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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.
I recently bought trout and thankfully found your recipe. Thank you so much for creating and sharing this recipe. It's delicious! I live at 7000 ft so I was a bit nervous about taking the trout off the heat for 5-10 minutes to let it cook as things cool very quickly at this altitude so I left it on the hot burner for a few minutes then moved it off. The fish was cooked perfectly.
I have enough fish so I'm making it again tonight 🙂
Great recipe. Thanks again.
I am happy you found my recipe and liked it! :). Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to share this positive comment! I so appreciate it!! 🙂
DELICIOUS! my favorite fish recipe
Ashley, I am so pleased to hear that! 🙂
This is delicious and easy to prepare. We loved it!
Lena, I am so glad you enjoyed it!
I honestly don't care for trout, or even fish really. But I caught a large Rainbow Trout so I had to eat it. This is my first time ever cooking trout and I followed this recipe. It was a huge hit! I cooked it a month ago and people are still talking about it. It made me look like a pro even though it was my very first time cooking fish. Even I enjoyed eating it. Needless to say I give all credit to Julia's recipe.
I highly recommend this recipe to anybody scouring the web. Stop here and use this recipe, it is awesome.
Wow! Your comment made my day! So glad you found my recipe and tried it! 🙂
Incredible dish. I used sea trout I caught from the patches in Key Largo. I poured the lemon garlic butter sauce over the fish and topped with parsley. I served it skin on. Will repeat weekly until o run out of fish!
Rebecca, I am so happy you tried this recipe and enjoyed it! 🙂
Loved this recipe! My wife and I don't really like fish, but we are making an effort. I saw this recipe and decided to try it out. We absolutely loved it! We'll be having this once a week for sure. Question: does the skin necessarily need to be removed? Was a bit of a pain to remove..
thanks again!
Sam, I am so glad you found my recipe and liked it! 🙂 You don't have to remove the skin - it's actually really healthy and packed with nutrients. The reason I removed the skin is that a lot of people just don't like its texture or how it tastes. I eat it all the time!
This recipe was amazing. Thank you so much !!
Tina, so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the comment!
Best Trout or any recipe. I modified it a bit, it tastes like something you'd order at a nice restaurant.
Your comment made my day! So happy you liked it!
Absolutely perfect for a couple of rainbow trout I caught. I went a little too heavy handed on the sauce but even then the only complaint was that the meal didn't last long enough!
So happy you tried this recipe and enjoyed it. Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to share such a positive comment!
Curious as to why you discard the super tasty skin? I also add my lemon juice after melting the butter.
I love the skin, and eat it separately. 🙂 I find that most people around me don't like the skin so I discard it for them.
Great recipe ..love the garlic sauce !! .... well done -
Kathleen, I am glad you liked it! Thank you for the 5-star review - I really appreciate it! 🙂
Great recipe, glad I found it. I’m curious as to why you separate the skin from the fish. Since I had no intention of letting that beautiful skin go to waste, I reversed the cooking order (skin first, which I seasoned), and I also finished the fish in the oven (rather than pan) while I did the sauce. The skin was super tasty. I also added some fresh thyme.
I agree - the skin is so tasty! A lot of people don't like the taste of the skin, that's why I describe in the recipe how I separate the skin from the fish. Thank you for stopping by and sharing a star review! 🙂
Julia,
I have tried 5 or 6 or your recipes. I’m terrible at cooking and they have all been absolutely delicious. I don’t go on any other website for my recipes. If you come out with a book I will be the first customer.
Monika, your comment made my day! THANK YOU! I am so flattered by your feedback. 🙂
I don't like fish. This was good I actually enjoyed it.
Nina, I am so happy to hear that!
Have you ever browned butter (instead of using olive oil) in addition to the other ingredients? It would admittedly be less healthy but wondering if the flavor would be enhanced.
No, I haven't tried this particular recipe with browned butter even though I do have a recipe for ravioli in a brown butter sauce:
Butternut Squash ravioli with the Brown Butter Sauce and Pecans
I don't even like fish...this was delicious. I thought the garlic would be overpowering, but it wasn't. Very, very good.
Elle, so glad you liked it! Thanks for the comment! 🙂
Looking at the recipe, it's there an alternative to use in place of the white wine?
I used craft beer. Anything with a 8 to 10 percent alcohol content will work. The alcohols purpose is to deglaze the pan.
Use chicken broth instead.
Delicious recipe! Do you have a recipe recommendation for what would pair well with it as a side?
Steph, I am glad you liked it! Try this baked asparagus with Gruyere cheese, garlic, and bacon or these green beans with pine nuts. You can also try this cooked spinach with garlic and lemon zest.
I have never cooked trout before so I googled some recipes and yours was the first I saw. This is a simple yet superb one! Thanks for sharing!
Chloe, I am so glad you chose my recipe and liked it! 🙂 Thank you for the comment!