Air Fryer White Fish with Garlic and Lemon Pepper
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This Air Fryer White fish recipe is our go-to healthy meal when we’re craving a seafood dinner. Add your favorite spices and you’ll never get tired of eating white fish often.
Easy Air Fryer White Fish Recipe
Super simple and always a favorite, this air fryer tilapia recipe is are to satisfy. What’s not to love about a quick and easy low carb fish recipe in the air fryer? Within minutes, a healthy fish dinner is on the table. And the possibilities are endless because you can use what ever spices you want for this air fried tilapia. We love using simple garlic power and lemon pepper seasoning. But you can use paprika, onion powder, curry powder or what ever your heart desires. The fish comes out fantastic and always perfect. Add some fresh lemon for an over-the top delicious healthy tilapia dinner.
Video: White Fish in the Air Fryer with Garlic & Lemon Pepper
How to keep air fryer white fish from sticking?
If your fish tears or sticks to air fryer wire racks or baskets, try these non-stick liners.
- Non stick reusable silicone liners can be found here. Fish air fries perfectly and barely sticks to the liner. They’re easy to clean too. You can release the fish, salmon or even chicken in one whole piece!
- Parchment liners. These work good too but are single use. Also, don’t preheat the air fryer with just the parchment. If no food holds down the parchment, it will fly around and possibly hit the heating element and burn. Read more about air fryer parchment liners here.
- You can also use aluminum foil for this air fryer tilapia recipe.
Spices for white fish or seafood
We love using simple garlic and lemon pepper. But you can certainly use your favorite spices. There’s lots of different seafood spices out there. We sometimes will add some curry powder and ground cumin for a very delicious and rich curry flavor. If you like spicy, add a sprinkle of cayenne pepper. For a Mexican flavored and seasoned fish, try adding chili powder or even some simple taco seasoning. This flavor would be perfect for fish tacos!
Types of white fish to air fry
There’s quite a few options for air frying white fish. You can use cod, halibut, quality tilapia, haddock, sea bass and even sole. Each type of white fish has a different thickness so you’ll have to adjust cooking times for the fish you choose. Use our base air frying time and check the fish. Use a fork and pierce the center of the filet. If it flakes easily, then it’s cooked. Or you can cook it to your personal preference.
How to Use Air Fryer Perforated Parchment Paper Rounds
No sticking and easy cleanup but they are not re-usable. The silicone liners we talked about are better for using continuously. It makes cooking delicate fish so much easier to release without sticking or tearing the fish. These air fryer sheets are perforated, which allows air to circulate through and provide more even cooking. They are super easy to use. There’s many different sizes, so make sure you buy the one that fits your air fryer basket! You can buy the parchment liners here.
Air Fryer Healthy White Fish with Garlic & Lemon
Ingredients
- 12 ounces (340 g) tilapia filets , or other white fish (2 filets-6 ounces each)
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) lemon pepper seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) onion powder , optional
- kosher salt or sea salt , to taste
- fresh cracked black pepper , to taste
- fresh chopped parsley
- lemon wedges
Equipment
- Oil Sprayer optional
- Air Fryer Silicone Mat optional
Instructions
- Pre-heat Air Fryer to 360°F for 5 minutes.
- Rinse and pat dry the fish filets. Spray or coat with olive oil spray and season with garlic powder, lemon pepper, and/or onion power, salt and pepper. Repeat for both sides.
- Lay an air fryer silicone liner or perforated parchment paper inside base of air fryer. Lightly spray the liner. (if not using a liner, spray enough oil spray at the base of the air fryer basket to make sure fish does not stick).
- Lay the fish on top of the liner. Add a few lemon wedges next to fish.
- Air Fry at 360°F/182°C for about 6-12 minutes, or until fish can be flaked with a fork. Timing will depend on how thickness of the filets, how cold the filets are, & individual preference.
- Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve warm with the toasted lemon wedges. Add additional seasonigns or salt and pepper, if needed.
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Delicious Side Dishes to Serve with Air Fried Fish
This tender and flavorful lemon pepper fish is great with a side of healthy vegetables. You can’t go wrong with air fryer vegetables or even microwave broccoli. If you want to make a full meal out of it, add it to healhty zucchini noodles, pasta or with a side of potatoes. Fish tacos are fantastic too! It’s so easy to air fry a big batch of this fish and make tacos out of it. Or you can add it to burritos for a healthy fish burrito.
Healthy White Fish Recipes
If you’re looking for more fish recipes, check out these popular recipes we have in our collection:
How to Store Leftover Fish
If you have leftovers, freeze it in airtight bags or containers. We usually don’t like to freeze fish for too long as it might get freezer burn. Try to eat the frozen leftover fish within a month. Before eating, thaw it in the fridge overnight. Then you can heat it for a few minutes in the microwave or on a pan.
19 Comments on “Air Fryer White Fish with Garlic and Lemon Pepper”
I’m so happy with this recipe. It was perfect for my low-carb diet.
I used tilapia filets and came out great. I cooked it for a few extra minutes to make sure it’s fully cooked.
I’m so happy I ran across your recipe. I actually baked catfish on the same setting but did it in 18 minutes because my future husband likes his fish cooked crispy around the edges and it turned out perfect! This will definitely be a keeper in my recipes.
Hi Sandee, so glad that the catfish worked and happy that you and your future husband enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
This is such a great recipe. I love how the air fryer cooked this fish.
I believe that an air fryer is fantastic and cooks so much easier than having to use an oven for small things. It can cook almost anything you need to eat
What setting do you use steam ? Or just airfry ? any help would be great as would like to try frozen fish
Hi Claire, this recipe is for the air fry mode.
Thank you,the grouper was great!
I baked the haddock with garlic powder, pepper/lemon seasoning for 12 minutes. It came delicious. Thanks
Hi Margaret.
So glad you loved it. Thanks for sharing what fish you chose to cook and what timing worked with it.
Happy cooking!
It was so great im happy just started a diet this is gonna b one of my favorite recipes
Do the filets need to be thawed or can they be cooked from frozen state – just curious
Hi Pat, this recipe is for thawed fish. But if you cook it from frozen, add an additional 5-8 minutes. It all depends on the size of your air fryer. After you cook your first frozen fillet, you’ll know more what timing works best for your size of fish fillet and your specific model of air fryer.
Do you also use the tray or do you put it right in the basket
Hi Ana, we put the fish right into the non-stick basket for bucket-style air fryers. If you have an oven style air fryer with racks/trays, we would do the same thing. Put the fish on the tray. But sometimes those wire trays or racks stick, so if you have perforated parchment sheets, use that under the fish. This will help with sticking.
Delicious! I used haddock loins.
I’m loving all your tips on cooking in the air fryer! This fish recipe is probably my most favorite air fryer recipe.
My mouth waters just by looking at your gorgeous photos! I had to try this recipe out and it was amazing! My fish came out perfectly cooked!