Lemon Butter Sauce for Fish
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This garlic Lemon Butter Sauce is creamy, rich, bursting with zesty flavor and is the best sauce for Fish. Only four ingredients and just 10 minutes to make!
Craving more condiments like this one? Check out my popular posts for Easy Garlic Aioli, Greek Yogurt Alfredo Sauce, and Dallas BBQ Sauce.
Why This Recipe Works
Fast, easy, delicious: Just a few of the reasons this lemon butter sauce is THE BEST topping for your fish, fish sticks, salmon cakes, shrimp, and more.
Lemons — I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t love the taste of lemon. I mean, it’s so good right? And, while I prefer fresh lemon juice, bottled lemon juice will work just fine in a pinch!
Butter — Butter is the key here (it’s lemon BUTTER after all) and there’s really no substitution for it in my mind. It’s what makes this lemon sauce creamy, tasty, and finger-licking-good!
Fast — There’s just no faster way to make a sauce that’s as versatile as this, believe me I tried! But 15 minutes, that’s pretty quick right? Plus, the faster the sauce, the faster you get to eat it!
Chicken broth — I use chicken broth to bulk up the sauce, give it a tiny bit of brothy flavor, and help give it a smooth consistency.
Easy storage — Put this sauce in an airtight container and store in the fridge up to one week, or freeze up to three months!
Ingredients
- Butter – use real butter, not margarine for best flavor.
- Heavy cream – you need full fat, heavy cream (not milk) to get this sauce nice and creamy without any added thickening agents.
- Lemon – the zip and zest of the whole recipe.
Here’s How You Make It
- Melt butter over medium heat in a medium-size saucepan. (photo 1)
- Stir in the garlic for about 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. (photo 2)
- Add the lemon juice, chicken broth, and heavy cream. Stir. (photos 3-4)
- Bring the sauce to a simmer. Let it cook for about 4-6 minutes or until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Garnish with freshly chopped parsley and cracked black pepper and serve!
Frequently Asked Questions
Adding butter to this lemon butter sauce adds fat to the sauce and it also helps to thicken and smooth out the consistency of the sauce. It’ll get that olive oily texture without adding any oil if you cook it correctly. Butter acts as a vehicle to deliver that lemony goodness right to your taste buds.
More Ideas for Serving Lemon Butter Sauce
- Chicken is amazing with butter sauce on top! Add some slices of lemon for garnish and a little extra lemon flavor. Add rice to soak up more of that sauce too if you like. Oh my. (Head to One Pan Baked Lemon Chicken and Artichokes to find out for yourself!)
- Lemon butter sauce is also fabulous on top of almost all seafoods: tuna, (like this Sheet Pan Lemon Herb Tuna Steaks and Potatoes for example,) swordfish, tilapia, trout, you name it.
- And shellfish like shrimp or scallops with lemon sauce? Heaven.
- Vegetarian dishes are good with this sauce as well. Pour on top of cheese ravioli or tortellini, mix into mac and cheese, or elevate even plain old spaghetti with this sauce.
- Veggies become an even bigger hit in this house when topped with this sauce. Broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, green beans, Brussels sprouts, and especially steamed artichokes are wonderful dipped in lemon butter sauce.
Expert Tips
- Don’t leave the sauce unattended. You need to make sure it’s not cooking at too high a temperature or it’ll brown. Every stove top varies so keep an eye on that sauce, stirring once in a while to keep it mixed together while it thickens.
- Use fresh lemons whenever possible. The fresh juice lends such a brightness and crispness to the sauce, I think if you try it once to compare you’ll really be able to tell the difference!
- Add lemon juice a bit at a time. Start with the juice of half a lemon and add more to your tastes if you like. Remember you can always add more lemon in but it’s impossible to take it back out if it’s overly sour.
- If you do not have fresh or minced garlic, you can substitute a teaspoon of garlic powder instead.
- Reheating instructions: Take out only what you plan on using from the fridge. For best results, microwave about 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between intervals until the sauce is just heated back through. Or, reheat over medium-low on the stove.
More Recipes You’ll Love
- Pork Chops with Creamy Dijon Sauce
- Baked Salmon with Creamy Lemon Dill Sauce
- Salmon Florentine
- Beef Broth Brown Gravy
- Easy Chicken Gravy
Did you make this dish? Please rate the recipe below!
Lemon Butter Sauce for Fish
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- juice of ½ lemon
- ¼ cup low sodium chicken broth
- ¼ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat.
- Stir in garlic for 1-2 minutes til fragrant.
- Stir in lemon juice, broth, and heavy cream.
- Bring sauce to a simmer. Cook 4-6 minutes til sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Serve sauce over your favorite seafood (or even chicken or pasta!). Garnish with freshly chopped parsley and cracked black pepper if desired.
Notes
- Don’t leave the sauce unattended. You need to make sure it’s not cooking at too high a temperature or it’ll brown. Every stove top varies so keep an eye on that sauce, stirring once in a while to keep it mixed together while it thickens.
- Use fresh lemons whenever possible. The fresh juice lends such a brightness and crispness to the sauce, I think if you try it once to compare you’ll really be able to tell the difference!
- Add lemon juice a bit at a time. Start with the juice of half a lemon and add more to your tastes if you like. Remember you can always add more lemon in but it’s impossible to take it back out if it’s overly sour.
- If you do not have fresh or minced garlic, you can substitute a teaspoon of garlic powder instead.
- Reheating instructions: Take out only what you plan on using from the fridge. For best results, microwave about 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between intervals until the sauce is just heated back through. Or, reheat over medium-low on the stove.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Sauce has a lovely flavor, was very good with Salmon. My only issue was how thin it was. It never thickened. Measurements were exact and I let it simmer quite a while. Is there a way to reduce the liquids (broth) or any other way to thicken it up? Mine looked nothing like the photo spooned on the salmon in the recipe (which looks way thicker than all the other pictures). Much more liquid-y, just kinda like plain old melted butter.
You can try turning up the heat a bit at the end to help it thicken quicker but you would need to be careful and make sure you’re constantly stirring it. If it still doesn’t thicken, you can add a cornstarch slurry.
This is absolutely the best-best lemon sauce ever! So easy, quick and perfect. I did add fresh furikake (nori kome) seasoning!! OM!!!
Could olive oil be used in place of butter or would it not thicken right?
This recipe hasn’t been tested with a substitute since the butter is what makes the sauce creamy and gives it it’s delicious flavor so I can’t say what will happen for sure. If I were to try, however, I would recommend using 3/4 the amount of olive oil for butter called for and be aware that the flavor might change a bit.
Super tasty and easy to make! Dresses up any fish filet in a flash.
Delicious sauce over my shrimp toast
My husband and I have found our new favorite seafood sauce! It’s delectable.
This sauce is so good thanks for sharing
So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks for your positive feedback, Jack.