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!!
nice recipe Nagi
I made this last night and I was very surprised how delicious this was !! My husband and I just loved it. I did use Hake , I believe that is how you spell it. It was perfect !!
Thanks for another outstanding recipe ….Love your site…
Char
That’s terrific to hear Charlene! I’m so glad you enjoyed this! N xx
I am so happy to have found you! If this recipe is any indication of the rest of your cooking, your site will become my latest addiction! I used two cod filets that were about 1 inch thick so ended up cooking them for 20 minutes. They were what I had in the freezer, and it was good to know that there would be plenty of sauce for four filets. Now about the sauce: I always make a recipe exactly as written and then decide if I want to tweak it to my taste. This sauce is perfection and needs no tweaking!! I would pour it on my Cheerios it was so good. Since I had some left over tonight, I’m using it on asparagus tomorrow. It will be my new “go to sauce” for fish and some vegetables. I can’t thank you enough!
I’m so pleased to hear that Bonnie! Thank you for letting me know you enjoyed this! N x ❤️
Made this dish tonight and I couldn’t believe how easy it was ! Definitely will be making this again – Thanks 🤗
🙌🏻🙌🏻
I am wondering if this recipe would work with lobster tail?
I haven’t tried Leanne, sorry! 🙂 N xx
I made this recipe with barramundi and it was just amazing! So easy to make but sophisticated flavours – thank you for a great recipe, will definitely make this again.
That’s so great to hear Leanne! So glad you enjoyed it!
What a lovely surprise – had some frozen cod and didn’t fancy traditional fish n chips so thought why not baked fish + a sauce – tomatoey sauces always seem to heavy. Then. found this- liked the ingredients list – simple is best .
This was so delicious it will be a regular weekly meal – yum yum!
Yesssss! So glad you enjoyed it Daren! N xx
Hi Nagi,
Made this today for the first time. Absolutely loved it! It has such a light yet flavourful sauce! Only needed salad greens and the meal was complete.
Definitely making it again!
Adeline
Malaysia
Fantastic to hear Adeline! Thanks for letting me know! N x ❤️
Hi Nagi, tried this tonight in South Africa, I mixed it up a tiny bit and added some garlic and herb potato bake powder, unfortunately I am the only one in the family that LOVES garlic, but I still wanted some form of a garlic taste. It was absolutely beautiful. I love your recipes, I am not the world’s best cook, so I need all the help I can get and this one was a winner. Thanks so much 😊
That’s terrific to hear Anneline! So glad you enjoyed this – N x
Omg, wow! Made this tonight for the family. It was absolutely delicious. This is definately going to be a reoccurring dish in my house from now on. I swapped the lemon juice for lime because that’s what I had. Loved how quick and easy it was. The side salad took longer to prepare.
So glad it was a hit!! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback Michelle! N x
Wow, Nagi, this was fantastic! My husband and son loved it too, it was their favorite of all my “experiments” with white fish. I used a thick piece of cod and just had to cook it longer. The sauce didn’t get too thick, in fact I still had to cook it a bit longer after taking out the fish to thicken it a bit. The only changes I made to the recipe was substituting lime for lemon (which I always do!) and I used minced onion instead of shallots. I have this recipe bookmarked now and will surely be making again!
LOVE HEARING THAT Donna! N x ❤️
Hi Nagi
I have made this dish many times and it is always a big hit with our guests. So simple to make but definitely restaurant quality. Makes me look good every time! I generally use blue genadier (hoki) and I like to put fresh asparagus in the roasting dish with the fish. It cooks in the juices perfectly! Thank you for the recipe.
I absolutely love hearing that Martin!! Thanks so much for letting me know – N x
I made this dish today and my family and I loved it and we are not big on baked fish. The sauce was delicious thanks for the recipe.
I LOVE HEARING THAT!! *Sorry for shouting* 😂
Great recipe. I’ve made it a few times now and it’s quickly becoming one of my staples. But every time I heat the sauce it comes out split and the cream has a curdled look. I try to mix it out but it’s always a bit curdled looking. It even happens if I put it in the microwave for 10 sec bursts. It doesn’t impact the taste, just how it looks. Any suggestions?
Hi Lilkat! Do you mean when you reheat it, or when it’s made fresh??? 🙂 N x
Mine also curdled in the pan. Maybe I should have microwaved it longer?
This was delicious! Even the toddler and picky father in law liked it. I used frozen cod. Because of all the cautions about the runniness of the sauce with frozen fish, I defrosted the filets on a plate on the counter and then patted them really dry. Sauce was perfect! This recipe will definitely be making it into the regular rotation.
Love hearing that! So glad you enjoyed this Kellz! N xx
Lovely recipe …made it twice
So pleased to hear that Sara! N xx
Lovely Recipe Nagi!! absolutely delish!! I have also made a couple of your recipes and everything is wonderful.
Noted that the oven temp says 290 in the directions but you stated 390 as being the correct temp. Wondering if it’s something you may want to edit.
I’m going mad Frankie, I can’t see where it says 290 in the directions????
I think you changed it now ? I see it reads 390 now or?
Hi Frankie! It’s always said 200C/390F 🙂 In step 1. Can you see it? N x
Gosh I can’t believe with the number of people who have used this recipe that no one else has picked that up! 🙂 Thanks Frankie, changing it now!
Hi Nagi,
I have already made a few of your recipes but never get round to leaving a comment. Promise myself to do that more. This one is on the menu for Monday. Will be making it with cod so a thick fish and single cream, we cannot get double cream here. Also be using all the scallion and not just the white 🙂 It will surely be a success.
Hi Rose! Lovely to hear from you – and no worries at all if you don’t get around to leaving a message! 🙂 I’m just glad you’re enjoying my recipes! N xx
Well we all very much enjoyed this dish.
I used thick pieces of cod and got it out of the oven when it was still a bit glassy, put on fresh chopped dill and parsely and spooned over some sauce and put it back in the oven for a couple of minutes or so. Surprisingly we did not add any extra lemon even though I had wedges on the table. As said I did use all the shallot and I think no reason not to 😉 Worked very well with single cream.
Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed this Rose! Thanks for letting me know 🙂 N x
Can you use regular mustard instead of Dijon.
Sure thing Linda!
It was delicous we loved it thanks.
That’s wonderful to hear Elena! Thanks for letting me know! N x ❤️