Baked Catfish is coated with a delicious blend of herbs and spices, then drizzled with butter and lemon juice and baked. A healthier take on my favorite fish dinner!
I’m just going to say this: I love fried food. There. I’ve said it and I meant it, too. There’s just not much better in this world to me than a perfectly cooked piece of fried chicken. Or country fried steak. Or fish. I could go on and on.
I realize that part of my love of fried food is cultural. When I was growing up, an everyday meal consisted of some kind of meat, more often than not fried, accompanied by two or three vegetables and bread. The proverbial “meat and three” that I see so often referenced these days.
My daddy loved a fried t-bone steak. That’s right, fried. Mama would salt and pepper a t-bone, dredge it in flour and ease it down into hot oil in a black iron skillet to cook.
It came out golden brown and slightly crispy on the outside and juicy and moist on the inside. Hmmm…I hadn’t thought of that in years until I started writing this.
Of course, we all learned that there were more healthful ways to eat and gradually our diet changed. Fewer fried foods, more baked or roasted meats. But I still sometimes crave that good old fried food.
All those years ago frying was an inexpensive and easy way to prepare the main meat course so that’s what was done. I mean, for goodness sakes, people back then were busy!
We just think we’re busy these days. Laboring in the field from sunup to sundown or taking care of children and running a household a few decades in the past was a much more taxing existence than it is today.
But back then people could handle a more calorie-laden diet because of all the manual labor they did. Today, not so much.
So, even though I still love my fried foods and greatly enjoy them on occasion, I do look for ways to cook that are somewhat more healthful.
In this recipe for Baked Catfish, the fish is coated with a delicious blend of herbs and spices, then drizzled with butter and lemon juice and baked.
What a great change of pace from the usual fried catfish! We really enjoy this recipe, and I’m happy to share it with you, too.
Baked catfish fillets topped with an herb blend, butter and lemon and baked until golden. Click To Tweet
How to Make Baked Catfish:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the parsley, salt, paprika, thyme, oregano, basil and pepper in a small bowl.
Sprinkle the spice-herb mixture over both sides of the catfish fillets. Place the fillets in a 9×13 baking pan that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray. I also lined my pan with foil just because it makes it so much easier to clean.
Add the melted butter, lemon juice and garlic powder to a small bowl. Mix well to combine.
Drizzle the butter-lemon-garlic mixture over the fillets.
Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily.
Enjoy!
Baked Catfish
Ingredients
- 2 tblsp. minced fresh parsley
- 1 tsp. salt
- 3/4 tsp. paprika
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp. dried basil
- 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
- 4 whole catfish fillets
- Juice of one lemon
- 2 tblsp. melted butter
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- Non-stick cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine the parsley, salt, paprika, thyme, oregano, basil and pepper in a small bowl.
- Sprinkle over both sides of catfish fillets.
- Place the fillets in a 9x13 baking pan that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray.
- Add the melted butter, lemon juice and garlic powder to a small bowl. Mix well to combine.
- Drizzle the butter-lemon-garlic mixture over the fillets.
- Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily.
Notes
--Recipe adapted from Taste of Home’s Busy Family Recipes, Winter 2011
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1 filletAmount Per Serving: Calories: 219 Total Fat: 23g Saturated Fat: 15g Cholesterol: 61mg Sodium: 2510mg Carbohydrates: 3g Protein: 1g
More fish and seafood recipes on never enough thyme:
More baked fish recipes from other bloggers:
- Baked Fish with Lemon and Bread Crumbs from Leite’s Culinaria
- Baked Cod with Ritz Cracker Topping from Simply Recipes
- Oven Baked Fish Sticks from Life’s Ambrosia
- Potato Chip Crusted Fish and Chips from Half Baked Harvest
- Baked Fish with Orange and Olives from Inspired Taste
I cannot wait to make this…made sauteedfish the other day……if only i had known this recipe was coming i would have saved the fish for tonight :0
thanks a million
I dont know why, but cooking with catfish scares me but I would happily eat this it! :)
I will eat catfish anyway prepared… nothing better than cornmeal battered & fried but I have baked and panteened fillets lately cooking very similar to this recipe…. reminds me of the oven-fried catfish recipe I did for Dara back in August…
You can cook catfish fillets on the George Foreman also. Make sure that you coat the fillets with olive oil, and really spray the surfaces with cooking spray. Season to your liking, and cook for only 2 or 3 minutes. Really quick, super good.
Miss P
Thank you I use my grill for many thing because now that I am older & wiser? I do not eat much fried food & love my G.F. as I think I am frying but healthy, but Fish I always had to bake/broil so glad to get this recipe I will try tonight. again thank you.
Since you sound like a person that loves a plate of fried catfish as much as I do, I’m betting this is delicious. Isn’t catfish fabulous? Being a Texas gal, I think catfish is as much fun to catch as it is to eat, :)
Hi Lana,
First time here and am bowled over.Your connection to your family,keeping up your ‘southern cooking traditions’ and celebrating humble food – these have me floored.I am a vegetarian and am going to drop in a lot to enjoy your blog…
Regards,
Rajani.
