This delicate, flaky, and flavorful snapper recipe will be your next favorite dinner. These baked fish fillets are ready in just 45 minutes and are made in one pan for minimal cleanup. Plus, the recipe couldn't be simpler to make, and the results are perfect every single time.
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The Best Snapper Recipe
If you've never had snapper before, you're in for a treat!
Snapper is a delicate white fish that's inexpensive, easy to cook, and doesn't require a lot of prep time, making it a fantastic fish for quick and tasty weeknight dinners.
And this oven baked snapper recipe is hands-down one of my favorite fish recipes to make. It's incredibly easy, and the presentation speaks for itself.
The snapper fillet is baked over fresh herbs and aromatics until tender and flaky. And let me tell you, the mouthwatering smell of the sauce and the fish hit you as soon as you open the oven and unwrap the foil. It's seriously a showstopper!
Honestly, I love serving this baked snapper to my family. Not only is it effortlessly delicious, but it's also packed with healthy protein and omega-3 fatty acids that are good for the whole family.
Plus, this recipe cooks in as fast as 30 minutes and only takes about 10 minutes of prep at the most, leaving you plenty of time to make some equally effortless sides like this bacon wrapped asparagus or crispy air fryer brussel sprouts.
Ingredients
The ingredient list for this oven baked fish recipe is pretty simple.
All you need are a handful of fresh herbs, some everyday aromatics, a couple of pantry staples, and of course, your snapper.
Anyway, here's everything you'll need to make this oven baked fish recipe:
- 1 Snapper filet, with the skin on
- ½ cup Fresh Cilantro
- ½ cup Green Onions, sliced
- 2 inch. Ginger Root, sliced thinly
- 1 Garlic Clove, sliced thinly
- 2 tbsp. Sesame Oil
- 2 tbsp. Soy Sauce
- Salt and Pepper
- Fresh Chili, sliced
Ok, so you can prepare your snapper as fish fillets or as a whole fish. For this recipe, I used a snapper filet for convenience, but you can also make it with cleaned whole snapper as well. I'll go into the details of that down below.
By the way, if you don't know where to find snapper, try checking out your local fish market if you have one. Or, ask someone in the seafood section of your grocery store - most grocery stores have it.
How To Make Baked Snapper
Once you've gathered up all your ingredients, the rest of this snapper recipe is even simpler.
Basically, all you have to do is layer the fish over the herbs and aromatics, drizzle on the sauce, cover in aluminum foil and bake.
It's that easy!
Step 1: Prepare the Fish
Before anything else, you'll want to preheat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC). A time-saving pro-tip here is to prep your veggies while the oven preheats.
Then, prepare a baking tray with aluminum foil. And you'll want to leave enough extra foil on the sides to close over the fish later.
Scatter the fresh cilantro, green onions, ginger root, and garlic on the surface, then lay your snapper skin side up over top.
If you're using a whole snapper, you'll want to stuff some of the aromatics in the cavity of the fish.
You can also make diagonal slashes into the skin of the red snapper with a sharp knife to let it cook faster.
Step 2: Season the Fish
Next, season the fish with salt and pepper, then drizzle the sesame oil and soy sauce over top.
For a cleaner look, you can opt to pour the soy sauce over the surrounding veggies instead of on the fish itself.
By the way, make sure to use regular sesame oil here and not toasted sesame oil, which is darker. Toasted sesame oil has a much lower smoke point so it can burn and turn bitter as the fish cooks.
Step 3: Bake and Serve
Now, fold and close the foil over the fish. If you don't have enough foil to fold over, you can lay another piece of foil on top and seal the edges.
Then, bake the fish for 30 minutes.
By the way, the cook time may vary depending on the thickness of your fish. So you'll want to check for doneness at the 30 minute mark before taking it out. It should have an internal temperature of about 145°F.
With that said, you'll know your snapper is fully cooked when it flakes easily with a fork and loses its translucence and raw pinkish color.
Anyway, when your baked fish is done, take it out and unwrap the foil, then garnish with more green onions and some sliced fresh chili.
Serve and enjoy!
How To Store And Reheat Snapper
So, this recipe will make 1 large serving if you use a whole snapper. And if you have any leftovers, you can store the baked snapper in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Also, for what it's worth, this snapper recipe actually makes pretty delicious leftovers, as it gives the flavor of the aromatics and seasonings more time to harmonize with the fish.
So, to reheat those tasty leftovers, I recommend using the oven. To do that, just place your snapper on a baking sheet and then into a preheated oven set to 275°F for about 10 minutes.
Wrapping It Up
Well, that's how to make snapper in the oven!
This elegant fish dish is super easy to make yet fancy enough to impress your family, your dinner guests, and maybe even yourself.
It's a fragrant, flavorful, and satisfying dinner packed with protein and healthy fats that'll actually make you feel even better after eating.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this oven baked fish recipe as much as I do!
As always, if you give it a try don't forget to leave me a comment below and let me know how it went.
Also, be sure to check out my Youtube channel and Instagram page for more recipes like this one.
More Fish Recipes
If you like seafood, I have a ton of other seafood recipes on the blog that I think you'll enjoy!
Give one of these healthy and easy recipes a try next:
- Creamy Garlic Butter Salmon
- Grilled halibut
- 10 Minute Perfectly Cooked Salmon
- Shrimp Stir Fry
- Lemon Butter Mahi Mahi
Easy Oven Baked Snapper Recipe | Prepped In 10 Minutes
This delicate, flaky, and flavorful snapper recipe will be your next favorite dinner. These baked fish fillets are ready in just 45 minutes and are made in one pan for minimal cleanup. Plus, the recipe couldn't be simpler to make, and the results are perfect every single time.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 1 servings
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Seafood
Ingredients
1 Snapper filet, with the skin on
½ cup Fresh Cilantro
½ cup Green Onions, sliced
2 inch. Ginger Root, sliced thinly
1 Garlic Clove, sliced thinly
2 tbsp. Sesame Oil
2 tbsp. Soy Sauce
Salt and Pepper
Fresh Chili, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Prepare a baking tray with foil and layer fresh cilantro, green onions, ginger root, garlic clove and snapper filet.
- Season the fish with salt and add the sesame oil and soy sauce (for a cleaner look, add the soy just to the veggies and not the fish).
- Close the foil and fold it. Bake for 30 minutes. (Depending on the thickness of your fish you may need to add a few minutes, check until it’s flaky).
- Serve with more green onions and fresh chili.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 256
- Fat: 11
- Carbohydrates: 2
- Protein: 37
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Eric says
Turned out super tender and flakey.