Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass with Lemon Caper Butter
This Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass with Lemon Caper Butter is a delicious 20-minute meal! It seems fancy but couldn’t be easier to make. Perfect for date night! Whole30, Paleo, Keto, and Gluten Free.
I made a very similar sea bass for date night a couple of months ago, and I seriously haven’t been able to stop thinking about how delicious it was! The brininess from the capers and richness from the butter are the perfect compliment to this mild, flaky fish. This is a great meal to make for a special occasion or date night in! Sea bass can be on the expensive side, so we only have it every once in a while. I served it over a creamy garlic cauliflower mash and it was just SO GOOD! I can’t wait for you to try it.
What You Need to Make This Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass with Lemon Caper Butter
- 2 6-oz Chilean Sea Bass fillets – I’ve gotten these at Whole Foods fresh, and at Wegmans frozen. Either way will work!
- Avocado oil
- Ghee, vegan butter, or regular butter
- Lemon
- Capers
For the Creamy Garlic Cauliflower Mash:
- 32 oz frozen cauliflower or 1 large head cauliflower. I like to get the family size pack from Wegman’s.
- Chicken broth
- Ghee or vegan butter
- Coconut cream (just the thick part from a can of coconut milk) – I love Thai Kitchen brand
- Garlic powder
You can also serve this fish over my easy Instant Pot Risotto with Peas, pasta, or mashed potatoes! This sauce is amazing on so many things.
How To Make Pan Seared Sea Bass with Lemon Caper Butter
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Pat your sea bass fillets dry and coat on both sides with 1 tbsp avocado oil. Sprinkle the fillets with salt and pepper.
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Preheat your oven to 425. Heat the remaining 1 tbsp avocado oil in a cast iron (or other oven-safe skillet) over medium high heat. When the pan is nice and hot, add the fillets skin side down (if they have skin). Let them cook, untouched, for 5 mins. Flip and cook for an additional 5 minutes. It helps to use a metal spatula to prevent the bottom of the fish from sticking to the pan!
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Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook for an additional 5 minutes. The fish should flake easily with a fork at this point.
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While the fish is cooking, make the cauliflower mash. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the frozen cauliflower. Cook it for 10-15 minutes until you can easily pierce the florets with a fork. Drain the cauliflower really well and return it to the pot. Add in the chicken broth, coconut milk, garlic powder, and salt. Use an immersion blender (or regular blender or food processor) to blend up the cauliflower until very thick and creamy.
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Melt the ghee (or vegan butter) in a sauce pan on the stove, or in the microwave. Stir in the lemon juice and capers. Serve the fish over some cauliflower mash and spoon some of the lemon butter caper sauce over top. Enjoy!
I used a 10.25 inch Lodge cast iron skillet to make this! Love this pan so much!
Other Healthy Seafood Recipes to Try:
Gluten Free Baked Feta Pasta with Shrimp
Maple Dijon Pistachio Crusted Salmon
If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram @maryswholelife so I can see your creations!
Enjoy!
Mary
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Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass with Lemon Caper Butter
Ingredients
- 2 6 oz Chilean Sea Bass fillets, thawed if previously frozen
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- salt & pepper, to taste
- ¼ cup ghee, vegan butter, or regular butter
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- ¼ cup capers
Creamy Garlic Cauliflower Mash
- 32 oz frozen cauliflower, or fresh florets
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- ¼ cup Ghee or vegan butter
- ¼ cup full fat coconut cream, just the thick part from a can of coconut milk
- 1 tsp sea salt, more to taste
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Pat your sea bass fillets dry and coat on both sides with 1 tbsp avocado oil. Sprinkle the fillets with salt and pepper.
- Preheat your oven to 425. Heat the remaining 1 tbsp avocado oil in a cast iron (or other oven-safe skillet) over medium high heat. When the pan is nice and hot, add the fillets skin side down (if they have skin). Let them cook, untouched, for 5 mins. Flip and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook for an additional 5 minutes. The fish should flake easily with a fork at this point.
- While the fish is cooking, make the cauliflower mash. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the frozen cauliflower. Cook it for 10-15 minutes until you can easily pierce the florets with a fork. Drain the cauliflower really well and return it to the pot. Add in the chicken broth, coconut milk, ghee (or vegan butter), garlic powder, and salt. Use an immersion blender (or regular blender or food processor) to blend up the cauliflower until very thick and creamy.
