Tilapia is the kind of fish you can dress up or dress down, depending on the occasion, your mood and your family's tastes.
Indeed, tilapia recipes range from the mild to the spicy. This baked tilapia recipe is somewhere in the middle. It gets a nice citrus flavor from the lime juice and orange juice and just a bit of heat from the Thai chili sauce. If you like spicy food, go ahead and add another tablespoon or two of the Thai chili sauce.
Tilapia recipes are easy to adapt, depending on what you have on hand in your fridge and pantry. For example, if you don't happen to have lime juice for this recipe, just use lemon juice or more orange juice. The flavor will change, but the tilapia will still be quite tasty.
This tilapia recipe is a great one to try if you aren't used to cooking fish. The biggest mistake beginners make in cooking fish is overcooking it. Since this citrus tilapia is baked , you can pretty much follow the cooking time and avoid overcooking it. But even if you do overcook the tilapia slightly, the sauce will still make the fish moist.
This tilapia recipe pairs well with any kind of couscous, potato or rice side dish and just about any green vegetable. Try serving this baked tilapia with couscous salad, broccoli au gratin or roasted green beans with sea salt. And you can't go wrong with flourless chocolate cake or Ghirardelli chocolate brownies for dessert.
Citrus Baked Tilapia
- 1 pound fresh tilapia fillets
- 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp. lime zest
- 1/4 cup freshly-squeezed lime juice
- 1/4 cup orange juice (preferably freshly-squeezed)
- 2 Tbsp. Thai sweet red chili sauce
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Rinse tilapia fillets and pat dry.
In a shallow glass baking dish, whisk together the olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, orange juice, chili sauce and salt and pepper. Place tilapia fillets in the dish, turning to coat well with marinade. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.
Makes 4 servings.
Per serving: 193 calories, 9 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 56 mg cholesterol, 6 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 23 g protein, 2% vitamin A, 16% vitamin C, 4% calcium, 4% iron
For more healthy fish recipes, see also:
- Cajun Tilapia Fish
- Asian Baked Salmon with Teriyaki Sauce
- Easy Wild Salmon Quesadillas with Kale
- Ginger Scented Steamed Tilapia Fish
- Salt Cod Salad with Aioli
Stephanie Gallagher - Stephanie Gallagher is a veteran journalist and author. In addition to writing for Suite 101, she is the Cooking for Kids columnist for ...
