Grilled Blackened Tilapia

Meet your new favorite fish recipe. Healthy eating has never been so good or easy as this wonderfully spicy, grilled, blackened tilapia.

It is time to get some fish in your diet with this spicy, super easy, and fast recipe that will become your personal favorite. Only 2 minutes per side to get you a grilled masterpiece. I have included options for cooking tools (basket vs. griddle) and different levels of heat.

This recipe is based on my oven-baked blackened tilapia, The original recipe was pan-fried. I converted that to an oven and now using it on the grill for crispier results.

Check out these other great tilapia recipes, like baked parmesan tilapia or lemon butter tilapia. Serve tilapia with smashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, healthy biscuits, Cheddar Bay Biscuits, or cornmeal biscuits.

Ingredients

• Tilapia
• Butter
• Blackening Seasoning
  • Paprika
  • Onion Powder
  • Garlic Powder
  • Dry thyme
  • Dry oregano
  • Salt
  • Black Pepper
  • Cayenne pepper

👨‍🍳How to Grill Blackened Tilapia

1. Rinse and pat dry 1 pound of tilapia. Brush with melted butter and coat with blackening, Cajun, or Creole seasoning
2. Use a flexible grill basket or a griddle on the grill on grill preheated on high.
3. Place the tilapia on preheated grill. The lid may be open or closed—grill for only 2 minutes. Flip and grill for another 2 minutes. Check temperature (145°) and color. You may need a few minutes or so more.
4. While the thinner fish in a grill basket is generally done in about 4-5 minutes total time—thicker fish may take 6-8 minutes—to cook to good color, and 145° minimum temperature.
5. Serve immediately, and I suggest with Simple Tartar Sauce.

🐟The tilapia

Tilapia is a mild white fish that is commonly farm-raised but can be caught in the wild. You can use fresh or fully thawed frozen tilapia.

The thickness of tilapia can vary a lot, so cooking time will usually take 2-3 minutes per side, but thick filets may take 4 minutes.

Other fish may be used and time adjusted for the thickness.

🔥How spicing to make the seasoning

Lastly, the heat. I use ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper here. This was a 7/10 hot. I suspect most people will want ¼ teaspoon. I have done this with ¼ teaspoon, which is a 3-4/10 heat level. The original recipe used a full teaspoon which I did once. It was what I call a manly man level of 10/10.

♨️Grilling tips

I used a Brinkmann®️ Steel Flexible Grilling Basket cost about $15 at Home Depot. You can also get one at Amazon. Highly rated by Consumers Report, but I'm sure there are similar devices.

You can also use a preheated griddle, large grill pan, or even directly grill on the grates, but the fish might fall apart with even minimal sticking.

Since the fish is thin and uses high heat, you can cook with the grill lid open or closed—it does not matter.

Grilling Time

While the thinner fish in a grill basket is generally done in about 4-5 minutes, thicker fish may take 6-8 minutes or more—Cook to good color and 145° minimum temperature.

This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.

Have you tried this recipe, or have a question? Join the community discussion in the comments.

Step-by-Step Photo Instructions

Preheat the grill to as high as it will go. For me, that is 600°+. If using a griddle instead of a grill basket, then place it on the grill to preheat.

Combine 3 tablespoons paprika, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon onion powder, one teaspoon black pepper, one teaspoon dry thyme, one teaspoon dry oregano, and ½ teaspoon garlic powder. Also, add cayenne pepper ¼ teaspoon for normal (3/10 heat), ½ teaspoon for spicy (7/10), and one teaspoon for manly man 10/10 heat.

Rinse and pat dry 1 pound of tilapia.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a microwave. About 15 seconds.

Brush both sides of tilapia with the melted butter.

Coat both sides of the tilapia with a generous amount of rub. You won't need all the rub.

Spray a flexible grill basket with a generous amount of PAM.

Load the tilapia in the grill basket. Alternatively, if using a griddle, then add a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil to the preheated griddle. Do not use olive oil since it smokes at high temperatures.

Place the tilapia on preheated grill.  The lid may be open or closed—grill for only 2 minutes. Flip and grill another 2 minutes. Check temperature (145°) and color. You may need few minutes or so more.

