Here are all the best healthy and easy seafood recipes that taste incredible and make dinner a breeze! They’ll please everyone at the table.
Want to make seafood for dinner? There are so many tasty ways to incorporate seafood into your meal prep. It’s a healthy and delicious way to eat lean, filling protein, and a backbone of the Mediterranean diet. Here at A Couple Cooks, we eat mostly plant-based recipes, but we fill them in with healthy and easy seafood recipes occasionally. So we are thrilled to bring you a collection of our “best of the best” fish and seafood recipes!
Here are our best 25 fish and seafood recipes to make for dinner! The recipes below include salmon, shrimp, scallops, tilapia, cod, and tuna. Each recipe is healthy, relatively easy to make, and full of incredible flavor. In fact, there are so many favorites here that we couldn’t narrow it down. There’s a little something for everyone, from shrimp fried rice to pesto salmon to perfectly seared scallops to fish tacos.
And now…our best easy seafood recipes!
With one bite, you’ll add this seafood recipe to your weekly dinner rotation. Bookmark it now: this Creamy Shrimp Pasta! It’s ultra classic: juicy, savory shrimp and chewy pasta swimming in a creamy sauce. Because we love options, we’ve provide two sauce ideas: a white wine sauce, bursting with tangy flavor. Or try our easy cream sauce, a creamy Parmesan sauce that’s actually made with no cream at all. Mix the components together and wow! The flavor is restaurant style good, but you can make it in about 30 minutes.
Also try: Shrimp Pesto Pasta
Ready for the perfect zingy sauce to add life to seafood recipes? Try this pesto salmon! Bright green pesto goes hand in hand with tender baked fish to make a stunning dinner. Because really: what isn’t better with a little pesto on top? It’s mid-summer here and we’re making all the pesto with our overactive basil plant. The savory, garlicky sauce makes the flaky fish pop: you’ll already be taking your second bite before finishing the first. It’s easy enough for a weeknight, but impressive enough to serve to guests.
Also try: Easy Pesto Shrimp
First up in our best seafood recipes: garlic butter shrimp! These shrimp come out impossibly juicy with the best garlic flavor. The sauce it just the right amount of buttery: deliciously savory but moderate enough to be a healthy dinner idea. The best part? It takes under 10 minutes to make. Yep, that’s pretty unheard of in dinnertime territory. And it works for both weeknights or entertaining. Really, what can’t this recipe do?
This Blackened Salmon is so flavor filled, you’ll feel like you ordered it at a restaurant. Even better: it’s fast and easy. The cooking process takes just 5 to 8 minutes. The homemade blackened seasoning has a savory intrigue and makes a crispy black crust on the outside of the fish. (Yeah, it blackens your pan too…but it’s 100% worth it.)
Also try: Cajun Salmon
Here’s a weeknight dinner that gives us that cozy feeling every time we make it: shrimp fried rice! It’s healthy, it’s over the top delicious, and it’s total comfort food. Fried rice is pretty easy to make by winging it. But if you follow this recipe, it’s the path to shrimp fried rice that tastes like takeout. The garlic, ginger and soy sauce meld perfectly with the colorful veggies, bursts of shrimp and gooey bits of egg into a symphony of flavor. It’s one of our favorite seafood recipes for weeknight cooking…ever.
Here’s a stunning one pan seafood recipe that’s made for celebrations: paella! This traditional Spanish rice dish has thousands of variations. but it’s always rice with an explosion of colorful toppings. This one is our best classic paella recipe, based on our travels through Spain! We’ve perfected the skills so you can try it at home. It stars saffron-scented rice, mixed colorful vegetables and shrimp, and it’s full of traditional flavor.
Tacos are always a win over here, so might we introduce you to our new favorite seafood recipe? These baked fish tacos! Bake the white fish until it’s flaky with a dry rub of spices: no breading or frying necessary. Then top it with a tangy slaw and a creamy fish taco sauce. This is a spin on Mexican Baja tacos using the flavors and style of this cuisine. They’re tasty, easy to make, and great for weeknights or dinner parties. Use any white fish like cod, tilapia or Mahi Mahi.
Also try: Grilled Fish Tacos
Here’s a new secret that’s revolutionized our dinners. One of the best ways to cook salmon is broiled! Do away with your old baked salmon recipes. With broiled salmon, you don’t even need to preheat your oven! Broil it for 7 to 10 minutes until cooked through. Easy as that! While it broils, we highly recommend making up our lemon caper sauce. It makes the fish sing with tangy and briny flavor!
Here’s a stunning dinner recipe that’s elegantly easy to whip up: scallop pasta! Whether you want to impress dinner guests, have a romantic dinner, or just feed your family on a weeknight: this recipe is the perfect fit. The seared scallops are sweet, buttery and delicate, set atop tender pasta and accented with flavors of lemon, garlic and herbs. Most often when we make seafood we turn to salmon and shrimp: but scallops are a unique twist that make for a truly special dinner.
