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I’ve been wanting fish lately but not the way that I normally prepare it. Do you ever just get bored of your food routine? Normally I bake fish in the oven drizzled in some lemon, which is great, but today I wanted something different. Then fish cakes popped into mind. I had never made them before, so I was up for the challenge.
I wasn’t exactly sure how to start. I thought of flavors that I love with white fish, such as garlic, lemon, and thyme… And before I knew it, these Crispy Lemon-Thyme Fish Cakes were born. These are so delicious that I felt like I had gone out to dinner and ordered them. I could just gobble them all up in one sitting!
These fishcakes really aren’t that hard to make.
Though I have to warn you, they are a bit messy and they do require some prep work.
To start, I cooked the tilapia in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
I then used two forks to break apart the fish into small pieces.
Then, I mixed together the lemon juice, eggs, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, thyme, and mustard in a separate bowl.
I added the tilapia and 1/2 cup of almond flour to the mixture and mixed it all together with a fork.
It’s going to be a big lumpy mess, but it’s all part of the process!
After that, I put 1 cup of almond flour in a plate.
I formed patties/ little cakes out of 1/4 cups worth of the meat and then covered each cake with almond flour.
I like to cover them in almond flour, shake it off, then cover them in almond flour again, to get a nice coating going.
Then, I put them in the fridge for 30 minutes, so that they would hold together better.
This step is necessary because they fall apart easily if they aren’t cold.
After the half hour was up, I heated up some olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pan and cooked each side of the fish cake for 4 minutes each.
This was just enough time for each side to become golden and crispy.
These Crispy Lemon-Thyme Fish Cakes transform regular fish into something unique and delicious.
They were awesome on a salad with some homemade vinaigrette.
Now that I know how easy these are to make, I’m anxious to try to make fish cakes out of tuna and salmon.
If you love crab cakes and fish in general, then you’ll love these!
Crispy Lemon-Thyme Fish Cakes (paleo, GF)
Ingredients
- 1.3 pounds tilapia, ( 6 filets)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp fresh thyme, ( I removed the leaves from the stick until I had 1 tsp of thyme)
- 1 Tbs horseradish mustard
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1-1.5 Tbs olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cover a cookie sheet in aluminum foil and put some olive oil on the surface of the aluminum foil. Place the tilapia filets on top and cook for 20 minutes.
- Once the tilapia is out of the oven and has cooled a little, use two forks to break apart the fish into little pieces.
- In a separate bowl, mix the lemon juice, eggs, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard, salt, pepper, and thyme together with a whisk until well blended. Then add the fish and 1/2 cup of almond flour to the mixture and mix well with a fork.
- Put 1 cup of almond flour on a plate.
- Using a 1/4 cup measuring scoop, scoop some of the fish mixture and form it into a pattie/ cake in your hands. Dunk the top and bottom of each cake in the almond flour mixture that is on the plate and then place the finished fish cakes on a separate plate.
- Put the fish cakes in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Once the 30 minutes is up, heat 1 tbs (add more if you think you need it) of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
- Cook each fish cake for 4 minutes, then flip and cook for another 4 minutes. Each side should be golden and crispy.
- Remove them from the pan and place on a paper towel before serving.
- Makes 8 fish cakes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I am so excited to make these tonight, I’ve been craving fish cakes, but my son is celiac.  I have one suggestion for helping the cakes stick together… parchment paper is my friend!  If you use this to bake the fish, you don’t need oil that may prevent the ingredients from holding together.  Also use it on the plate for refrigeration, that way it is easier to pick up the cakes for frying.  Thanks for this recipe!
Great tips! Thank you!! 🙂
These were absolutely delicious. My beyond picky boys devoured them! What would you recommend to sub in as a gluten-free, nut free flour? One of my four boys has a tree nut allergy.Â
You could probably use sunflower seed flour. 🙂 (You can grind up sunflower seeds to make your own) I’m glad you guys enjoyed them!
I can’t have almonds or eggs, so I am going to try an alternative using cooked mashed butternut squash and coconut flour, and hope it hangs together. I have previously made little cakes with mashed cooked butternut squash, coconut flour and pea protein. They just about hang together, but not without the pea protein. I shouldn’t really have pea protein on my AI protocol, so I will try this instead. I miss texture as much as carbs. Thanks for the idea.
I hope it works out without almonds or eggs. Can you have sunflower seed flour? That’s good for taking the spot of almond flour. 🙂
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It looks like you cooked yours just perfectly!
awesome recipe. was a big hit in my family last night..
The quickest and easiest (and the healthiest) fish cake i’ve ever made!
Very happy to hear it! I love this recipe as well. 🙂 🙂
These were absolutely delicious! I’m newer to the GF journey, and these are going to be keepers, for sure.
I’m so happy to hear that!! Such a great way to get fish into your diet. 🙂
Is Tilapia Paleo? I love around a lot of farms. Tilapia is a genetically modified fish from the cichlid family that is raised entirely on farms. Fish farming is not healthy. There are a couple of varieties left that are not GM animals, but it’s more costly.
There are better fish out there. Even wild caught salt cod and canned wild salmon would be a better option, honestly.
I totally agree. This recipe would work with any white fish. 🙂
Another “hit”, Dominique; very tasty & easy to cook. Though I had to use cod because Waitrose didn’t stock tilapia. I’d also mix the fish with a mashed potato & be more sparse with the expensive almond flour as I ended up having to throw half a cup away afterwards.
Great idea! I ended up using all of the almond flour, so maybe I just ended up really coating mine more? I love the idea of using potato though!
When I have extra flour I make little crispy cakes out of them with the oil that’s left!
SUCH a good idea!
These were crispy and light and perfect for lunch. I made a garlic-dill aioli dipping sauce to go with them. Thanks for a great recipe!
Sorry for the delayed response… I was on my honeymoon 🙂 Thank you for the comment. A garlic-dill aioli sounds perfect for these fish cakes… yum!!