While the thinner fish in a grill basket is generally done in about 4-5 minutes total time, thicker fish may take 6-8 minutes—Cook to good color and 145° minimum temperature.

Serve immediately.

📖 Recipe

Grilled Blackened Tilapia

From Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

Meet your new favorite fish recipe. Healthy eating has never been so good or easy as this wonderfully spicy grilled blackened tilapia. Fire up the grill now and let's get some variety into the grilling season.

Tap to leave a Rating

4.20 from 168 votes

Print Email CollectionCollected

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 4 minutes minutes

Total Time: 14 minutes minutes

Servings #/Adjust if desired 4 servings

Ingredients

US Customary - Convert to Metric

• ▢ 1 pound Tilapia
• ▢ 1 tablespoon butter

Blackening Rub-makes enough for 2 pounds

• ▢ 3 tablespoons paprika
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 tablespoon onion powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dry thyme
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dry oregano
• ▢ ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ ¼ to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper to taste

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Photos ONOFF

• Preheat the grill to as high as it will go. For me, that is 600°+. If using a griddle instead of a grill basket, then place it on the grill to preheat.
  
• Combine 3 tablespoons paprika, one teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon onion powder, one teaspoon black pepper, one teaspoon dry thyme, one teaspoon dry oregano, and ½ teaspoon garlic powder. Also, add cayenne pepper ¼ teaspoon for normal (3/10 heat), ½ teaspoon for spicy (7/10), and one teaspoon for manly man 10/10 heat.
  
• Rinse and pat dry 1 pound of tilapia.
  
• Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a microwave—about 15 seconds.
  
• Brush both sides of tilapia with the melted butter.
  
• Coat both sides of the tilapia with a generous amount of the rub—you don't need all the rub.
  
• Spray a flexible grill basket with a generous amount of PAM.
  
• Load the tilapia in the grill basket. Alternatively, if using a griddle, then add a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil to the preheated griddle. Do not use olive oil since it smokes at high temperatures.
  
• Place the tilapia on preheated grill. The lid may be open or closed—grill for only 2 minutes. Flip and grill another 2 minutes. Check temperature (145°) and color. You may need few minutes or so more.
  
• While the thinner fish in a grill basket is generally done in about 4-5 minutes total time—thicker fish may take 6-8 minutes—cook to good color, and 145° minimum temperature.
  
• Done. Serve immediately.
  

Some recipes have an option to display the photos here with a switch above these instructions but the photos DO NOT print. Otherwise step-by-step photos are in the post.

Your Own Private Notes

Click here to save your own private notes only you will see. These will print and be saved for your next visit.

Recipe Notes

Pro Tips

1. You may be grilled with the hood open or closed.
2. I use ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper here. This was a 7/10 hot. I suspect most people will want ¼ teaspoon, which is a 3-4/10 heat level. The original recipe used a full teaspoon which I did once. It was what I call manly man level of 10/10.
3. Store extra seasoning sealed tightly for next time. This is enough for about 2 pounds.
4. While the thinner fish in a grill basket is generally done in about 4-5 minutes total time, thicker fish may take 6-8 minutes—cook to good color, and 145° minimum temperature.
5. You may use other fish but need to adjust cooking time by thickness. Thicker fish should be grilled with the grill hood closed.

To adjust the recipe size:

You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.

Nutrition Estimate

Calories : 154 kcal (8%)Carbohydrates : 4 g (1%)Protein : 23 g (46%)Fat : 5 g (8%)Saturated Fat : 3 g (15%)Polyunsaturated Fat : 1 gMonounsaturated Fat : 1 gCholesterol : 65 mg (22%)Sodium : 546 mg (23%)Potassium : 394 mg (11%)Fiber : 1 g (4%)Sugar : 1 g (1%)Vitamin A : 450 IU (9%)Vitamin C : 1.7 mg (2%)Calcium : 30 mg (3%)Iron : 0.9 mg (5%)

Serving size is my estimate of a normal size unless stated otherwise. The number of servings per recipe is stated above. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.

Course : Main Course

Cuisine : American

© 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.

Originally published May 11, 2013. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.