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    Home » Budget Recipes

    20+ Easy Fish Recipes

    Published: Feb 21, 2023 by Jessica Fisher

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    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more details, please see our disclosure policy.

    Whether you observe Lenten dietary guidelines or just want to add more seafood to your diet, fish and shrimp can be high-quality, low budget proteins to enjoy. Be sure to try these Easy Fish Recipes this week for easy meals that won’t break the bank.

    Simple and packed with flavor, fish can fit your meal plan any time. Save money on takeout when you make homemade fish tacos for an easy weeknight dinner or liven up your favorite grilled salmon recipe with our Greek Yogurt Tartar Sauce.

    salmon with spicy fish seasoning plated with potatoes and green beans. this …
    Jump to:
    • Make it easy.
    • Why Make Fish
    • Ingredients
    • Storage Tips
    • FAQs
    • Recommended Recipes
    • Tell us what you think!

    Love fish and shrimp but not sure you can swing the price tag? Thankfully for us, fish isn’t limited to the tables of the rich and famous. In fact, seafood often goes on sale during this season of Lent…. which starts this week!

    We’re coming up on a season when fish becomes more affordable. Between Valentine’s Day, Lenten observations, and March’s frozen food month, grocery stores offer shrimp, salmon, ahi tuna, and other fish for great prices, often under $7 a pound. 

    When you can, stock up on sustainable, wild-caught fish and shellfish to stretch your dollar and enjoy a healthy protein.

    Make it easy.

    With the money issue out of the way, let’s talk tuna. As economical as it can be, fish and seafood can be intimidating to prepare. Folks shy away from these proteins because they’re not sure what to do with them. 

    At Good Cheap Eats we believe anyone can enjoy great meals — no matter your budget or your kitchen knowledge. Let’s make this easy! We’ve rounded up dozens of recipes and tips to make your seafood recipes successful and delicious!

    Whether you’re in the midst of a pantry challenge or want to stock up on fish and other seafood when it’s on sale, having a repertoire of go-to fish recipes is essential to making the most of great deals and a good catch. Scroll down for some of the best Good Cheap Eats.

    Why Make Fish

    It’s good for you. Fish is the making of a healthy dinner, bringing omega-3 fatty acids to your diet as well as Vitamins D and B2. Many of the healthiest cultures include fish in their menus. 

    It’s delicious. Prepared properly, fish can be delicious, whether you choose ahi tuna poke or an easy baked cod recipe.

    ingredients for fish seasoning in a small glass bowl.

    Ingredients

    Here are some of the most common ingredients to keep on hand to yummy fish recipes:

    seasonings – salt and pepper are just fine, but consider other options, such as a fish rub, lemon pepper, or Old Bay. Our Fish Seasoning is easy and delicious!

    fat – butter and olive oil add flavor and keep fish from drying out.

    acid – Fresh lemon wedges are classic accompaniments to fish recipes. But, remember that other citrus fruit are good complements as well as vinegars, such as malt vinegar, the standard for drenching your fish and chips.

    Storage Tips

    You know how they say fish and houseguests need to go at the three day mark? Yeah, that’s true. Fish doesn’t stay good for very long. 

    Use fresh raw fish or shrimp within a day or two of purchasing. Cooked fish is good for 3 to 4 days, refrigerated. If you can’t use or cook it right away, be sure to freeze it, tightly wrapped in moisture- and vaporproof wrappings.

    Use frozen seafood within six months. You have some wiggle room—frozen food is good forever when stored properly, but taste and texture can get funny if left too long.

    Use home canned fish within a year; commercial is good for five. Nope, canned foods don’t last forever.

    Consult the USDA food storage guidelines for more details.

    meal prep boxes with green beans, salmon, and potatoes with tartar sauce.

    FAQs

    What’s the easiest fish to cook?