Here's a popular one in this list of seafood recipes: a poke bowl! This Hawaiian bowl of seasoned raw fish, rice and crunchy veggies has caught on here on the mainland, and everybody’s doing it! Because poke is that good. And guess what? You can easily make poke in the comfort of your own home: it’s perfect for a weeknight meal, or even better for a showy meal for entertaining.
Also try: Ahi Poke, Salmon Poke Bowl
Looking for an easy weeknight meal? Enter: lemon dill salmon. It’s fast, it’s easy, and it’s even fancy enough for a dinner party. This baked salmon is perfectly savory, and doused in a zingy lemon dill sauce it’s pretty irresistible. This healthy seafood recipe is so easy and versatile, it could really work anytime: for parties or quick dinners!
Here’s a seafood recipe that's a fast and easy dinner: shrimp pesto pasta! Sure, we eat mostly plant based around here. But when we spring for seafood, this is a top choice. Coat long noodles in silky basil pesto, then add juicy, succulent shrimp. Turns out, the garlicky pesto is the perfect pair for the savory pop of shrimp. It works just as well for dinner party as a weeknight meal.
Here’s an easy method for oven baked salmon that works every time! Salmon is deceptively hard to cook. With many different varieties and thicknesses of fish, it can be hard to get it right! This baked salmon in foil removes the guesswork so that the fish comes out tender and flaky. It’s the perfect seafood dinner recipe and takes just 30 minutes to make.
Here’s a deliciously easy seafood recipe that’s full of surprises: pan fried cod! This white fish knocked us off of our feet. Really! Cod is a beautifully mild and buttery-flavored fish, and this preparation couldn’t be easier or more stunning. Coat it in paprika and a few other spices, then pan fry it until tender and juicy. It takes under 10 minutes to get restaurant-quality flavor! Serve it with the pan juices drizzled over the top and well…we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by this one, too.
Looking for a healthy and easy seafood recipe? Try this shrimp and broccoli! The pair are cooked with soy sauce and and rice vinegar until bright and savory. The contrast of the crisp tender broccoli against the juicy shrimp is really something. Serve it with rice or noodles to make it a complete meal that comes together quickly! Depending on what you serve it with, dinner can be on the table in just 20 minutes!
Here’s how to make your favorite restaurant style scallops at home: easy pan seared scallops! Scallops have a beautiful, mild sweet flavor that’s easy to love: and there’s nothing better than that perfect seared crispy outside. But let’s be straight about it. Scallops are easy to cook, but they’re tricky to get right. It takes a little know how to get that golden brown crust without under cooking or overcooking them. But once you know a few secrets…it’s very easy and one of the best seafood recipes around. Make them with or without this tasty lemon herb sauce.
Also try: Grilled Scallops
Seared ahi tuna is one of the most delicious foods on the planet, and it literally cooks in less than 5 minutes! Put it together with leftover veggies or rice and you’ve got a quick dinner. If you’ve never had ahi tuna, it’s time to start. NOW! Seared ahi tuna does not tasty fishy at all. So if you’re looking to convince someone ambivalent about seafood, seared tuna is a great place to start. The flavor is so delicious: it tastes buttery on the inside and salty savory on the outside.
Also try: Grilled Tuna
Looking for an easy healthy seafood dinner recipe? This baked salmon is infused with lemon and herbs and cooked until it’s perfectly moist. Then drizzle over a silky butter sauce made with garlic and capers. Just a small drizzle packs a huge punch — and the modest quantity keeps it healthy.
This one left us speechless. Really! Because this shrimp curry tastes better than a restaurant, but it's a quick and easy dinner you can make at home. There is so much flavor going on here: rich coconut milk, aromatic curry paste, tangy lime and peppery basil surrounding tender, juicy shrimp. Serve it over jasmine rice and your friends and family will be singing your praises. This one is a keeper and even better: it's a healthy seafood recipe in less than 30 minutes.
Just when we have our favorite way to cook shrimp…along comes another one! And this broiled shrimp is out of this world good. When we made it, I couldn’t stop declaring my praises for it. “Wow!” kept slipping out of my mouth. That’s when you know it’s a keeper. This broiled shrimp is tender, juicy, and so fast to cook. You don’t even need to preheat the oven! It’s perfectly seasoned with garlic and lemon. Make it with or without a breadcrumb coating, which adds the perfect crunch.
Also try: Easy Baked Shrimp
Looking for an easy seafood recipe that’s full of savory sweet flavor? This bourbon glazed salmon is a must try! The salmon cooks up in just 5 minutes, and the bourbon sauce? It's like “salmon in a party dress.” You'll love the savory, sweet and lightly boozy flavor of this glaze!
There’s not much that doesn’t taste better grilled. So once the weather is right, grilled shrimp is where it’s at for Alex and me! It’s also one of the fastest things you can cook on the grill: it takes less than 5 minutes to cook these babies. Sure you can marinade the shrimp before grilling, like in our garlic grilled shrimp. But most of the time, why not go easy and lightening fast?
Also try: Grilled Shrimp Skewers
Looking for a home-run weeknight dinner? Try this incredible Baked Cod! Cod wasn’t always a fish on our radar. But this fish is truly special. It’s mild, tender, and buttery in flavor. The best part? It’s coated in our Magic Seafood Seasoning blend, which really does hold some kind of magic. It’s smoky, savory, and makes you want another bite before you’ve finished chewing.
