This is a delicious fish made with capers, tomatoes, butter, and white wine that can be used with any fish you like. My husband loves this dish!

Easy Tilapia

(3 ounce) fillets tilapia fillets

olive oil

salt and pepper

lemon, halved

white wine

tomatoes,

capers

asparagus spears,

butter

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Drizzle fillets with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place fillets in skillet and sprinkle with half of the lemon over. Cook for 3 minutes per side, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Transfer fillets to a plate, and keep warm.


Add wine, remaining 1/2 lemon, tomatoes, capers, and salt and pepper to the skillet. Increase heat to medium high and boil for 2 minutes to burn off alcohol. Reduce heat to low and return fillets to the pan along with the asparagus. Cover and simmer 2 minutes more, then transfer fish and asparagus to a serving dish and keep warm.


Again, increase heat to medium high and whisk in butter, and boil to desired consistency. Spoon sauce over fish, and serve.


I would give this dish 4 stars as written. The changes I made to make it a 5 star recipe for us are as follows:
First I soaked my Tilapia in milk for about 2 hours.
I then coated the Tilapia with a highly seasoned flour mixture(seasoned pepper, granulated garlic, onion powder, paprika, powdered basil, celery salt, cayenne, ginger, thyme and lemon peel.
I also added a hefty sprinkling of Kraft Parmesan Cheese. I sauteed the fish with a bit of minced garlic and extra EVOO, removed to the serving platter, and did not return to the skillet at all. I added the wine ( a Pinot Grigio, capers, lemon, tomato and a few sliced mushrooms. After whisking in the butter, I decided I needed more of a sauce... so I mixed up about 1/4cup of cream with 1 Tbsp. flour, blended it into the skillet and WOW!!!
A bit of extra lemon and we had an amazing dinner the other night, one which I am planning on adding to the family cookbook. THANKS!!!!!

Wow, we loved this! My boyfriend made this last night and it was delicious. He used canned, diced tomatoes instead and didn't serve it with asparagas.  Watch salting the fish, as the capers add a ton of sodium.  We'll be making this again, THANKS!!  UPDATE: Made this again, submitted pic, and used asparagas this time and it was even better!  We used frozen tilapia, which I don't recommend b/c it's fishier than fresh, but it was still good.  The filets were smaller and fell apart a little, o'well still yummy!

Excellent recipe, but I coated filets with flour and seasonings first before frying in olive oil and left the extra salt out since the capers are very salty already!  I trippled the recipe as well to have a nice sauce to serve over the talapia and served it on a bed of buttered orzo!!  EXCELLENT!!

I'm giving this five stars because it really is very good and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  That being said, I do think this Easy Tilapia would be even EASIER, if you change the process like I did.  First I cooked my asparagus separately ahead of time and reheated it in the microwave.  I didn't want to cook it with the tomato/wine mixture and then have to fish it back out to finish the sauce, as the recipe instructs.  Secondly, once the fish is cooked, why would you add it back to the sauce and then take it out AGAIN???  So to further simplify, I cooked the tilapia and kept it in a warm oven while I made the sauce.  I plated the tilapia and asparagus and topped them with the sauce.  DELICIOUS and even EASIER!!

I made this as a foil pouch "all in one" baked meal and it was very good.  We will definitely do this again - next time on the grill.    My method was: on a large sheet of buttered foil laid out asparagus; sprinkled w/ half the tomatoes and capers; layered tilapia; topped w/ remaining tomatoes and capers; drizzled with a scant 2 ounces white wine vinaigrette (I used Girards Champagne); fold up and baked at 350 for 35 min (my asparagus was thick stemmed and I left it in till they were fork tender - the fish stayed moist). I made one pouch per person. 

We loved this dish! The only changes that I made was to add one clove of garlic for my garlic loving husband and since we are not wine drinkers I always sub with chicken broth.  It was easy and came out perfect, great recipe!

This is my recipe and I don't know why there is a bottle of wine in the recipe.  It should only be the 1/2 cup of wine.  Please change this if you can.  Thank you!

