Sheet Pan Lemon Garlic Fish and Veggies

This Lemon Garlic Sheet Pan Fish and Veggies is simple and has a delicious homemade sauce – that only takes 5 minutes to make – that even your kids will wow over!

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I’ve been working really hard on feeding our family healthier dinners lately, but we don’t eat fish very often. When I found tilapia for a good price at Aldi, I decided a sheet pan dinner was in order. The best thing about sheet pan dinners is that everything bakes altogether on the same sheet pan and it’s all done at the same time! Easy-peasy and very little cleanup.

I dreamed up the lemon garlic butter sauce for this fish, and my husband still can’t stop talking about it. He keeps asking when I’m going to make it again. When my husband asks for me to remake a healthy meal, you know it’s a win! And the 2 year old toddler ate all of his fish too (plus the broccoli, because he is currently broccoli obsessed!).

If you want, read on to get all the tips and tricks. Or click Jump to Recipe to head straight to the recipe.

Prepping the Fish and Vegetables for Sheet Pan Lemon Garlic Fish and Veggies

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Make sure your oven is fully hot before putting the pan of garlic, fish and vegetables in; otherwise your garlic will take much longer to roast.

Peel 4 cloves of garlic. Rip off a sheet of aluminum foil and shape it into a bowl shape. Set it in the corner of the baking sheet and place the 4 cloves in it. Drizzle the garlic very lightly with olive oil.

Wash all of your produce. Cut/slice/dice your vegetables:

• Broccoli: cut into little trees. The stems can be diced and roasted as well, so don’t just throw them away!
• Red pepper: slice into long strips, and the halve the strips.
• Whole mushrooms: leave stems attached and slice into thirds.
• Zucchini: slice zucchini in half lengthwise. Slice each half in half lengthwise so you’ve got long quarters. Cut the quarters into 1/2 in triangles.

After your veggies are cut, dump them all in a big bowl and drizzle 2 teaspoons of olive oil over them. Liberally salt and pepper them and then toss the veggies to coat with oil and seasoning.

Pat the fish dry with a paper towel and then brush it lightly with 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Spread all of the vegetables onto the baking sheet. Create long wells for the pieces of fish to go in and lay them on as well.

Bake everything in the oven at 425 for 10-12 minutes. Remove the pan and check the garlic with a fork. If it mashes easily, it is roasted and done. If not, put it back in the oven for another minute or two.

Let the pan sit out of the oven while you make the lemon garlic sauce.

Lemon Garlic Sauce for Lemon Garlic Sheet Pan Fish

Remove the garlic from the baking sheet and mash with a fork. You’ll probably still be left with some larger pieces so use the fork or a knife to cut them a little.

Heat about a 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, until it becomes thin and runny. Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.

Add 1 tsp. Better Than Bouillon – I used chicken base, but vegetable base would work too – 1/4 c. water, generous squeeze of lemon juice, 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning and 2 tsp balsamic vinegar. Cook the sauce until reduces by about half, about 3-5 minutes. Basically, you want it to look thicker and shinier than when you started. 

Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons butter until melted.

Now let’s finish dinner! Use a pastry brush to brush half of the sauce onto the fish and vegetables. You can use a spoon and just drizzle it if you don’t have any sort of brush. Once everything is sauced, put it back in the oven and bake 13-15 minutes more, or until the fish is flaky and cooked through. Use a fork to see if the fish flakes easily. 

Plate the fish and veggies and then spoon the rest of the sauce over each of the plates right before serving. 

Tips, Tricks and Questions

Do I have to use tilapia? No, any kind of fish will work! Whatever you’ve got on hand, or whatever you can get a great deal on, or whatever fish you like the taste of best will work!

Does your toddler really eat the fish and vegetables?

Let me start by saying that we are lucky with Camden. We have exposed him to every food we can think of from the time he started eating, and he has always been willing to try anything. That doesn’t mean he likes everything, but he’ll try one or two bites at dinner before deciding.

Also, when you’re introducing foods, one time isn’t enough. You have to put it on their plate over and over and over and give them a chance to develop a taste or dislike for it.

Camden tried and loved the fish right away. He has been on a broccoli kick, so he ate his broccoli, my broccoli and Andrew’s broccoli. I put one mushroom, one bell pepper, and one zucchini on his plate. Today he elected to try the mushroom – and spit it back out. He also tried the zucchini – probably his 6 or 7th try of zucchini, not liking it prior – and decided that maybe he liked the zucchini.

My point? He ate some of it, tried and disliked some of it, and wouldn’t touch some of it. And tomorrow he’ll probably like different veggies. I offer, he makes a choice, and we let him lead. I do require him to try at least one new thing on his plate each night.

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Lemon Garlic Sheet Pan Fish and Veggies

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Lisa Bonny

Ingredients

For Lemon Garlic Sauce:

• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. Better Than Bouillon chicken base
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 lemon

For Sheet Pan Fish and Veggies

• 4 fresh fish fillets, or 2 large, sliced in half
• 1 head broccoli
• 1 red bell pepper
• 4 oz. whole mushrooms
• 1 medium zucchini
• 3 tsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Wash and slice all veggies. Slice mushrooms in third. Slice zucchini in half lengthwise, then in half again. Cut each quarter into pieces. Slice bell pepper into strips.

3. Place chopped veggies in a large bowl. Drizzle 2 tsp. olive oil over veggies and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

4. Spread veggies on large sheet pan.

5. Peel 4 cloves garlic. Make a small boat out of foil and place garlic in boat. Place boat in corner of sheet pan. Drizzle garlic very lightly with olive oil.

6. Brush fish fillets with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place fish on baking sheet with veggies.

7. Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes. Remove garlic from pan.

Make Sauce:

1. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.

2. Use a fork to mash garlic. Once oil is hot, add mashed garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

3. Add 1 tsp. Better Than Bouillon, 1/4 c. water, generous squeeze of lemon juice, 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning and 2 tsp balsamic vinegar. Cook until sauce reduces by about half, 3-5 minutes.

4. Remove from heat and stir in 2 tablespoons butter.

5. When sauce is finished, use a pastry brush to brush half of sauce mixture over fish and vegetables.

6. Return sheet pan to oven and bake 13-15 more minutes until fish is flaky and cooked through.

7. Plate fish and veggies and pour remaining sauce over each plate before serving.