This quick and easy baked fish recipe is perfect for busy weeknights! Baked in a five-minute wine sauce with garlic, capers, lemon, and butter – no breadcrumbs necessary! Gluten free.
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ARE. YOU. READY. for the easiest weeknight meal ever? Because this lickety-split baked baramundi (hip hooray for sustainable seafood!) is about to be your new BFF.
Baked white fish is one of our favorite go-to weeknight dinner recipes. All you need are a few pantry staples, a couple of barramundi fillets (we keep plenty of fish in the freezer just for recipes like this!), five minutes of prep, and a quick stint in the oven.
We’re working with our favorite (delicious! sustainable! fish that’s more “meaty” than “fishy”!) barramundi fillets again today *cue happy dance*. You might remember them from this lemon garlic pasta! Or this barramundi corn chowder! And these hoisin sandwiches!
Full disclosure: We might be a little bit low-key obsessed with Australis. And by low-key obsessed, I mean we stan it. HARD.
How to prepare this oven baked fish recipe:
Whisk a bit of melted butter together with some garlic, white wine, capers and lemon. Add red pepper flakes or herbs and other seasonings if you like! Pour that sauce over your barramundi, bake it up, and BOOM. Dinner on the table in well under thirty minutes (no bread crumbs or other breading necessary!)
About the white wine sauce for this fish:
We kept this wine sauce ULTRA simple: just whisk it together, pour it over your fish, and bake.
If you want to build a bit more flavor into the sauce (or give the wine more of a chance to cook off!) you can sauté the garlic in butter in a skillet over medium heat, then add the rest of the wine sauce ingredients and simmer until you’re ready to bake the fish. Bake the fish in the oven or cook it right in the wine sauce on the stovetop!
You’ll know the fish is done when your barramundi turns a bright white and flakes easily with a fork.
How to serve your baked barramundi:
We love serving our baked fish with lemon wedges for an extra bit of flavor! We also added a few handfuls of arugula in these photos (SO GOOD with a big ol’ drizzle of that leftover sauce!)
But we’re firm believers that just about everything goes with baked fish. Some of our favorite sides to serve with this barramundi: quick roasted vegetables, a big salad, a loaf of crusty bread, pasta, rice, farro, or risotto!
You’ll have a bit of sauce left in the pan once your white fish is baked – and we give you our permission – NAY, OUR ENCOURAGEMENT – to pour it over baaaaasically everything else on your plate. You won’t be sorry.
Description
An easy baked fish recipe with white wine, garlic, lemon, and capers.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces barramundi (about 2 fillets), thawed
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup white wine (we like Chardonnay or Dry Riesling)
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon capers
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Lemon wedges (optional) for serving
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Lay barramundi fillets in a single layer in a medium baking dish.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the garlic, white wine, melted butter, lemon juice, capers, salt, and pepper.
- Pour sauce over barramundi. Spoon the sauce over the top of the fish a few times to make sure it’s evenly coated.
- Bake at 375 degrees F for 15-18 minutes until fish is bright white, opaque, and easily flakes with a fork.
- Serve fish immediately with a drizzle of sauce from the pan and fresh lemon wedges (optional).
Notes
What should I serve with baked fish? We served this baked barramundi with lemon wedges and fresh arugula. It’s also delicious with kale or mixed greens, roasted vegetables, pasta, rice or farro, or mashed potatoes. Drizzle any leftover sauce you have over salads, greens, pasta, or other side dishes you make! We also HIGHLY recommend using a loaf of our favorite Easy Crusty Bread to sop up any extra sauce (SO GOOD!)
Additions and Substitutions. This is a great blank-canvas recipe! Add red pepper flakes or herbs (we love basil, dill, or rosemary) to the sauce before baking for extra flavor. To make this recipe without wine, use an additional 4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) of melted butter and an additional 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice. Top baked fish with herbs, thin lemon slices, or greens for extra color. Use orange juice in place of the lemon juice if you like.
To make this recipe on the stovetop, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, then add the rest of the sauce ingredients and the barramundi. Simmer, flipping once or frequently spooning sauce over the top of the fish, until cooked through. You can also add some veggies (we love asparagus, green beans, broccoli, or squash) and make this fish en papillote if you like. We recommend using about half as much sauce when baking in paper or foil packets.
Season generously! Because we’re working with so few ingredients, salt and pepper are extra important here. We love giving our sauce a very generous pinch of kosher salt and plenty of fresh ground black pepper. When in doubt, taste your sauce and add seasoning as necessary! If you prefer not to season with salt, add some extra lemon juice and fresh or dried herbs to help the flavors shine. Barramundi isn’t an especially salty or “fishy” fish, so it holds up to a well-seasoned sauce.
Ingredients and Equipment. We use sustainably-farmed Australis Barramundi in this recipe. Learn more about their sustainability practices here! We love a medium glass mixing bowl and an 8×10 casserole dish for this recipe.
Where can I buy barramundi? Use the Store Locator to find Australis Barramundi near you, or find it in the freezer section at Whole Foods nationwide!
Keywords: oven, seafood, sustainable
I often cook such marinades for both fish and poultry, and also for meat. I love the delicate aroma and taste of wine in the marinade, when the alcohol evaporates, and only spicy notes remain. I’m also a fan of garlic! Probably no seasoning can smell so bright like garlic. The main thing is not to cook such a dish for a first date :)))
★★★★★
yum yum yum yummy. thank you for this recipe 🙂
Thank you Daisy for the compliment.