Recipe: Ginger and Cilantro Baked Tilapia Recipes from The Kitchn

Our readers have been requesting more fish recipes, and so today I thought I would revisit this extra-simple, extra-fast recipe that delivers huge flavor in a foolproof package. Fish cooks so fast; this dish is so convenient for those last-minute meals. It was one of my first "grown-up" recipes, a quick meal for busy evenings after work. I would turn to this frequently when living alone or with roommates. It never failed to please, with the pungent, aromatic flavors of cilantro, ginger, and sesame.

It's sweet and spicy, salty from the soy sauce and melting in the middle. It's certainly not the prettiest dish, but it's oh-so-fast, oh-so-easy, and oh-so-good.

On Tilapia and Sustainability
For sustainability, the best tilapia choice is domestically farmed tilapia. Tilapia adapts well to farming, and while domestically farmed tilapia makes up only about 10% of commercially available tilapia, it is the most environmentally friendly choice, according to the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch. A good alternative is farmed tilapia from Central or Southern America. It's best to avoid tilapia from Taiwan and China.

• Tilapia at the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch

Any thin fish fillet would do as well; tilapia isn't your only option.

Ginger and Cilantro Baked Tilapia

serves 2

1 pound domestically farmed tilapia fillets
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 inch fresh ginger, grated, about 1 tablespoon
1 jalapeño pepper, roughly chopped (optional)
1/3 cup roughly chopped cilantro leaves
1/4 cup white wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Scallions, chopped for garnish
Extra cilantro, to garnish

Heat the oven to 475°F. Pat the fish dry, season lightly with salt and pepper, and lay in a 9x9-inch or 8x8-inch ceramic or glass baking dish.

Put the garlic, grated ginger, chopped jalapeño, and cilantro in a small food processor with the white wine, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Whir until blended. (Alternately, you can finely chop or mash the aromatics in a mortar and pestle, then whisk together with the liquid ingredients.)

Pour the sauce over the fish, rubbing it in a little. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily and is cooked through. It will be very moist and even a little gelatinous, still.

Serve immediately over brown rice or orzo, garnished with the additional scallions and cilantro.

Originally published June 14, 2007.

It's Reader Request Week at The Kitchn! This post was requested by lepacrimson and Janet Brandt.

(Images: Faith Durand)

Comments (38)

This is similar to a dish I made this week (minus the tilapia as I'm vegetarian). I made penne with cilantro, ginger, and lime. With lots of olive oil and some grape tomatoes it's a perfect summery pasta dish.

This looks incredible. That picture is fabulous. I think I might try this. I wonder if it will work if I put the fish and the sauce in a foil packet and barbeque it....

I bought some skin on wild salmon last night and have been trying to find a recipe that wouldn't overwhelm the taste of the fish. Does anyone think I could tweak this recipe for salmon?

blondie,
I think the recipe would be fabulous with salmon (I'm even considering making it that way tonight!) I find that salmon, esp. wild salmon, is so flavourful that it's hard to overwhelm it.

Thanks Michelle! I forwarded the recipe to my boyfriend and even though he doesn't really like ginger he thought it was a good idea too. Hopefully it will work out!

Good to see some tilapia exposure. It seems to have a downmarket reputation, but I started buying it recently because it's always inexpensive, fresh (still swimming in tanks behind the counter at some stores), and we really like the texture and taste. Plus, it's an ecologically safe fish, so even better.

I made this for dinner tonight and it was fabulous!

WOW! I am eating this right know its great and SO easy!

we had it last night and it was so easy and delicious...even i could make it.

Another yay...we ate this tonight and loved it. Great flavour and easy.

*sigh* Am I the only one who didn't love it? It might be because I used sole instead of tilapia, but overall, I thought the ginger was too overwhelming.

Really enjoyed this recipe. We pulled back a little on the soy sauce and added a little magic, in the form of fresh chopped mango. Better served with long grain and wild rice mix...to add a little color and texture.

We made this last night as a salad, which worked out wonderfully. I love really simple recipes that pack in so much flavor!

I made this a couple of times over the summer, and it's absolutely wonderful. I used a serrano pepper instead of a jalapeno for a little extra heat since I'm a fan of a little bit more spiciness. Thanks so much for the recipe!

Just fixed this last nite & it was delicious! Quick & easy, also. I, too, added a side of diced mango. Thx for sharing. Please feel free to stop by: Don Tolman Self-Care Revolution

I made this for lunch today (02/15/12) - it was super delicious! I used the recipe as a guideline since I was making enough for the family (8 tilapia fillet) - I used 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup water (instead of wine), entire bunch of cilantro including stems, 1/2 of a serrano chile with the seeds removed, 6 cloves of garlic, a heaping tablespoon of ginger paste and 2 teaspoons of sesame oil. Served with brown rice and kale. For the kale I toasted 1 oz. of chopped walnuts in the pan for a couple minutes and then set aside. I heated 2 teaspoons of sesame oil and sauteed 4 cloves of sliced/crushed garlic for a minute then added 3 bunches of chopped kale (stems removed).... sauteed for additional 7 minutes, then added 1 teaspoon ginger paste, 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce and cooked for an additional minute... added walnuts then served.

