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
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 fillet
- Calories: 297
- Sugar: 7.5 g
- Sodium: 511.6 mg
- Fat: 11.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 21.6 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 30.1 g
- Cholesterol: 70.8 mg
Adapted from How Sweet Eats
I love your blog and your recipes! I posted your blog on my foodie blog above…come check it out:)
C
I made this for dinner tonight and I can’t believe how flavorful the fish was! I was a little skeptical at how few ingredients were in the marinade but this is one I will make again!
I made this tonight with the peach salsa and OMG! It was a total hit in my house. Even my picky eater husband loved it! Thank you so much 🙂
This looks delicious! Could it be baked instead of fried?
I’m sure you could bake it without losing any flavor, but I don’t think the texture would be the same. I’m not one for deep-frying, and these didn’t feel greasy or heavy at all, since you don’t use much oil in the pan for pan-frying.
forgot to leave a rating emily 🙂
Emily, this recipe is SO yummy! I made if for dinner tonight and adapted it into fish tacos. DELISH! Thanks for sharing!
Ooooh! I LOVE the idea of using it for fish tacos. YUM! I’m DEFINITELY trying that.
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!
Oh my, what a beautiful blog! Have just discovered it, and it’s all sorts of lovely! Am so inspired…thank you!
This recipe does look delicious and easy. I’ll be making it for dinner tonight!
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!!!
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.