I am thrilled because I finally figured out a way to cook fish so my daughters will actually eat it! My 3-year-old (who is the picky one) even had a second helping. This was after at least a dozen failed seafood attempts, but in the end it was worth it.
I am sure the fish being covered in almonds and a butter sauce had a lot to do with it, but who cares because the point is my preschooler ate fish, she liked it, and most importantly she knew about it. She even said the words “more fish please”, which means she thinks she likes something called “fish” now!
I think some parents have to be careful about how much they “hide” the good stuff in their kids’ food because the real battle is getting them to accept it. Sure, I hide veggies sometimes too, but I work even harder at making food so they’ll knowingly eat it and like it. And this recipe was a definitely success in that department!
Almond Encrusted Fish with (an easy) Beurre Blanc Sauce
Ingredients
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons butter plus 2 or 3 more tablespoons for cooking the fish
- 1 pound mild white fish (I used cod, but something like tilapia or grouper would work as well)
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 cup almonds sliced, chopped into small bits or crushed in food processor
- 1 cup whole-wheat breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese grated
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pour the white wine and 1 tablespoon of cream into a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook gently until it is reduced by half.
- Meanwhile mix together the almonds, breadcrumbs, and cheese in a shallow dish.
- Next, coat the fish with the egg and then transfer it to the almond mixture. With dry hands coat the fish thoroughly with the almonds, breadcrumbs, and cheese.
- Add 2 tablespoons of butter to a non-stick sauté pan (if you have one) and set it over medium heat. Once the butter has melted add the fish and cook it for several minutes on each side adding more butter if necessary to keep the coating “wet”. Sprinkle with salt and pepper if desired.
- While the fish is cooking check on the wine. Once it has been reduced by half add 1 more tablespoon of cream and then 4 tablespoons of butter. Whisk the sauce together and keep it warm until the fish is ready.
- Once the fish is flaky in the middle it is ready to be served. Whisk the sauce one more time and then pour it on top.
Enjoy!
How many does this serve? You listed 1 pound of fish. Most fillets per person run from 4 to 6 pounds each. So how many servings did you get out of the sauce?
This serves four.
thanx. appreciate it.
Made this tonight along with your cheddar biscuits. The family loved it!
I also tried this with apple cider vinegar and wow I gotta say amazing recipe, you really did a great job on this!
I’ve been reading this blog / recipe site for a while now and man the food on here is so mouth watering!
Apple cider vinegar in place of white wine?
That would work just fine. – Nicole
Hi Amy I took your suggestion and used Apple Cider Vinegar and it worked really well
Good! :)
Would it be possible to make this without having to use wine?
You could use Apple Cider Vinegar instead.
Wouldn’t recommend tilapia. It is short on Omega-3 and is apparently farm-raised under terrible conditions.
Depending on the country, all farmed fish have been raised under terrible conditions, not just tilapia. Overseas tilapia farms, like salmon and shrimp farms, tend to have a bad reputation, though new regulations and certification programs have changed that for consumers. According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program—which makes recommendations for purchasing seafood that’s fished or farmed in environmentally sustainable ways—farmed tilapia from the U.S., Canada, and Ecuador are “best choices.” And though much (if not most) fish from Asia get a red light, Seafood Watch upgraded tilapia produced in China and Taiwan from its “avoid” list in 2011 to its “good alternative” list in 2014.
Farmed tilapia is promoted as good for your health. It is lauded as an excellent source of protein that’s “vital for building muscle”. Advocates assert that tilapia farming can help relieve pressure on the world’s diminishing wild fish populations at a time when many marine stocks have been seriously depleted. It’s relatively low in calories (90 per 4-ounce serving, raw). True it does not have a lot of heart-healthy omega-3 fats like Salmon. OTOH the higher the heart healthy fats, the higher the calories, which can add up if you want to lose and maintain a healthy weight. Farmed tilapia is particularly low in omega-3s because its diet is not rich in the omega-3-rich algae and other aquatic plants that wild tilapia feed on. However, wild fish does run the risk of being high in mercury and other toxins.
I don’t cook with wine. What can I use instead? A white grape juice or vegetable stock? Thanks.
Apple cider vinegar will work.
Like and Love it ! Very delicious :)
I didn’t have any access to breadcrumbs without going to the store so I used Oat Bran which I had on hand – it works great as a breading for fish or chicken.
