Almond-Crusted Tilapia

Over the holiday break, when I wasn’t painting the bathroom or laying around the house sick, I spent a lot of time knitting, baking and of course, cooking. I made a tilapia recipe that I’ve been working on and finally had time to perfect, so I thought I would share it with you. An adaptation of a recipe found over at allrecipes.com, it’s probably the best tilapia I’ve ever had.

Instead of using blanched almond flour, I like to use almond meal. The difference is that almond meal is ground with the skin still on. Blanched almond flour has had the skins removed. Using almond meal (with the skins still on) makes this dish more hearty and substantial and gives it a lovely color. You can buy almond meal, or you can make it yourself.

I’ve tried grinding whole almonds in my coffee grinder, but I’m always left with large chunks of almonds that never seem to grind up. The solution is using sliced almonds. Sliced almonds still have the skins on, but it is much easier to fully grind. Be careful not to grind the almonds too much or you will end up with almond butter! You can use a coffee grinder, a blender or a food processor.

Grinding sliced almonds with coffee grinder

Ground Almonds

Almond-Crusted Tilapia
this recipe is not low-FODMAP
serves 4

print recipe

Ingredients

1 egg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (optional, or as tolerated)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 lb. tilapia fillets
3 tablespoons white rice flour

1/2 cup almond meal or ground almonds
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

parsley sprigs and lemon wedges, optional

Directions

1. Beat the egg with the lemon juice, salt, garlic powder and pepper until blended; pour onto a plate and set aside. Stir together ground almonds and Parmesan cheese until combined on a plate; set aside. Dust the tilapia fillets with rice flour, and shake off excess. Dip the tilapia in egg mixture, then press into the almond mixture.
2. Melt butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook tilapia in melted butter and olive oil until golden brown on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Continue cooking until tilapia flakes easily.
3. Transfer the tilapia to a serving dish, and garnish with parsley springs and lemon wedges to serve.