Good recipe for someone hesitant to cook fish.  I bought a bit more fish as 6 oz. of fillets was hardly enough for two people.  The sauce makes a lot of sauce and I could have cut back on that.  My son loved the fish, but wasn't hot on the sauce (I think because of the capers) and my husband liked the sauce, but thought the fish was too lemony.  It was an easy way to incorporate fish into our life, but I would use less lemon next time and add garlic.  Thanks!

KCSTAR put 1/2 c flour 1/2 tsp salt + pepper in plastic bag and place fish in bag and shake to coat.  Then cook in the skillet.  Add 1/2 of a small onion minced finely to = abt. 1/4 cup.  Also add 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced.  Remove fish from pan.  Put about 1 tsp. oil in skillet.  Add minced onion and cook untiltranslucent, about 2 mins.  Add tomato, garlic and capers.  Add 3/4 cup dry white wine and stir to loosen brown bits from bottom of pa.  Add lemon juice and boil until liquid is reduced by half.  Reduce heat to low.  Add 4 T. butter that has been cut into 4 pieces to pan.  Swirl the butter pices in the wine mixture just until the auce is thickened slightly and the butter is incorporated.  Do not let butter melt too quickly or the sauce will be oily.  Spoon sauce over the fish and serve immediately.

This is very easy and delicious.  I use white wine/lemon sauce for several dishes, and it is best used with broccoli steamed in it.  Some tips: don't use tomatoes or any veggie, and less butter.  Keep the capers and a pince of minced garlic.  You can use the sauce to saute pasta dishes, chicken or any seafood!

I don't typically care much for fish, but do incorporate it into my family's diet for health reasons.  That being said, i LOVED this dish!  Everything blended so well together.  The only thing I changed was touse 5 tilapia filets and about 1.5 (1 bunch chopped) asparagus.  I kept all other measurements the same.  I also put the asparagus in with the wine &amp; tomatoes since i worried that if added with the fish it wouldn't have enough time to cook.  It came out perfectly firm but cook.  This dish might make a weekly rotation.

Very confusing recipe, especially for novice cooks.  2 TBls olive oil is way too much~~it doesn't explain that the lemon should be juiced...and asparagus should be cut into 2" pieces &amp; blanched before adding to recipe. Two minutes is not enough to render the Asparagus tender.  Tilapia falls apart if cooked according to this recipe.   Tilapia is bland unless you add plenty of seasonings.  These are the changes I made to make it edible.  Season Tilapia with Old Bay, or S&amp;P, your choice.  Heat 2 teaspoons and cook till slightly golden, no longer than 2 minutes per side or it will fall apart.  Keep warm.  Cut asparagus into 2" pieces &amp; blanch about 1-2 minutes in boiling water.  Add wine, lemon juice, tomatoes, (I used halfed cherry tomatoes), asparagus &amp; capers to skillet, increase heat, cover and simmer for approximately 3 minutes.  Unless the asparagus is blanched, it takes a good 10 minutes to make it tender enough to eat.  Remove from heat and stir in the butter until of desired consistancy.   I did not add the Tilapia back to the skillet as it was already flaky &amp; falling apart. I have a similar recipe, but much tastier.  I will not be making this again. Very bland, even with my adjustments.

So easy and so delicious. Sauteed some minced garlic and onion before adding the wine, lemon etc. Used canned diced tomatoes and rinsed the capers. Will definitely make again, Thank you.

After reading the reviews I was really excited to try this one. Both my husband and I thought it was ok, but was too acidic. If I try it again I will not use the whole lemon. 

Made this last night and it was amazing! I would have given it 5 stars but I changed the recipe based on what I had on hand, also I read another reviewers comments and copied them. If interested in the changes I made- I soaked in milk, coated with flour mixture which was (not measured)- flour, pepper, garlic salt, onion salt, paprika, basil, celery salt, cayenne, ginger, thyme. I sauteed the fish with minced garlic and olive oil. Removed fish, added to pan- 1/2 cup chicken broth, juice from 1 lime, 1 chopped tomato. Cooked down then whisked in the butter, 1/4 cup cream and some of the seasoned flour that remained from the coating. Poured this gravy over the fish. DELICIOUS!!!!

