Last Updated on April 15, 2022 by Karen

It’s not very often that I get excited about a fish recipe, but I am today. Last week, I spotted some fresh tilapia fillets at Whole Foods and I immediately snagged them, hoping to make tilapia en papillote (which is just a fancy way of saying fish steamed in parchment paper pouch). I had all my ingredients ready and even shredded some carrots and zucchini to cook with the fish, except that I forgot I ran out of parchment paper. I bet you saw that one coming ;) Bummer!

I looked inside my fridge and found the three ingredients I needed to make a quick meal out of the tilapia filets I had: Dijon mustard, almond meal, and lemon. That’s all! Don’t you just love it when a recipe has a short ingredient list?

By the way, I always have a bag of almond meal from Trader Joe’s on hand to use for crumb coating (like fried goat cheese) and baking– it’s such a versatile ingredient! The almond meal helps to create a nutty, crunchy crust around the fish. In fact, it’s so delicious and such a cinch to make, I made it twice last week.

Of course, this recipe works equally as well with just about any other white fish, like cod and haddock. Feel free to use whatever looks fresh at the market.

Almond-Crusted Tilapia

Ingredients

½ cup almond meal
¼ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsps Dijon mustard
4 tilapia fillets
1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
Lemon wedges for serving

Instructions

In a shallow dish, mix together almond meal, salt, and pepper.
Rub mustard on both sides of fillets and dredge in almond mixture.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add fish and cook 3 minutes on each side or until the crust is golden brown and the fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve with lemon.