Honey Lime Tilapia (df)
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Honey Lime Tilapia – Crispy pan-fried tilapia with a sweet honey lime marinade. This tasty recipe is good enough to convert any fish hater!
Michael and I talk all the time about how being married and eating together has changed the foods we eat.
For instance, I didn’t eat much in the way of potatoes, hardly ever bought red meat, and had NEVER cooked steak of any kind before we were married. Now, potatoes find their way into our menu once every week or two and one of my favorite meals we’ve discovered together is a sort of steak stir-fry.
Michael, on the other hand, never really ever ate fish. Not that he didn’t like fish, he just never really ate it. Now, he really likes tilapia and shrimp (he can’t get enough of our cajun fish sandwiches and shrimp po’boys).
Because I love fish so much, and I’m always looking to expand our seafood recipe repertoire, I hunted down this REALLY easy method for cooking tilapia. After eating this for dinner, Michael said it was the best fish he’d ever eaten. Woo hoo!
Now, I know it looks like fried fish. It isn’t. In fact, all the ingredients required for this dish are pretty healthy and straightforward. I even used whole wheat pastry flour for dredging the fish! Also, I found that it was a great balance of flavor and not too sweet. I loved the combination of lime and honey.
One of the beauties of fish is that it cooks very quickly. With only a little bit of preparation beforehand, this meal comes together in about 10 minutes. Seriously. You did read that right. 10 minutos, dear reader.
I tried an experiment with the recipe, which originally called for marinating the fish about an hour ahead of time. I wondered if it would work to marinate it longer than that, so we cooked half the fish one night after about an hour of marinating time, and waited 24 hours to cook up the rest for dinner the next night. I couldn’t tell any difference in texture, and the flavor was, if anything, better.
Because of that, you could easily mix up the marinade, pour it in a zip-top bag with the fish fillets and keep it in your freezer until you’re ready to eat it. You just pull it out of the freezer, pop it into the refrigerator for the day, and by dinner time, all you have to do is dredge it and cook it up. Easy-peasy!
As for what to serve it with, we tried it with a simple squeeze of lime juice, and it was delicious. Or, you could certainly serve it with some peach salsa. I loved it!
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Honey Lime Tilapia
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
For the fish and marinade:
- 4 (4-5oz) tilapia fillets (thawed if frozen)
- Juice and zest of 1 lime
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 Tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
For dredging and cooking:
- 1/2c flour (I tried both white flour and whole wheat pastry flour with good results)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1–2 Tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Assemble marinade by combining lime zest, lime juice, olive oil, honey, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a gallon-sized zip-top bag or shallow container with a lid. Add fish and marinate in the refrigerator anywhere from 1 hour up to 24 hours*.
- When ready to cook, combine flour with salt and pepper on a plate. Remove each fish fillet from the marinade and dredge lightly with the flour on both sides (just a light, light coating).
- Heat 1-2 Tbsp olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook fillets 2 at a time for 3-4 minutes per side or until opaque and browned (this works best if you don’t disturb the fish much while letting it cook).
- Serve with lime wedges or peach salsa.
Notes
*If you want to plan this meal in advance, you can prepare the fish and marinade in a large freezer bag and keep it in the freezer. Move frozen fish and marinade to the refrigerator the morning you plan to serve the fish and allow it to thaw in the refrigerator. It will marinate while it thaws!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Main dish, seafood
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Seafood
Adapted from How Sweet Eats
Looks delish! I have tilapia in my freezer just waiting to be marinated and dredged!
This is delicious. Followed the original recipe to the dot! Thanks for sharing!
So, so glad you’re enjoying it! Thank you for sharing!