Made this just as directed and it was easy and delicious!!

I made this recipe AS WRITTEN!!!!  It was a very nice change and quite tasty.  I'll make it again. Yes I might make a few extremely minor changes the next time...or not.  The bottom line is these reviews should be on the recipe as it's written.  What is it with people who write reviews and say...this was great with MY changes. That's insulting to the recipe creator and says your recipe sucked but I can save it for you.  Gee thanks.  Are you such great cooks you have to teach everyone how to make other peoples creations.  Create your own recipe and submit it.  It seems there are a lot of people here who just can't help themselves.  They have to "make things better".

Love this recipe. I even used "I can't believe its not butter" instead of real butter. This is a fantastic recipe, thank you!

I chose this recipe for my first time attempt in making a fish dish, and this recipe was so easy and good i now have confident in preparing fish for dinner.  Thank you. This recipe has so much flavor, i will pass this on to all my friends and family.

I did really enjoy trying ~Taylor's~ version of this recipe!  I make it both ways.

excellent new recipe just the way is.  I did sub summer sqaush for the asparagus and it worked just fine. thank you

We loved this recipe.  Slight change...I only had about 1/2 tablespoon of capers so I substituted sliced cured black olives. It really made this more of a Mediterranean flare.  The rest remained exactly the same. The cooking time was perfect. I used 4 fillets.  Can't wait to eat the leftovers!

I omitted the asparagus, and it was fantastic.

Mmmmm....yummmy!  Didn't even need the extra butter at the end.  My husband, who does not like fish, actually liked this.  I followed the recipe exactly, except kept the butter out.  It was delish!  My daughter liked it, too!  I hope I can keep making fish for dinner, cuz I love fish!  Now, maybe my husband will, too.  I served it with parmesan couscous and because I had corn leftover, I added that in, too.

Super delicious! I didn't use too much salt based on the comments of the reviewer about the capers adding a lot of sodium and that worked out just perfectly. The flavors and the aroma while cooking was fantastic. Served with a side of garlic rice and toasted/buttered sourdough. For sure the rice soaking up the sauce added a lot to the flavor and added texture to this dish. DH and I loved this dish. For sure a keeper!

I made this recipe last night and it was a bit salty.  I omited the asparagus and used green beans instead. I also used Red Snapper.The store had ran out of tilapia. I put the cooked fish on top of brown rice and it was delicious.

I was a little disappointed with this recipe. I thought, how can you go wrong with fish and vegetables. Followed it exactly, but it was too acidic and sour for me.

This was fantastic and easy to prepare!  It was like a gourmet meal in minutes.

This was delicious.  I did not add any salt.  The capers provided enough in my opinion.

Delicious!  I was really happy with the way this one turned out.  I did make one addition however: at the very end I threw in a handful of feta cheese to the sauce to help thicken it and add a little more zip.  Also, next time I might use halibut instead of tilapia as I was only able to find previously frozen fillets and they were not so good... I think it would be great with either though!  Thanks for the awesome recipe! 

Added garlic and artichoke hearts.  Went easy on the salt because the capers provided enough.  Also doubled the lemon.  It was delicious!  My boyfriend found this and he made it for me.  YUM!

Excellent recipe. I used cherry tomatoes from my garden. Also added fresh chopped mushrooms.

Excellent dish and very easy to make.  Watch the salt as the capers are naturally salty :)  I served it with rosemary/onion roasted potatoes and it was great.  It is a keeper!

I was anxious to try this recipe, but was dissappointed.  It was WAY too salty. I won't add salt to the fish next time. It was also very acidic. Based on the comments, I won't add as much lemon. I also used canned diced tomatoes (no salt added) I will give this recipe another try.

Excellent!! I cut back on the butter to 1 Tbsp and still delicious-could probably cut it out all together. I've used this sauce with tilapia and chicken-both very good.

I enjoyed this very much.  Much like a picatta sauce, but very thin.  Perhaps a little cornstarch would thicken it up a bit.  The flavors were great together though.

