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!!
Simply wonderful! Family woofed it- there was silence in the tables apart from sighs of pleasure. Thank you!!!
That’s great Abigail! Enjoy!! N x
Hi Nagi, would it be ok to double the amounts for the sauce as I need to have 6 pieces of fish and want to make sure there’s plenty of sauce for everyone.
Our love and joy had to be put to sleep 3 weeks ago. But I had 12 years of joy. She loves your food!!
Oh no Lisa – that makes me so sad for you…Dozer and I are both sending you lots of love – N x
Thank you for the recipe. Can I use salmon instead of white fish? Thank you.
Made this recipe for Good Friday lunch with family and we all loved it. Would definitely make again, thank you.
Perfect. Would not change a thing. The sauce had just the right amount of tang and was surprisingly light. Made it with gurnard as that was on special. Loved how quick and easy it was to put together too. Minimal dishes was a bonus. Only needed an oven proof dish and a pyrex measuring cup which l then used to heat the sauce in the microwave before pouring it over the fish. Served with mash and green beans. Definitely putting this on rotation.
I am happy that you liked it Niki! N x
I had frozen cod. Made sure to let it thaw and squeeze out the water. Also only had half and half. Family loved it!
Thanks for that feedback Marbleless! N x
No wonder this recipe only has 5 stars, the moderator deletes any responses below that, like mine, that gave it 4 or less. Not cool, not cool. Untrustworthy moderation.
Recipes are only rated 1 to 5 stars , so 5 stars means it is excellent lol
I’ve always wondered if they did that. Thanks for letting us know.
Thanks for the lovely, fast way to cook tilapia! We buy the filets frozen. We’ll be using this recipe again.
Amazing! This is a new family favorite. Best sauce for a whitefish that we have had.
I made this last night and served it over sautéed onions and fennel. We LOVED it. So quick, so easy, so few ingredients, soooo delicious. Thank you Nagi.
I love all your recipes! OMG all of them are awesome and this is no the exception, this is delicious 🙂 thanks for sharing such good comfort food recipes. Hugs from Mexico
Can you use mahi mahi?
This was so delicious. 3 teens and a toddler ate it ALL. For a dairy free alternative I used earth balance butter (the red one) and Goat milk. I also doubled the recipe for my family of 6 and cooked for about 18 mins. My fish wasn’t thick, I just figured double the fish and sauce I should add a few more mins. And the sauce came out beautifully. Thx so much for the recipe, ill be adding it into my favorites.
Simply 10/10. Brilliant and so easy and quick!!
I am so glad you liked it Gabija! N x
Just made it now, used basa white fish. 12 minutes in the oven 200 c. Perfection, impossible to stop eating! Planning to serve it with charred asparagus and cauli mash
Made this tonight using haddock. The sauce was delicious! I definitely saved the recipe to make again!
This was just so easy and so delicious. Used King Dory and substituted leeks for shallots as that is what I had handy – and added a little zest for extra lemon. Have recommended it to others and they have all loved it
Hello, I would luke to make this tonight but I don’t have any dijon mustard. Will regular yellow mustard work and if so did I need to adjust the measurement?
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.
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!