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!!
Fantastic recipe Nagi! My husband and I loved it.
Didn’t have any dijon mustard, so instead used hot english with a splash of white wine. Came out beautifully!
Thanks for all your hardwork!
This recipe was the absolute best! My husband polished his plate and asked for more. I normally hate making seafood but because my husband loves it I thought I would give this recipe a try. I’m so glad I did!
I’m so glad you tried it too!!
This was amazing! So fast and easy and the flavour was fantastic! I will definitely be making it again
Thanks so much for the feedback Tanya ❤️
This recipe is fantastic!!! My husband raved about this dish and it’s unusual for him to do so. Ha The creamy, lemony sauce is so flavorful. I had only 2 pieces of halibut, but they were 1 3/4” thick. The amount of sauce was sufficient. Double the sauce if using more fish that’s this thick. I baked for 23 min. Thank you Nagi!
Awesome Shari, Im so glad you love it!!
I made this with Silver Corvina and followed the recipe exactly as written. I would not change a thing. It was delicious and easy to make. My wife wants it once a week and being so easy, fast and with a fast cleanup that just might happen
What a great Hubby you are! I’m so glad you loved this one ❤️
Enjoyed it with Haddock fillets but did cut butter down to half. It was very tasty and delicious.
Thank you!
Sounds great Marie ☺️
Nagi, have you ever encountered a vanilla beurre blanc for white fish? I had one at a Mexican restaurant in Durango CO several years ago and I have not been able to find a recipe to quite match. It was spectacular and the restaurant is no longer. Do you have any clue how to make this?
Hi Sharon, yes I have had this before – I’ll add it to my recipe requests page ☺️
Very good; made it with Icelandic sustainable cod and served with broccoli and a tiny slice of baguette (not keto or paleo, sorry), I will make this again with sea bass and keto focaccia and broccoli (again). An addition of a bit of a dry white wine might be appropriate, so I may try that on my next culinary adventure. This may also be good with mahi-mahi. Thank you, and bon appetite!
Sounds divine Sharon!!
Can you use half and half to sub for the cream or evaporated milk?
Hi Adrianna, I’d use half and half ☺️
Cooked it last night with half butter and it was delicious!!
So far have tried 6 recipes of your and all of them were hit.
Thank you so much for sharing your delicious recipes with us.
Great Aditi! I love hearing this!!
Made this tonight and everyone loved it so much there was quite a bit of scooping out more sauce for dunking bread and veggies in. I fired up the oven and tossed in some potatoes, Brussels sprouts, squash, and asparagus to roast, then started prepping the sauce. Put the fish in when they were finishing, and it all came out perfect
We do low salt and dairy free, so I subbed the cream from a can of coconut milk and fake butter, and left out the salt. It turned out amazing, and I can’t imagine it being better with the original ingredients. Bookmarked so I can put it in the rotation!
Just to clarify, the baking pan is NOT covered, correct? I assume that from your notes about using a larger roasting pan if necessary, and that probably wouldn’t be covered. Please advise ASAP as I’ve got everything on hand and am going to try it tonight. Thank you.
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.
Terrific Maureen!
Found this recipe maybe a month ago and have already made it at least 4 times. An instant favorite!
That’s great to hear Rakul ❤️
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!
I’m so glad you love it Laura ❤️
Loved it, really really yummy
Wahoo! So glad you loved it!
Amazing recipe thank you so much.
You’re so welcome!!!
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.
I’m so glad your family love it Kelli!
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.
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 ❤️
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!