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!!
I was a little surprised at how awesome this was! I mean really really awesome! Even put a little sauce in my rice mixture. YUM!
Absolutely perfect sauce for fish fry. Bf cooks fried fish, fried shrimp, fried scallops and fried clams. The sauce is a big hit with everyone we invite over. They choose it over the tarter sauce and it’s always gone by the end of the meal. Thank you!
Hi Nagi, I love your recipes so much and often tell people to check them out – you have never failed me! I made the fish with creamy lemon sauce last night an it was delicious. But small error in recipe re the French eschallots. I understand what they are but was confused because you call them eschalots then when you say in recipe to sprinkle on fish you say shallots. Just a tiny thing. Annie
This was a hit with my entire family! Thank you!!
Super Yummy!!!!!
This is just so good! I made with Haddock fillets and served it with rice, steamed green beans and sautéed cherry tomatoes and just poured the sauce over everything – highly recommend this recipe!
Thanks so much Leanne! N x
What a wonderful recipe. Perfect for non fish eaters like my husband.
So far all of your recipes I’ve tried have taken my boring dinners to a whole new level. Thanks for posting them!
Oh wow- my guests just left after an outdoor lunch with this fish recipe, Paris mash,a great salad (all from my own garden) and too much wine. They didn’t say it once but many times, how they loved the food! This was such an easy recipe and so delicious! Thanks again Nagi! Another recipe that needs repeating!
Another excellent “Nagi Recipe.” I made this with 2-lb bag of thawed and dried frozen cod fillets with all Aldi ingredients. Had to cook more like 20 minutes, and I added a spoon of panko on each piece before topping with the sauce. SO GOOD. THANK YOU.
This looks incredible! Can this be made with frozen white fish or should I cook the frozen fish first and make the sauce on the hob then combine?
Refer to Note 1 where she talks about using frozen fish.
Oh wow! So quick and so delicious. My very reluctant fish eater gave this 👍 so I finally have a way to get more fish on the menu (I used ocean perch). Woohoo!
We just love this recipe, and my husband actually called you today a “cooking Goddess” (no wonder, considering how much I talk about food and your recipes). 😀
What temperature and how long for the baked fish in cream and mustard egg?
No sure what you mean by mustard egg but her recipe stipulates how long you have it in the oven (15-20) according to kind of fish you use.
Omg OMG highly recommend this recipe never done anything apart from pan fry and deep frying my fish but omgoshness this is so freakin yummy ya keep going back for more . thank you so much this is on the list permanently 😍😍😍😍
Made this with tilapia. Fast, easy, delicious! Going in the rotation.
OMG! This dish is incredible! My family wants to thank you, Nagi! We all took pieces of bread to mop up that delicious sauce. It is the best fish recipe I’ve ever made – just a perfectly lovely dinner!
Forgot to give it 5 stars 🙂
This was easy, quick, and great!
Baked fish for the first time tonight (not battered) and knew I could rely on one of Nagis to inspire me. This sauce is super delicious and I’ll definitely use it again. I’d probabaly make more sauce next time as it was yum
YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
This is silly but our microwave broke !! Can I heat on the oven instead !?
Yes 100% Elisabeth, just gently heat over a low setting. N x
Stove **