Sauté Fish Fillets
Many people may find the idea of cooking fish at home a little intimidating; however, with a little practice, you can learn to make delicious fish every time. This guide will help you to learn to sauté fish fillets. This is an excellent way to prepare white fish such as snapper, halibut, sole, and tilapia, and is also good with salmon.
Ingredients
- Fresh fish fillets
- Oil (olive oil and/or butter)
- Salt and pepper
- Seafood seasonings of choice
Steps
- Rinse your fillets with cool water and then dry them.
- Season your fillets as appropriate with coarse salt, pepper, herbs or other flavors you enjoy.
- Add a reasonable amount of oil or butter to your skillet (maybe two tablespoons), and heat to medium or medium-high (you don't want the oil to smoke). An especially flavorful combination of oils is a mixture of olive oil and butter.
- Place the fillets carefully into the skillet, being careful to avoid splashing the oil. If the fillets have skins, place them skin side down.
- Cook the fillets between 1 - 4 minutes.
- Shake the pan occasionally while the fish is cooking to prevent it from sticking (more frequently if your pan does not have a non-stick coating).
- Turn the fish over and cook for another 1 - 4 minutes.
- Check your fish for doneness. Look for the fish to flake without much effort and be opaque in the middle.
- Remove fish from the pan as soon as it's done cooking to prevent residual cooking.
- Serve and enjoy!
Tips
- The reserved oil and drippings in the pan can be used with ingredients such as tomatoes, capers, shallots or lemon juice to make a sauce to season the fish.
- Try not to move the fish any more than you have to, or flip it more than one time. This will help produce a slightly crispy outside of the fillet and a moist inside.
- For thicker fish, covering the pan can be a good way to help make sure that the inside is cooked before the outside becomes overdone.
- Your cooking time for fish fillets will vary greatly depending upon the thickness of the fish. Sole and tilapia may require just a minute or so on one side, while thicker fish such as halibut may take four minutes or more.
- If your fillets have skins on them, they can usually be removed with little effort once they have been cooked on the skin side of the fillet.
Warnings
- When cooking, be careful of the hot oil in the pan. Oil can cause grease fires and serious burns, so avoid spilling it onto lit burners or skin.
- Be sure to buy good quality fresh fish from a reputable market. Your efforts will be in vain if you start from a poor quality piece of fish.
Things You'll Need
- 10-inch or larger skillet (with lid preferred)
- Spatula