Oh my gosh, these look so incredibly good! We don’t eat a lot of fish here, but I bet if I put this on the table they’d be drooling!
the dish was ok….a bit too salty for me. I wrote a halfe decent comment but correcting spelling mistakes with the new system you have is such a PITA i deleted the whole thing and wrote this instead
So sorry you didn’t enjoy the recipe, Clive. You can always adjust the amount of salt to suit your personal tastes. I’m unsure what you are talking about with “the new system.” I haven’t changed anything at all – still the same old “system” I’ve always had.
Lana, i enjoyed it a lot…just a bit more salt than I am used to,,,,,as per the site i dont remeber being unable to use the right click of the mouse to make corrections….maybe in the past my spelling was better and corrections were not needed hahahaha
This looks sooo tasty!! I don’t have any cat fish but I bet it would be good on the white fish I have in my freezer
Fantastic! I love catfish, and like you, I grew up eating everything fried. My grandparents and then my parents owned a fried catfish restaurant when I was growing up, so your post made me smile! Can’t wait to try this.
I hope you will try it and like it! It’s an alternative for times when you want something a little different from the usual fried :-)
You make a good point about how the calorie laden diets of yesteryear suited the labour intensive lifestyle. I sit behind a computer around 10 hours a day. I couldn’t have country fried steak every night for dinner. Although I would love to try it just once! I wonder if future generations one day become more active and frown upon our low calorie diets as a diet for lazy and feeble people?
Delish! I just finished eating. Didn’t have lemon juice but this was sooooo good!!!!
So glad you liked it, Lori.
I’ve made this recipe a couple times and have been very happy with it. I’ve done catfish with rice, I’ve done it by itself, tonight I’m even using this seasoning on tilapia and baking vegatables with it. Baked fish is so good.
Very good catfish recipe, so delish. Will try again.
Just found this recipe by looking around on google. Looks like I hit the jackpot. I give this recipe five stars. Quick and easy. So much flavor.
Thank you for this recipe! I tried it last night , and it was just right. Light, not spicy, but a bold flavor. I am always on the lookout for good fish recipes that are not complicated and time consuming . So glad I found your site! Thanks a million.
Hi Nell. I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe. It’s one of our favorites. Hope you’ll find lots of other things to enjoy here on the blog.
Do you oil the fish after thawing it out or just thaw it out and then prepare to add your seasoning
I mostly use fresh catfish, but if using frozen you should thaw it first and then proceed with the recipe.
Hi Lana,
If we enjoy this recipe as much as I enjoyed reading your narrative, it will be a keeper for sure. Seriously, looks great, and I have some parsley, thyme, and oregano in my little herb garden I’m just itching to use. We’ll try it tonight! Thanks. . .
Fixed this recipe tonight and it was wonderful. I left out the paprika as I didn’t have any and I used dried parsley instead of the fresh parsley. This recipe is a “keeper”.
That’s great to hear, Lorinda. I’m always pleased when someone enjoys a recipe.
Tried the recipe and it’s delish. Did not have parsley so I left it out all together. I also did not salt as much because of the feedback above. I found your recipe because I was trying to make a meal in the oven all at the same time. So I started by roasting brussel sprouts. Then prepared and added corn bread. Then prepared and added the catfish. Waited 20 min and Voila! Everything was ready at the same time. Really happy the way it turned out.
I’m so glad it worked out well for you, Anna. It’s a recipe we really enjoy.
Stumbled on this recipe Googling baked catfish recipes. Best stumble I’ve ever made. I added cornmeal and a quarter more of the herbs to the dry mix plus a light egg white wash. Totally delish! Thank you for posting your story and this delightful recipe.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Alesia!
Hello. I curious about the nutrition facts, by any chance would you happen to know what they are?
Sorry, but for legal reasons I do not provide nutrition information on my recipes. There are numerous nutrition calculators on the internet where you can plug in the ingredients of a recipe and get a nutritional calculation. They all differ but you might try one of those.
I’ve never really made fish before but my boyfriend is obsessed with catfish and he LOVED IT! Thanks for the delicious recipe!
Does this recipe apply to other fish as well?
I haven’t tried it with others, but I would think you could use any firm fish.
Going to make this in a few minutes, can’t wait! I know it’s going to be amazing!
I really hope you enjoy it, Angie!
This is such a great recipe. I have made it three times now. I divide everything in half and make two fillets for my husband and myself. We both love it. Thank you so much for sharing this easy and delicious recipe!
So glad you like it, Chanda.
My husband made this tonight!! It was excellent!! Very flavorful and looked just like the picture!
I have picky eaters. Fish is not allowed on the menu unless is salmon cooked in brown sugar and butter. HOWEVER my family LOVED this recipe and it is now on our regular dinner menu. This is so simple and delicious, it’s perfect for a “don’t have time to cook”. Hang up the phone, don’t order pizza, this is easier and a lot less expensive. I even made up the seasoning to keep in the pantry so I am not mixing it each time- just pulling out the jar of seasonings. **We have dairy allergies so I replaced the butter with hemp milk and sometimes almond milk. Catfish is generally a little on the oily side anyway. The hemp/almond milk give this a rich flavor with out the butter and it’s still very yummy!
