Pan Fried Sea Bass with Lemon Garlic Herb Sauce
This Pan Fried Sea Bass with Lemon Garlic Herb Sauce is a 20 minute, one-pan, budget-friendly Mediterranean recipe that’s perfect on busy weeknights.
This Pan Fried Sea Bass recipe is a wonderful way to eat a mild, affordable* fish, and it’s packed with flavor from fresh oregano, thyme, and parsley. It’s especially great if you have an abundance of fresh herbs in your garden you need to use up! (raises hand)
* Sea bass can vary greatly in price depending on variety, location, and if it’s in season. Barramundi is a reliably affordable option and is what I used.
Originally, I was planning on doing a lemon caper sauce, similar to chicken piccata. But lo and behold, when I arrived at my refrigerator, I realized I was out of capers.
After some quick thinking and wandering around outside, I decided on a lemony, garlicky, fresh herb sauce instead.
SO happy I was out of capers. This turned out wonderfully!
How to Pan-Fry Sea Bass
If you’ve ever made chicken piccata before, the process for this is very similar. First, pat the fish dry. It’s important that most of the moisture is removed from the fish, so it gets a nice brown color on the outside.
Next dredge the fish in a mixture of all-purpose flour, kosher salt, and black pepper. Dredging simply means coating it in the flour mixture, and shaking off any excess. You should have a nice, thin coat of flour, salt, and pepper that covers every square inch of the surface of the fish.
Then, cook the fish in a mixture of olive oil and butter.
Why both, you ask?
The butter gives it a rich, golden color, while the olive oil makes it crispy. Mixing the two is my favorite way to pan-fry almost anything.
The fish will only take about 3-4 minutes to cook on each side, if you are using thin pieces of sea bass (I used frozen Barramundi). Once they’re finished, set them aside on a plate.
How to make the lemon garlic herb sauce
The sauce is made in the same pan in which you cooked the fish.
First, add some white wine to deglaze the skillet. I recommend a dry white wine, such as pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc. Immediately after you add it, use a wooden spoon to help stir up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Then, continue heating over medium-high heat until almost all the liquid has evaporated.
Then, add a little more butter to the skillet and heat until it’s melted.
Add some finely minced garlic and a mixture of fresh chopped herbs to the pan– I used oregano, thyme, and parsley. Sauté until fragrant, only about 30 seconds. You don’t want the garlic to burn.
Finally, add some chicken stock (or vegetable stock, or water, if you don’t have any), heat until it’s bubbling, then turn off the heat and add some lemon juice and a little more butter.
This lemon garlic herb sauce is SO GOOD. It would be great on chicken, steak, salmon, plain on a spoon, mixed into pasta… the possibilities are endless.
Tips and Tricks
- I used a heavy stainless steel skillet (specifically, this Calphalon one– my favorite!) for this- it works well for pan sauces and deglazing. You can use a well seasoned cast iron skillet or a nonstick skillet as well.
- Can’t find sea bass at your grocery store? Try the frozen fish section- I used Barramundi. If you can’t find it there, any other kind of mild white fish will do.
- Play around with the sauce! Add capers or olives at the end, or use a different mix of herbs such as dill, cilantro, and/or chives.
Try these other easy fish recipes:
- Flounder with Fresh Lemon Pepper
- Southern-Style Oven-Fried Catfish
- 15-Minute Perfect Poached Salmon with Chive Butter
- One-Pan Garlic Butter Salmon and Swiss Chard
- Instant Pot Fish Stew
- Six-Minute Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks
Did you make this Pan Fried Sea Bass with Lemon Garlic Herb Sauce? Please comment below and Rate this Recipe
Pan Fried Sea Bass with Lemon Garlic Herb Sauce
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Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter divided
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1.5 lbs. sea bass such as barramundi
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more if needed
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper plus more if needed
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup dry white wine such as savignon blanc
- 1/2 cup chicken stock/broth or water, in a pinch
- juice of one lemon about 2 tablespoons
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley roughly chopped
- lemon wedges for serving optional
Instructions
- Pat the fish dry with a paper towel.
- In a shallow dish, mix together the flour (1/4 cup), salt (1 teaspoon), and black pepper (1/2 teaspoon).
- Dredge each piece of fish in the flour mixture, coating the entire surface, and shake off any excess.
- In a large skillet, preferably stainless steel or nonstick, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium high heat and add the olive oil (1 tablespoon).
