Parmesan Crusted Tilapia is the one of the BEST tilapia recipes we’ve ever tasted. This Baked Lemon Pepper Tilapia recipe is as healthy as it is delicious, and it’s SUPER EASY as well! It is so flavorful and made in under 20 minutes. Best Easy Tilapia Recipe!
Table of Contents
Parmesan Crusted Tilapia
This Parmesan Crusted Lemon Pepper Tilapia is one of the best baked tilapia recipe I’ve ever had. So delicious, healthy, and easy!
This baked Parmesan Crusted Tilapia recipe checks a lot of boxes for me. It’s easy (made in under 20 minutes), healthy (under 350 calories), and SO DELICIOUS!
I have always loved seafood, especially shrimp recipes, salmon and tilapia, so I’m always looking for new EASY Seafood Recipes to add to the list. This healthy baked tilapia recipe is the perfect addition!
I’ve been trying to make healthier dishes lately, and its always a plus when they are easy as well. This Lemon Pepper Tilapia Recipe blew me away. Prep time and cook time COMBINED only took 15 minutes. Like I said…I’m in love.
Baked Lemon Pepper Tilapia
This lemon pepper tilapia recipe is one of the tastiest and easiest fish recipes. It only takes about 15 minutes to get this cooked and on the table!
What does tilapia taste like?
Tilapia is a very mild and flakey white fish. It doesn’t have a fishy taste or odor at all. I love that it has such a mild flavor that lends itself to virtually any flavor combination. So delicious!
What are the health benefits of eating tilapia?
Eating tilapia has many beneficial qualities, such as nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, including significant amounts of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, potassium, vitamin B12, niacin, and vitamin B6.
Well, wow! Don’t mind if I do. I’m ready to make this HEALTHY recipe for dinner now.
How to store tilapia:
- Fridge: 3-4 days
- Freezer: up to 4 months
You can tell that tilapia has gone bad if it develops a fishy odor/sour smell or has a dull color/slimy texture.
How to Cook Tilapia
Lemon Pepper Parmesan Crusted Tilapia Recipe:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Mix together the grated Parmesan, lemon pepper, parsley and salt. Drizzle with olive oil, then coat with the cheese mixture, pressing it in lightly with your fingers to make sure it sticks. sprinkle lightly with shredded parmesan. Transfer to foil lined baking sheet.
- Bake until the fish is opaque in the thickest part, about 10 minutes.
- To brown further, broil for about 5 more minutes until cheese crust is slightly crispy (watch carefully to make sure fish doesn’t burn)
- Top with green onions and serve and serve with lemon wedges, optional.
Be sure to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions!
What to serve with tilapia?
The lemon pepper parmesan crust on this baked tilapia recipe is so flavorful and simple.
I tend to serve it with rice for a simple side, and it is a delicious, EASY, and healthy dinner.
This Parmesan Crusted Tilapia would also be tasty served with sides such as Brussels Sprouts, Crock Pot Potatoes, or Parmesan Broccoli.
YUM. Who knew healthy tasted this good! This is the type of recipe that makes me want to find more healthy recipes that are light on calories but not flavor.
Baked Not Fried
Is it possible to love a baked recipe just as much as a fried recipe? Is it possible for baked recipes to be crispy and flavorful, just like fried recipes? The answer is absolutely yes, and we think this Baked Tilapia is the perfect example!
I hope you can make this easy parmesan crusted tilapia recipe, and then use the extra time to enjoy your family, friends, or whatever you choose! I think I’ll waste mine by watching all the reality tv on my DVR.
There’s always some version of the Real Housewives on my DVR that is calling my name!
I love that this is a quick and tasty seafood recipe that even the pickiest of eaters will love. This is such a mild fish, a great starter fish for someone that might not be sure they love seafood. See below for more of our seafood favorites as well!
More Seafood Recipes we Love
This Baked Fish is one of our favorite tilapia recipes, but it’s just one of many favorite seafood recipes! Be sure to try them all.
If you make this Tilapia be sure to let us know by uploading a photo below or leaving a rating! Hope you love it.
Parmesan Crusted Lemon Pepper Tilapia Recipe – Best Tilapia Recipes
Ingredients
- 4 tilapia filets about 4 oz each
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/8 teaspoon salt see note
- 1 tablespoon lemon pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
For Garnish
- 1/4 cup diced green onions optional
- lemon cut into wedges
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Mix together the grated Parmesan, lemon pepper, parsley and salt. Drizzle the tilapia with olive oil, then coat with the cheese mixture, pressing it in lightly with your fingers to make sure it sticks. sprinkle lightly with shredded parmesan. Transfer to foil lined baking sheet.