I recently decided to start making a fish dish every weekend and this is by far the best fish we have ever had. Every bite was so good! My almost 3 year old ate a ton of it. I halved the almond and bread crumb mixture and then just sprinkled the Parmesan cheese on the fillets after I flipped them over. We felt like the sauce was perfect for 3 fillets.
This was absolutely delicious – everyone in my family loved it, including 3 kids (ages 8, 12 & 14). The beurre blanc sauce was fantastic also. I took the leftover fish in my lunch the next day, and so that it doesn’t stink up our office, had to eat it cold, and it was still delicious!! Highly recommend. Definitely found it made extra “almond crusting”, but I just put the extra in a Ziploc bag, labelled it, threw it in the freezer and will use it again the next time I make this dish.
Sounds delicious, but how is it healthy? It is cooked in butter and contains cream.
Organic butter is made with milk from grass-fed cows. This is a very healthy fat for your body as opposed to other hydrogenated oils that our bodies can not process well and become toxins. Organic butter also contains the healthy Omega oils because grass (what cows are supposed to eat) contains Omega-3s. Kerrygold is a great brand to use for this reason.
Yummy…yummy…yummy. it’s wonderful.Your Almond Encrusted Fish with (an easy) Beurre Blanc Sauce recipe is so good. It looks delicious and nutritious. All I can say, this is totally perfect for family bonding and for sure my family love this. I cannot wait to prepare this healthy recipe . Feeling excited to serve this. Your other recipes are also fabulous.Thanks for your beautiful recipe.Keep updating through your cookbook. I felt hungry…
I love this recipe, but am trying to avoid almonds due to the drought in California and how much water it takes to grow them. (I know it won’t make a difference by myself, but I feel guilty whenever I eat them.) Any suggestions on what nut would be a good substitute?
Hi Robin. I’ve made similar recipes with pecans.
So delicious!! Husband doesn’t like fish so we used chicken tenders, and it turned out great!! Toddler liked it too! Thanks!!
She’s right! My kids devoured this fish. They were not interested in the sauce (which my husband and I loved), but I am so excited that they happily gobbled up their dinner.
Made this recipe tonight. Delicious! We have a business that’s about 25 miles away from us (Bloomsburg, PA) that sells Alaskan caught fish, “Wild for Salmon”. Highly recommended!
I would love to use these recipes but honestly I wish that (the recipes) would list the nutritional values listed. It is also important with cleaning eating.
You can calculate nutrition by using a food tracking websites like Sparkrecipes or others. You input all the ingredients and then how many servings it contains and it will give you a full nutritional breakdown.
I’m upset …. The breading fell off the fish…. This never has happened to me….. .
Kris – try coating the fish in whole wheat flour first; shake off the excess then dip it into the egg and then coat it with the almond. I also refrig for 20 min to let the coating set.
This is absolutely the best fish I’ve ever made! I am very picky about fish, and so is my husband. We haven’t found a recipe we liked until now! We will definitely be incorporating this into our dinner rotation.
Thank you!!
This recipe is great! There is another one that non-fish people always like and it’s one of our favorites (besides the one here): http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/south-beach-salmon-with-creamy-lemon-sauce-low-carb-109817
Absolutely amazing! My toddlers had seconds! This recipe was soooo easy to whip up and was so good! I noticed before I coated the fish that I had way too much almond/breadcrumbs/parm, so I put half of it in a Baggie and froze it for later.
Thank you so much!!! This was awesome. My third time making it, I did a full dredge, flour, then egg, then the almond breading. I baked the cod in the oven at 375 for 25 minutes with a 3 minute broil to brown. I used non-fat half and half, and toasted some almonds as a garnish. YUMMY!! Thank you for helping me not only learn to cook, learn to cook healthy meals on a budget!
Loved this recipe!!! My teens devoured it! Used 1.6 lbs of cod and still had plenty of breading.
When looking for heavy cream I usually see only heavy whipping cream. Can this be used in place of heavy cream?
Hi Ann. Yes, they are really the same thing in terms of fat content. ~Amy
This was delicious. In fact, I forfeited my portion because my sons (6 & 3) could not get enough! Thanks!
Best.fish.ever
Amazing!!!!!
I liked this recipe a lot. As with all the recipes on this site, it was not challenging to make. My husband however didn’t feel the sauce had enough flavor. He is a sauce guy. I think next time I make this I will add lemon or something to the sauce.