Also try: Perfect Grilled Cod
What’s better than shrimp for dinner? It’s healthy, easy to cook, and delicious: making it the triple threat of weeknight cooking! And here’s our new favorite way to cook it: cilantro lime shrimp! This seafood recipe takes only 10 minutes to make and comes out beautifully tangy and fresh! It pairs perfectly with Mexican-style flavors: serve it with rice, an avocado salad, or in tacos. Or make it into a main dish salad topped with our cilantro dressing.
Also try: Classic Shrimp Salad
Hey salmon fans! Here’s another one to tuck in your arsenal of healthy easy seafood recipes! This teriyaki salmon will become your weeknight go-to. It’s got a quick homemade teriyaki sauce, and best of all: no long marinading time needed! Do a quick sear on the stovetop, paint with teriyaki, then bake for a few minutes until cooked through. It’s quick and easy, and makes for the prettiest piece of salmon to adorn your plate. It works for dinner parties or quick weeknight dinners.
What’s better than shrimp tacos? Their carefree vibe makes any dinner more festive, even if it’s just any old Tuesday. Combine these tacos with chips, salsa, and a classic margarita and we can’t think of much better. (Except please also adding refried bean dip.) What we love about this easy seafood recipe recipe is that it’s both fast family dinner recipe for weeknights and entertaining: making it a double whammy.
Also try: Grilled Shrimp Tacos
Want to grill salmon to perfection? It’s not an easy feat. Salmon is easy to over cook and under-season. Over here we’ve had our share of sub-par salmon experiences, so we set about to find a no-fail way to grill salmon. Meet our perfect grilled salmon! It’s an easy method and comes out tender with a lightly crisp crust. Even better, we created a tasty magical seasoning blend to go with it. This salmon seasoning tastes so good, you’ll want to put it on everything…you might never make salmon without it again.
Here’s a way to cook shrimp that you’ll find yourself coming back to again and again: blackened shrimp! Blackening is a Cajun cooking technique that’s all about the spices. Combine homemade blackened seasoning with grilled or pan-fried shrimp, and you’ve got a mix of savory, herbal, and salty flavors that makes it over the top irresistible! You can grill it or cook on the stove, so it works for easy weeknight meals or grilled dinners on the patio.
Also try: Cajun Grilled Shrimp
Last but not least in our best seafood recipes: grilled tilapia! This flaky white fish has nudged its way into our hearts over here. If you’re looking for a healthy seafood recipe that fits into that diet: here’s the one! The flaky fish is bursting with savory, smoky flavor from the grill. Top it with sweet and tender blistered cherry tomatoes, and it looks simply stunning. It’s the ideal summer meal for entertaining or even a weeknight.
What should I make for dinner?
If you’re asking yourself that question and haven’t found something yet: we’re here to help! Here are some more easy and healthy dinner ideas:
- 25 Easy Pasta Dinner Ideas
- 12 Easy Family Dinner Ideas
- 15 Best Shrimp Dinner Ideas
- 25 Easy Dinner Ideas
- 40 Healthy Dinner Ideas
- 30 Dinner Ideas for Tonight
- 20 Easy Dinner Ideas for Two
- 20 Breakfast for Dinner Ideas
Easy Shrimp Pasta & More Seafood Recipes!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This shrimp pasta is easy to make with the best big flavors: garlic, lemon, and Parmesan. It’s a home run dinner idea that’s always a hit! Also see: Shrimp Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound large shrimp, deveined (tail on or off, wild caught preferred)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon each smoked paprika, garlic powder and onion powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 recipe White Wine Sauce or Parmesan Cream Sauce
- 8 ounces spaghetti
- Finely chopped Italian parsley, to garnish
- Lemon wedges, to garnish
Instructions
- If frozen, thaw the shrimp.
- Cook the pasta: Start a pot of well salted water to a boil. Boil the pasta until it is just al dente. Start tasting a few minutes before the package recommends: you want it to be tender but still a little firm on the inside; usually around 7 to 8 minutes. Drain the pasta. (If it finishes before the sauce, add it back to the pot with a drizzle of olive oil so it doesn’t stick.)
- Cook the shrimp: Pat the shrimp dry. In a medium bowl, mix the shrimp with the spices. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium high heat. Cook the shrimp for 1 to 2 minutes per side until opaque and cooked through, turning them with tongs. Set them aside.
- Make the sauce: Wipe out the skillet. In the same skillet make the White Wine Sauce or Parmesan Cream Sauce (takes about 10 minutes).
- Serve: When the sauce is done, add the noodles to the skillet with the sauce. (For the Cream Sauce only, add a splash or two of milk to loosen the sauce and come to just the right creamy consistency.) Then add the shrimp and toss until it’s warmed through. Taste and a few more pinches of salt, if necessary. Remove from the heat. Garnish with finely chopped parsley and lemon wedges. Serve immediately.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Seafood
Keywords: Seafood Recipes, Shrimp Pasta
Very good Charlie Rosen approved.
★★★★★