- Cook the fish in the skillet for 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden brown and fully cooked. Try not to move the fish too much, especially if you are using a pan that isn’t nonstick, otherwise the fish may be more likely to stick to the bottom and not get browned as nicely.
- Remove fish from the skillet to a plate.
- Turn down the heat to low. Add the white wine (1/4 cup) to the skillet to deglaze, stirring up any browned bits. Continue heating until almost all the wine has evaporated.
- Add one more tablespoon of butter to the skillet. Once it’s melted, add the minced garlic (2 cloves) and fresh herbs (1 tablespoon each of oregano, thyme, and parsley) to the skillet and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add the chicken broth (1/2 cup) and bring to a simmer. If sauce seems very thin, continue simmering until reduced and thicker to your liking.
- Turn off heat and stir in remaining 1 tablespoon butter and lemon juice (about 2 tablespoons). Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
- Serve sauce on top of fish.
Notes
- To use dried herbs: Dried herbs have a bit of a different taste than fresh, but can certainly be used if fresh are not available. The general rule for substituting dried herbs for fresh is using about 1/3 of the measurement – so 1 teaspoon dried for every 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs. Since they are dried, they can cook a bit longer to absorb some liquid and soften up, so you might want to give the sauce a little more time on lower heat to cook.
- Paleo / dairy free / grain free / gluten-free substitutions: You can use almond flour or coconut flour instead of all purpose flour, cornstarch or a GF flour mix, and or olive oil instead of butter, depending on your needs.
- I used oregano, parsley, and thyme because it’s what was growing in my garden. You can feel free to use other fresh herbs- dill, basil, or cilantro would be delicious as well!
- Sea bass comes in all kinds of different thicknesses. You may have to adjust the cooking time if yours are especially thick- mine were thin (I used Barramundi, which is also pretty inexpensive as well, and available in the frozen seafood section).
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
This Pan Fried Sea Bass with Lemon Garlic Herb Sauce recipe first appeared on Bowl of Delicious in August, 2017. It’s been updated to include clearer instructions, tips and tricks, and ingredient substitutions.
Amazing, made as our main for valentines dinner tonight, here in Ireland, i would say maybe a little less thyme would have been better, but overall delicious and will be our go to especially during bbq season.
So glad you liked it!
I eat this very frequently my favorite fish from the North Atlantic, very meaty and flavorsome, I have never made it with the fresh herbs and or garlic, which I use generally in most dishes, but I shall be making this superb looking dish, thank you so much for sharing.
Hope you like it!
Great recipe, definitely recommend! Restaurant quality or even better. Had the sea bass with sides of mashed potatoes and pan fried broccoli/kale medley. Used dried thyme and oregano and fresh parsley. The fish was so perfect! Realized we forgot to add the lemon juice when we finished dinner, but didn’t miss it at all. Will try it next time we go with this recipe. Thank you!
So happy you liked it! Sounds like a delicious meal :-)
I made this recipe last night for dinner. OH MY DAYS…… it’s honestly jumped into the number 1 spot of my favourite dish! So easy to make , the fish was crisp and flavour full and the sauce is exceptional. Cannot wait to eat this again!!
So happy to hear you liked it and thank you for the rave review!!
Delicious, so fresh and light, but with plenty of flavour.
Thank you Elizabeth
So glad you liked it!
Made this tonight with sea bass fresh caught in South Carolina – so amazingly good! It’s a keeper and I will make it again & again trying different herbs. My husband said he liked it better than chicken!
So glad you and your husband liked it!
Its like a delicacy my husband loved it and I used large mouth bass. Can’t wait to make it again.
So glad you and your husband liked it!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. It’s absolutely gorgeous. I did exactly as mentioned and luckily got fresh herbs. Can’t wait to try other recipes.
Thank you 😊
So happy you liked it!
I followed the instructions and it was delicious.
Thank you
So glad you liked it!
Simple and effective. I used samphire as a garnish and pan fried baby new potatoes in bacon fat as a side,. The pan sauce was amazing . Recommend.
So glad you liked it- sounds like a delicious meal with the potatoes!
This was delicious!! Super quick and easy to make – went down a treat at dinner time!
So glad you liked it!
The cooking of the fish was simplicity itself and the sauce was delicious. I used marjoram, parsley and thyme as the herbs nearest to hand in the garden. Next time I might add some tarragon, which needs to be used before it dies back. Followed Elizabeth’s recipe pretty faithfully except that I cut down on the lemon juice, which didn’t seem to detract from the tanginess. Oh, and straight rock salt. Not sure what the attributes of ‘kosher’ salt are that might add to the flavour … or even what ‘kosher’ salt is!
