cornmeal crusted tilapia (gf, df)
Happy Halloween! I hope you have something fun planned for the holiday. Today, I’m excited to say that this is my first post as a member of the Secret Recipe Club. Each month, we do basically a “secret santa” recipe exchange. We’re each secretly assigned a blog to cook a recipe from and then we all reveal which blog we had on the same day. It’s a great way to get to know some new blogs and try some new recipes!
This month, I was assigned to cook something from the blog Eat, Knit, Grow. I enjoyed looking through the recipes on the site, and in the end decided on Lindsay’s Cornmeal-Crusted Tilapia recipe. I tweaked it just a bit, and loved how it turned out!
It’s no secret I’m a big tilapia fan. It’s an easy fish to work with, has a mild flavor and is less expensive than so many other fish on the market. We love any fish with a bit of crunch without having to deep-fry, so we were very drawn to this cornmeal crust.
To make the recipe our own, I doubled it (so we’d have 4 fillets) and added a bit of lemon zest to the cornmeal mixture. This added a bit more lemon flavor, and I really enjoyed the brightness it brought to the dish.
The texture was great, and I thought this method would be really great in a sandwich or with a bit of cajun seasoning in the cornmeal mixture. You could also switch the parsley for another herb–dill or basil would be nice. Thanks, Lindsay!
Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 4 tilapia fillets
- 1/2c cornmeal*
- 1/2tsp salt
- 1/2tsp pepper
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley
- zest of one lemon (reserve lemon to slice into wedges for serving)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, plus more if necessary
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. On a shallow plate, combine cornmeal, salt, pepper, parsley, and lemon zest. Dredge tilapia fillets in the cornmeal mixture. Cook fillets 2 at a time, about 3 minutes on the first side and 1-2 minutes on the second side. (Add additional olive oil to the pan if necessary.)
- Slice the lemon into wedges and serve with tilapia.
Notes
*Gluten & Dairy Free Notes: Be sure your cornmeal is gluten free. Cornmeal itself doesn’t contain any gluten ingredients, but it’s often processed on shared equipment. Arrowhead Mills, Bob’s Red Mill, Hodgson Mill, and Safeway all make gluten free cornmeal.
Hi! I just found you through the secret recipe club. Love your blog! I’m a new follower.
We would love to invite you over to visit our blog and link up to our weekly themed blog hop called Everyday Sisters Sharing Sundays. This week’s theme is SWEET and SAVORY! We hope to see you there. http://everydaysisters.blogspot.com/2011/10/everyday-sisters-sharing-sunday-19.html
Ellen
Welcome to the SRC and your tilapia looks delicious. Great pictures too.
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my Group ‘A’ & ‘C’ SRC recipes this month: Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies and Thin Mint Irish Coffee.
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
Tilapia is one of the few fishes I like…I need to try this!
You’re hired! We’d love to have you come be our personal chef. Please!
Awesome! Tilapia is the only fish I’ll eat so I’m always looking for new ways to prepare it. Thanks for sharing!
This tilapia looks delicious! I’m in a rut with fish recipes, and this looks like a simple, tasty recipe to try out.
this looks so good. I love Tilapia! Your side looks really good to. I love beans
I’m from Group C but I’m an honorary Group D member this week, welcome to SRC. Cornmeal on fish is delish…a little rhyme for ya. I have some flounder that I may give this treatment too, I can many flavor possibilities.
That tilapia looks delicious. I have to try this asap. Cornmeal for the crust is a very different idea.
I love the photos! Looks like a beautiful fish dish!
Great Recipe for Group D’s Reveal Day for Secret Recipe Club!
This tilapia looks delicious, I love the sound of that cornmeal crust!
Found you on Pinterest, which sounds really creepy, but I love your blog! My boyfriend is trying to lose weight but also wants to eat all his yummy favorites like cornbread, etc. Thanks for posting some really good/easy/healthy looking recipes!
I’ve made something similar so I can imagine how good this was! The photos are great! We eat tilapia a lot around here too but most days I’m lazy and just sprinkle it w/ Tony Chachere’s before pan frying it for a few minutes on each side. Gotta love a simple, delicious meal!
We’ve never used cornmeal in a tilapia recipe! It looks absolutely delicious! We recently found another recipe for pumpkin seed encrusted tilapia! So many wonderful recipes to be found!