    Start practicing with an affordable fish, such as mahi mahi so that if you make a mistake, your investment in the mahi mahi recipe isn’t a huge loss. If you’re curious about which fish are the best to buy in terms of safety and sustainability, you can download a regional seafood guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The market of ocean-friendly fish can vary depending on where you live.

    Can you use any type of seasfood in fish recipes?

    Fish fall into certain types, culinarily such as white and firm versus dark and oily. If making substitutions in fish recipes, try to find a similar type. Consult this chart for a list of options. 

    Should you season fish before you cook it?

    Yes, but not too soon. If you season too early, the salt will begin to break down the proteins in the fish. So season right before you plan on cooking your fish.

    How do I know my fish is cooked?

    Cooked fish should easily flake. If it resists or is transculent, then cook it a bit longer.

    Recommended Recipes

    Check out these healthy fish recipes as well as recipes for seasonings, sauces, and side dishes that go well with fish.

    close-up of ramekin of tartar sauce on plate of fish.

    Seasonings and Sauces

    One of the beauties of cooking fish and shrimp is that they don’t need to be heavily seasoned. A little goes a long way. 

    • Sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and wrap in foil for an easy baked fish recipe.
    • Season with some Cajun Spice Blend and grill.
    • Coat in breadcrumbs and fry in butter.
    • Drizzle mahi mahi with olive oil and sprinkle with Homemade Seasoned Salt and cook in the air fryer.
    • Be sure to serve lemon wedges with the fish for a little tart contrast.
    Maple Balsamic Dressing
    Mix up a little deliciousness in this Balsamic Vinaigrette. This Maple Balsamic Dressing is packed with flavor and couldn't be easier to prepare.
    Check out this recipe
    Recipe for Dill Dip
    Make your own Dill Dip with sour cream and a few spice cupboard staples: dried dill, onion flakes, garlic powder, parsley flakes, onion powder, and black pepper.
    Check out this recipe
    dill dip in small round dish on veggie tray.
    Garlic Butter
    Garlic butter is simple to make, yet packs a punch in any number of dishes, including garlic bread, cooked meats, fish, and vegetables. Make your own and save!
    Check out this recipe
    mixed garlic butter in a white bowl next to silver garlic press and head of garlic.
    Herbed Mayonnaise
    Herbed Mayonnaise is a delightful addition to sandwiches, wraps, burgers, and to use as a sauce for artichokes. It’s simple to make, and absolutely delicious.
    Check out this recipe
    herbed mayo in dish next to ingredients
    Remoulade Tartar Sauce
    Dress up your favorite grilled or fried fish with this homemade Remoulade Tartar Sauce. It’s packed with flavor and a little Cajun kick.
    Check out this recipe
    A bowl of Remoulade next to fish plate
    Warm and Spicy Fish Rub
    Enjoy the ease and out-of-this-world taste of home cooked fish when you use this simple warm and spicy fish rub for seasoning.
    Check out this recipe
    spicy fish rub in glass bowl
    Cajun Spice Blend
    Save money on spice blends by making your own. This Cajun-inspired mix features onion, garlic, thyme, oregano, and cayenne.
    Check out this recipe
    small white dish of cajun spice blend on black table with a small spoon.
    Herb Butter for Fish or Chicken
    Want to make chicken and fish dinners quick and easy? Mix up a batch of herb butter to keep in the freezer. It creates an instant, delicious sauce.
    Check out this recipe
    roll of herbed butter cut into slices
    Greek Yogurt Tartar Sauce Recipe
    With Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, dill weed, dill relish, and a handful of spices, you can make a fresher-tasting and nutritious tartar sauce for fish and shrimp.
    Check out this recipe
    bowl of tartar sauce on dinner plate
    close up of sauteed tilapia with herb butter, green beans, and buttered noodles.

    Fish Recipes

    Love tuna? Salmon? Cod? We’ve got you covered with some basic ways to prep fish, including baking, frying, and grilling. Leftover cooked fish can replace canned tuna in many fish recipes.