This is an excellent recipe.  I make it frequently, once a month or so, and my wife ALWAYS loves it.

The sauce is wonderful, but takes a while to thicken.  It is worth the wait to thicken it correctly.

Due to the saltiness of the capers I always rinse them, with water, in a tea strainer.  I have also cut back on the amount of capers.

I am often frustrated by the fish breaking up as it is moved about.

However, notice I still give this dish the best rateing.

I often serve EASY TILAPIA with long grain American Basmati brown rice.  It is more costly and takes extra time; but, is well worth the result.

I used green beans instead of asparagus.
Delicious!

Absolutely delicious.  I did modify it per Taylor's review and it was perfection.

This is a fast and delicious way to serve fish. This sauce would work with several varieties. Even my 3 year old loved this. I followed the directions pretty closely and didn't use asparagus (didn't have any).

What a quick, easy, delicious recipe. We doubled portions and enjoyed every bite. Had no lemons, so we used limes. The tomatoes cooked down beautifully in about 10 minutes and with the capers, wine, oil, butter and a very little bit of chicken broth, made a great sauce. The tilapia is quite meaty, so it didn't dry out in the oven while we made the sauce.  Have served it twice in the last two weeks, once with asparagus, once with broccoli. Yum.
Thanks for a new favorite!

I enjoyed this recipe. The fish came out light and flaky and the veggies made for a nice looking presentation.  The sauce was average tasting, mostly it just tasted like lemon, which was fine for me since I like lemon with fish anyway.  I used Chardonnay and perhaps another type of wine would add more flavor.  Next time I might add some garlic or onion as another reviewer suggested.  Also, you need to be careful flipping the fish because it breaks easily!

This recipe was  really good! Just finished eating dinner and I am soooooo satified. simple, easy and delicious! thanks for posting it.

This recipe was delicious.  I didn't have any white wine, so I used zinfandel instead.  I also have high cholesterol so I used Smart Balance margerine instead.

We love fish and are always looking for new and easy recipes to make. I will be making this again it was so easy and so Delicious! thanks.

I used bottled lemon juice instead of fresh lemons (3 tbsp make 1 lemon),2 tbsp of butter instead of 3 and no added salt...and it was fabulous!

I would use less lemon and my fam didnt care for the capers. other than that quite good.

I have a recipe similar to this, made without the asparagus or butter, but with 1/2 cup onion and 2 minced cloves of garlic sauted in the pan between cooking the fish and the tomato mixture.  We love it. The kids are 5, 7, 11, and 13 and they do pick out the capers, but they eat the rest and count it as one of their favorite dishes.  Note the author's review, that only 1/2 cup of wine is required for the recipe.

I also followed other reviewers advice and put the asparagus in to cook immediately with the wine, tomatoes, etc.  It was perfect.  I won't cook it as often as other fish dishes due to the fairly high fat content, but it will be a wonderful occasional dish.

excellent! 6 tilapia filets for 4 people was the perfect amount.

Easy, healthy and delicious. I used a can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh and it was perfect. Served with wild rice and we cleaned our plates.

I love this dish. It is an exact replica of a picatta made with salmon at a local restaurant. I did add some artichokes and garlic after I realized that this tasted like that dish. Yum, yum, yum!!  Thank you Elizabeth!! :) Perfect!!!!

I too can see where this could get very salty if you're not careful...and I like salt! I rinsed the capers before using and added no additional salt. I mostly kept to the recipe, though I blanched the asparagus separately and added it straight to the sauce toward the end, rather than serving it separately. For the fish, I brushed it in evoo and lemon, then dipped it in egg then bread crumbs. This seems to give tilapia a little more presence, though it would probably be just as great per the recipe. Made the sauce per the directions, but added one garlic clove and put the asparagus into it at the end to cook it enough, but still keep it crispy. Made garlic rice pilaf, placed the tilapia on top, then the sauce/veggies. Very good. Not amazing, but fresh, and good. Might make again but not as often as others have mentioned here. Would not make for guests, as this isn't a..."pretty" dish.

