Last week, Crystal shared her heart and encouraged us to find ways to prepare A Simple Healthy Meal at Home for our families. She posted a wonderful recipe for Oven-Baked Chicken in that blog. (Click the link to see her recipe.) And she inspired me with an idea for something similar—Oven Baked Encrusted Tilapia.
Now while we all might enjoy a fried piece of fish or chicken…it isn’t very good for us! Browsing through a few recipes online, I found that baking the fish or chicken versus frying it on the stovetop (or in the deep fryer!) will save, on average, 9-11 grams of fat per serving. So, the choice is pretty simple, I’m thinking! And this fits in perfectly with our healthy but oh-so-yummy POV! You also could substitute a different white fish…cod, orange roughy, or even flounder. Just remember the thinner the fillet, the shorter the baking time! The fillets I prepared were actually called ‘loins’ and were about 1+1/2 – 2 inches thick; they took the whole 30 minutes.
This recipe would work out just fine with traditional wheat flour but since we have made the choice to eat gluten-free, I prepared it with almond flour. (You also could use a lesser amount of coconut flour.) Coating the fish with these non-grain flours also ups the protein, too! Also both Crystal and I used cooking spray…I have been using this coconut oil spray for quite some time now. I love how well it works!
Oven Baked Encrusted Tilapia
ingredients:
1# tilapia fillets
1/2 cup almond flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup finely shredded cheese (Parmesan, Asiago)
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
coconut oil cooking spray
directions:
- preheat oven to 375
- line a baking sheet w/parchment (not waxed) paper
- in a medium-sized bowl, beat egg and water together, then stir in the mustard
- on a large plate, mix together flour, cornmeal and seasonings
- run each fillet individually through the egg wash and then lightly coat w/seasoned coating mixture; give a little shake and place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet
- give each fillet a 2-3 second spray with cooking spray
- bake for 15-30 minutes total (depending on the thickness of the fillets), flipping over halfway through and giving another quick mist with the cooking spray
- bake ‘til lightly browned and easily flakes with a fork
- sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and a couple of turns of freshly ground pepper
- serve with a lemon wedge
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
God loves you! ♥ (Don’t ever forget that!)
♥ coleen
About coleen hayden
Thanks for yet another tilapia recipe that proves the chefs who call tilapia too “bland” for haute cuisine wrong. As for frying versus baking: you seem to imply that fat is “bad” if you dwell on the fact that you need less fat in baking. However, what makes us fat are the carbo hydrates. Fat can only be burnt, all human body fat is synthesized from carbs actually. Which goes a long way to explain why the rate of obesity has quickened since people are told to shun fat. The Greek e.g. eat a lot of olive oil and have a fraction of the heart attacks and are less obese than the countries following this new “fat free” mantra.