So happy to hear that! This is one of our favorites, too.
Thank you for this fabulous recipe! I halved the ingredients, subbed 1 tsp dried parsley for fresh, and used unsalted butter for two fillets. Delicious and a definite keeper!
Thank you for this recipe. I bake catfish all the time but more basic with my seasoning. So I was excited to put a twist on my catfish tonight. My husband and my two boys loved it. I will continue to bake my catfish according to your recipe in the future. Thanks again!
Wow! Just made this for my parents and I. It was great. I’d use a little less salt next time but it turned out. Made it with fried asparagus seasoned with garlic, salt, and lemon pepper and some lemon juice.
I replaced the lemon juice with fresh squeezed orange juice. Came out “Fabtabulous.
Lana Stuart, thanks so much for the delicious recipe.
Lana Stewart
I’d agree with the less salt comments, but this recipe was amazing ! Definitely going to be a repeat for me .
Holy Crap! This recipe is the Bee’s Knees. I always make it a point to comment on a food blog if the recipe I tried it legit! This right here was amazing. Even my picky eater boyfriend went bananas over this recipe… He’s so hard to feed. He wouldn’t stop talking about the fish… He wanted it twice in one week and that’s rare. Anyway… I loved this recipe and it is definitely one of our favorites. I paired the baked catfish with Quinoa and roasted potatoes. It was delicious and healthy. Thank You!
Hi Nevaeh! I am so pleased that you and your boyfriend enjoyed the recipe. It’s one of our favorites here as well.
I made this recipe for my husband and me for dinner this week. I paired it with oven roasted asparagus and rice pilaf. Simply amazing! I, too, reduced the salt by half after reading the suggestions by other posters, and it was just perfect. I have found a new fish recipe to add to our collection! Thank you for sharing…the meal was just so delicious and flavorful, and best of all, quick and easy to prepare! :D
So glad you enjoyed it, Vada!
I was always scared of catfish. I was given some and tried this and it was delicious! I only did 2 in my toaster oven and halved everything. Will use less salt next time. Thank you for curing my fears of catfish!
This was really good, could have sworn I had thyme but my bottle was empty, still really good, put thyme on the list. Had two pan size frying catfish instead of filets, really good and easy.
I’ve made this 3X, it’s good, especially if you don’t want to fry. Tasty.
Very Good, just a little salty, my picky hubby really liked it!
Delish, just cut back a little on the salt…
I cook for my husband, adult son, and myself. I dipped the catfish in the butter, lemon juice, and garlic powder mixture before I put on the herb mixture. That way the herbs stay in place better for me. I used nonstick foil in the 9 x 13. I baked them just until flaky and still juicy. Both men said it was absolutely delicious and wanted this again. My son took the extra juice in the pan and poured it over his fish and mashed potatoes to enjoy every last bit of the wonderful tasty juice. This dish comes together so easy and does not take a lot of time to prepare. Served it with mashed potatoes, green beans, and fruit cocktail in lite juice with bananas and marshmallows. Thanks, Lana, for this easy and delicious recipe.
You’re welcome, Kathleen! It pleases me very much to know that your family enjoyed it!
I made this dish exactly as Lana prescribed. It was very very good. We eat catfish filetts at least once a week at home, mostly fried which I get tired of. I’ve tried several recipes and some of my own creations but never really satisfied.
Thanks Lana!
This was delcious and easy! Tons of flavor.
I, too, grew up in a time when everything was fried so yes I love it cooked that way also. Today, I rarely fry anything because people are more aware of healthier ways to cook things and with me being diabetic and having tremendous amounts of Gerd, I have to watch how and what I eat. Today I,m cooking catfish with Old Bay seasoning but it will not be fried. This recipe looks like a keeper for sure and will save it for a later time to experience. Thanks so much for your recipes and may God Bless.
I’ve made this recipe numerous times using fresh cod since it’s easier to find in the northeast during the winter. The only changes are that I use half the salt and since cod tends to be thicker I bake it 5 minutes longer than the recipe calls for. Comes out perfect each time. Great recipe that will work with just about any fish. Definitely give this a try!
This is my new favorite baked catfish recipe. It’s simple and flavorful, just how catfish should be. Everyone that knows me knows I am always game for catfish.
20 mins was too short on my oven
Hi Lana, Lana Ellis here! Your blog was the first thing that came up when I googled “tips on cooking catfish”. Can’t wait to try the baked catfish recipe because my son brought home several pounds of it. Been afraid to use it, but will thaw some out and give it a try! Looks great!
Thank you Lana, from another Lana!
Hi there other Lana! Hope you enjoy the recipe, but I can’t imagine why you’d be afraid to use catfish :-) It’s delicious.