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!
This is always on my menu!
Seafood has always been a big part of my life and cooking style. I grew up in a beach town in Brazil, where fresh fish and seafood were often part of our family meals and gatherings. Some of my favorite food memories involve simple seafood recipes made with fresh ingredients and shared around the table with family.
Over the years, as someone who has spent more than a decade developing easy, flavorful recipes, seafood has remained one of my favorite ingredients to cook with, especially when it comes to quick weeknight dinners.
I’m particularly known among my readers for my garlic butter recipes because it’s one of the easiest ways to turn simple seafood into something truly delicious. Recipes like my baked garlic butter salmon that’s bake in foil and pan-seared garlic butter cod are all staples in my kitchen and on my weekly dinner rotation.
Sea bass is another fish I absolutely love cooking with. It’s incredibly flaky, tender, and has such a mild flavor that pairs beautifully with simple ingredients like butter, garlic, and fresh herbs.
At home, we love serving this sea bass fillet recipe with creamy mashed potatoes or a fresh salad like easy Mediterranean salad and now you have a wholesome and delicious dinner that comes together quickly for the whole family.
All ingredients and their amounts are listed in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
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.
Butter — Butter is the base of the sauce here, so I always recommend using a good-quality unsalted butter. Since the recipe has only a few ingredients, the flavor of the butter really shines through. I prefer unsalted because it lets me control the seasoning better and creates a richer, smoother garlic butter sauce for the sea bass.
Garlic — I like using whole garlic cloves that I gently crush with the flat side of a knife. This is a little trick I’ve learned from cooking fish many times. Crushing the garlic releases its natural oils and flavor without chopping it too finely. The cloves slowly infuse the butter as the fish cooks, giving the sea bass a delicious garlicky flavor while preventing the garlic from burning.
Fresh thyme — I love using fresh thyme in this fish recipe because it adds a subtle earthy aroma that pairs beautifully with delicate fish like sea bass. I’ve also made this recipe with fresh parsley and cilantro, which gives it a brighter, fresher twist, especially delicious if you’re serving the fish in tacos.
Optional: You can make a lemon butter sauce by adding fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, and capers to garlic butter sauce for extra brightness.
How to Make This Garlic Butter Sea Bass
1: I always pat the sea bass fillets very well with paper towels before seasoning. If the skin is wet, it will steam instead of crisping in the pan.
2: Sea bass has a naturally delicate flavor, so I keep the seasoning simple: sea salt, black pepper, paprika, and onion or garlic powder.
Quick Note: One trick I’ve learned from cooking fish many times is to leave the fillets alone for a few minutes once they’re in the pan. Moving them too early can tear the skin and prevent it from crisping properly.
3: Over medium heat, start cooking the fillets with the skin side down in a hot pan. The skin protects the delicate flesh while it cooks and helps create that golden, crispy texture everyone loves.
4: Garlic burns quickly, so I always add the butter, garlic, and herbs toward the end of cooking. This keeps the butter fragrant and rich instead of bitter. Once the butter melts, I like to tilt the pan slightly and spoon the garlic butter over the fillets.
My best tips for cooking sea bass perfectly every time:
Buy fillets that are close to the same size. Sea bass fillets can vary a lot in thickness even within the same package. When they’re mismatched, the thinner ones overcook while you’re waiting on the thicker ones to finish.
Give the fish room in the skillet. I cook two fillets at a time in a standard sized pan. Crowding them drops the pan temperature fast, and instead of a crisp sear you end up steaming the fish.
I pull mine at 135°F, not 145°F. The FDA guideline for fish is 145°F, and that’s the safe number to go by if you’re new to cooking fish. But I’ve tested this recipe dozens of times, and at 135°F the center is still tender and just barely opaque, without drying out. The fish keeps cooking a couple more degrees once it’s off the heat, so pulling it slightly early matters.
Look for firm, almost translucent flesh with a clean ocean smell. Growing up around fresh seafood in Brazil taught me what to avoid at the fish counter. If the flesh looks dull or yellowed, or the smell is at all sour or ammonia like, skip it. That’s the fish that turns mushy in the pan no matter how well you cook it.
More Seafood Recipes!
Garlic Butter Sea Bass (Pan Seared)
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 take 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.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?
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Can I get the recipe of the halibut fish grill?
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.
So good!!!!
Happy you liked it. It’s so good and flaky!!