Crispy Oven-Baked Tilapia

There is nothing more I would love to do than share with you all my photos from our culinary bike tour. ... But. ... (and there's always a but) ... I managed to jam the memory card in this adaptor thingy and can't seem to recover it and must wait on my Mr. Fix It to, well, fix it.

So there you go.

Instead, I will share with y'all a delicious fish recipe I tried the other night. It wasn't as delicious as our culinary tour, but I'm doing what I can here, people.

Ty and I eat a lot of fish. Mostly grilled. Mostly the same way. Mostly boring. Although I will give us a big pat on the back for no longer using frozen fillets. That's the first important step with any fish. You can't slack on freshness. I like to eat fish about once a week. It makes me feel like I'm doing something good for myself, and I always feel a little skinnier the next day.

But I'm really bored with the same old grilled fillet, so I was thrilled to find this Crispy Oven-Baked Tilapia recipe. It's not even going to come close in comparison to fried fish, so don't let me give you the wrong impression. But it's still good. Really, really good and fresh and crispy.

The dish calls for the fillets to be coated in butter before being patted with panko crumbs. I think next time I will skip the butter to lighten it up some more, or maybe opt for my handy I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray instead to dampen the fillets a bit more. Both would be healthier, better options.

Here's what you need and what to do!

Crispy Oven-Baked Tilapia

Zest from a lemon 

1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

1 teaspoon paprika

4 (4-oz.) tilapia fillets

salt, divided

6 tbsp. butter, melted

• Preheat oven 425° and grate zest from lemons to equal 4 tsp.
• Combine panko, paprika and 2 tsp. lemon zest in a shallow dish. Sprinkle fish with 1 tsp. salt. Dip fish in 1/4 cup melted butter; dredge in panko mixture, pressing panko to adhere.
• Place fish on a lightly greased rack in an aluminum foil-lined broiler pan. Drizzle remaining 2 Tbsp. melted butter over fish. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until fish flakes with a fork.

The butter does give the panko a nice golden color, but maybe the spray butter will accomplish a similar goal!

Enjoy!