Don’t know what I may have done wrong but the breading did not stick to the fish. As soon as I flipped the pieces the breading came off. The fish tasted good but it looked awful
Rhoda – Oh dear! I’d love to help. Sometimes if your pan isn’t fully pre-heated you can have sticking. If the pan isn’t hot enough at the onset, it won’t “seal” the breading onto the fish quickly, and instead will sort of cook the breading onto the pan. (That’s true for just about any breaded recipe)
I also try to use a fish spatula or metal spatula which can easily get under the fish without tearing the breading (vs. a plastic one that can sometimes pull it off). Lastly, I’ve found not skimping on the oil in the pan can help. I hope one of those tips is helpful and makes a difference for next time! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment 🙂
I’d say I’ve had the same issue as Rhoda, the first time I figured was just “the first time” mistakes, second time I made sure to use a little extra oil and waited til it was hot and my breading still wouldn’t hold. I’m not upset tho, regardless the fish tasted amazing both times. This time I’m kinda just winging it on different flavors and without the breading, I’m excited to see how it turns out
Your fish was probably too wet, I’m guessing from frozen. When you thaw frozen fish put a paper towel over it with a plate or something on top for a few min to wick out the extra moisture, then your breading will stick. I’m trying this recipe tonight with some Walmart frozen tilapia and cilantro lime rice. I’ll let you know what the wife and kids think. I like any fish, they are more finicky about it.
Really great! I juice limes from my tree and freeze, so I don’t add the zest and it’s still delicious. I’ll bet it’s even better with the zest! Thanks for posting!
YUM! There’s nothing better than home-grown fresh limes!
YUM! I’ve been eyeing up that recipe since I saw Jessica post it! Glad to hear the good review! Adding it to the meal plan! 🙂
Oh wow this looks fantastic and your presentation is gorgeous! How am I JUST NOW finding your blog?! I LOVE it!! New follower! xoxo
Awesome. I wanted tilapia tonight, but was growing weary of our favorite recipe (I make it once a week). This will be perfect cause I have all the ingredients! Thank you!
This dish looks so yummy.
I wonder if you could bake it. The honey would caramelize in the oven from the natural sugars. Alternatively, maybe use a non-stick pan.
Did you try it in the oven?
Yes! Skip the breading part, and put it on a baking sheet lined with foil You can bake it or broil it! Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes, or broil for 8-10 minutes, or until done.
Tonight we hadn’t planned in advance and needed something fast, so when your tilapia recipe came up on Google, instead of marinating the fish, I put the marinade ingredients into a bowl and used it as a glaze, broiling them in the oven for 5-ish minutes per side. It was delicious and fast!! My husband said this was his favorite tilapia he’d ever had. 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration, Emily!
That glaze idea is brilliant! So glad you enjoyed it!!
This looks so good, I have tilapia in my sink defrost and have no clue what to do with it. Thanks for the recipe, I will be trying this today.
Looks great, sometimes the best fish recipes are the simplest ones.
What a lovely blog! 🙂 I’m happy to have found you, and this recipe for tilapia looks amazing. I have some tilapia in the freezer right now…!
The tilapia looks delious!! I will have to try this recipe. My hubby and I love fish, and he has been talking about buying some tilapia, so I’m going to give this recipe a try. Yummy! Also, you are so right about when we marry and how the different foods come into play. I cook and eat more German meals now, and he enjoys American meals. It is lots of fun trying new foods.
I cooked this for dinner tonight. Simply delicious and it was as quick and easy as you described. This is a keeper! The lime juice was a perfect compliment. The green slices of lime looked cool and refreshing on the serving plate. I used whole wheat pastry flour and a small amount of olive oil. Not greasy at all.
Hi. I just tried your Honey Lime Tilapia. I did not have any Tilapia so I used what I had which was catfish. It was so good. Thank you for such a light and healthy recipe for fish.
My husband absolutely loves fish…I’m not a huge fan but I have been trying to branch out and give it a try. This sounds and looks really delicious. You may just make me a fish convert!
I totally feel the same way. Been trying out some tilapia recipes to make myself like fish and so far only found one. But am excited to try this one too!!!
This recipe does look delicious and easy. I’ll be making it for dinner tonight!
Oh my, what a beautiful blog! Have just discovered it, and it’s all sorts of lovely! Am so inspired…thank you!
This is a fantastic recipe! I made it for dinner tonight and my husband and I both loved it. I served it with roasted corn salsa and black beans and rice…very tasty and very simple! Thanks for the post!