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!!
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!
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👍👍👍😊😊😊.
Sounds fab Ian! So glad you enjoyed it!
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
Hi sorry bought red snapper filets… they look a bigger how much longer should I cook them and how much more sauce should I do… do I double the sauce