Pizza Fish: A Recipe To Please Your Kids and You

Sneak Preview: Pizza Fish is a quick recipe that calls for topping breaded fish filets with pizza sauce and Mozzarella cheese. Kids love it.

Pizza Fish--in a skilletPin

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Pizza Fish is not pizza with fish on it. Instead, it is fish with pizza toppings. I learned about this recipe when working for a large fish company and giving out samples. Customers were crazy about it. Translation: We sold a lot of fish.

If your family’s only exposure to fish is the high-calorie fried fish sandwich at fast food joints, you’ve got your work cut out for you.  Nonetheless, this simple fish recipe is a great place to start.  It’s easily customizable, and the pizza flavors are familiar.

Try this recipe for Tilapia with Pizza Sauce and Mozzarella Cheese if you want your family to eat more fish. It’s lightly breaded, sautéed, smeared with a bit of pizza sauce, and topped with cheese. Fresh basil adds sophistication for participating adults.

Any tips for getting kids to eat fish?

Get your kids to help you fix it. They might be more likely to eat it. It’s worth a try.

Need more tips in this area? Check out the strategies outlined in this article about getting kids to eat fish by Bon Appétit. Serving breaded fish like this recipe is just one idea.

How to cook Pizza Fish in a hurry:

This fish recipe takes less than 15 minutes to make. Using frozen fish makes it even more convenient from a shopping standpoint.

Frozen tilapia and orange roughy will defrost in the time it takes to walk in the door from work, change clothes, and heat the skillet. Typically, it takes less than 20 minutes to defrost the average fillet when placed in a bowl of water.

Another way to cut corners with this recipe is to brown the fish first, then cover it with pizza sauce and cheese. Next, cover the pan and let the residual heat melt the cheese. Using a lid cuts out the broiler step, although your cheese won’t get brown.

How to assemble this recipe:

ingredients for kid-friendly fish recipePin
Pat fish fillets dry with paper towels. Pour crumbs onto a plate or wax paper.
Rolling fish fillets in bread crumbsPin
Roll fillets in bread crumbs.
Breaded fish in skilletPin
Place in preheated skillet holding hot oil.
frying the tilapia with bread crumbsPin
Sauté each side until crumbs are golden brown.
pizza sauce on top of fish, then cheesePin
Spoon a small amount of pizza sauce on top of each fish fillet, then sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese.
tilapia with sauce and cheese on topPin
Put the lid on until the cheese melts. Sprinkle basil on top if desired.

If you have questions or suggestions, email me privately for a quick answer: Paula at saladinajar.com. Hope to see you again soon! 

Pizza Fish-cooked in a nonstick skilletPin

Pizza Fish Recipe

Paula Rhodes
This lightly breaded fish is topped with pizza sauce, Mozzarella cheese, and chopped basil.

Rate this recipe here

4 from 2 votes
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course Seafood
Cuisine American
Servings 6
Calories 264 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1-2 tablespoons avocado or olive oil
  • 6 4 oz .pieces tilapia, orange roughy or other thin, mildly flavored fish fillets (if frozen, allow to thaw)
  • Salt and pepper
  • cup bread crumbs - dried
  • ½ cup pizza sauce
  • 2 oz. shredded Mozzarella cheese
  • Fresh basil

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oil in non-stick skillet over medium heat.
  • Lightly dry fish with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Pour crumbs onto a plate or wax paper and coat the fish on both sides. Use your hands to pat crumbs onto the surface of the fish.
  • Sauté fish until brown (2-3 minutes) and flip to brown the other side. (You could stop here and serve the fish with no sauce. It's delicious!)
  • Spoon a light coating of pizza sauce over the fish. Then sprinkle about one tablespoon of cheese over the sauce. Place under a broiler for a minute or two to brown the cheese.
  • Sprinkle chopped fresh basil on top of the cooked fish and serve immediately. Good served as a fish sandwich with your favorite buns.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 | Calories: 264kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 38g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 92mg | Sodium: 730mg | Potassium: 612mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 152IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 2mg
Keyword fish, Mozzarella, pizza sauce
Did you try this recipe?If you loved it, don’t forget to leave a 5-star rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 at the top of the recipe card. Thanks so much for taking the time to do that!

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14 Comments

  1. 3 stars
    Pretty good idea, but not gonna help my kids eat more fish… Best thing that worked for me was using freshly caught fresh water fish properly cleaned, do a flour egg and breadcrumbs preferably corn meal and fry that in a little butter. I remember trying it for the first time as a kid when my dad made it, and it was love at first bite. Nothing better than a bluegill or walleye served up this way in my personal opinion…

  2. I used you “Goofproof Chicken Cutlets” recipe last night (which I use often) with fish. That was before I read your post this morning about the pizza sauce. I pulled out my usual honey-mustard sauce last night, but next time I will try the pizza sauce. Sounds good.

  3. Hi, I just got an e-mail about my comment on this recipe – I’d love to post it to Pinterest, your site apparently doesn’t allow?? I think allowing it would increase your traffic, and it is so great to share. Only six years later, but I’m going to check the rest of your site to see if you’ve posted other genius recipes like this!! Thank you for the reminder!!

    1. Hi Vicki,
      Yes, normally you can post anything on this site to Pinterest. I’ll check to make sure nothing has gone wrong. paula

  4. I recently tried a similar recipe, but with salsa, rather than pizza sauce. It was very good, we’ll try the pizza sauce, next time! It is so great to find new recipes for fish, it is something we all need to learn to eat more of, and recipes such as this make it so much easier – the fact that it is a really quick meal makes it more likely that folks will want to work it into their rotation, too.

    1. I just made this and it didnt look like this but it was good . Wasnt even for my son, i was just hungry

  5. I made this on Saturday. We ALL loved it!!! Mike told me to add it to our list of “regular” meals 😉

    1. I’m thrilled y’all liked it.

  6. What a lot of neat jobs! I wasn’t too sure about this one, but I think you sold me on it. I don’t need to be tricked into eating fish, but this really does sound tasty.

  7. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you make this recipe before. Sounds yummy! I’ll take a new idea on how to prepare tilapia. And you know my hubby…he is a pizza lover! BTW, don’t share this with anyone at Fuzzy’s…they may just steal it!

  8. Definitely gonna have to try this one on my family!

  9. Ok, this is just fishy. Something about it reeks…. of fish. =) What a wonderfully creative idea! It’s no wonder you’ve had such a varied and somewhat “unique” career. I honestly can’t wait to try this! I agree – the pizza topping sold me!

  10. Oooo! It’s like a fish parmegian sub. Brilliant!

  11. Yum! I’ll have to give this a try. My kids and husband LOVE fish… It’s me that needs the pizza topping! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!