Did someone say Foil-Baked Chilean Sea Bass with Lemon Parmesan Cream Sauce? Sounds good, right?! Making this delicious Chilean Sea Bass in foil along with garlic creamed spinach topped with a lemon parmesan cream sauce makes for the perfect dinner idea anytime!
Who doesn’t love Chilean Sea Bass? It’s rich, buttery, moist, and flaky and literally melts in your mouth. But what’s really strange is it’s not actually sea bass. It’s original name, Patagonian toothfish, doesn’t sound that appetizing so I don’t blame them for changing the name (way back in 1977). 🙂
Chilean Sea Bass can be found in the southern ocean areas of Chile, Argentina, South Africa, and New Zealand which is probably why this variety cost more than the average fish per pound. If you’ve ever enjoyed it, you know it’s worth every single dime.
Back home in Louisiana, the variety of fish options seemed to be limited to catfish, redfish, Sac-a-Lait, and perch. Once I began to travel, I was able to gain an appreciation for different types of fish that were more prevalent in other regions.
And that brings me to this delicious Foil-baked Chilean Sea Bass with Lemon Parmesan Cream Sauce!
How to bake Chilean sea bass:
- I kept the seasoning simple in this recipe. Just season the sea bass on both sides with sea salt, black pepper, and Creole seasoning.
- Sauté the minced garlic in butter for 1 minute. Add in the fresh spinach and heavy cream. You’ll want to cook the spinach until it begins to wilt, but don’t overcook it because you’ll be putting it in the oven in a later step.
- Grab your foil and place half of the cooked spinach in the center. Place the sea bass over the spinach and seal the foil leaving enough room so the fish can steam. You’ll bake the seabass on a baking sheet for 12 minutes at 400 degrees.
- While the fish is cooking, you can start preparing the Parmesan Cream Sauce. Add butter, flour, and minced garlic to a pan and sauté for a few minutes. Add your wine and chicken broth and cook for another 3 minutes. Lastly, add the heavy whipping cream, parmesan cheese, flour, garlic powder, oregano, black pepper, sea salt, fresh lemon zest, and freshly squeezed lemon juice.
- Once the fish is done, pour on the sauce and serve.
Baking this delicious dish sealed in foil along with garlic cream spinach adds additional flavor while it steams the fish to perfection.
The lemon sauce blended with the Parmesan cheese and whipping cream was a sauce experiment that ended up being a home-run. I actually use this sauce on so many recipes, including fresh pasta!
When you want to turn your kitchen into an upscale dining experience give this Foil Baked Chilean Sea Bass with Lemon Parmesan Cream Sauce a try – paired with your favorite red or white wine, of course.
Here are a few more seafood recipes you might enjoy:
- Honey Mustard Glazed Salmon
- Creamy Tuscan Steelhead Trout
- Creole Fish Etouffee
- Honey Balsamic Steelhead Trout
- Pan Seared Salmon with Succotash
- Baked Flounder with Tomatoes and Basil
- Hot Cajun Fish Dip
Foil Baked Chilean Sea Bass with Lemon Parmesan Cream Sauce
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
Description
Baking this delicious Chilean Sea Bass in foil along with garlic cream spinach served topped with a lemon parmesan cream sauce makes for the perfect dinner idea anytime!
Ingredients
- 1 lb Chilean Sea Bass
- 12 oz. Fresh Leaf Spinach
- 1/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 2 tsp. Minced Garlic
- 1 tsp. Black Pepper
- 1 tsp. Creole Seasoning
- 1 tsp. Sea Salt
- 2 tbsp. Butter
For the Lemon Parmesan Sauce:
- 1 Lemon
- 1/4 cup White Wine
- 1/2 cup Chicken Broth
- 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 3 tbsp. Grated Parmesan Cheese
- 1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp. Oregano
- 3 tbsp. Butter
- 2 tbsp. All-Purpose Flour
- 1/4 tsp. Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
- 3 tsp. Minced Garlic
Instructions
For the fish:
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
- Season the sea bass on both sides with sea salt, black pepper, and Creole seasoning and set to the side.
- Heat cooking pan to medium heat and add butter. Once the butter melts, add minced garlic and cook garlic for 1 minute. Add the spinach and pour 1/4 cup of heavy cream over the spinach. Cook spinach just until it begins to wilt (but do not overcook as it will finish in the oven). Remove from heat.
- Tear 2 large pieces of foil and add half of the slightly cooked spinach in the center of each sheet. Place the sea bass over the spinach and seal the foil together so the fish can steam.
- Bake the fish for 12 minutes within the foil on a baking sheet to prevent leakage. Set to the side when done.
For the sauce:
- While the fish is cooking, heat a separate cooking pan to medium heat and add butter. Once the butter melts, add flour, minced garlic, and allow to cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add white wine (or white cooking wine) and chicken broth and cook for 3 minutes. Add the heavy whipping cream, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, oregano, black pepper, and sea salt.
- Zest the skin of the lemon into the sauce and slice the lemon in half and squeeze both halves of juice into the sauce. Cook on low/medium heat until well blended
- Remove the cooked fish and spinach from the foil. Pour on the sauce. Serve hot.
Equipment
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Notes
You can substitute any white, flaky fish in this recipe. For example, cod, red snapper, grouper, etc.
The 12 -minute cooking time is for an average-sized 6 oz. (around 2 inches thick) Chilean sea bass. If you have a larger or thicker piece, you may need to cook your Chilean sea bass for up to 8 minutes longer. Adjust your cooking time in 2-minute increments if you are unsure.
When you remove the fish and spinach from the foil, be sure to drain/discard any excess liquid that would have developed during the baking process. The only liquid you’ll need is from that delicious sauce!
I like a lot of sauce and will typically use the leftover sauce for other recipes later in the week. The lemon Parmesan sauce is perfect on many other dishes, including pasta!
If you are not planning for (or do not want any) excess sauce, you can split the recipe for the Lemon Parmesan Sauce in half.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Calories: 930
- Fat: 32.5g
Keywords: chilean sea bass,lemon parmesan cream sauce, baked fish, foil baked fish, baked chilean sea bass, roasted bass
I made the recipe with sea bass. The lemon Parmesan cream sauce was phenomenal. Recipe actually made too much sauce. Sauce with the spinach was watery
★★★★
Yes, this makes a lot of sauce. You can half the recipe if you don’t need as much. To ensure it is not watery, I typically allow the fish and spinach to drain before placing it on a serving plate to serve with the sauce. A lot of liquid is developed during the baking process. Glad to hear you enjoyed the sauce.
Well, this dish was certainly delicious! I had to cook mine a bit longer, like an extra 7-8 min but I’m assuming we had larger cuts of fish.
I didn’t have any spinach on hand so I left it out and it still turned out well! Added a little “extra” butter, but really, we did have large cuts of fish. I also added a bit more parm, salt, pepper and garlic salt, than the recipe called for. Adjusted to taste. So good! We ended up just dipping our fish in to the Alfredo and no o want to use the leftover for pasta!
★★★★★
That sauce is certainly great with pasta! And yes, you may need to adjust the cooking time for larger or thicker cuts. Glad you enjoyed it!
Hello! I was hoping to try this dish out this week. I am dairy free so would you recommend making a cashew cream sauce in place of the heavy cream for both the fish and sauce?
Unfortunately, I haven’t tried it with anything aside from heavy cream so I can’t be certain on how it would turn out. However, since cashew cream can have a thick and creamy texture, it is worth a shot.