Easy Air Fryer Tilapia Recipe: A quick, easy and healthy weeknight dinner? Try making this delicious air fryer tilapia with fresh lemon juice and lemon wedges, that’s one of our healthier air fryer recipes for sure!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This simple recipe is a great option for those nights where you don’t know what to cook for dinner but you know you want it to be something that’s good for you and your family.
I think we all know that air fryer recipes save you a ton of mess (like when you use it to make Air Fryer Bacon or Air Fryer Turkey Breast instead of dirtying a bunch of baking sheets and roasting pans), but they are also time savers! This easy air fryer tilapia recipe comes together in just 16 minutes!
If your picky little ones don’t eat much fish, this easy air fryer tilapia recipe, with its simple seasoning and mild fish flavor, is a great way to introduce fresh fish to your whole family (even if they do decide to smother it in ketchup in the end).
Serve this flaky white fish with a side of wild rice and some Instant Pot Green Beans and Potatoes for a quick, delicious dinner.
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Ingredients
This easy, air-fried tilapia doesn’t require much- fresh tilapia (or frozen), some olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice and a few seasonings are really all it takes!
- 1 pound tilapia filets (if buying frozen filets, you will need to thaw them first so the spices can stick better)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (or any vegetable oil you prefer)
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (can use concentrated lemon juice if you need)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon lemon pepper (you can make your own like in this recipe)
- lemon slices (optional)
- fresh parsley (optional)
How to Make Tilapia in Air Fryer
- In a small bowl, combine the olive oil and the lemon juice. Set aside.
- In a separate small bowl, mix the garlic powder, salt, and lemon pepper until combined. Set aside.
- Place your fish filets on a plate and pat them dry with a paper towel.
- With a pastry brush, brush the oil on the filets. Take a paper towel, dip it in the leftover oil mixture and coat the bottom of the air fryer basket.
Tip: If you don’t have a pastry brush, no problem! You can pour the oil mixture over the filet and coat the filets with your fingers.
- Once all the filets are well coated with the oil, sprinkle the seasoning evenly on the filets and gently press it into the filets (do NOT rub the seasoning in- because the fish contains a good amount of water if you rub the seasoning in it will turn into a paste and will not look very appetizing).
- Place the filets in the air fryer. Only place as many in as you can fit while still leaving enough room around the filets for air to flow (you may want to put the rest of your fish filets back in the fridge to keep them cool until you can cook them). If you overcrowd the basket you may run into an uneven cook.
- This step is optional: I took some fresh, chopped parsley and sprinkled it over the filets. If you want to, you can also add 1 lemon slice (cut in half) on each tilapia filet before you cook it in the air fryer basket.
- Cook the tilapia in your Air Fryer on manual setting at 400 degrees F for 6 to 8 minutes (or until the internal temperature of the filet reaches 145 degrees F).
- Repeat steps 6,7,8 if you need to make multiple batches (the number of batches you need to do will depend on the size of your fillets and the size of your air fryer).
Substitutions
If you are missing a few ingredients or can’t eat tilapia…
- If you don’t have garlic powder you can replace it with onion powder
- You can replace the tilapia with any white flesh fish: swai, halibut, etc. (We love making panko-crusted cod too!) All white fish needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F. You may need to adjust the cooking time according to the type of fish and size of filet.
Variations
If you want to make this recipe your own, try playing around with the lemon juice called for in the recipe! Most all citrus will pair nicely with any white fish, so get creative and try using fresh-squeezed orange or lime juice instead of lemon.
You could also play around with the spices a bit. If you like spicy foods, you could replace the lemon pepper with cajun seasoning (or a homemade blend of chili powder, cayenne pepper, and paprika made to your liking).
Lemon pepper could also be replaced with 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper for a twist on this air fryer fish recipe that still has a mild flavor!
If you do try a different type of citrus or spice, be sure to leave us a comment and let us know how it turned out!
Equipment
For this recipe, we used a Cosori 5.8 QT air fryer. You could use any air fryer though, like a Ninja Foodi, Instant Vortex, or any of the other ones you can find with a quick Google search.
Storage
For the best results, store your leftover tilapia in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Expert Tips and FAQs
Yes! You can most definitely cook fish in the air fryer from raw. We recommend rubbing a bit of oil onto the bottom of the basket first, just to help keep the fish from sticking.
As a general rule, fish takes about 10-12 minutes to cook in the air fryer depending on the size of your filets. In this recipe, the tilapia fish used should cook in 6-8 minutes at 400 degrees F. It’s always a good idea to use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of any meat to ensure it’s done properly, though. For fish, the internal temperature you are looking for is 145 degrees F (63 degrees C).
Tilapia is a white fish and should be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F (63 degrees C).
The best way to use leftover tilapia, in our opinion, is to make fish tacos! Simply warm up your tilapia, pile it in a corn tortilla with your favorite taco ingredients and enjoy! If you need some inspiration, check out our Cilantro Avocado & Hummus Fish Tacos.
Related Recipes
If you loved this easy air fryer tilapia recipe, you’ll also love our other healthy air fryer recipes like these Air Fryer Salmon Patties and this Crispy Air Fryer Tofu Recipe! Or if you love fish recipes this lemon pepper salmon recipe is easy to make too!
Recipe
Easy Air Fryer Tilapia
Equipment
- air fryer
Ingredients
- 1 pound tilapia filets If buying frozen, they will need to be thawed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or any vegetable oil of your liking
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice fresh squeezed
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon lemon pepper
- lemon slices optional
- fresh parsley optional
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the olive oil and the lemon juice. Set aside.
- In a separate small bowl, mix the garlic powder, salt, and lemon pepper until combined. Set aside.
- Place your fish filets on a plate, pat dry with paper towels.
- With a pastry brush, brush the oil on the filets. Take a paper towel, dip it in the leftover oil mixture and coat the bottom of the air fryer basket.*If you don't have a pastry brush, no problem! You can pour the oil mixture over the filet and coat the filets with your fingers.
- Once all the filets are well coated with the oil, sprinkle the seasoning evenly on the filets and gently press it into the filets (do NOT rub the seasoning in- because the fish contains a good amount of water if you rub the seasoning in it will turn into a paste and will not look very appetizing).
- Place the filets in the air fryer. Only place as many in as you can fit while still leaving enough room around the filets for air to flow (you may want to put the rest of your fish filets back in the fridge to keep them cool until you can cook them). If you overcrowd the basket you may run into an uneven cook.
- This step is optional: I took some fresh, chopped parsley and sprinkled it over the filets. If you want to, you can also add 1 lemon slice (cut in half) on each tilapia filet before you cook it in the air fryer basket.
- Cook the tilapia in your Air Fryer on manual setting at 400 degrees F for 6 to 8 minutes (or until the internal temperature of the filet reaches 145 degrees F).
- Repeat steps 6,7,8 if you need to make multiple batches.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Betsy Carney says
We made this last night and loved it. It doesn’t get any easier!
Jessica says
Right? So easy and so good. Thank you for sharing!
Allyssa says
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing tilapia recipe! Will surely have this again! It’s really easy to make and it tasted so delicious! Highly recommended!
Jessica says
I’m so glad to hear that you liked this air fryer tilapia!! Thank you for the kind words and the review!
Eden says
This turned out so good, first time using this method, and loved it!! Super flavorful and has a great texture.
Jessica says
Oh good! I’m so glad you liked making this tilapia in the air fryer this way. It’s super easy too!