Fish Piccata
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This Fish Piccata recipe is a delicious twist on traditional chicken piccata, made with mild flakey white fish, butter, wine, lemon, and capers. It looks so elegant, but is incredibly quick and easy to prepare in less than 30 minutes.
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Fabulous Fish Piccata Recipe
So you say you don’t like fish, huh? Well, I say it’s because you’ve never had good fish! This Fish Piccata might change your mind.
Chicken Piccata is one of my all-time favorite chicken dishes, where the chicken is dredged in flour and pan fried until golden brown, then served with a sauce comprised of wine, lemon juice, butter, and capers. I mean, HELLO.
I couldn’t think of a reason why the same method wouldn’t work with some white fish, so I tired it. Voila – Fish Piccata! This is such a great dinner, where you roast the asparagus in the oven as you cook your fish on the stovetop, so everything is ready at the same time. A complete and crazy delicious meal in only 25 minutes.
Ingredients Needed
Here’s what you need to make this fish piccata recipe.
(Scroll below to the printable recipe card for details and measurements.)
- Fish – For fish piccata, you want to use thin, but firm white fish fillets. I typically use tilapia, but halibut, sole, snapper, or cod are also good choices.
- Coating – Dredged in flour, seasoned with salt and pepper, and pan fried in olive oil.
- Sauce – The sauce is the real showstopper made of white wine, low sodium chicken broth, lemon juice, butter, garlic, and capers. It’s light, bright, and so wonderful.
- For serving – This dish pairs perfectly with roasted asparagus and lemon slices on the side.
How To Make Fish Piccata
This fish dish looks, sounds, and tastes so fancy, but is SO incredibly easy to make.
(Scroll below to the printable recipe card for details and measurements.)
- Roast the asparagus. Spread the trimmed asparagus out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Roast at 425F for about 10 minutes (depending how thick they are) until tender, but still al dente.
- Cook the fish. In the meantime, season the fish fillets with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour. Coat a large nonstick pan with nonstick spray, add olive oil and heat over medium-high. Pan fry fillets for about 2 minutes on one side; gently flip over and pan fry the other side for about 2 more minutes until golden and fish flakes easily with a fork. Transfer fillets to a platter.
- Deglaze the pan and create the sauce. Add wine to the pan and cook until liquid is mostly evaporated, scraping up any brown bits, about 1-2 minutes. Add in minced garlic and stir until just fragrant. Add broth, lemon juice, capers, and butter.
- Serve. Once butter is melted, pour sauce over fillets. Garnish with lemon slices and chopped fresh parsley. Serve immediately with the roasted asparagus and enjoy!
Possible Variations
- The wine can be replaced with more chicken broth, but the flavors will not be as deep.
- Add in a little lemon zest along with the lemon juice, for even more lemon-y flavor.
- Want a creamier sauce? Stir in 3-4 tablespoons of heavy cream.
- If you prefer a thicker sauce, you could whisk in 1 tablespoon of flour or cornstarch.
- Serve with traditional pasta instead of asparagus, or enjoy both!
Serving Suggestions
Lemon Fish Piccata is typically served with some type of long pasta on the side, like spaghetti or fettuccine, but I often serve it with a vegetable, as well, to round out the meal. Roasted asparagus, roasted green beans, or roasted broccoli are my favorite choices. You could even eliminate the pasta entirely and just enjoy with the veggie to cut back on carbs.
Storing Leftovers
- Fridge. Cooked and cooled Fish Piccata can be stored, covered in the sauce, in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
- Freezer. Since the sauce for this recipe doesn’t include any cream, it freezes wonderfully, however you’ll want to store the sauce and fish separately. It will keep for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- To reheat. You can reheat fish piccata in the oven (for best results), in the microwave, or on the stovetop. Add in a little bit of extra chicken broth, to stop the sauce from drying out, and to give the fish a little bit of moisture.
More Fish Recipes To Try
- Grilled Fish Tacos
- Tuscan Butter Salmon
- Honey Glazed Salmon
- Salmon Patties
- Creamy Baked Halibut
- Sheet Pan Cod
I hope you love this delicious and easy recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!
Fish Piccata
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound asparagus, , rinsed and dried, tough ends chopped off
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, , divided
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, , to taste
- 4 fillets (5-6 ounces each) firm white fish, , skinned removed (such as tilapia, halibut, sole, or snapper)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 2 cloves garlic, , minced
- 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon capers, , drained
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- fresh lemon slices, , for serving
- chopped fresh parsley, , for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Spread the asparagus out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss in 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Roast for about 10 minutes (depending on thickness), until tender, but still al dente.
- In the meantime, season the fish fillets with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour, shaking off any excess.
