Sweet And Spicy Skillet Tilapia With Coconut And Gochujang Recipe

For being one of the easiest fish to work with, tilapia doesn't always get the love it deserves in the kitchen. Often, it ends up on a sheet pan with a few seasonings and a medley of vegetables, relegated to the dinners when we are feeling the laziest. The truth is, tilapia is both sturdy enough to fry (like in our fish and yuca chip recipe), flavorful enough to bake whole (like with this Greek-style recipe), and flaky enough to coat in a creamy pan sauce. In fact, there seems to be nothing tilapia can't do.

Tilapia's mild flavor is the perfect candidate for a bold and spicy sauce like the one in this recipe written with developer Michelle McGlinn. Creamy coconut milk is paired with gochujang and soy sauce for a sweet, spicy, and savory sauce. Better yet, the entire dish can be made in one pot, making both cooking and cleanup a breeze. Reminiscent of curry, this quick, flaky, saucy dish is perfect for easy dinners all year long.

First, you'll need a few pantry staples — salt, pepper, and a neutral oil, such as canola or vegetable. Next, you'll need 4 filets of tilapia, or a little over 1 pound. You can also make this recipe with cod, or if you prefer it, salmon, too. Simply swap the fish and cook as written. From there, you'll just need garlic, ginger, scallions, gochujang paste, coconut milk, lime juice, soy sauce, and cilantro.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.

Season the tilapia with salt and pepper.

Add the tilapia to the skillet and sear, flipping once, until just browned on either side, about 1–2 minutes per side.

Remove the tilapia from the skillet.

Add the garlic, ginger, and scallion whites to the same skillet. Cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add the gochujang and stir, combining it with the aromatics until it begins to brown.

As the gochujang begins to stick to the bottom of the pan, add the coconut milk. Stir to combine.

Add the lime juice and soy sauce and let simmer until thick, about 5 minutes.

Add the tilapia back to the skillet and coat it with the sauce. Simmer until cooked through, about 4 minutes.

Serve, garnished with the reserved scallion greens and cilantro.

Tilapia is a particularly thin and delicate fish that flakes apart easily when sauteed. This is a good thing — it means that your dish will be meltingly tender. It can be tricky to cook in a pan, though, especially when you need to remove the tilapia and return it later. If you cook it too long, the tilapia risks flaking apart before you get it out of the skillet.

While this recipe is perfectly good with the tilapia broken into chunks, too, you can avoid this with a few simple steps. First, make sure that your skillet is hot before adding the tilapia, then add the fish carefully, working in batches as needed. Pay attention: You'll want to take the tilapia out of the skillet just before it cooks through and while the middle is still raw enough to hold it together so that the fish will only be in the skillet for a few minutes. Sear one side, lightly browning it (it won't be golden brown just yet), then flip and brown the other side for barely a minute. While the tilapia is still firm, remove it from the skillet with a fish spatula and transfer it to a plate. When the sauce is ready, finish cooking the tilapia in the heat of the sauce.

Gochujang coconut tilapia is similar to a curry in that it is saucy, creamy, and a little spicy. Because of this, the tilapia pairs best with fluffy white rice and flatbread for soaking up the extra sauce. You can also serve the fish with noodles, such as vermicelli (the noodles found in pho), lo mein, or even angel hair pasta. For a little bit of crunch, sprinkle the tilapia with fried onions or chile crisp.

Besides pasta, rice, and flatbreads (you know — the carbs), you can also serve gochujang coconut tilapia with sides to fill out the meal. Like the Korean-inspired sauce, you can try Korean-inspired side dishes or appetizers, such as fried tofu pockets, cucumber salad, or Korean-style potatoes. You can also keep it simple and serve the tilapia with grilled or steamed vegetables — try bok choy, broccoli, or eggplant. As for libations? We recommend plenty of soju.