- Bake until the fish is opaque in the thickest part, about 10 minutes.
- To brown further, broil for about 5 more minutes until cheese crust is slightly crispy (watch carefully to make sure fish doesn’t burn)
- Top with green onions and serve and serve with lemon wedges, optional.
- Enjoy!
Last step! Don’t forget to show me a pic of what you made! Upload an image or tag me @thecookierookie on Instagram!
Becky’s tips
Nutrition Information
I made a bit of a modified recipe: only grated parmesan (no shredded), no lemon pepper (lemon and herb seasoning instead), freshly ground pepper to account for the missing lemon pepper, and no salt since the lemon/herb seasoning already had salt.
The recipe’s flavor worked very well, but I think I made a mistake with how much olive oil I used. My recommendation is to make sure you don’t use too much olive oil. I ended up coating the fish in olive oil first, but if doing the recipe again, I would take more time to try to use as little olive oil as possible while coating the fish. For me it ended up not being as crispy (and a little gooey), but I think using the correct amount of olive oil would fix that.
Thanks for sharing, Brad!
This recipe was quick and soooo good!!! Hubby says it’s a winner!
Thanks for sharing your success with us!
Really enjoyed this. Trying to get the hubby to eat healthier, but needs a little something. Broiling made it nice and crispy. Very tasty!
Thanks for stopping by, Kelly!
I thought this was excellent! I didn’t have any lemon pepper seasoning so I used a garlic pepper instead. It had smoked paprika is it which was thought gave it a bolder note. I mixed the parm with the garlic pepper seasoning & the parsley in a separate bowl & I had enough of the mix left that I added it to some French green beans AND mashed potatoes! Fantastic!
Thanks for sharing, Tim!!
“Oh this is soo good” was my husband’s reaction to his first bite. This will definitely be a regular at our house. Thank you so much. I would have included a picture but he whisked it away so quickly to eat it!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing, Susan!
Keeping this one in the file. Easy peasy and really yummy. Not sure where the neagtve reviews are coming from – I’ll be pulling this one out to make over and over again.
Thanks for sharing, Mary!
So I made this recipe today and it was DELICIOUS.
You may be thinking, well Devin, if it was DELICIOUS, why didn’t you give it 5 stars?
Well Mr/Ms/Mrs/Mx reader, I found the fish to be a bit bland. While tilapia is great on its own, it does need a little bit of help from salt and pepper (and if you want to go all out on lemon pepper, that as well). However, make the tilapia how you like it, add garlic powder, red pepper flakes (for some heat), whatever you desire.
As far as the parmesan crust goes, it was TO DIE FOR. It was one of THE BEST parmesan crusts I have ever made. The only one to top it is probably America’s Test Kitchen’s recipe. This one, is definitely more tailored to fish.
Keep up the good work Becky!
~Devin
Thanks for stopping by, Devin!
don’t recommend this recipe, followed step by step. The parmesan stuck awfully on the aluminum foil and burnt quick, while the fish was still under cooked.
I am sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you, Kristine!
I have cooked this the last two nights and had the EXACT same issue. I was starting to question everything I’ve ever cooked in my life and was completely down on myself. I’m sorry this happened to you as well but I’m relieved it wasn’t just me.
Turned out really good ! I lightened up on all the cheese and only used grated Parmesan, and still the fish came out delish. Also you can increase broil time to 10 min ( if using toaster oven )to achieve the color you want .Thanks !
Thanks, Ellana!
This ended up being incredibly salty for us and I even spread the topping out between 6 filets instead of 4. We actually scraped off as much of the topping as possible to make it edible…and I even typically like my food pretty salty. I wonder if lemon pepper varies? The brand that I use has salt as the first ingredient. And of course, grated Parmesan is pretty salty too.
I think had it not been so salty though that we would have loved it! My recommendation to anyone trying this recipe is to skip the salt. You can always add it when you are eating it if you still think it needs more salt.
Oh I’m sorry it was salty! I love that suggestion and I need to remake it to test some things out. I totally appreciate you letting me know!
I just had a similar experience. I was using Kroger’s Value Lemon & Pepper Seasoning and decided to look it up some nutritional info. Turns out the value seasoning had about 3.5 times the sodium that other brands did. Guess salt is cheap filler. I think I’ll invest in some better lemon pepper and give this another try.