    Baked Salmon in Foil
    Baked Salmon in Foil comes together in minutes, tastes delicious, and reheats well, making it a practically perfect way to add more fish to your diet.
    Check out this recipe
    baked Salmon and lemons on foil
    How to Cook Fish in a Skillet
    Cooking fish in a skillet is a quick and easy way to get dinner on the table. Check out this simple method.
    Check out this recipe
    cooked salmon on dinner plate with dish of tartar sauce
    The Best Tuna Sandwich Recipe
    Mix up a tasty tuna salad with dill, lemon, scallion, and celery for the best tuna sandwich recipe. Easy to make and super affordable!
    Check out this recipe
    two halves of a tuna sandwich, stacked on a white plate, cut side facing the camera.
    Easy Tuna Melt Sandwiches
    A tuna salad sandwich and a grilled cheese sandwich get married, making this easy tuna melt, a perfect meal for busy nights or when you want some comfort food.
    Check out this recipe
    side shot of tuna melt on panini press
    Buffalo Tuna Melt Sandwich
    Looking for some ultimate mom food to make sure you eat well every day? Try this Buffalo Tuna Melt Sandwich — so delicious and packed with flavor!
    Check out this recipe
    A plate of veggies, with Buffalo Tuna Melt Sandwich
    Tuna Pita Pockets
    Make brown-bagging it tasty and economical with these delicious Tuna Pita Sandwiches with Cucumber. Canned tuna never tasted so good.
    Check out this recipe
    tuna salad in pita bread halves
    Tuna Macaroni Salad
    Enjoy this Tuna Macaroni Salad as a cool main dish this summer or as a substantial side dish at your next barbecue. It packs super well for lunch on the go.
    Check out this recipe
    tuna macaroni salad in large wooden bowl with a red spoon.
    Nicoise Salad Wraps
    Take a French classic and tweak it with these Nicoise Salad Wraps. Filled with tuna, egg, and vegetables but served in a wrap, the classic feels new again.
    Check out this recipe
    Nicoise Salad Wraps
    Salade Nicoise Recipe
    Salade Nicoise is one of the traditional French salads, composed rather than tossed, and featuring fresh vegetables, tiny salty black olives, and tuna.
    Check out this recipe
    A plate of niçoise salad
    close up of creamy shrimp pasta in skillet.

    Shrimp Recipes

    Look for sales on shrimp in March. While not technically a fish, it’s a delightful seafood that tastes great with fish recipe or on its own.

    Creamy Garlic Shrimp Pasta
    Enjoy a restaurant quality meal in just minutes. Enjoy shrimp in a luscious cream sauce over linguini tonight.
    Check out this recipe
    close-up view of skillet full of creamy garlic shrimp pasta topped with fresh parsley.
    Grilled Shrimp Tacos
    Grilled Shrimp Tacos are super easy to prepare and packed with flavor. Make a few freezer meal kits of spice and seafood, and you can enjoy these tacos at the drop of a hat.
    Check out this recipe
    shrimp tacos on a plate
    Shrimp Pasta with Sausage
    Stir up a pot of comfort with this Shrimp Pasta with Sausage. It gets an added kick from a homemade Cajun seasoning mix.
    Check out this recipe
    fork and bowl with creamy jambalaya pasta
    Cilantro Shrimp Pasta
    Looking for a quick and easy pasta dish full of flavor? Look no further than this Cilantro Shrimp Pasta that comes together in just 20 minutes.
    Check out this recipe
    A bowl of cilantro shrimp pasta
    Shrimp Bowls with Mango and Avocado
    Enjoy a quick and delicious lunch or dinner with these Shrimp Bowls topped with Mango and Avocado. So easy and so yummy!
    Check out this recipe
    A bowl of shrimp with mango and avocado
    Shrimp Stir Fry with Vegetables
    Enjoy a quick and easy supper packed with protein and good-for-you veggies. This Shrimp Stir Fry with Vegetables is absolutely delicious!
    Check out this recipe
    A plate of shrimp and vegetables
    Pesto Shrimp Linguine Salad
    Pesto Shrimp Linguine Salad is super easy and quick to assemble. It’s packed with flavor thanks to pesto, sundried tomatoes, and black olives.
    Check out this recipe
    A plate of linguine and shrimp
    Easy Fish and Shrimp Packets
    Take hobo dinners to a new level. Wrap chunks of fish and whole shrimp in foil with vegetables, herbs, and butter for a simple and succulent supper.
    Check out this recipe
    fish packet, rice, and asparagus on plate
    Shrimp on the barbie
    Ready for something awesome to come off the grill? This shrimp on the barbie is an easy and quick grilled shrimp recipe for summer.
    Check out this recipe
    A plate of Shrimp and lemon slices
    Jambalaya with Italian Sausage and Shrimp
    Feed the masses in style with this easy to prepare, one-pot meal of Jambalaya with Italian Sausage and Shrimp. It’s packed with flavor and composed of easy to find ingredients, no matter where you live.
    Check out this recipe
    A bowl of Jambalaya on table
    Good Cheap Eats Tip for Saving on Seafood | Good Cheap Eats