Am I missing something? I thought with the re-vamp of the web site we would be able to print recipes easily. Can't seem to find this function. Recipe sounds great and I look forward to trying it.

@51DESKS; Directly under the word 'recipe' in the title is a grey button marked 'Printer-friendly recipe'.

Thanks! Don't know how I missed it!

I just made this last night for dinner. It was so good. My husband even said it was "restaurant" worthy! It's nice to find tried and true recipes from AT. I've made several and they have all worked out well.

I tried this recipe exactly as written. It came out with a rather watery sauce--nice flavour but watery nonetheless. I would decrease the amount of wine and perhaps put in a tablespoon or two of hoisin or black bean sauce.
Nice and easy recipe--thanks Kitchn.

I thought this recipe was delicious, but be warned, if you don't like cilantro then you will NOT like this recipe. That should be fairly obvious from the ingredient list, but I didn't quite realize how overwhelming the cilantro would be in comparison to the other ingredients. Next time I'll set the marinade in the fridge for a few hours so that the other ingredients can shine a little more. I also think boiling it down some or adding less wine would be helpful. It was a lot of liquid for a little bit of fish. Overall, tasty fish recipe. Especially over brown rice!

We eat a lot of Cod on Fridays. Sooooo, this sounds yummy.The cook time will be a bit longer since the fish is thicker than Tilapa, but I'm sure it will be delish. LOVE cilantro, and ginger-so excited for this recipe tonight-thanks

Thank you for the inspiration. I posted a link to this recipe on my blog. You can check out the post here. http://www.samanthaandersenphotography.com/2012/04/menu-plan-mondayweek-1-hl8wc.html

Thank you!

Sounds wonderful! My fiance has the terrible misfortune of not being able to eat fish, any thoughts on translating these flavors for baked chicken?

This has been one of our go-to favorite recipes for a while now. I highly recommend it to folks who haven't tried it yet.

This is going to be dinner tomorrow night! I won't even have to go to the market because I have ALL the ingredients and cilantro and lime are so divine together!

I think dark soy might be better here. Light soy is extremely salty - I would not season the fillets first if using soy sauce.

Just a comment on the domestically farmed tilapia recommended in this recipe, while this variety may be better from the perspective of sustainability, farmed tilapia in the U.S. and more generally, farmed fish, tend to have higher levels of heavy metals and organic contaminants than the wild variety. This makes sense because the farmed fish are consistently exposed to the same pond sediments and same fish feed, so they accumulate more of whatever toxin is present in those sources.
Farmed fish are also often nutritionally inferior (think fatty acids) to wild fish because the nutrition we gain from them depends on what they were fed. If they are fed inferior quality feed (cheapest stuff they can grow on, a.k.a, fish junk food), then the nutrition we gain from them will also be inferior to that from wild fish that grow on a much more varied diet.

While it is important to make environmentally conscious choices, it would be good not to lose sight of the fact that we eat to nourish our bodies. If you are eating fish as part of a healthful diet, it makes more sense to eat wild caught fish.

I made a similar dish last weekend. I used Monk fish instead of Tilapia, because of its silky and buttery texture. Instead of oven baking, I steamed the fish. In the bottom of the steamer, a mixture of 1:1:2 proportion of soy sauce, squeezed orange juice (can be pineapple juice if you have), water, and added ginger and garlic. Loosely chopped cilantro on top of Monk fish while steaming. Absolutely fabulous dish!

Yum, I'm going to try this with salmon. My boyfriend found a place where it's only line caught. Thank you!! I would add just one other thing, wild caught especially non-bottom trawling is better than farmed fish as it pollutes the ocean and fish actually have to be caught and fed to the fish or they use grains = land use as well. Also no omega 3s in tilapia, only 6s.

One of my favorite fishes is Tilapia. Thanks for the recipe. I will have to try this one soon.

I am having a problem printing this recipe. The printer friendly link goes to about blank. I cannot select it either. Surely we can get the complete recipe at the end of the post instead of in the middle whihc ceates a problem. I see that I was not the only person with this problem.

This was fantastic! It was hard for me to not eat the entire amount of it in one sitting... lick the plate good in my opinion. I definitely recommend squeezing fresh lime juice over it before you eat it. WOW. Delish!

I just made this for dinner and it was AMAZING!!! I usually get home from work late so I don't like to make very time consuming dishes, usually just pasta or salad but this took me 30 minutes from start to finish and it was SO good. I forgot to add the ginger, I didn't realize until the fish was already baking but it was still really really good. Definitely making this again!

please help...would pan frying / sautéing work for this dish? say perhaps 3 minutes per side? thanks much.

M2

I am a total novice when it comes to cooking; I love trying my hand at it though. I only have an electric skillet...how long should I sauté my fish? Thank you for your advice...

I made this for dinner and it was a huge hit! I served it over black rice and sliced up zucchini that I included in the pan to cook with the fish, and it worked perfectly together. Absolutely delicious and guilt free!