Roasted snapper fillets seasoned with rosemary, garlic and olive oil dusted with breadcrumbs and roasted in the oven or also excellent cooked on the grill. This takes less than 30 minutes to make and we enjoyed this with a cucumber tomato salad on the side.
Snapper is a finely textured white fish that lends itself very well to herbs and seasoning. For this recipe I used red snapper because it’s always been a favorite of mine but after cooking this last night I did some research and read that it has been overfished and is on a list for endangered species which probably explains the high price. I was crushed since this is a fish I really enjoy and I was hesitant to post the recipe, but then figured this would be a great time to bring up the topic of sustainable seafood, something I first heard of last year while in San Fransisco from Alaskan Seafood.
What is sustainable seafood was my first thought after hearing about this? What that means is the fishing is managed for protection against overfishing, habitat damage, and pollution and doesn’t compromise the surrounding ecosystem. As a consumer, you can drive the market for sustainable seafood by choosing fish only from healthy, responsibly-managed sources, and caught or farmed in ways which minimize damage to the marine environment. A practice I will follow moving forward.
So, back to the recipe… upon research I found better sustainable alternatives to red snapper such as mutton snapper, rainbow snapper or yellowtail snapper. I will be doing my research next time I buy fish and will ask my fishmonger. I prefer fillets with the skin still on which help keep the fish together while cooking and adds to the flavor.
Roasted Snapper Fillet
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°.
- Rinse and dry fish well.
- Line a broiler rack with aluminum foil.
- Lightly spray with oil.
- Rub fish with 1 tsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper, garlic and rosemary.
- Place skin side down on oven rack and sprinkle bread crumbs on top.
- Drizzle remaining oil and bake until fish is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.
Great recipe allowing the flavor of the fish to rule. And I know each oven is different but we only cooked it 12 minutes at 450. This one, like soo many of your recipes, is a keeper!
An easy recipe, great results, I would highly recommend it highly, add some boiled potatoes and an easy salad a perfect meal
Absolutely delicious & easy to make with ingredients on hand.
WOW! I just made this tonight and it was FANTASTIC! I left the breadcrumbs off and it was still perfect. I cooked 2 snapper fillets and they were definitely done after 15 minutes. Perfect recipe! (I would be curious in the future if I can use parchment instead of foil? Or parchment on top of the foil maybe?) Will make this again and again!
Parchment paper can only be be used maximum of 425. Even at 400 it may turn brown as if it is burnt. Therefore recipe calls for 450 Aluminum Foil is the ONLY option
So good, the whole family loved this! Thank you for such a lovely recipe. This will be on repeat in our home.
This was very good and easy to make. I think I let it cook a little too long, but otherwise it was delicious.
Fabulous recipe and so easy to make!
Excellent and easy
Easy to make and so delicious. My 12 year old grandson loves this.
Absolutely fantastic!
We are in Western Australia and used a fillet of Goldband and it turned out beautifully moist and delicious!
Thank you I’m so glad that I found your recipe.
We did add a little sprinkle of paprika and dried parsley.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This was quick and easy to prepare. It tasted delicious!
Great dish for Christmas morning brunch! Eggs, Snapper, Canadian Bacon, and most important of all Family! Merry Christmas everyone. Enjoy
Great recipe. Very simple and easy to follow. Delicious results
My snapper tastes fantastic! Thank you! I cooked it in the oven.
Easy peasy. Only took 13 minutes for two large filets to get to 140 degrees. Great flavor! We rubbed with Avocado oil, fresh chopped Rosemary, minced garlic, salt and pepper, then sprinkled Gluten free plain breadcrumbs, Italian Seasoning, and drizzled Olive oil.
So, I ordered Mahi Mahi not long ago, and for some reason they subbed with Snapper. I have never had it, and I was worried it would be too fishy, or not to my liking somehow as I’m not the biggest fish person.
I wasn’t sure how to cook it and I came across this recipe and thought why not. Worked out great, I have new a favorite fish now, and this recipe was perfect for it!
