Love and Olive Oil

Pan-Fried Trout with Garlic, Lemon, & Parsley

Pan-Fried Trout with Garlic, Lemon, & Parsley

Our weekly menus are not always as complicated as they might seem. While we’ll find a few recipes or plan a few more involved dishes a week, we’ll often plan free-form nights where we’ll just wing it. Whether that means throwing together a fritatta from leftovers in the fridge, or cooking up a frozen pizza, we need to have flexibility in our week for those nights when we just don’t want to follow a complicated (or any, really) recipe.

Lately we’ve just been writing in ‘fish’ one night, in an effort to do more quick and healthy dinners. “Fish” night usually involves getting whatever is on sale at the fish counter, and then baking or sauteing it with a mixture of flavors depending on what we happen to have on hand.

I have to say, Taylor did a particular good job with this one (yes, he pretty much whipped up this entire thing while I was still upstairs struggling with an ornery website), and I simply had to snap a picture before we sat down to eat to share his handiwork. Impressive, no? The simplicity of the fresh trout filets with lemon, garlic, and fresh parsley were spot on.

And luckily for you, I’ve trained him well enough to always write down what he’s doing, and so we actually have a record of the recipe to share with you today (and make again ourselves in the future). What a concept, right?

Pan-Fried Trout with Garlic, Lemon, & Parsley

While we used trout filets, you could certainly use any other kind of fish in this recipe. The trout is nice because the filets are so thin that they take literally minutes to cook. A thicker fish would (obviously) take more time to cook through.

We served them with some paprika-roasted potatoes and steamed asparagus, and it was one of the most satisfying and balanced meals we’ve had in a long time (this from the people that’ll often make a starchy side dish into a full meal).

Pan-Fried Trout with Garlic, Lemon, & Parsley

Ingredients:

  • 2 skin-on trout filets
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

  1. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Melt butter with olive oil until frothy. Cook trout filets, skin side down, for 2 minutes, then carefully flip with a thin wide spatula. Cook for another minute or until almost cooked through, then add garlic, parsley, and lemon juice and continue to cook for another minute or so until the fish is golden brown and the flesh flakes off easily with a fork. Transfer to serving plates and enjoy.
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51 Comments

  1. Rating: 5

    I made this for tonight’s dinner and it was fabulous! I took the filets out before I gave a little saute to the garlic, lemon & parsley. That worked out alright but I almost burned the parsley. Stopped just in timeI Was able to add that flavor in, the lemon especially was great. Thanks for this recipe. 

  2. I wanted to pan fry 2 rainbow trout fillets with out making them all “fancy” (lots of added ingredients). This recipe was perfect. Directions were straight forward and simple. The trout turned out perfectly. My only alteration:
    I didn’t have any fresh parsley, but had cut up some scallions for a spinach salad, so I diced the tops of those instead. Absolutely delicious.
    Thank you for a simple, non-fussy, perfectly delicious fillet of trout.!

  3. I bought  fresh rainbow trout from Collingwood, Ontario at the local store in Kensington, HOOKED. This recipe was so easy and tasted great. Most important to use fresh herbs!
    Toronto

  4. Quick and easy, had the ingredients and I’m no chef
    The trout was moist and left a nice lingering taste in mouth
    Thanks

  5. Easy! And came out great!

  6. I’ve been cooking for a long time now and love looking at different things to do! We normally eat a lot of fish favourite is Sea bass but I bought some Sea trout fillets and looked up and found your recipe!
    Well… I can say that we have not had such a delicious meal in ages! I served it with New Potato’s purple sprouting broccoli baby carrots and baby sweet corn. 
    The simple fresh ingredients all went together like magic and praise came from my husband when he said it was Top restaurant worthy!!! 
    Thanks so much This is sure to become one of our go to dishes!!! Xxx

  7. Tasty and quick

  8. ORGASMIC!!!  The first time I have EVER cooked Trout Fillits.  Thank you for that simple,  fool-proof recipe.  YOUR THE MOSTEST TO SAY THE LEASTEST!!   

  9. This recipe was easy and delicious! It is a new ‘go to’ for us!

  10. Made this fillet of trout recipe for my family 
    Cut into smaller pieces and added chives with the parsley 
    Was better than imagined 
    Served with roasted potatoes and green beans in butter and almonds 
    Best
    Meal of the week for
    Sure and very easy to make 

  11. Very tasty, quick to cook. Lovely.

  12. Hi! I used your recipe as a jumping-of point, and it was still delicious. I can’t have dairy at the moment, so I only used olive oil. I’m on a low-FODMAP diet, so no garlic except a few shakes of garlic powder. And I used rosemary instead of parsley, since that’s what grows in my yard. And it was great! We paired it with mushrooms and zucchini, both sautéed in the same pan are the fish was done, so we wouldn’t miss even a bit of the flavor.  

