Garlicky Chili Lemon Baked Tilapia Recipes

Dinner is made really easy and fast with this garlicky chili lemon baked tilapia recipes. The spice rub is sensational and full of flavors.

Jump to:

How to bake tilapia
How to bake frozen tilapia fish
What goes well with oven-baked tilapia?
How to store baked tilapia
Expert Tips
Make ahead instructions
Is tilapia fish good to eat everyday?
FAQS
Other ways to bake tilapia fish – tilapia in foil packets
📋Garlicky Chili Lemon Baked Tilapia Recipe

Most days we all look forward to effortless mealtime. And with fish, dinner is on the table in less than 15 minutes. Tender, juicy and spicy fish will make your taste buds dance.

Baked tilapia recipes is as simple as –

Mix garlic, spices in butter.
Pour it over the fish.
Bake it in oven.

And while the fish bakes, cook basmati rice on the stove. Your dinner is ready! Both fish and basmati(long grain Rice) takes less time to cook. If you want quick-fix dinner, tilapia recipes is what you need.

Don’t let the word spicy intimidate you! Let me tell you that the spice is not over powering, and you have total control over the spice level. Adjust it to your heat tolerance.

If you ask me, white fish like tilapia, cod, halibut or pollock, a little extra help is needed with flavors and spice. These fishes take on the flavors well as the fish itself is bland. Garlic, chili and lemon is the best flavor combo you can add to a fish and especially with tilapia it’s fantastic!

Fish fillets comes in all shapes and sizes. This affects the time to cook fish either in the stove top or in the oven. What time works for my fillet might not be accurate for your fillets. Thicker and bigger fillets would need a few minutes extra time to cook.

How to bake tilapia

It only takes 3 simple and easy steps –

Mix smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin powder, ground pepper, salt, lemon juice, lemon zest (not shown in video), garlic in melted butter.
Pour it over tilapia fish lined up on baking tray(greased with butter or oil).
Bake the fish at 400F for about 10 minutes. Time will vary based on your fish fillet size.

spicy chili garlic lemon tilapia baked in oven

How to bake frozen tilapia fish

Keeping store frozen fish in your freezer section can lead to easy and fast mealtimes. If you have couple of frozen tilapia in your freezer, you can have a meal prepared in couple of minutes and no need to thaw the fish. Bake frozen tilapia directly. How? Here’s how :

First rinse hard frozen tilapia in water. Pat dry completely with paper towel.

Make a spice rub mix either following the recipe mentioned below or your own spice rub. Rub it over frozen tilapia fish.

Bake it in oven at 400 F for about 20 to 30 minutes, time will vary depending on the size of your fish fillets. You want to bake frozen tilapia until the fish is browned and turns slightly crisp on the out side.

Serve baked fish with rice, quinoa or just break it up and serve it over tacos.

What goes well with oven-baked tilapia?

Baked fish goes perfectly well with rice like cilantro lime rice or Mexican rice or seasoned rice. To make it a complete meal, serve a veggie on the side like sauteed green beans, roasted broccoli, parmesan potatoes, or sauteed mushrooms.

How to store baked tilapia

Any leftover baked tilapia recipe can be stored in the refrigerator. Once cooled completely, store in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

For longer storage, store in the freezer. Arrange baked tilapia on a baking tray in a single layer until frozen. Transfer to an air-tight container or zip-lock bag and freeze for up to a month.

Expert Tips

A secret tip to preventing the spices from burning in the oven is to add 2 tablespoons of chicken stock to one corner of the tray in between cooking times.

Use same-size fish fillets for uniform cooking. Cooking time will vary depending on how big the fillets are.

Garlic, chili, and lemon are the best flavor combo for this recipe. You can customize the flavors by adding other spices or herbs according to preference.

Make ahead instructions

This recipe is great for making ahead. Add spice rub to tilapia fish and store in the refrigerator for a day or two. When ready to serve, simply bake in the oven according to the instructions.

You can also freeze spice-rubbed fish in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Is tilapia fish good to eat everyday?

Tilapia is one of the healthiest sources of protein. It’s easy to prepare and nutritious too. But the way the fish is raised in the farm raise safety concerns as they may contain harmful chemicals and toxins. Choose responsibly raised fish to be safe.

FAQS

What other types of fish can I use?

The marinade mentioned for this oven method works well with any type of mild white fish. Tilapia is what we used. You can also use cod fillets, pollock or halibut.
Strong flavored fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna might not work well with the flavors of the marinade.

How to prevent fish from turning dry?

Cooking fish in the oven may always lead to doubts and questions like – will the fish turn dry?
To prevent fish from turning dry, we use fat. Butter keeps the fish from turning dry. Butter also adds a rich taste to other bland and boring fish.
Instead of butter oil can also be used. But we highly recommend you use butter for a richer taste. For oven baked tilapia recipes we recommend butter over oil.
A secret tip to preventing the spices from burning in the oven is add 2 tablespoon of chicken stock on one corner of the tray in between cooking time. This is optional step but you’ll see how moist and chicken tilapia turns out of oven. You can pour the chicken stock in the before popping the fish into the oven at the beginning, but it might dilute the spice rub mix making the fish loose some of it’s spices into the liquid.

How long does tilapia takes to bake?

Depending on the size of your fish fillets, baking time will vary. For the fillet that you see in my pictures, baking time was 10-12 minutes and I baked at 400 F.
If you use bigger and thicker fillets, you’ll need a few minutes extra time. Just keep an eye on you fish to check for it’s doneness.

How to tell if tilapia is done?

By inserting a fork in the middle of the which is the thickest part. If the flesh is not translucent, its white and flaky tilapia is cooked.
By inserting a thermometer in the middle of the fish and if the internal temperature measures 140-145 F, the fish is done.

Is it necessary to flip fish while cooking in the oven?

Not necessary. Fish will be cooked on both sides and does not need flipping.

What vegetables foes well with seafood?

Roasted potatoes, sauteed beans, sauteed mushrooms, roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted leeks.

Other ways to bake tilapia fish – tilapia in foil packets

You can easily make a whole meal with tilapia fillets by baking them in foil packets. Baking tilapia in foil packets is super fun to serve, directly out of oven to the plate as it is. To make a meal of it, add sliced vegetables along with the fish into foil packets and bake.

For the marinade, you can use the spicy chili lemon marinade mentioned here or you can choose a lighter marinade with lemon butter sauce.

To make Lemon butter sauce – simply whisk melted butter, lemon juice and zest of lemon and garlic minced.

Spray oil over aluminium foil, place fish fillets over it. Season it with salt and pepper. Pour chili-garlic-lemon sauce(if you prefer spicy) or lemon butter sauce(if you prefer mild flavors) over fish. Place few sliced vegetables as well. Add a few slices of lemon over the top.

Fold both long sides of foil up towards the middle. Then fold top and bottom sides together to seal the foil in the center. Roll together the ends of the packet to seal it completely shut.

Bake it in oven at 400 F for 10-12 minutes if tilapia is fresh and 20-25 minutes if it’s frozen.

Serve straight up, as it is in foil packets. This is definitely going to be super fun way to serve dinner.