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Tilapia Recipes
I love all kind of fish recipes, for example: baked cod and swai fish.
There are many delicious and easy tilapia recipes you can make at home, for example: baked tilapia.
In this recipe, I will teach you how to bake tilapia fish in an oven with lemon and Parmesan cheese.
You will also learn the cooking tips to make the fish taste good, without the muddy and fishy taste.
Tilapia
Tilapia is one of my favorite white fish.
If you are wondering, tilapia is a real fish and not a processed fish product.
It’s a fresh water fish found in rivers, streams, ponds and lakes, but mostly farmed these days.
It’s packed with protein, non-fatty and low in calories.
When cooked properly, tilapia is flaky, mild tasting and light.
How to Cook Tilapia?
This is probably the most commonly asked question about the fish.
As tilapia fish is mild tasting, cook using ngredients that enhance the flavor and camouflage the potential “muddy” taste, for example: lemon, spices and cheese.
Cooking Tips
Oven baking is the preferred method to bake tilapia.
- Use lemon juice as it gets rid of any potential “fishy” or “muddy” smell.
- Garlic is another ingredient that would remove any potential smell in the fish.
- Use olive oil to keep the fish moist and tender.
- Generous use of salt and ground black pepper to add flavors.
- Cayenne pepper makes the fish mildly spicy and hence add flavors to the fish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is It Healthy?
Yes, it is very healthy.
The oceans are over-fished, making farm raised tilapia a healthy alternative to its deep-sea counterparts.
How to Pick Good Tilapia?
If you have a fresh seafood market, you should definitely buy live ones.
The fish monger will clean and cut it into fillets for you.
Fresh tilapia has a sweet and fresh taste, without any fishy or foul smell.
If you don’t have live fish options, you can pick a good one by looking at the appearance of the fillet.
It should be firm, with a somewhat translucent flesh but not sticky or slimy to the touch.
The fillets should also be free of white or color spots.
For frozen tilapia, I recommend the ones imported from Indonesia or Mexico. Stay away from those farmed in China.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This tilapia recipe is 285 calories per serving, with only 13 g of fat.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
This meal is best served with side dishes. For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Baked Tilapia (The BEST Recipe!)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs. tilapia fillet ( or cod, sole, halibut, etc. (4 fillets))
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ground black pepper
- 3 dashes cayenne pepper
- 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- lemon wedges (for serving)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).
- Rinse the tilapia fish fillets with cold running water. Pad dry with paper towels. Arrange them in a single layer in a baking dish. Add the olive oil, garlic, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and lemon juice.
- Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese evenly on top of the tilapia. Top with chopped parsley.
- Baked the fish in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through. Serve immediately with fresh lemon wedges.
Video
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
If my fish is frozen how much longer should I cook it? Or do I have to thaw it first? First time fish-cooker here- sorry if it’s a common sense question, but I sure don’t know. Haha.
Yes thaw to room temperature.
I made this and it turned out so delicious, totally recommended, I always add my own touch and I added oregano, and paprika
Yummy!
Hi there! Was just wondering if I could just bake the fish as you’ve shown in the photos above, or do I need to wrap it in an aluminum foil? Hope to hear from you soon :) Thanks!
Yes you can.
Can I use grated Parmesan cheese instead of shredded? Will it come out the same or no?
Graded and shredded are the same thing
Not really…grated is the powdery kind sprinkled on pizza, etc and shredded are the larger, thin strands like you might put on a salad, garnish a pasta dish, etc
Texture will differ a bit. Either will work. Beyond that it is just a matter of preference.
My husband and I used our own seasoning blend. Super quick and easy. We plan to make this weekly. DELICIOUS!
Amazing tilapia recipe. All three of my kids loved this.
This dish was really good! I would recommend doubling the Parmesan mixture.
This recipe is so delicious! My husband, myself and my children loved it. Super quick and easy to make. We will definitely be making this again. Thanks for the recipe! I have shared it with others as well. Highly recommend this recipe.
For your tilapia Parmesan recipe, it calls for grated parm and the picture shows shredded. Is there a difference in the final dish?
Grated and shredded are the same thing. Make sure you use fresh parmesan and grate it yourself, it makes a huge difference over the prepackaged kind that has cellulose additive to keep from clumping!
I love this recipe ! Thank you~
Love your recipes, but have to pass on this one, that is if you’re using tilapia. Yes it’s got a nice, light fish taste and is fairly inexpensive, but there are much better/healthier white fish to eat and, in many markets, you really don’t know what you’re getting.
Richard – you can use any white fish to make this recipe, you don’t have to use Tilapia! ;)
You don’t need to announce that you won’t be making a recipe, you can just not make it.