As always, I’m inspired… Yet I wouldn’t use Tilapia. I have seen and read so many things about this abused species. Really it’s a group of variety of white fish used in fisheries as the “cleanup crew” for other larger fish also being farmed. Farmed tilapia subsists exclusively on the waste of other fish. We are what we eat, so… well, we don’t eat Tilapia. It’s close to impossible to get wild Tilapia. I thought I’d share yet another hidden truth the food industry doesn’t want us to be aware of.
A tip for saving left over crumbing/ coating. Just freeze it in a bag till the next time you need it.
Also this is delicious with coconut replacing the almonds and or crumbs.
It is my understanding that most, if not all, tilapia are farm raised. I think I would choose another fish that is wild caught. I don’t trust the farm raised stuff.
I am just curious about fish. With the majority of our fish being imported from Asia (or processed there) I am not sure I feel comfortable eating it! The conditions under which fish are farmed is disgusting. Suggestions for where to buy??
Hi Saara. Just be sure to ask questions wherever you do buy so you know where (not Asia, if you are trying to avoid it) and how (wild caught) the fish is sourced. This is also a handy guide: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/download.aspx. Whole Foods typically has a good selection and I find frozen wild caught varieties at Costco. ~Amy
I love recipes like this! Just the fact that your daughter “loved” fish is a huge milestone! Just my thoughts – I don’t buy or serve Tilapia. Tilapia, although inexpensive, is farm raised in a questionable (dirty) habitat. Wild caught Cod (Costco – frozen section) is excellent. The taste is pure and mild. I know that your kids would love it.
Is there a way to make this Dairy-Free? Any suggestions on a parm-cheese substitute & where I could locate cheese substitute items? I bought almond “cheese” slices from WF’s once but they tasted so gross…my son cannot do dairy but I was planning on making tilapia tomorrow night for dinner and would love your help on how to prepare it–EB Butter spread/almond milk instead of heavy cream…but what for cheese?
Hi Lauren. You could leave the cheese out. Some readers have added shredded coconut. Vegans often use nutritional yeast to mimic the taste of parmesan, though this is not an ingredient Lisa uses. ~Amy
Thank you! Like your child, my two-year-old also requested, “More fish, please!” after she scarfed her first helping! I just now saw the comment regarding extra leftover breading. I did not have enough almonds on hand so I had to cut the breading recipe in half. I figured I would only bread 1/2 pound of cod instead of the whole pound. It turns out I was able to bread the entire pound and I STILL had lots of breading left over! (And that was after slicing already-breaded filets in half to cut the thickness and re-breading the newly cut sides!) So maybe that reader could divide the breading recipe in half next time!
I’ve made this twice now, both times with tilapia. The first time I made it as written. The second time, I eliminated the butter for frying and instead baked it in the oven. I put it on my broiler pan so both sides would get crispy. 15 min at 400 and it was perfect :) (and a little lighter in calories!). The sauce definitely makes this dish. Rich and elegant, but very easy to make.
Not just a little lighter in calories. A whole lot lighter. 1 tablespoon of butter, no matter how healthy, is 100 calories. If keeping your weight down or maintaining a healthy weight is not your target, then go for it. I would. But I can’t.
My first time to make this. My family raved over the taste and texture. Super easy to come home from work and throw together..used cod.
I made this for dinner tonight using Mahi Mahi. It was so delicious! My two oldest (ages 9 and 6) both asked for 3rd helpings. While I liked the sauce, we all prefered it with just a drizzle of fresh lemon juice on top.
We used to make a recipe similar to this but it used butter crackers. I am so glad to have a replacement for that recipe that is healthier. Thanks for the recipe!
Do you have nutritional information? This sounds great but I need to steer clear of cream and butter. Any substitution recommendations?
We liked it with just lemon juice on top and no sauce. That would cut back on the cream and butter.
Hello Alice. We do not provide nutrition information on our recipes. These posts explain why: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/healthy-eating-defined/ and #9 https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/10-reasons-to-cut-out-processed-food/. These links might help with your cream sauce dilemma: http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/creamsavorysauces/r/dfcreamybasils.htm and http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=whfkitqa&dbid=36. Good luck. ~Amy
Only one of these links works
Hi. I have fixed the first link of ours to now work. I can’t do much about the links that are not ours. Thank you. – Nicole
It’s easy to get the nutritional ingredients. Look at the back of the label the food item comes in and it’s there. If you’re buying fresh fish from the grocery store, it’s easy to look it up on the Internet. I calculate all my recipes for calories. I also have a weight scale because not all labels are necessarily accurate either. It’s time consuming, but it can be done.
