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Trout Recipe with Garlic Lemon Butter Herb Sauce - simple and delicious way to cook fish, especially if you're in a hurry! The whole recipe takes only 30 minutes. Italian herb seasoning, chopped fresh parsley and garlic give great flavor to the fish! Healthy, low-carb dinner rich in lean protein and omega-3 fatty acids.
Trout fillets are usually pretty thin which makes them perfect for cooking on stove top in a skillet. One of the best trout recipes I've tried is simply cooking the trout in the skillet in olive oil, and then adding garlic, lemon juice, white wine, fresh parsley and butter. That's it! Simple and delicious.
What makes this trout recipe work:
- The ingredient list for this trout recipe is short and simple.
- The trout itself is such a delicate fish with a great flavor, it doesn't need too many ingredients or special technique to enhance it. So, just cook it in a large skillet on stove top with olive oil and butter, garlic, butter, lemon juice, white wine, fresh parsley.
- The cooking times are short since trout fillets are usually pretty thin. This trout recipe takes only 30 minutes from start to finish.
I have also made this recipe using the type of fish I've never cooked with before - Arctic Char. Arctic Char looks very similar to trout, and it's closely related to both salmon and trout. Therefore, this recipe will also work with salmon and arctic char. Very easy and versatile!
Other trout recipes
- Another simple way to cook trout is simply to enhance it with capers, garlic, lemon and butter. I combined just those ingredients to make this easy and delicious Trout with Caper-Garlic Lemon Butter Sauce. And yes, I used steelhead trout for this recipe but you can use a regular trout.
- I made this recipe with salmon - but it is easily adaptable for trout: Garlic Parmesan Crusted Salmon and Asparagus
Trout with Garlic Lemon Butter Herb Sauce
Ingredients
- 1.5 pounds trout or salmon, or arctic char - 2 large fish fillets with skin on the bottom
- 2 tablespoons olive oil more, if needed
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (dried thyme, oregano, parsley, combined together)
- ¼ teaspoon salt to taste
- 4 garlic cloves diced
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 2 tablespoons white wine
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 2 tablespoons parsley chopped
Instructions
- Season the top of fish fillets with Italian herb seasoning and salt (generously). Fish fillets will have skins on the bottom - no need to season the skins.
- In a large skillet (large enough to fit 2 fish fillets), heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat until heated but not smoking. To the hot skillet with olive oil, add fish fillets skin side up - flesh side down. Cook the flesh side of the fish for about 3-5 minutes on medium heat, making sure the oil does not smoke, until lightly browned.
- Flip the fillets over to the other side, skin side down (add more oil, if needed). Cook for another 2-4 minutes on medium heat (to prevent oil from burning).
- Remove the skillet from heat, close with the lid, and let the fish sit for 5-10 minutes, covered, in the skillet, until flaky and cooked through completely.
- After the fish is cooked through, off heat, using spatula, carefully remove fillets to the plate, separating the fish from the skin. Carefully remove or scrape the fish skin off the bottom of the pan, making sure to leave all the cooking oils in the pan.
- Add diced garlic, lemon juice, and white wine to the same pan with oil. Cook on medium-low heat for about 1 minute, until garlic softens a bit. Remove from heat. Add 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley, and 2 tablespoons of butter, off heat, to the sauce, stirring, until the butter melts and forms a creamy mixture.
- Add fish to the pan, spoon sauce over the fish, top the fish and sauce with the remaining 1 tablespoon of parsley, and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
What have I been cooking in my kitchen?
1 Year Ago: Seared Scallops with Creamy Lemon-Caper Sauce
2 Years Ago: Cilantro Lime Potato Salad
Hello Julia,
Flavor was wonderful and this was so easy. I used herbs de Provence instead of Italian seasoning. We tried this with trout fillets (my husband's catch last month in Missouri). The only quibble is that the cooking time (I used the minimums) overcooked our fish quite a bit. The fillets were a bit less than 1/2 inch thick so they just did not need the time to be set aside at the end. I realize this is when one makes the sauce but maybe the fillets should be cooked for even less time in the first step? I'm looking forward to cooking this again as we try to eat more fish. I'll try it with snapper fillets also.
Hi Teresa! Thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback! 🙂 I’m really glad you enjoyed the flavor and the ease of the recipe. 🙂
You’re absolutely right about the cooking time—since your fillets were less than ½” thick, the time in step 1 may indeed have been too long for them. According to the recipe, you’re supposed to cook the flesh side down first for about 3‑5 minutes, then flip and cook skin‑side down for another 2‑4 minutes, before covering and resting for 5–10 minutes.
Because your fish was thinner, I’d recommend reducing the initial cook to maybe 2–3 minutes on the first side and 1.5–2 minutes on the second, then letting it rest with the lid on for the full 5 minutes (or slightly less) so it finishes gently off‑heat.
🙂 I’m really happy you’ll be trying it again with snapper—thicker fillets there will handle the timing much better. 🙂
What white wine do you suggest?
Hi Amanda! For cooking, I suggest dry Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. I do not recommend oaky/buttery white wines like Chardonnay (can taste bitter) or sweet white wines (unless you want noticeable sweetness).
For pairing (what to drink at the table), I recommend dry Pinot Grigio, unoaked Chardonnay/Chablis, Sauvignon Blanc, or even light red wines like Pinot Noir or Beaujolais. You can even pair the trout with dry rosé or Brut sparkling wine—they cut through the butter and lemon flavor.
This recipe is so good....I tried it with all the other fish suggestion.
Thank you so much for your wonderful review, Doug!
I tried this receipe. It is simple and delicous. We both loved trout and will be using this receipe.
Thank you, Nicky, so glad you loved it! ❤️ And I really appreciate your 5-star review! 🙂