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This 20-minute golden pan-fried flounder is smothered in a creamy lemon caper sauce for a restaurant-quality weeknight meal.
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Pan-Fried Flounder Is a Perfectly Light and Bright Dinner
Mild, sweet, and flaky flounder is pan fried to a light golden crisp, then smothered in a luscious creamy lemon caper sauce. This is a restaurant-quality dish that takes a measly 20 minutes to make at home. You’ll love it!
What to Serve With This Dish
- We love having pan-fried flounder with some nice crispy oven roasted potatoes. Creamy mashed potatoes are also a great option. If you like rice, try this Instant Pot pilaf!
- For veggies, grilled asparagus or green beans are our go-to.
- A simple Caesar salad or refreshing cucumber tomato salad is fantastic and keeps things nice and easy.
Quick Tip
Anytime you’re adding cream to a lemon sauce, remember: you want to add the acid first, warm your cream, and avoid overheating. Adding the lemon juice to the pan first allows it to distribute throughout the sauce before adding the cream. Before adding the cream, quickly heat it in the microwave for 15-30 seconds. Then, remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour it in, stirring it as you go.
Ingredients
Find a full list of ingredients and their exact measurements in the recipe card below.
- Flounder fillets — Skinless and boneless is preferred for this recipe. If you can’t find flounder, other mild white flatfish can be substituted, such as sole, grouper, tilapia, turbot, or mahi-mahi. You could also use cod or halibut, but the cooking time will increase due to their thickness.
- Capers — We use a lot of capers in our sauce! They bring on a nice and bright briny flavor that goes beautifully with the lemon and butter.
- Dry white wine — Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, or Pinot Grigio work well. If you prefer to avoid alcohol, simply replace it with added chicken broth.
- Heavy/whipping cream — Don’t substitute with a reduced fat cream or milk! Heavy cream can stand the heat and acidity way more than thinner, lighter dairy products. And though 1/2 cup sounds like a lot of cream, you’re mainly cooking your fish in it, and then you can choose how much to drizzle on your fillet.
How to Make Pan-Fried Flounder
General prep before you start cooking:
- Combine the flour, garlic powder, and onion powder in a shallow dish.
- Pat the flounder fillets with a paper towel to remove excess moisture, then season them with salt and pepper. Dredge each fillet in the flour mixture; set aside.
- Prepare a paper towel-lined plate to have near the stovetop.
- Pour the cream in a microwave safe bowl and heat it slightly for 15-30 seconds. You just want it to be warmed, not hot. Set it aside.
To cook:
Melt 1 TBSP of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir it to prevent browning. Once the butter is melted, stir in the olive oil. Bring the heat down the medium and carefully add the fillets to the skillet (shake off excess flour before adding the fillets to the pan).
Cook for about 2 minutes or until lightly golden, then carefully flip each fillet and cook for another 2 minutes, or until the fillets reach an internal temperature of 140-145º F. You can check this with a meat thermometer.
(I also highly recommend a fish spatula if you cook a lot of fish—they’re shape is helpful to ensure fillets don’t break apart when transfering or flipping.)
Remove the fillets from the pan and set them on a paper-towel lined plate.
Add the other TBSP of butter to the pan. Once melted, add the garlic and simmer for about 30 seconds. Then add the wine and bring it to a light simmer. Deglaze the pan by scraping up any browned bits from the bottom (these add flavor to your sauce).
Remove the pan from the heat, then pour in the chicken broth, lemon juice, lemon zest, and capers. Give everything a good stir.
Slowly pour the cream into the pan while stirring. Bring the pan back to the burner over medium-low heat. Bring the sauce to a low simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens a little bit. Add the fish back to the pan, spoon the sauce over the fillets, and garnish with freshly chopped parsley.
Storage, Freezing, & Reheating
- You can store leftovers in the fridge for 3-4 days in an airtight container.
- Freezing leftovers of this dish is not recommended. Cream sauces like the lemon caper sauce just don’t do well when frozen and thawed.
- To reheat, pop it in the microwave in 15 second increments. These fillets are thin so cook and reheat quickly, and you don’t want to accidentally reheat it to the point of it being rubbery and dry. Fish leftovers can be tricky, which is why this recipe is written as a smaller portion to be eaten day-of.
Frequently Asked Questions
Flounder fillets are mild, slightly sweet, and flaky. They do not have a strong fish smell or taste at all!
Flounder is fantastic when pan-fried like in this recipe, but you could also steam it, bake it, or deep fry it.
Yes, flounder is a nutritious saltwater fish that offers up a hefty dose of vitamin B12 as well as omega-3 fats.
