An Easy Way to Prepare Almost Any Fish Fillet

You know you should eat more fish — twice per week is recommended — but you aren’t sure how best to prepare it or you are running out of ideas. I’ve been there. And I’ve prepared it many, many ways, however, when out of ideas this became my number one go to recipe because it works for almost any kind of fish fillet, except maybe catfish or halibut. Although a friend I shared the recipe with swears catfish is good prepared this way too. However, I already a favorite way of making catfish as well as halibut so I haven’t actually tried making catfish or halibut this way. If you happen to try it though, let me know how it turned out.

Also, it works whether you plan on making individual fillets or one big one. Quick, easy, simple, delicious — and it doesn’t require any special ingredients that are difficult or impossible to find.

Pre-heat oven to 400 F.

Lightly oil the skin and place the fillet(s) skin side down on an baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Season fillets lightly on top (the side with no skin) with seasoning salt or a substitute and 1/4 tsp pepper .

If watching your sodium (salt) intake, and haven’t found a suitable substitute, see my blog post about seasonings which includes a homemade substitute for seasoning salt.

About Seasonings and Seasoning Blends

Process all remaining ingredients, except the lemon halves and soy sauce, in a food processer until well combined. However, grate lemon peel from one lemon half to put into the processor. If you do not have a food processor you can just mix it vigorously in a bowl until well combined with a whisk or fork; it just takes a tiny bit longer.

Squeeze the lemon half you just grated into a small bowl or measuring cup and stir in the soy sauce.

Top the fish fillets with dribbles of the lemon juice soy sauce mixture. You can spread it using the back of a spoon or a brush. I find the spoon works best and doesn’t absorb the oil nor do the seasonings cling to it.

Spoon the processed breadcrumb mixture evenly on top of the fish fillets; lightly press so it sticks better. You aren’t trying to bury or coat the fillets. You are just giving them a little bit of a seasoned topping.

Spray tops of fillets very lightly with spray canola oil or spritz with olive oil from sprayer set to a fine mist.

Thinly slice the remaining lemon half and place one to two thin slices on top of each fillet or if you prefer skip this step and save the lemon slices to be served on the side for squeezing on individual servings only if desired.

Bake just until flaky when tested with a fork. Times will vary depending upon the type of fish and its thickness. You never want to overcook fish nor should you eat it raw. But you know it’s done if it flakes easily when tested with a fork. As a general rule of thumb when unsure about how long to bake a particular fish begin checking it at around 5 to 6 minutes and every minute to 90 seconds after that until flakes easily.