This Fish Piccata with Roasted Asparagus is such a delicious dish, made with a butter, wine, lemon, and capers. Looks so elegant, but is so simple to prepare!
So you say you don’t like fish, huh? Well, I say it’s because you’ve never had good fish!
I feel ya. My mom is a wonderful cook, but I can’t say she mastered fish when I was growing up. Sorry, Mom. But throwing some salt and pepper on a piece of Orange Roughy and baking it isn’t exactly going to win a 16 year old over.
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! So amazing.
What is the best type of fish to use for fish piccata?
For this recipe you want to use thin, but firm, white fish fillets. I use Tilapia or Barramundi when I make this, but Sole or Snapper are also great choices.
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!
other fish recipes we love

Easy Fish Piccata
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound asparagus , rinsed and dried, tough ends chopped off
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 fillets (5-6 ounces each) firm white fish , skinned removed (such as Tilapia, Barramundi, or Sole)
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- nonstick spray
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 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. Drizzle the olive oil all over them and sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Roast for about 10 minutes, until tender, but still al dente.
- In the meantime, season the fish fillets with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour.
- Coat a large saute pan with nonstick spray, add the olive oil, and heat over medium-high. Saute fillets for about 2 minutes on one side; gently flip over and saute 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 yummy brown bits, about 1-2 minutes. Add in minced garlic and stir for about 30 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 and enjoy!
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. I am not sure what Baramundi is, but 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 :))
The best white fish is BASA!!!!!! (Cod is very close second)
<3
Good recipe! I made a special trip to Trader Joe’s for the Barramundi only to learn that they no longer carry it (at least at that location), so I used cod instead. Delicious!
We are a seafood importing company. And we are introducing a major brand of Barramundi to the US. I was just curious if you might like your recipe (with credits, of course) to be included on our website.
Best
Carol Flynn
Barramundi, white wine, capers, salt, butter and lemon juice. The combination of these are So yum Amy, thanks. I hope you saved a piece for me as I made a chocolate dessert especially.
What other types of fish would be good in this dish?
Hi Bonnie – tilapia is a good substitution :)
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 love them both, but definitely love this one more! It’s so buttery and full of flavor. But keep in mind, I adore fish and asparagus. And butter/wine/lemon are a match made in heaven. Hopefully you guys will enjoy it, too. Nothing special about the garlic. It’s just…garlic. O.o
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.
Well, he’ll at least eat the asparagus :P
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!