In our house, I’m the picky fish eater. Lucky for me my 14 year old loves fish and has become quite adept at cooking it. I’ll hand this off to him and give it a try!
Costco has frozen flounder fillet bags in the freezer section, very inexpensive, they have frozen cod too… they also have tilapia…
this is similar and the cheesy, creamy sauce works for my kids too! :) Fillets in Boursin Cream Sauce
2 T butter
4 boneless, skinless tilapia fillets or sole or flounder
1/2 C flour seasoned with salt & pepper
1 T chopped fresh shallots
1/4 C dry white wine
1/4 C heavy cream
2 T Boursin/Alouette/Rondele (soft herb) cheese
1 T chopped fresh parsley
Melt butter in large sauté pan over medium heat.
**(OPTIONAL: I skip the whole flour part) Dredge fillets in the seasoned flour and sauté on the first side for 4 minutes, or until browned.
Turn and cook for an additional 3 minutes, or until fillets flake easily with a fork.
Place fillets on a plate and hold in a warm oven.
Add shallots and wine to the sauté pan and cook for 2 minutes, or until the volume of liquid is reduced by half. Add cream, bring the sauce to a boil and turn off heat. Using a wire whisk, stir in the Boursin until melted.
Place the warm fillets on plates, spoon some sauce over each and garnish with parsley.
Makes 4 servings.
I tried this. It was amazing, Heidi. Did change it up a bit though. Instead of flour, which I know you didn’t use, I brushed some Dijon mustard on the fish and dredged it through my homemade Panko breadcrumbs and baked it. Frying really increases the calories. I love the flavor of butter, but 2 tablespoons for frying adds an additional 200 calories to the meal. Also frying can pull the breading off sometimes. I also used a reduced herbed cream cheese instead of the ones you recommended. Soooo gooood. It’s a keeper.
Another simple, easy, tasty way to cook flounder or other whitefish. Heat your over to 450 degrees. Move the rack to the top. Heat up a little milk (I use lowfat). Dip the fish pieces in the warm milk and then put whole wheat panko breadcrumbs on them. Place them in a greased rectangular glass baking dish. Melt half stick of butter. Pour over each of the fish pieces. Add salt/pepper to taste. Cook for 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish. My grown kids loved this while growing up and ask for it when they come home. I always get the dark side of the flounder with skin removed. Dark side is thicker. When I use cod or halibut, I use a different recipe that includes beurre blanc sauce. Rub olive oil on the skinned fish pieces. Put it in baking dish. Sprinkle whole wheat panko breadcrumbs on it. Salt/Pepper to taste. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put fish on rack in middle of the oven and cook until done, about 20 minutes or so. Serve with Beurre blanc sauce. My recipe for beurre blanc is to put about a half cup of white wine in a small pot. Put 1 or 2 minced shallots in the wine and cook on low until about half of wine cooks off. Then add 1/2 stick of butter with a whisk until melted. Pour on cooked fish. Shallots are great in it.
Where do you buy your fish? I fear buying fish anymore due to contaminants. I come from the Seattle area, so getting fresh fish was GREAT, but now I would need to buy store bought and am at a loss. Any tips would be appreciated!
Blessings,
Jamie
Hi Jamie. We buy fish typically from Whole Foods, Earth Fare, or a mainstream market. We buy wild caught only and look for regional, if possible, as we are just a few hours from the coast. ~Amy
We’re from WI and eat a lot of Canadian walleye. This recipe has changed the way we’ve been eating walleye for more than 40 years (and we loved the way we used to do it!) This recipe is amazing. We don’t do the sauce, just the almond crust and it is simply amazing! No more fried and breaded walleye for us.
Hi Tracy. Here is a handy chart that will help: http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blalcohol6.htm. ~Amy
Does anyone know a substitute for the wine?
thanks!
I made this for my husband and 3 of my children (all of whom are older, and seem to be quite opinionated) This was truly the BEST recipe I have made off of Pinterest. but also the VERY BEST FISH recipe EVER! My children know way to much about home cooked meals from scratch so their expectations are very high. This recipe met their expectations and far exceeded them! Loved it! This will go in my “forever” recipe file!
