Bursting with great flavor, this grilled lemon butter tilapia is flaky and tender. Just follow these easy step by step photo instructions for a great meal.
Editor Note: Originally published August 17, 2010, which was the first year of this blog. It was upgraded with expanded details of the instructions and updated photos.
Oh so simple and way up there on the health-o-meter, the taste-o-meter, and the I-really-should-do-this-more-o-meter. This is destined to by one of your go-to recipes.
There is something classic about any fish with butter, lemon, and garlic. It is just what I would say is the traditional taste. Let’s do that on a grill to add a little char, and you have a wonderful healthy main dish.
My Rating:
My wife loved it, and so did I.
Pro Tips: Recipe Notes for Grilled Lemon Butter Tilapia
What is Tilapia?
Tilapia is frequently referred to as “the chicken of fish” due to its mild taste and ease of mass production on farms.
Scientifically, tilapia is a genus, and there are hundreds of different species of tilapia. There are also some similar related species that are generally also referred to as tilapia although technically not quite right.
Tilapia is native freshwater fish from Africa and the Middle East but been distributed around the world. They’re farmed almost everywhere since they can tolerate a wide range of temperatures and are very hardy.
On a final note, some internet “health sites” have been attacking tilapia as unhealthy using “click-bate” headlines like “worse than bacon” but the facts still support tilapia as a good source of low-fat protein.
Fresh vs. Frozen Tilapia
Fresh or thawed frozen either should be fine here. But I don’t have a great source of fresh.
A one-pound package of frozen tilapia had six medium fillets that I had moved from the freezer to the frig the night before.
The Grill
This recipe uses a hot grill preheated on high. Preheat a griddle or grill pan also. You may also use a grill basket as long as you can flip the fish.
The fish is thin, and this is one of the few recipes I do with the grill lid open.
Other Great Tilapia Options
Oven Baked Parmesan Crusted Tilapia
Easy Grilled Tilapia with Paprika
Preheat grill on high with a griddle or grill safe pan in place. Oil well.
Pat dry fillets.
In a small bowl, put butter, lemon juice, and garlic powder. Microwave for 10 seconds and mix well.
Brush both sides of the fillets with the butter mixture. Do this quickly before the solution firms up.
Lightly salt and pepper to taste.
Grill for about 4 minutes per side with an open lid. Serve hot off the grill.
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Grilled Lemon Butter Tilapia
Ingredients
- 1 lb Tilapia fillets - 6 medium fillets
- 2 teaspoon butter
- 2 teaspoon ReaLemon or about the juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat grill on high with griddle or grill safe pan in place. Oil well.
- Pat dry fillets.
- In a small bowl, put 2 teaspoons butter, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder. Microwave for 10 seconds and mix well.
- Brush both sides of the fillets with the butter mixture. Do this quickly before the solution firms up.
- Lightly salt and pepper to taste.
- Grill for about 4 minutes per side with an open lid.
- Serve hot off grill.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- Any grill pan, griddle, or even a grill basket will work as long as you can flip the fish.
- Preheat a griddle or grill pan with the grill on high. A grill basket does not need to be preheated.
- If frozen, the tilapia needs to be completely thawed. Just moving the frozen tilapia from the freezer to the refrigerator overnight will do.
- This is one of the few recipes that I grill with an open lid
Have a question or something not clear? Ask in the comments.
If you like this recipe or find it useful, the pleasure of a nice 4 or 5 rating would be greatly appreciated.
Nutrition is for one serving. Number of servings is stated above and is my estimate of normal serving size for this recipe.
All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.
Originally Published August 17, 2010
Corey Anderson
I’ve made this incredibly easy and delicious fish twice in the past 2 weeks, with plans to make it again this weekend. I spiked a couple of pieces with Cumin and flaked to meal prep myself Fish Taco Salads = HAPPY taste buds!! Even my pickiest of eaters — my husband, loved it. Thanks for sharing another simple technique/recipe that is easy to tweak with other flavors!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Corey
I always want to just do a basic recipe that is easy to adapt to your needs. If you want some kicked up fish tacos, try the grilled blackened tilapia.
Thanks for the note and rating. Glad it worked well for you.
Dan
Stephanie
Made this tonight! Amazing! Added cilantro!