    Tell us what you think!

    We love to hear your experiences with Good Cheap Eats. Click the STARS on the recipe card or leave a STARRED comment to let us know what you think of the recipe.

    This post was originally published on March 6, 2014. It has been updated for content and clarity.

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    Comments

    1. E

      February 16, 2018 at 11:12 am

      My mom used to make tuna rice cakes when I was younger, and I occasionally still make them. Quick and easy way to use up leftover cooked rice too. The recipe was originally in a Sesame Street kids magazine I think. Basically, it’s canned tuna, cooked, rice, egg, and shredded cheese mixed up and rolled in cracker crumbs then fried in a skillet for a few minutes per side.

      I’m also probably an odd ball taste wise but I found that I like bbq sauce mixed into canned tuna. Spread on a slice of bread and toast it with a little shredded cheese on top.

      Reply
      • Jessica Fisher

        February 20, 2018 at 8:51 pm

        You like what you like. Even if it sounds weird. 😉

        Reply
    2. Karen J

      February 14, 2018 at 2:08 pm

      While a bit pricey, I buy the frozen Wild Alaska sockeye salmon at Costco several times a year. There are eight shrink wrapped fillets per package. I make cajun salmon caesar salads (using Costco’s romaine) sharing one fillet for the two of us. We alternate buying those with buying Costco’s frozen salmon burgers which I serve on buns with sriracha mayo and veggies.

      We like tuna/egg salad sandwiches extending the tuna with hard boiled eggs. I like tuna casserole, but my husband does not. Really does not.

      And like Heather M. we love shrimp! I buy those two pound bags of EZ peel whenever they are on sale. I use it to make baked coconut shrimp, stir fry, jambalaya, peel and eat boiled in Bay’s seafood seasoning, fried rice, etc.

      Whenever I go to the ocean (Pacific) I try to order razor clams in a restaurant. They are expensive, but I don’t get them often and they are such a treat.

      Reply
      • Jessica Fisher

        February 20, 2018 at 8:51 pm

        That Cajun Salmon Caesar sounds amazing! Gonna have to try that soon!

        Reply
    3. Heather M

      March 14, 2014 at 2:53 pm

      We LOVE fish, etc, in our house. We eat it at least once a week, not including tuna sandwiches or tuna w/crackers (or for me, tuna w/cottage cheese, in salads, etc). We’ll eat it many ways, but one way that’s fast for a weeknight with little time is salmon or mahi mahi topped with Montreal Steak Seasoning and cooked in the grill pan. We eat a variety of fish in many different ways, including salmon, mahi mahi, tilapia, cod, halibut(only pacific, the atlantic is not good-totally different taste), and others. We all LOVE shrimp and eat it many ways as well, from cooked simply w/garlic, in various asian noodle dishes, tossed in a jambalaya or my phony paella, etc, etc. My kids could eat shrimp straight and be happy. Clam chowder is popular here, as are other fish stews. We love love love fish, sushi, everything. All of us.