  13. Sauteed shallots and garlic in oiland butter before the trout. Fried trout skin side down then flipped, squeezed lemon and parsley till fish was done.

  14. Totally amazing! Tender and succulent!

  15. I just made this – it was really good!  I put the garlic in too early and it got a bit burned and had to scoop it out, but even with my mistake, it was delicious. My husband and 2 year old both had seconds. It was nice and quick to make too.

  16. This is a simple, easy and delicious way to prepare trout. My family LOVED it.

  17. Thank you for your wonderful, tasty and simple recipe. It was the first time I cooked trout and it was a big success.

  18. It’s a great recipe! It’s my go-to recipe now–I’ve also used it with Norwegian Atlantic Salmon with the same yummy results!
    The only difference is that I add a little more fresh lemon juice & garlic b/c we LOVE both so much 😄

  19. Very nice but I would add the garlic earlier or saute it separately. It was a bit too crunchy when added at the end, but would have been overcooked if added at the beginning…. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  20. Amazingly simple and the end product was perfect. The trout flakes apart with a fork and is moist and tasty.

  21. Followed the recipe to the letter, so simple!   Tasty. Thank you.

  22. Excellent, and very easy. Nice clear instructions. Enjoyed the fish very much and purely by coincidence we had asparagus with it.

  23. This was super delicious. My husband and I both loved it, and he’s not a big fish lover.

  24. Simply delicious. With fiddle heads to boot.

  25. Made this on Good Friday using Rainbow Trout. So easy to make and tasted sublime. Definitely be making again soon.

  26. I added white wine and that made it extra special.  We loved it.

  27. The skin of the fish stuck to the pan.

    • I definitely recommend a nonstick pan for delicate things like fish and eggs. Also you want to be sure your pan and oil is nice and hot before adding the fish; if the pan wasn’t fully preheated that could have caused the sticking.

  28. Made this tonight for dinner. So easy and delicious!
    Thank you for sharing!

  29. Made this tonight for dinner, it was absolutely delicious, thank you.

  30. This recipe is so perfect. Fast to make, trout is a great change, made it with roasted asparagus and leftover fried rice (my bad). It was sensational. One tiny change, I added a splash of Chardonnay to the trout pan. This is a keeper! Thank you!

  31. MAde this trout recipe tonight and the entire family enjoyed it! It was so easy to make and very quick as well. Will make this again. Thanks for the recipe!

  32. This trout recipe was amazing and took no time at all, Brilliant!!!

  33. Delicious and simple! I had to use dried parsley and it was still wonderful!

  34. Very quick and easy to make and tasted delicious when used with ruby red trout.

  35. Simple and wonderful recipe for fresh fish. The trout I cooked was fresh & this recipe was a perfect way to prepare it. Next time, I might add some more butter to the pan after removing the cooked filets, add some white wine & make a beurre blanc sauce.

  36. Great, inexpensive dinner for a college kid to make. Very easy as well. Delicious! Thanks!

  37. i tried this recipe and i loooved it <3 i love trout and i love preparing trout and exploring with it. this is by far the best recipe i've ever tried. made it for my mom and dad, and they haven't stop talking about it. I can't wait to make it again.

    Much love
    purplelotus… <3

  38. I’m originally from Wisconsin so I love my trout. This is one of the easiest yet tastiest trout recipes ever. And low calorie ?

  39. Thanks, the trout was most delicious!

  40. Made your trout recipe tonight. Wow. It’s the best.
    Thanks for sharing how to prepare.

  41. Love this! Great combination of flavors!

  42. This looks so fresh and summer-y! 

  43. Ask Taylor if he remembers going with Grandma and Grandpa Fitz up to Ruedi Resevoir fishing. Best German Brown Trout EVER. Great memories. 

  44. I love this, Lindsay! Simple & healthy…. how wonderful. :D 

  45. I haven’t had trout in so long. This is inspiring me to get some soon. It looks delicious!

  46. I love how simple this is…we need to cook more fish at home!

  47. I like to have fish at least once a week and love how simple your recipe is. Tell Taylor thank you for me ! lol! 

  48. This looks great! I have been trying to eat more fish, too, and have still never made trout. It’s on my list now!

  49. Yum! I love trout, probably one of my favorite go-to fishes to cook. And you can never go wrong with the combination of garlic, parsley, and lemon. Basically a French meuniere sauce — > very appropriate given your trip! :)

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