I made this tonight and made no changes.  It was really easy and fast and tasty!  Thanks for sharing a great recipe!

The texture was good, but it had zero flavor.

This is one of my new favorite recipes! It is so easy to make and it tastes divine. I've already cooked it three times this month! I made some healthy alterations to my dish, adding a bit of garlic and mushrooms and cutting out the butter and half of the capers and white wine (or its too watery). But since I'm playing with the recipe, I've made it differently every time - and EVERY TIME it has been delicious! This is definitely a keeper. I love that I can substitute different vegetables for the asparagus as necessary, and that the fish and sauce are so easy to whip up. Thank you!

Very easy to make and my entire family LOVED it!

Love this recipe, first time making it was easy and awesome. The only thing I will do differently next time is not to double up on the wine when I double up on the fish or use something other than moscato.

I cooked what I had on hand. Cooked the tilapia, wine (white cooking wine), lemon juice (bottled), tomatoes, capers and bok choy for about 5-7 minutes.  Took another reviewers suggestion and had buttered orzo with it.  Delicious!!

I made this and enjoyed it. I did feel that there was too much lemon, so next time I will cut that down. I also put summer squash, zucchini and broccoli in for the veggies(i needed to use them before they went bad). I did cook them a little and then added in the tilapia again. It was delicious though. I will make this again.

It could just be my families taste, but this wasn't very good.  Not enough taste, since my mother is a gourmet cook i've had better.

I dredged the fish in flour, kosher salt, freshly-ground black pepper, added Italian seasoning, &amp; a light sprinkling of cayenne pepper.  Cooked fish in olive oil &amp; fresh minced garlic and plated; simmered the wine (chardonnay) w/tomatoes &amp; capers; skipped adding more salt &amp; pepper (capers are salty, plus I had salt in the breading).  When I returned the fish to the skillet, along with the asparagus, I also added the butter then.  I simmered for about 5 minutes; the asparagus wasn't done enough; at 5 minutes, it was still quite crisp.  Topped each plate with a little shredded parmesan.  Contrary to some reviewers, I thought this dish was quite flavorful with the wine, lemon juice, capers, &amp; with what I added:  Italian seasoning, salt/pepper, cayenne, garlic, &amp; parmesan.  Never had tilapia before; learned that it is a fresh-water fish.  Living in the Pacific NW, I'm  used to a more substantial "heavier" fish such as halibut, and prefer that if I'm going to eat fish.  Thanks much!

I skipped returning the fillets to the pan with the tomatoes. I didn't use capers or asparagus. I substituted a drained can of italian stewed tomatoes and added 1 tsp or so of flour to thicken. The sauce was great. Not sure that it was the best sauce for the fish, but I enjoyed it anyway.

This came out ok. It was a nice easy meal. I felt like some butter was needed to be added somewhere also, it would have been better if shrimp was added. Also, it taste better the first day. I had leftovers for lunch the next day and the flavor was overkill.

Easy. Delicious. I made and served it with a black olive tapenade on the side.

Just not that flavorful. I served it without the capers at my guest's request, but I don't think that would have saved it. Also, the wine &amp; butter never thickened to make a proper sauce.

i had to make the time to rate this one... it was delicious!

Used fresh peas in place of the asparagus.

I would have given this a 5 star if the recipe had included the recipe suggested by the previous review. I followed that format and it was incredible.

Really delicious. Added mushrooms and garlic, Old Bay Seasoning,  and olive oil. Thickened sauce with some corn starch. Minused the asparagus and butter. Wow!!! Best fish ever.

What can I say - it was easy, it was delicious, and I normally don't even like asparagus but it really did go great in this dish.  Thanks for a new way to eat more fish - yum!

This was very flavorful.  Used used yellow and green zucchini.  Sauce is awsome.  Could be used on other seafood. My husband likes everything spicy so he added cayanne pepper to his portion.

This was fantastic! Light and filling! I cooked the asparagus a little longer than the recipe called for, but that's my personal preference. If only I could get my husband to eat seafood - I would cook this all the time. Great with shrimp too!

