Blackened Tilapia
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Blackened tilapia makes a super quick and flavorful weeknight meal. You can have it on the table in just 15 minutes!
Tilapia is a flaky, mild-tasting, inexpensive, and readily available white fish that’s super easy to cook and prepare. It is especially good blackened, which doesn’t mean burnt but rather coated in a Cajun-style spice blend that takes on a dark reddish-brown, almost black color when cooked. In this quick and simple recipe, the fish fillets are dusted with a rub made from spices, brown sugar, and salt and then sautéed in olive oil until blackened and flaky.
Serve the blackened tilapia with a vegetable, like roasted asparagus, along with cornbread muffins, cilantro lime rice, hush puppies, or cheddar bay biscuits.
Table of Contents
“First time making tilapia this way. Now, it’s gonna be my only way.”
What You’ll Need To Make Blackened Tilapia
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by making the Cajun spice rub. In a small bowl, combine paprika, brown sugar, oregano, salt, cumin, garlic powder, and cayenne. Don’t worry about the amount of cayenne — the spice rub has a little kick but the dish won’t be too spicy, even for kids.
Mix to combine.
Evenly dust the spice rub evenly all over the tilapia fillets.
Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick pan, then add the tilapia, presentation side down.
Cook a few minutes per side, until crisp and reddish-brown (“blackened”) on the outside and flaky on the inside.
Enjoy!
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Blackened Tilapia
Blackened tilapia makes a super quick and flavorful weeknight meal. You can have it on the table in just 15 minutes!
Ingredients
- 1½ teaspoons paprika
- 1½ teaspoons light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 six-ounce tilapia fillets
- 1 lime, cut into wedges (optional, for serving)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, for cooking
Instructions
- Combine the paprika, brown sugar, oregano, garlic powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt in a small bowl; mix until well combined (use your fingers to break up the lumps of brown sugar). Sprinkle the spice rub evenly over both sides of the tilapia fillets.
- Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large non-stick pan. Cook the fillets for 2-3 minutes on each side until reddish-brown on the outside and flaky on the inside. Serve immediately with lime wedges.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 236
- Fat: 10g
- Saturated fat: 2g
- Carbohydrates: 3g
- Sugar: 2g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 34g
- Sodium: 672mg
- Cholesterol: 85mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Comments
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Super easy to make. Very good flavor! Also, leftovers reheated nicely.
Thanks for the recipe!
First time making tilapia this way. Now, it’s gonna be my only way.
So easy and so delicious! Thank you.
Can this be made and frozen? Then thaw and fry?
Hi Diane, I’ve never done it. I suspect it should work, but because the only real work is making the spice mix, you can definitely make that ahead and just coat fresh fish when you’re ready to cook it.
I”m hoping the recipe is better than the website. Holy crap on a cracker with the ads.
I made this tonight and this was so savory. It was a little salty so I’ll reduce the salt next go around. However, the different spices blended so nicely together. I will be making this again!
This Blackened Tilapia recipe is amazingly delicious. My husband and I have it for dinner once a week. The flavors from all the different seasonings added to the tilapia is out of this world! I use smoked paprika, not sure what you use, but if you haven’t tried it with smoked paprika, I highly recommend it!😉
I need to check out some of your other recipes, Thank you for this one!
Oh my goood this was amazing. I only used 2 filets though and I loved the amount of spice. I was hesitant with that 1 tsp of salt but it was the perfect amount. For the thicker cut, I did 2 mins on each side. For the thinner filets I did 2 mins, then 1 min. I loved the charred crunchy bits and I’m going to mix up a big batch of the seasoning to keep on hand for quick dinners. That’s how good this was!
Made a hundred times and love it. Can I apply the seasoning to the fish a day ahead of time or is it preferred to apply it the day of?
Thank you,
Hi Chad, It might make the fish too salty to apply a day ahead, so I’d stick to adding it right before serving. 🙂
Hello Jen, I’m wanting a blacken chicken recipe for Caesar salad. Would this recipe work. I use your Caesar dressing which my family loves. Just want to do a chicken Caesar. Thanks
I made your chuck stew last week and it was a huge hit. On the rotation now.
Sure, this should work nicely with chicken. Enjoy!