Thin sea bass fillets are well seasoned and pan-seared to create a quick tasty meal. May this Pan Seared Sea Bass become a regular on your dinner table. You could replace sea bass with any other fish with firm flesh.
1poundsea bass filletsI had 5 thin fillets per pound.
½teaspoonsalt
⅛teaspoonground black pepper
½teaspoongarlic powder
½teaspoononion powder
2Tablespoonsolive oil
Minced parsley for garnish
Lemon wedges for serving
Instructions
Prep fish: Remove fish fillets from the fridge 30 minutes before cooking so they can come to room temperature. Pat the fillets dry with paper towels.
Season fish: Sprinkle both sides of the fish with the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
Heat skillet and add fish: Put a large skillet, preferably a cast iron skillet, over medium-high heat to get hot. Add the olive oil and swirl so it coats the pan. Add the fish skin side down to the skillet pressing it down to ensure it touches the pan.
Pan sear fish: Cook on one side for about 2-3 minutes until the skin crisps up and is golden brown then turn and cook on the other side for another 1-2 minutes. I used really thin fillets so they cooked extremely fast. If your fillets are thicker you might need to cook them longer. Be careful not to overcook the fish. Fish is cooked when it flakes easily with a fork.
Serve with lemon wedges and garnished with minced parsley.
Notes
Patting fish dry: Don't miss the step of patting the fish dry with paper towels. This helps the fish crisp up nicely.Cook in batches if you have a smaller skillet. I use my large 12-inch cast iron skillet to cook all the fish at once. But you could use a smaller skillet and cook in batches.Scale the recipe to suit your needs. I need to double the recipe to feed my family of 7. There is a handy dandy scale button at the top of the recipe card to make scaling the recipe easier.