      Reply
    4. Krista

      March 08, 2014 at 4:24 pm

      Love to see more fish recipes. Our family harvests up to 50 sockeye salmon each summer for our personal use so it is a staple for us. Buying seafood here is cost prohibitive even though it is abundant.

      Reply
    5. AlysonRR

      March 08, 2014 at 9:55 am

      We try to eat fish/seafood at least once a week year round. We have quite a few favorite dishes.

      The first is sesame-crusted salmon (the recipe I use is from Marilu Henner’s “Healthy Life Kitchen” from which we have found surprisingly many tasty recipes). Basically you marinate thick but narrow filets briefly in teriyaki sauce then roll in sesame seeds, brown in a skillet, then finish in a 250F oven for ~7 minutes. Yum!

      Next would be my mother-in-law’s smoked salmon pesto pasta: farfalle pasta with sauteed onions, mushrooms, and zucchini. Pesto mixed in, then the pasta/veg/pesto combo is tossed with bite-sized pieces of smoked salmon, which “cooks” them a little (not necessary, but improves the texture for eating with the pasta). This is my daughter’s favorite recipe.

      Fish tacos (with baked or battered fish), fried or sauteed oysters, steamed clams (my son’s favorite) or mussels (my fave), lemon sole with Panko (my husband’s favorite) and seafood melts (tuna or salmon salad or fresh crab or crab/krab salad on English muffins with melted cheddar or Gouda on top) all make frequent appearances.

      I’m lucky to be in the Northwest, and to have a mom with waterfront that has harvest-able seafood (crab and oysters – plus we trade oysters for clams with a neighbor) as well as a brother in Oregon who keeps us in salmon. Obviously that makes most of our seafood local and sustainably harvested! But I also travel to a local mussel farmer whose prices are half what the stores charge (when we lived out East we also found local fisherfolk with similar price breaks). Finally, I shop the fish sales – sole and cod are often $4.99 here, as is salmon, mahi mahi is 6.99 on sale – plus I agree Trader Joe’s is a great resource.

      Reply
    6. Sandi

      March 07, 2014 at 9:19 am

      I’ll check for specials during this season, but I generally find decent quality fresh/frozen fish to be fairly pricey. And I live in the Florida panhandle, not the mid-West, so I hate to see what their prices look like. The kid has always been a huge seafood lover (oh, his teacher’s face when he wanted to bring a calamari dish to a school function in 4th grade!) so we’ve cooked and enjoyed fish an enormous number of ways. I think his favorite, though, is the seafood mix (shrimp, scallops, mussels, squid, etc) sauteed in a garlic butter sauce. That stuff tends to be cheaper than fish anyway, so we do that one on occasion. I modified it a bit for Christmas (that’s the meal he requested) and turned it into a creamy garlic sauce. Oh, heavens, that was good. It’s probably about time to do that one again.

      Reply
      • Jessica Fisher

        March 07, 2014 at 9:46 am

        I’m not a fan of squid, but the rest sounds yummy!

        Reply
    7. Margery H.

      March 07, 2014 at 6:20 am

      I would love to add more seafood into our family’s diet. I don’t find it to be low-budget, however. Most quality seafood seems to run around $8-12/lb around here (Atlanta). I won’t buy the low-quality farmed fish from southeast Asia due to the extremely polluted and unregulated aquaculture there. Do you have any suggestions to make fish and seafood budget-friendly?

      Reply
      • Jessica Fisher

        March 07, 2014 at 9:46 am

        Do you have Trader Joe’s there? They have lower prices than $8. (And I’m with you on the farmed stuff.) The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a great buying guide. You can download it here: http://www.seafoodwatch.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/download.aspx It tells you what’s safest and available where you live.

        Reply

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