- Melt the ghee (or vegan butter) for the lemon butter sauce the microwave or in a sauce pan on the stove. Stir in the lemon juice and capers. Serve the fish over some cauliflower mash and spoon some of the lemon butter caper sauce over top. Enjoy!
56 Comments on “Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass with Lemon Caper Butter”
Really easy very tasty recipe. Well definitely be a repeat in our house!
Thank you so very much for this elegant recipe! It was gorgeous and so delicious. We will make this again and again.
First of all recipe is delicious. Are the nutritional values for fish only? Or including the cauliflower mash???
Lovely recipe! I am still thinking about it the next afternoon…
Why did you sear it AND bake it? What is the advantage of that over just searing or just baking?”
This was amazing! I was vacationing in Hilton Head and wanted to make with a local fish so I used golden tilefish. It was so delicious and looked much fancier than the time it took to make. Cannot wait to make this one again!
This dish was amazing. I paired it with your risotto w/ peas and everything was delish. Thank you for providing such wonderful recipes!
Forgot to rate it – 5 stars for sure!
Fantastic instructions for a perfect meal!
Have had this fish in restaurants and was buttery, soft, and delicious. I believe the thickness of the fish makes the variation of this recipe. My fish fillet was a slice of bass, skin on the edge, approx 1/3″ thick. Followed the recipe for cooking fish, the outside was to crunchy yet the fish tasted fatty. I am attributing this to my inexperience in cooking sea bass, not the recipe. For the lemon caper sauce, I opted for a low fat version omitted the butter, added fresh garlic, extra lemon and artichoke hearts, delicious! The mashed cauliflower, done before with a hand masher, blender made it much better, added a couple tablespoons of nutritional yeast, delicious! Will totally make again!
Delicious! And very easy to make.
thanks Gigi!
This recipe is spot on. Was so yummy for a Valentine’s Day splurge! I baked mine for 2 extra minutes because they were pretty thick, and they came out perfectly. Like the recipe says, don’t touch them while searing! You get the perfect crust that is so delicious for the perfect crisp outside and flaky buttery inside.
Thank you, Rachel!
Oh my goodness!! This Chilean sea bass was delicious!! Restaurant quality!! Maybe even better! Perfect cooking instructions, easy to follow.
What a wonderful and easy recipe. My wife thought it was better than any restaurant seebass dish we’ve ever tasted!! Thank you Mary!! I gave you a hashtag on my Instagram!!
This is by far our favorite recipe we’ve ever tried! Every bit of it… (even though I’m not a huge fan of cauliflower) the mango salsa is delish, the Aïoli, everything is so fresh and delicious!
We use our air fried, which makes it so easy, too! I love a shortcut!
Thanks Shannon!!
Best fish recipe i’ve ever tried! i used a tad less butter in the lemon/butter/caper drizzle. 100% will make again.
So glad you enjoyed it, Christine!
This is a great combination of flavors and I recommend this recipe, even though I couldn’t do the cauliflower this time. I have two caveats. I suggest only going at medium heat in the first steps with the fish if you have a high power cooktop like a Wolf. Otherwise it could be a little over seared. You suggest this for date night a few times. It puts out a lot of smoke, at least mine did. Better have a great evac fan. However, your date will forget about the cloud of smoke after the first bite!
I made this with a few modifications and it was amazing. We bought the Chilean sea bass at Wildforks and added Parmesan cheese to the cauliflower mash and then surrounded it with a moat of sautéed garlic chili flake spinach. Added a little white wine to the lemon caper butter and reduced it. You can see my pics on my post on chef_Wunderbar on Instagram. Thanks for the idea and as I always write it was simply Wunderbar! 👍👍
Is there a comparable fish that I could substitute in this recipe?
Any white fish will work great! Halibut or cod are comparable.
I cannot find avocado oil in our place can i use grape oil or anu other oil?
Very tasty, we loved it thanks 😊
This dish looked so good I HAD to try it and it didn’t disappoint. I went the vegan route for the mash as my daughter is vegan and she substituted firm tofu for the fish and WOW with both proteins. My 10yr old son devoured it. A Winner all around.
Thanks, Julie! So glad you enjoyed it!