So glad you liked it! You can use any salt you like- I use kosher salt in almost all my recipes, and I like to specify this because you need more of it than the equivalent amount of fine grain salt. Kosher salt is a larger grain, and it doesn’t have any of the added things table salt does like iodine, or anti-caking agents, so that’s why I use it. You can find it in your grocery store with the other salt- it’s usually in a large blue box. Love the idea of adding tarragon to this recipe- thanks for the suggestion!
I see. So it’s purer? I always use rock or sea salt, so I suppose it comes down to the same thing. I think we tend to use the word ‘kosher’ (or ‘pukka’) in a generic way over here in the UK to mean genuine or authentic.
Wishing you well from this side of the Atlantic where we’re all keeping our fingers crossed that you can rid yourself of your tinpot Mussolini tomorrow.
Oh goodness, fingers crossed indeed! In order to alleviate my anxiety about tomorrow I’ve been diving into deep distractions, and as a result I got more curious about kosher salt from this conversation. I found a good article about what it is and why it’s great to use for cooking here- hope you find it interesting. Cheers! https://www.bonappetit.com/story/what-is-kosher-salt
Wonderful!! Really love the versatility and showcasing of the sea bass!
FYI: the addition of iodine to salt is a GOOD thing. It was added routinely years ago to reduce the amount of thyroid disorder goiters that were being diagnosed in the public (due to iodine deficiency!!) So acknowledge the added iodine as a GOOD thing!
It’s a great thing for people who don’t get iodine in their diets for sure! Thanks for this reminder :-) Luckily, unless your diet is quite limited, many people get sufficient iodine from other foods, like seafood and dairy. Here are some good resources for anyone reading this who is concerned about iodine:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/iodine-rich-foods
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iodine-Consumer/
Absolutely fabulous dish. My son who isn’t a fish fan loved it. We served it with herby roast potatoes and green are veg!!
So glad you and your son liked it!
Delicious!! Made Gluten-free by dredging in Rice flour. I also doubled the sauce Ingredients but kept butter amounts the same. I used striped bass, cut into 1/2” thick filets. Family LOVED it.
So glad you liked it!
Thank you for sharing
What can I use instead of the wine?
You can just use some chicken or vegetable stock instead of wine! Hope you like it :-)
This was one of the best fish recipes I have cooked in a long time. All of my kids (some who do not love fish) ate everything on their plates and asked for seconds — as did my husband. I did not have fresh herbs so I used one Tablespoon of dried Herbs de Provence. Delicious!
Thank you Elizabeth,
Kristen
So happy you and your kids like it, Kristen!
I don’t know what went wrong but my herb sauce was not right at all. Too watery and too tangy. I followed the recipe to the t and wound up with no sauce for my fish 🤷🏽♀️
Oh no! Sorry you had a frustrating experience. It’s possible that the lemon you used was extra juicy, making the flavor too tangy. And if the sauce was watery, you may have just needed to let it simmer and thicken for a few more minutes to let some of the steam release and leave the concentrated flavor behind. Hope that helps, for you or anyone else reading this that may come across the same problem!
Simple and delicious, thank you!
Thank you! Glad you liked it.
As previous comment, I heated the sauce and added a little garlic, too. My husband enjoyed it even though he’s not a great lover of the delicate flavout of seabass.
Glad you and your husband liked it!
Absolutely love this recipe! I’ve made it several times with several different types of fish, and it’s always fabulous. Even family members who don’t like fish love it! This recipe is definitely a keeper!
So glad you and your family like it!
I made this dish this evening, it was delicious. Your illustration shows fillets, but we get our sea bass from the fishmonger whole (cleaned and gutted). I removed the heads, only for esthetic and pan size reasons! The recipe works just as well: the skin is edible. My one suggestion would be, right at the end, to lift the fish back into the sauce for 3 or 4 minutes and keep it bubbling. This has the effect of warming up the fish that might otherwise have gone a bit cool. And in the case of whole fish rather than fillets, gives the sauce a chance to penetrate the insides. My other tip (to self) is, next time, to prepare all the ingredients beforehand. I dont know anyone who does this (unless they are on the telly) but this recipe is so quick, it can get a bit hectic, especially as I was stir frying some veggies at the same time.
Oh wow, great to know it worked well with whole fish! Good suggestion to add the fish back to the sauce in the end, as well as to prep everything beforehand.