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!!
Very, very tasty. Totally agree with doubling the sauce. It’s a keeper and already on repeat in our household.
Made this recipe 10+ times now and it never fails to impress. My only tip would be to double the quantity of the sauce, cook some pasta whilst the fish is cooking, remove the fish and then stir the sauce through the pasta. Some frozen peas added at the end of the pasta cook makes it a delicious, easy and complete meal. I’ll be trying it with prawns tonight!
This was so much better than I expected, quick, easy and delicious. I did add the lemon zest for extra kick and it was worth it.
Bloody beautiful!!
Looking to make this today, would this work with cod?
Perfect recipe! First time I used Bluebone, today I am using Snapper.. Family favourite!
Delicious!! I used a 1kg bag of frozen basa fillets, my baking dish was probably a bit crowded but was still very nice. Served with baked cauliflower and a rocket/parmasen salad.
Silly simple but the result is Restaurant Quality!
Well done, Nagi.
😘
This is the 4th time making it and every time we say, why don’t we make this more often?!? It’s so good. We put the leftover sauce over our rice/rice pilaf.
Returned from fishing in our harbour with snapper, trevally and kahawai (sea salmon). Wanted something other than the usual and found Nagi’s recipe, used the mixed species, had to change out the cream for sour cream (which worked fine) and the family love, love, loved it! Thanks Nagi for the winner!
Loved the sauce! I chose poorly on my fish. I chose rockfish, and the best part of this dish was the lemon sauce! I’ll definitely make again. Looking forward to trying it with sea bass.
I am very finicky when it comes to fish but this was superb.
The sauce brought the fish to the next level. So simple and so quick. Well done.
Love this recipe I partner couldn’t get enough But I did add extra lemon juice I like it tangy Nagi I’ve tried a lot of your recipes and they never fail me Awesome 🙃😋
Restaurant quality! We served this with baked baby potatoes & steamed broccolini. Used inexpensive frozen basa. I loved it.
Greetings from Ireland! Lovely dish, and quick too! I made it with haddock fillets, it took 12 minutes in the oven. Will definitely make again, thanks Nagi!! 👍🏼xx
OMG You is the Genius. So easy so tasty…
I made this with frozen Haddock and thawed and dried it as directed. Used evaporated milk instead of cream and the saw turned out great. The star of the dish is the shallots. I had some from my garden and used a bit more. The shallot is the queen of the onion family! Thanks for a solid recipe.
Bake this open or covered?
I don’t eat fish but we do catch a lot of trout. Any recommendations if trout would work for this dish?
I am new to this site and am loving trying these new recipes. I was a bit apprehensive about this dish as, initially, before it was baked it looked rather unappealing. But WOW WOW is this absolutely delicious! The BEST fish dish I have ever tasted! Who would think that such simple ingredients and quick cooking time would end up being this outstanding! This will be a regular on my rotation. I followed the recipe to a “T” and used cod. Thank you Nagi!