconds and thirds it did not go to waste! I’m in Australia and we used skinless Barramundi fillets. Thanks!
This is my whole family’s favourite fish dish, including kids, all plats scraped and fighting over the last piece! Quick and easy too, I serve with garlic potatoes and asparagus or green beans.
I love this recipe, I know you said it doesn’t work well with Flounder but that’s what I’ve been using because I somehow only have that on hand and it is lovely ❤❤
That’s great to hear Naimah! N x
Love this dish, I recently had surgery and could only eat pureed food so made this and added some pre-cooked cauliflower under the fish and blended up – was so good! Now I just have it with some pre-cooked potato in the bottom cooked for a bit without the fish and then add the fish. Definitely try this!
Love this dish. Simple yet tastes amazing. Have made it multiple times. I serve with steamed rice and add a few vegies to the rice cooker to make it even easier and quicker. I double the sauce ingredients because you can never have too much sauce!
Totally agree with you there Alicia!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! N x
made this today…..my husband couldn’t get over it…..said it was like he eating at a restaurant in Miami……absolutely yummilicious…..served it with mashed potatoes
That’s great to hear Rajavi! N x
My very first time to make baked fish. Love it!! Love it!! Love it!! It’s so delicious!!
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Phyllis – N x
This recipe is amazing. Even my husband (who doesn’t like fish) loves it! Thanks for this recipe
You’ve totally converted him Angelique! N x
By far the best/easiest/tastiest fish recipe around. It’s my go-to. Thanks again Nagi for an amazing recipe!
I made this tonight and topped it with some parmesan mash to create a fish pie! I also added a little salmon and shrimp with it. It was amazing, my husband said it’s up there with his favs (and it’s up there for me too!). Thanks for this recipe!
I usually avoid fish at all costs as I don’t like the taste but I decided to give this a try. Absolutely amazing. The balance was perfect and the flavour just beautiful. This is recipe is a keeper. Thanks for sharing 🤗
You’re totally converted now Melissa!! N x
This was honestly amazing! So simple but tasted restaurant standard! Reccomended to friends already
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Charlotte! N x
Really tasty recipe, will never cook fish on its own ever again!
Loved every mouthful, thank you.
P.P.S. – FIVE STARS!!!!!
My family and I are locked down in NY during the covid-19 outbreak. It’s been tough to be quarantined for all these weeks now, but I decided to take a month-long challenge of providing dinner each night from a new blog (from whatever ingredients I have on hand).
For today, we had frozen whiting filets, and I had most of the ingredients for the lemon sauce (no fresh lemon so subbed bottled and no shallots so swapped leeks).
The recipe was a winner all round! All I could hear tonight from my husband and 2 college kids was “Mmmm!”
I personally don’t care for fish, so I threw in a handful of defrosted shrimp in the same sauce and that was really delicious too!
Thank you so much for your site and for a winning recipe – looking forward to trying some of your others!
(PS – your dog is adorable 🙂