Make restaurant-quality pan-seared Chilean sea bass in under 20 minutes. It’s crisp outside, tender, juicy, and flaky in the middle, and served with rich lemon butter sauce!

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

 20-24 oz Chilean sea bass 4 fillets (5-6 oz each), skin-on works best

 1.5 Tbsp butter or ghee

 1.5 Tbsp olive oil or avocado oil

 1/2 tsp salt or to taste

1/4 tsp black pepper or to taste

Lemon Sauce:

 2 oz butter 1/4 cup, unsalted

 2 Tbsp lemon juice from 1/2 large lemon

 1/2 tsp salt

  1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions

1. Pat the sea bass fillets dry with paper towels and season both sides with salt and pepper.
2. Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet/frying pan (or well-seasoned cast iron skillet) over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the fillets skin-side-down and pan-sear for 3-4 minutes per side (depending on the thickness). Very thick fillets over an inch can take 5 minutes per side. If it sticks when you try to flip it, it’s not ready. Leave it for a further 10-15 seconds and try again. To ensure the fillets are properly cooked, use a thermometer to check that the internal temperature is 140-145ºF/60-63ºC.
3. Meanwhile, while the fish cooks (or beforehand), prepare the simple lemon sauce by melting the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until lightly browned. Then mix in the lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
4. When everything is ready, spoon the lemon butter sauce over the seared sea bass, and enjoy!

The Perfect
Cast Iron Skillet