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
What is a good side dish suggestion? I really struggle with low-fat because I always want to choose a rice or pasta.
Amy–We often eat ours with refried black beans (Rosarita brand is our favorite). You can also pair it with a salad or a corn and black bean relish. Or sometimes we just go simple and serve it with fruit and fruit dip. Best of luck!
I made this tonight and added chili powder to the flour mixture. It added a little kick! Very good recipe! Kids and hubby gobbled it up!
I got this off of pinterest, made them tonight and they are so good… Thank you for this refreshing recipe.
Made this tonight…it was absolutly delicious! First time I havent messed up a fish recipe. Thanks 🙂
This was really good!
This was so easy to put together & the flavors really blew me away. It was awesome. Takes a lot for fish to be a “wow” entree for me but this did exactly that. Will be on a regular rotation in my recipe box. Thanks so much!!!
Hi, Emily,
I made this tasty dish last night! Thank you so much for such an easy delicious recipe. I posted it about it on my blog, gave you credit and linked back. 🙂 In case you are interested: http://cookingmisadventures.com/2012/03/30/honey-lime-chicken/
Made this tonight and it turned out beautifully!
Best dish ever! This has become one of our family favorites. Thank you so much!
I’m going to try this Monday for dinner. Sounds great!
AMAZING!!! I made this yesterday and tonight… I definitely agree that the 24 hour marinated fillet turned out so much better and had tons more flavor. I also have to remember from now on to only cook it on medium heat… my stove gets way too hot! :-p
Absolutely delicious!!! Will be making this again and again (and again!)
All I can say is “WOW”! I really enjoyed the citrus-y sweetness of the marinade. I won’t do a single thing different the next time I make this. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Made this for dinner and it was a hit! Both me and my boyfriend loved it! I’ll be making this again soon. Thank you!
I made this for dinner tonight. I don’t usually get excited about fish, but this was awesome!!
I’m so going to try this. I reblogged and linked to your site about your recipe. Check out my blog to see what I paired it with! YUM!
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