Yummy, but I substituted chicken broth for wine and skipped butter.  Actually tastier and definitely lower in fat.

delicious even w/canned tomatoes and frozen tilapia!  Great tasting and healthy enough w/brown rice---sauce is really yummy over it!  Even my 21mo old loves it!

We love this recipe with the added garlic. Note: if you increase the amount of fish, you don't need to increase the amount of lemon. If you do, the lemon becomes overpowering. I made this with a 12 oz salmon fillet and increased the oil, wine and lemon by 1 1/2 and ended up with about a cup of leftover sauce. I plan to pour it over some leftover chicken tomorrow night!  Yummy.

I'm always looking to try new recipes for tilapia, and I found one that allowed me to finally use the jar of capers I have had in the cupboard for months, and the little bit of leftover white wine. We really enjoyed this, and will definitely be making this again.

Searching for a new tilapia recipe, this one caught my eye!  It was very tasty, and it was declared a "keeper"  -- not an easy verdict in this house.  I followed the recipe as written, though I did include the zest from the lemon.  We thought there might be a few too many capers, though that could be my heavy hand when it comes to capers!  Nice recipe.  Thanks!

Followed it to the letter, and we LOVED it! A hit with my picky fish-hating family.

This recipe turns out great! Restaurant quality. Made it once before and making it again tonight. Making saffron rice to go with it tonight. we will see?

Just make sure someone is watching the fish because it can cook so fast. you can taste the lemon, wine and butter in the sauce, so good. 

I made this recipe with a couple of changes. I used broccoli florets instead of asparagus. I also added more wine to increase the sauce. Besides, what's not better with more wine?

Wonderful! I am not a huge fish person, but I loved this recipe. It was so flavorful. It is a must make recipe. 

This recipe was insanely good.  Both of my daughters who are 6 and 9 couldn't get enough.  We followed the recipe to the "T" and were very happy with the results.

OMG! Yummmooooo!!I changed a bit, used bread crumbs, parm. cheese, fresh parsley &amp; garlic salt to coat fish. For sauce, used chicken stock in place of wine and only 1 tbsp. of butter and juce of 1 whole lemon ( I really like lemon). This came out awesome, tasted like my favorite picante recipie!!

The sauce in this dish is fantastic. The only tomotoes I had were cherry tomatoes, so I halved them and they worked fine.  The only difficult part of this recipe is moving the fish from skillet to plate, plate to skillet, then back to plates to serve.  Since the fish is already cooked, it is hard to prevent pieces breaking off.  Still, the flavor is great.  I served this over angel hair pasta which worked well with the great sauce.

Easy, delicious.  We are not usually fish eaters, but I will definitely make this again.  Only change I made was to dust fish with searing powder first and put asparagus in with tomatoes.  They were still crisp and delicious.

This was amazing. I cooked it for a friend who said it was better than any restaurant and I really don't consider myself a great cook. It was also very easy. I made a couple of changes. I breaded the fish with breadcrumbs,Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese. I can't wait to make it again.

we have made this recipe a few times.  It is great with the asparagus and fresh tomatoes.

Delicious! I steamed the vegetables a little longer but that's just preference, thank you for sharing!

Delicious. Didn’t have any capers and went a little overboard with the lemon, but still very yummy.

This is so good! I' didn't have asparagus so I substituted fresh spinach, and went light on the lemon especially because spinach soaks in so much, and the other reviewers found the lemon a bit heavy. I served it over lentils because I had them. A glass of white wine finished off the best dinner I've had in a long time!

Really good and easy. I used crushed tomatoes and mushrooms and red peppers instead of asparagus. Next time, I'll sear the fish on a higher heat as some browning would make it taste even better.

Tasty but...LOL  3 ounces of fish fillet?  Great appetizer.  What did you make for dinner?

Not a proponent of Asian farmed tilapia. Would use any other firm white domestic fish tho.

easy tilapia

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total: 30 minutes

Servings: 2

Author : Elizabeth

Ingredients

Instructions

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