This 15-minute Sea Bass Recipe with Garlic Butter is pan-seared to perfection and basted in a rich butter sauce infused with garlic and fresh herbs. An easy main dish perfect for the light, easy and quick dinner!
If you don’t usually cook sea bass at home, this is a perfect recipe to start with. It’s quick, easy to customize, and looks impressive on the plate!
Because sea bass is a mild, white fish, it absorbs flavors beautifully. Basting it with garlic butter makes it incredibly flavorful, buttery, and juicy. Pair that with crispy skin and you’ve got pure chef’s kiss perfection! It’s SO good—and a dish you’ll want to make again and again.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Sea bass fillets — If you can’t find Chilean sea bass at your market, you can use another type of fish, such as cod fish, grouper or halibut. I’ve made this recipe with all these white fish, and since they have a similar mild and delicate flavor, they work just as well.
Seasonings — A simple blend of onion powder (or garlic powder), paprika, sea salt, and black pepper.
Olive oil — Cooking the sea bass in olive oil will give it a nice crispy sear.
Butter — The base of our sauce, so use a quality unsalted butter that tastes great.
Garlic — I crush it gently with the flat side of a knife to release more flavor.
Fresh thyme — I love making this recipe with thyme because it adds a lot of flavor to the sauce and makes a lovely garnish. But I’ve also made this recipe with fresh cilantro, which is especially great for fish tacos! If you only have fresh parsley or basil on hand, feel free to use that too.
Lemon wedges — Serve with lemon wedges on the side.
Optional: You can make a lemon butter sauce by adding fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, and capers to garlic butter sauce for extra brightness.
Instruction to Cook Sea Bass
1. First, pat the sea bass filets dry with a paper towel and season them evenly with onion powder, paprika, kosher salt, and pepper.
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet (cast iron skillet), then reduce to medium heat. Place the fillets in the skillet skin-side down and sear the fish undisturbed for 3 to 4 minutes. Then, gently flip them and cook for another minute or two.
3. Add the butter, crushed garlic and a sprig of thyme. Then, tilt the skillet towards you so the butter pools, and spoon it over the fish for 15 seconds. Lay the skillet back down and cook for 30 seconds.
4. Keep cooking and basting until it reaches the internal temperature 135°F. Check it with a thermometer.
5. Sprinkle some fresh thyme leaves on top of the fish filets, serve with lemon wedges!
How To Store Leftovers
To Store: Keep the cooled leftovers in an air-tight glass container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.
To Freeze: You can freeze cooked sea bass for up to 3 months. Just let it cool completely before placing it in a freezer-safe container. And don’t forget the garlic butter – it freezes well too!
To Reheat: I reheat the leftovers in a skillet on the stovetop to keep the skin nice and crispy. The air fryer is another great option!
What To Serve With:
Stay on theme and make these delicious garlic butter green beans! Or, whip up this couscous salad in under 15 minutes while your pan fried fish recipe cooks.
Anytime there’s garlic butter involved, I have to have rice or air fryer baby potatoes cause they’re even better drizzled in garlic butter!
Sea Bass Recipe with Garlic Butter
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Ingredients
- 4 sea bass fillets
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- salt and black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tablespoons butter cubed
- 2 garlic cloves crushed and peeled
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- lemon wedges for serving
Instructions
- Pat sea bass fillets dry and season with onion powder, paprika, salt and pepper.
- Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until it is hot but not smoking.
- Once heated, reduce the heat to medium and carefully place the sea bass fillets skinned side down in the skillet. Cook the fish without moving it until the underside is light golden brown. It’ll table about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Using two fish spatulas, gently flip the fillets and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add butter around the fish in the skillet. Once the butter is melted, add crushed garlic and fresh thyme. Tilt the skillet slightly toward you so that the butter pools at the front.
- Using a large spoon, scoop up the melted butter and pour it over the fish repeatedly for 15 seconds. Place the skillet flat on the burner and continue cooking for 30 seconds more. Tilt the skillet again and baste for another 15 seconds.
- Keep the skillet flat on the burner and check the temperature of the thickest part of each fillet. Continue alternating between basting and cooking until the fillets reach an internal temperature of 135°F at the thickest point, which should take approximately 2 minutes more.
- Transfer the cooked fish fillets to individual plates. Discard the garlic cloves and thyme. Top each fillet with some fresh thyme leaves, drizzle with the butter remaining in the skillet, and serve with lemon wedges.
Tips
- It’s best to go with fillets that are similar in size, so they cook at the same rate.
- Careful not to overcrowd the skillet, or the sea bass will steam instead of sear.
- Be sure to pat the fillets dry with a paper towel to help the seasonings adhere better.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.
Olivia Ribas says
Armando RU ELAS says
Can I get the recipe of the halibut fish grill?
Olivia Ribas says
I’ve never made this recipe on a grill. I’ll test this recipe on a grill and I’ll let you know how it turned out.
Samantha says
So good!!!!
Olivia Ribas says
Happy you liked it. It’s so good and flaky!!