More Awesome Fish Recipes
- Crispy Baked Alaska Pollock
- Air Fryer Fish Sticks
- Mahi-Mahi Fish Tacos
- Lemon Pepper Grouper
- Air Fryer Salmon With Orange Honey Glaze
Have You Made This Recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a STAR rating & commenting below with feedback!
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Pan-Fried Flounder With Creamy Lemon Caper Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 boneless & skinless flounder fillets
- Sea salt & cracked black pepper; just a sprinkle to season the fillets
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 TBSP butter
- 1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or grated to a paste with a microplane
- 1/2 cup dry white wine, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, or Pinot Grigio work
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 lemon, juiced and zested
- 3 TBSP drained capers
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
Instructions
General prep before cooking:
- In a shallow dish, combine the flour, garlic powder, and onion powder.
- Gently pat the flounder fillets dry with a paper towel. This will remove excess moisture. Season them with salt and pepper, dredge each fillet into the flour mixture, and set aside.
- Line a plate with a paper towel to have near the stovetop to transfer the fillets to once they are cooked.
- Warm the cream in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl for 15-30 seconds. You want the cream to be warm, not hot. Set it aside.
Cooking:
- In a large skillet, melt 1 TBSP of butter over medium heat. Stir it as it melts to keep it from browning. When the butter has melted, stir in the olive oil. Decrease the heat to medium and carefully add the fillets to the skillet, shaking off any excess flour beforehand.
- Let the fillets cook for about 2 minutes or until lightly golden. Carefully flip each fillet and cook for another 2 minutes, or until each fillet reaches an internal temperature of 140-145º F, which you can check with a meat thermometer.
- Carefully transfer the fillets from the pan to the paper-towel lined plate; set it aside.
- Add the remaining TBSP of butter to the hot pan and once it's melted, add the garlic. Simmer for about 30 seconds, then stir in the wine. Bring it to a light simmer and deglaze the pan by scraping up any browned bits from the bottom.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add in the chicken broth, lemon juice, lemon zest, and capers. Stir well.
- Slowly add the cream into the pan, stirring as you go. Place the pan onto the burner over medium-low heat once more and bring the sauce to a low simmer. Stir occasionally until the sauce thickens a little bit.
- Transfer the fish back to the pan and spoon the sauce over the fillets.
- Garnish with freshly chopped parsley and serve!
YUMMY!! Lemon-caper really works, and it’s so creamy and flavorful. I replaced flour with corn starch to accommodate allergies, and it was fab!
This was so good. I loved the lemon caper sauce a lot – next time I’m going to double it up so I have more to put on the starches and veggies.
This dinner is amazing! The caper sauce has the perfect balance of flavor and my family loves it! Thanks!
I don’t know where to buy flounder so I subbed Dover sole. The sole totally fell apart but it was a lovely meal all the same. I had less than one pound of the fish cooking so saving the leftover sauce to warm up and serve over the one (frozen; Costco) sea bass fillet lingering in my freezer – will cook the sea bass independently. Curious to taste the sauce over a fish that will stay intact!
Served with cauliflower mash (it was in my freezer) and broccolini. I think mashed potato would have complimented the sauce better but I did not have any potatoes in my pantry or freezer.
Almost certain to make this meal, again, albeit maybe not with sole.
Hi Tizzie! Sorry the sole fell apart. Fish is so delicate. There’s a special fish spatula I use that I find helps a lot. Here’s a link to it. The length of it helps support a whole fillet! Most spatulas are too short so fish hangs over and can break (happens to me, too!)
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave feedback. Let me know if you try it with another fish, and if you get that spatula, would love to know how it works for you :)
This sounds fabulous!
Thanks! Hope you’ll try it :)
I could have drunk that lemon caper sauce, it was so good! Will definitely be making again!
Haha, it’s pretty good, isn’t it? So happy to hear you enjoyed it!
That lemon caper sauce was absolutely amazing! :) This is such a great dinner and so quick. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Simply delicious! So easy to make – will serve to dinner guests next time!
I added steamed broccoli florets and white long grain rice – oh SO good with that lemon cream sauce
Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this! Love the idea of adding broccoli and rice. Now I’m craving that! Haha. Thanks so much for popping in with feedback :)
I love finding a good fish recipe, especially flounder since it’s not very bony nor fishy. We loved this!
Happy to hear it, Sharon! We’ve got a lot of fish recipes here, so let me know if you want suggestions or end up trying another!
This is so good. I love lemon sauces, so I’m definitely making this again!
Awesome to hear!
The flounder was perfectly cooked and the sauce was tangy and creamy. This recipe is definitely a keeper and I will be making it again.
Awesome, Gianne! Thanks for popping in with feedback!