I followed exact (using fresh rosemary) and cooked for 20 mins. Next time I will cook it for 15 mins.
Enjoyed this, I’ll be making this again !!!
We enjoyed this very much! I used mutton snapper, dried basil (from my garden), lots of garlic and panko breadcrumbs. We will definitely be making this again!
Easy and very tasty. This is my current go to fish recipe.
This was easy and delicious
Wow! super yum……, my mom’s favorite!
Don’t waste you fresh fish with this recipe. If you do, reduce rosemary by half and only cook at 400 for 10 minutes or until cooked through.
Hi Gina! If I’m making this for gluten free friends, is there an alternative you suggest to the breadcrumbs? Thank you!
You can use gluten free breadcrumbs. 🙂
Your recipe was too Hard to follow.
Garlic, is it crushed?
Rosemary, fresh and then what?
Very high temperature and cooking it right now. Not sure how this will turn out.
I did it today and it was amazing (super simple)
Is 450 degrees F a typo? We baked at 450 for 15 minutes and it was SO dry! Very unfortunate. We had nice thick meaty pieces too.
Excellent recipe for fresh red snapper! I substituted fresh Basil for the Oregano. Served with caper sauce.
Thank you! Tried it with a twist which was to add garlic salt, chilli powder, paprika and lemon slices. Broiled the foil pack for about 10 mins additionally because I hate colorless food (Lol). Everything came out perfect! Thank you for posting.
Why after stating what the purple points are there is another number
Points + (plus) is an older WW program. 🙂
Quick easy and delicious.
It was my first time ever to cook a fish in oven , it turned out perfect 😋,thank you , great recipe,👍the whole family loved it 😍
Thank you for publishing your recipe! I very much look forward to making this on Valentine’s Day. I’m so happy it as I have scoured the internet for so many ideas. However I would like to applaud you for providing educational information in addition to your fabulous recipe… I find that very refreshing to your average post you find one other pages and I really enjoyed reading and finding that bit of helpful information. I actually do believe I will now keep your recipe but be swapping out my choice of snapper. Thank you.
You don’t say where in the oven to place the rack= top, middle, bottom?
I have you know that Red Snapper is not an endangered fish. They are plentiful and sometimes even a nuisance at times while your trying to catch grouper or another species. Their counts were low for a while but after setting seasons for them they have made a marvelous comeback.
yah! Red snapper is one of my favorite
and I can usually find it at my store so I was concern with the above mentioned of being on endangered list.
Another thing I know this post is a bit old but if it was endangered you would not find it at all cause it’s illegal to kill endangered species just to let you know not picking on you and farm raised fish does way way more harm then good it destroyes eco systems and is not healthy for you and me cause of the chemical they put in pens to keep fish healthy cause they don’t live like that normally and they get sick 200x faster …..but hey glad ur watching the food you eat and this recipe is awesome thanks for sharing …..Benn
Excellent point about snapper NOT endangered.
I made the roasted snapper along with the cucumber, tomato and onion salad last night. Both were delicious and and simple to prepare!!!
I was just diagnosed with very high cholesterol (it’s hereditary) and have been preparing most dishes on your site. This snapper dish and your fish sticks recipe were phenomenal! I never thought fish sticks could be so delicious! Thanks, you’re awesome!
How long do you cook it for?
15-20 minutes.
Hi! This looks AMAZING (I have snapper in the freezer!) Only problem is, my kitchen is being remodeled and my only source of cooking is the charcoal grill and an induction burner. If I grill this, would you recommend I leave off the breadcrumbs? Thank you!
Perhaps you can grill on foil to mimick the oven?
Excellent! Just the right amount of flavor while not overpowering the fish. I used fresh striped bass and fresh oregano (rather than rosemary), all else was according to the recipe.
Would cod, halibut, or tilapia work? I can’t find snapper!
Yes, any fish filet would work.