Marms
Of course I know you would remove because I am really just talking to you.
They do not have ‘free trials’ of “things”. Free trials of videos and access to meal plans. Nothing to sell.
Andreas E. is board certified in Sweden.
No one on that site tells them to fiddle with their insulin. If that changes it’s done by their own doctor who has to do it to respond to their diabetes disease “numbers” changing as a result of low carb. (Not a diabetic myself so I don’t know the name of those tests. I am hypercholesterolemic, not diabetic.)
The diet is not high-protein but high fat.
Even Joslin is advising their patients to low carb diets. And…
The original Banting diabetic treatment was no carb, before insulin was used.
But I just wanted to know if you had examined such diets. Thanks for responding.
marms
I will be doing this several times in the coming month as I must use up the frozen fish in my freezer, but tell me:What’s a Tilapia? I have Red Snapper, Halibut, cod and pink salmon. I have not seen TIlapia here.
Dan you may want to take this out REMOVED. See my reply. Dan
DrDan
Let’s address the tilapia first. It is a specific type of fish. It is a thin white fish, usually about 1/2 inch thick. While most fish will cook about the same manor, those you mentioned are thicker so although I suspect they can cook similar but just a little longer, I have not done those types.
On to the medical stuff, I have to remove it. Although the site is run by a doctor (Family doctor with no indication of board certification, not endocrinologist nor internist.) I don’t have the time or expertise to evaluate the whole site. But in my prime, I read thousands of articles in medical journals per year so well read on this sort of thing. Their references are laughable medically speaking. This is just a low carb, high fat and protein diet like Adkins/South Beach. Nothing magic. Very well studied and thousands of articles out there.
For a site on the internet, they are giving advice on adjusting insulin etc that I and most doctors would consider unethical and down right dangerous. Those things should only be done by your doctor. There are a few vague call your doctor but then they give very specific medical advice. VERY BAD IDEA.
Next the diet. These sorts of diets can stress things like kidneys and livers and once damaged always damaged and at our age, many people have marginal renal function already. So no marked changes in diet without your doctor and a RD (Registered Dietitian) not a “nationalist” or other nice sounding terms.
And lastly, they want to promote the “we just want to help our patients” and no ads. Yet they seem to have “free trials” of things I suspect they want to sell. I don’t buy the “we are just looking out for our patients” thing.
Final words. Let’s be careful out there.
Dan
Ellen
Thank you,, we will be trying ALL your perfect easy recipies!,
I love this blog!, ?
phargeaux
-sorry thought I rated 5 star but didn’t see. Trying again.
phargeaux
Yuuuumy! Will make again for sure! Was the butter on 2 tsp – or 2 tbsp? I used 2T, so maybe made unhealthier version but sure was a hit at my house tonite! Added some fresh dill to the butter as I’m all about that dill this time of year especially. Thanks Dr Dan!!
DrDan
That is t for teaspoon but more butter is never bad.
Thanks for the note and rating.
DrDan
Mike McClellan
Hi Dan,
I really like the recipe and you mentioned sour cream biscuit, but I couldn’t find therecipe for them, even by a search. Was that one removed?
Thanks,
Mike
DrDan
Yep removed last fall. When I moved the site from Blogger to WordPress, I did some weeding to clean up the site. About 5 – 10 recipes just didn’t do it for me. Try the Cheddar Bay Biscuits ( they are great but not very healthy. For healthy I have Zero Fat Biscuits (https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/zero-fat-biscuits/) which are much much better than the sour cream ones were.
Thanks for note and rating
DrDan
Rebecca
This recipe was simple and delicious! My husband and I both enjoyed it (and I don’t even like fish!).
DrDan
Thanks… I try to do this one several times every grilling season
DrDan
Dr Dan
Welcome and thanks. I don’t do the nutritional analysis very often but plan to do a lot more. The step by step with lots of pictures is what I want to be… cooking that is simple for the learner. Hence the 101 meaning a beginning course.
tracy
Hi Dr Dan, I stumbled upon your blog and thought it was a fantastic website!
I love how you show all the steps of your cooking, as well as how you show the amount of fats/ calories in the food you cook. :)
Thank you for all your wonderful recipes! I will definitely be coming to your website often! (It’s on my favourite’s bar!)