LOVED this recipe! So much flavor and paired well with our mixed steamed veggies! The whole family loved it! Thank you!
I made this recipe for my family today and they LOVED it!! I didn’t have any Parmesan cheese, so I left that out….yummy!! We will definitely be adding this to our rounds of foods we eat, thank you for the great recipe.
Made this tonight w/tilapia and we *loved* it. Thank you! My husband isn’t a fan of nuts, yet he thought the fish was great. We also did roasted asparagus w/olive oil and garlic (you had mentioned pairing it w/marsala chicken, I believe, somewhere on the website). It was also really fantastic. Dessert for us tonight was fruit smoothies in the VitaMix and your granola bars. Thank you for sharing so much!!
I’m making this as we speak and it smells wonderful! My only complaint is the massive amounts of crusting I have left! I cant re-use it b/c raw egg and fish have touched it. I wonder how little bread crumbs and almond slices I could use with out throwing away a whole plate full?!
Sounds like your fish may have been fairly thick so there was less surface area to cover…fish can vary in thickness quite a bit so I am sorry to hear about the leftovers.
need a printable copy of almond encrusted fish
Made this tonight. I like it, but it doesn’t look as nice as yours does in the photo. In addition to learning how to eat healthy foods, I’m also having to teach myself how to cook! No more Lean Cuisines! So perhaps with some practice I can improve on this. (I also forgot to pick up dry white wine, but the italian white wine vinegar I used in the sauce was still pretty good.)
We made this last night with our halibut from our Alaska fishing trip. My husband said it was by far his favorite way we had cooked the halibut so far!! Huge hit :)
The fish was yummy! Thanks!
Hey
This is my first time here and simply amazed at the delicious recipes you have put up keeping time and kids in mind!!
I have a Q is there a way to replace the white wine with any other ingredient ???
Keep up the amazing work ..you have def got me hooked :-)
I love the information you have here.
Thankyou for the information I really enjoyed it.
I’m going to try this one! I showed it to my son and he said it sounded good and he’d try it! I was wondering if you might be able to use olive oil and bake this is the oven too? I’m going to try it both ways!
I’ve learned so much since finding your blog. My eyes were just recently opened to the sinister world of GMOs and I cannot in good conscious go back to eating what we ate before. Thanks for all your help!
I think you could bake it…let me know how it turns out! Thank you for your comment! :)
Just found your site. Props to you! That is an amazing quest. I, too, have read “In Defense of Food”. Seriously changed the way I look at food forever. I can’t say I am 100% clean eating but we have definitely come a long way! I’m excited to watch and follow your journey. Good luck!
Welcome and thanks for the comment!
Great recipe! Just made this tonight. Thanks for sharing!
So glad to hear that…and thanks for leaving a review!
I bet you could also use almond meal instead of further chopping sliced almonds. Just one less thing to do. And because I invariably always have a bag of almond meal hanging around because I rarely make dessert anymore.
This is great and I love how easy the beurre blanc is. I admit I have never made a beurre blanc sauce because it sounds so time consuming.
Isn’t cod so easy for the kids? Salmon is hit and miss with us, but I rarely have any issues feeding my kids cod-unless the nanny gives them snacks at 4:30!! Ha!
That is a great suggestion…I have never bought almond meal is it just one ingredient? I am all about one less thing to do!
It’s spelled “Beurre Blanc”. Beurre standing for butter.
A wonderful recipe I fell in love with for fish:
http://blog.bevgannonrestaurants.com/2007_09_01_archive.html
I don’t do the lilikoi (passion fruit) sauce, but just with the nut crust it’s fantastic (and macademia nuts can be replaces with hazelnuts, almonds, cashews or anything else you have on hand).
I don’t put nearly as much mayo as listed in the recipe, just enought to slightly coat the fish and having no idea what sambal is I’ve been using thai red curry paste at home. It’s been fantastic every time I made it.
You are right about the spelling…how embarrassing :) I already changed it LOL
Thanks for the comment and other recipe suggestion!
It’s all right. I’m French and tend to catch those things all the time on restaurant menus and more.
First, love the concept for this blog/great idea. Second- lots of credit to your for trying time and time again with your kids and fish.
Almonds/cream- what’s not to like? Did you do any granola in your “100 days”? We posted about granola today, come stop by Foodtrainers.
Yes, granola is sort of one of my “signature” recipes and we eat it almost every morning! Here it is…https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/04/04/recipe-granola-bars-cereal/