Is the garlic minced or kept whole
I used jarred minced garlic. It’s rare that we have no fresh garlic but it was one of those days when I was making this dish. Turned out great
Wild fish doesn't always mean sustainable. And farmed fish can be a good alternative. A great resource is the Monterey Bay Aquarium which posts a guide to sustainable fish that they periodically update.
I'm not sure where storebought snapper comes from, but I live in Florida and my boss catches it in the Gulf. I do know that there is a limit of 2 snapper per person you are allowed to catch. That said, he has gone out the past couple of weekends and easiliy catches that many and they are big…doesn't seem to be a shortage in these waters!
-Angela
There are other snapper varieties that are not on endangered list that are quite good. I'm going to use this recipe with lane snapper tonight.
Sure this would be great with salmon.
Would this recipe work with salmon? I have a bunch of wild salmon frozen and am looking for new ways to prepare it, this sounded like it would be good. What do you think?
I like using my grill basket for fish, works like a charm!
I want to make this on the grill, how do you suggest doing that?
This looks delicious! Thanks for talking about sustainable seafood!
Nina, good for you! And thanks, I was happy someone made me aware of the issue so I am happy to spread the word. Hope you all do to!
Anonymous- Email me and we can easily get this resolved with support. ginah2design @ gmail.com
Please do something about your printing format. I either get up to 7 or 8 printouts. I don't need all the preamble info–just the recipe. I clicked on the print friendly button but got 3 pages complete with the lovely photos but unnecessary. Think cliked on text only and got only page 1–with no receipe at all. Am about to give up. Emily 5-12-11
Beautiful. It looks so fresh!
I keep Tilapia in the freezer all the time and almost every fish recipe I see I wanna know if Tilapia would make a decent swap.. so, will it? 🙂
Thanks for a fabulous new fish recipe! As someone who has lived in fishing communities most of my life, I especially appreciate your mention of sustainability. One more reason why we love you and your blog so much. With your amazing recipes, I've educated friends that eating "skinny" can still taste great, plus, lost 50lbs myself! Keep up the great work. ~Nina
So simple and delicious – this was the perfect Spring dinner. Thank you for the inspiration.
Thanks Tasha, 95% complete! You'll know if you don't see points+. Just leave a comment under that recipe and I'll update as soon as I can.
Hi. I used to have several of your recipes bookmarked when I did the old WW system. I'm now starting back with the new, and I'm curious. I haven't had time to look through all of the recipes, but have your older recipes (which are some of my faves) been all updated to the New Points+ program? Thanks!
Great idea Jennifer, I actually have one from Alaskan Seafood which is all sustainable by the way! I will put it in my wallet.
Recently I found a "Seafood Pocket Guide" that I can carry in my wallet. There are a number of them on the web, easily found by Googling. The one I have identifies choices for both sustainability and toxins.
Katherine, thanks for mentioning that, I meant to post it. They have a great phone app as well for iphone and droid!
Kelly, I too am guilty but I'm going to try to make an effort to change that 🙂
I have to admit I can often be terrible at remembering to keep sustainability in mind when buying seafood. It's one of those things where I have no excuse, but sometimes it falls to the back of my mind. I'm especially a fan of the fact that Whole Foods seems to have stepped up their labeling. It's now SO much easier to get all of this info just looking at the fish tag.
Thanks for the recipe and the insight. I make it a point to purchase wild caught fish so learning of sustainable seafood gives me a lot to consider with my next purchase. And KUDOS for making eating healthy tremendously enjoyable!
Gina,
The Monterey Aquarium in California has a great website with a "Seafood Watch" with recommendations on sustainable fish. They have a downloadable pocket guide as well. It's www.monereyaquarium.org and then click on "Seafood Watch". I think they even have a regional guide.
Your recipes are great and very appreciated.
Katharine
Hi Gina, I was interested in the site you linked but it appears to be a bad link. Can you look at the link you posted again. Thanks a bunch. I hope all is well
This looks so yummy! I have recently started to change up my diet a little and I'm wanting to incorporate more fish into it for the protein values! I tried your Baked Lemon and Garlic Tilapia the other day and it was great! Thanks so much!