- Coat a large nonstick pan with nonstick spray, add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, and heat over medium-high. Pan fry fillets for about 2 minutes on one side; gently flip over and pan fry the other side for about 2 more minutes until golden and fish flakes easily with a fork. Transfer fillets to a platter.
- Deglaze pan with the wine until liquid is mostly evaporated, scraping up any brown bits, about 1-2 minutes. Add in minced garlic and stir until fragrant, about 20 seconds.
- Add broth, lemon juice, capers, and butter.
- Once butter is melted, pour sauce over fillets.
- Garnish with lemon slices and chopped fresh parsley. Serve immediately with the roasted asparagus and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and any changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are very important to you, I would recommend calculating them yourself.
Did you make this? Leave a rating below!
Delicious and soooo easy!
I had Yellow Tail Rock fish, so that’s what I used. I was great, definitely a keeper. We eat a lot of fish and will be making this again! Thanks for sharing
This was definitely like having dinner at a restaurant. My husband and I loved it. Great recipe and so very easy. Thanks!
Really good and easy
Definitely doing this again
The guys loved it, even though they’re not fond of fish.
This is an excellent, simple, but sophisticated recipe. I served it to my picky teen and he loved it. I didn’t modify a thing. Perfect as is! Thank you for sharing.
I made this with black sea bass that was in the freezer. Living it Alaska, we have lots of fish! This recipe was easy and delicious! I served it over a bed or wilted sauted spinach along with a crusty artisan bread and it was fantastic! We eat a lot of fish and this recipe will be going into my permanent file!
Delicious. Added artichokes and it was so yummy!
Great weeknight dinner and plates beautifully. Family loved it. Served with linguine and roasted broccoli. Will be making this again and again :))
I used cod and it came out GREAT. This was easy and so delicious!!
Great recipe! I made a special trip to Trader Joe’s for Barramundi only to learn that they no longer carry it, so I used cod instead. Delicious!
We are a seafood importing company and this recipe sounds perfect.
Best
Carol Flynn
Fish, white wine, capers, salt, butter and lemon juice. The combination of these are So yum Amy, thanks.
What other types of fish would be good in this dish?
Ok. I’m going to try and find this fish this week. I’m debating over this recipe or the one with fruit salsa. Probably this one, since decent fruit right now is iffy at best. Plus, Stephie said that it’s quite good. Psst…is a garlic glove anything special, or is that a garlic clove? Maybe things are different in CA than IL.
I don’t know why, but I never thought to prepare fish in a piccata sauce, which is kind of weird because all the flavors match so perfectly. Thanks, yet again, for the inspiration, friend!
I’ve never had fish piccata. How is that possible? I love chicken piccata and I love fish, so I am sure I would love it! Beautiful photos.
This looks wonderful! You’re right, you just need to cook fish right to make it good. :-) Lemon and capers — yum!
I got lucky once and found barramundi at Costco, haven’t seen it since! I loved it. This dish looks delicious!!
It looks like a good recipe but I don’t eat any farm raised fish. You can read about it online, its very bad for the environment and is also very unhealthy for you also. There’s been a lot of scientific research done on farm raised fish, all you have to do is google it. I’ll try this recipe with wild natural fish. Thank you. Susan
I need to try more fish recipes. I always have good intentions, but then never get around to it. This looks wonderful!
My parents never even tried serving fish to us, which is perhaps why I thought I hated it for most of my life! I have seen Barramundi EVERYWHERE and haven’t yet bought it. But in this buttery lemony sauce…want.
This looks fantastic!! YUM!
I just happen to have two bags of frozen barramundi in my freezer and I am going to try this. I loveyloveylovelove capers!
I adore fish. We grew up going fishing with my dad so I’m pretty adventurous when it comes to eating it. We have seafood allergies so we happily munch fish in lieu of seafood. This looks right up my alley. I’ve never had Barramundi, I’ll have to look around here to see if I can find it. Canada, no Trader Joe’s. I may have to move. I swear the states has way better shopping choices. I was lucky enough to visit TJ when in Philly, I was in awe. There’s nothing like it here.
I haven’t had barramundi but I love fish and especially making it your way. It’s my go to on a weeknight!
Thanks for writing about this new fish, I can’t wait to try it! Hopefully they finish our trader joe’s soon!
Guilty as charged! This looks so good, I can’t wait to get over to Trader Joe’s and buy the Barramundi.
Maybe Dad will even have a taste.
Mmmm…fish, butter, wine, lemon….who can say no to that?!
mmmmm never tried Piccata with fish! I love it with chicken so I’m sure I’ll love it with fish!
I love all things piccata!