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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.
The ingredients sound interesting and I am looking forward on trying it out.
However I will disregard the cooking unstructions.
You should never ever start cooking a fish fillet with skin on on the meat side.
Always pan hot, oil in, fish on the skin side in. Season both sides of the fish, also the skin side.
Cook the fillet on the skin until the fish is almost completely cooked. Take the pan of the heat, then the fish for a minute on the skin side.
Fillet done.
You are welcome
Made this tonight and it was amazing!! Do you have a TikTok? I recorded the cooking process and want to give you proper credit, if not I will just let my followers know the recipe is by Julias Album! Thanks so much for this amazing recipe.
So Julia, I’m not a cook AT ALL! I tried your recipe and it turned out amazing. I didn’t have the fresh ingredients but the ‘shaker’ versions and I only had red wine. It tastes great. I will cook this again with all of your versions to make it how you’ve instructed. Thank you!! ❤️
What exactly do the skins do? Looks delicious! Thanks!
Is there anything I can substitute for the white wine?
You can use chicken broth or vegetable broth instead of white wine.
Thanks for sharing your recipe! It was super easy to follow and was delicious!
Deb, I am so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
Should have known better when you said to toss the skin...one of the best parts. A crispy skin is the best!
I disregarded that part, in hopes that the sauce would still be good. Instead, I ruined my entire meal by dredging it in the disaster of a citrus forward mess. No balance. No flavor, other than lemon and a hint of wine.
Poo, you must have either goofed it or are missing tastebuds. Nothing wrong with this recipe.
it was awesome and healthy!
Thanks Julia!
You are welcome! Glad you liked the recipe!
Agreed, all I can taste is lemon.
Recipe was utterly delicious. I sent it to my kids who I'm sure will love it as well.
Mike, I am so happy to hear that! Thank you for stopping by and sharing your feedback! 🙂
I have made this recipe many times and always turs out fantastic...
Paul, so happy to hear that! Thank you for the comment!
Delicious! I threw in some asparagus and brown basmati for a side...amazing, thank you!
Tracy, you are very welcome! 🙂 Love your side dishes - asparagus and basmati rice!
I made it for our lunch today, with steamed cabbage and baked potato. Your instructions were perfectly presented, so much so that I am compelled to mention it here. They were clear, concise, and straightforward.
Absolutely delicious!!!! I made this with red snapper fillet. I was looking for a recipe to bake fish fillet and came across this page. I marinated the fish with all the above ingredients apart from wine then actually read the method But it turned out really nice. Will definitely make it again. Thanks a lot
I made this two nights in a row with a huge fresh caught trout I received and it was so good and super easy to make. I’m definitely going to keep this recipe and I can’t wait to try it with other types of fish.
So I don't eat anything seafood. I don't like the smell or the taste. As a child my mother never really made anything seafood related. I have only had frozen fish sticks and tuna sometimes. My boyfriend loves seafood. So once and a blued moon I find a recipe online and make it for him. He said he loved this recipe tonight so I give it 5 stars. I made myself soft tacos.( Which he doesn't like)
Hello! Just curious: Why do we get rid of the skin?