I share step-by-step how to make my garlic lemon swordfish steak recipe in under a half hour. Best of all, this recipe will make you feel like you are fine dining in the comforts of your own home.
Do the people in your life like seafood? Regardless of where you grew up– I’ve found that many folks are unsure about fish. Unless you grew up on the coast and had fish reguarly, your experience with seafood may only come from the frozen dinner aisle, fast food, or out-of-season catches at restaurants. And that’s okay…
My kids devour this swordfish steak dinner each and every time I make it. Of course, it helps that daddy caught the swordfish, and they got to see it fresh on the dock as we were down in the Florida Keys. You might remember last year, I shared my recipe for Swordfish Tacos. After I perfected that recipe I knew I wanted to master making swordfish steaks.
If you are willing to take the next step, my swordfish steak recipe will blow you away! Really and truly—the garlic-lemon flavor really propels this dish into something special. It’s picky-eater-proof for both adults and kids, and it takes less than a half hour to prep and cook.
These swordfish steaks are the perfect solution for a busy household or someone wanting to make a fancy restaurant quality dinner at home.
Table of contents
Swordfish Steak Recipe: Ingredients & Tools
About the ingredients used:
- Swordfish steaks: Are you one of those folks who avoids swordfish? This recipe will absolutely change your mind. I know some people consider swordfish bland, but that’s only if you cook it without extra flavorful additions like garlic and lemon.
- Garlic powder, kosher salt, black pepper: These ingredients create your steak seasoning.
- Olive oil: For searing and seasoning the steaks.
- Lemon: To squeeze over the steaks when they’re finished.
- Garlic parsley compound butter: Compound butter is, basically, softened butter with delicious add-ins. To make this, you’ll want to read my garlic herb butter recipe. You may also find compound butter premade at the grocery store.
About the tools:
You’ll only need an oven and a stovetop for this. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary here. Plus, a cast iron skillet that is both stovetop and oven proof.
Directions
Restaurant-quality seafood in just a few short steps! Remember to make the garlic herb butter first.
Mix garlic, salt, and pepper together in a small bowl. (This is also called House Seasoning and you can make a large batch and use some of it on the pan seared swordfish.)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Rinse and pat dry the swordfish steaks. Pour olive oil all over the steaks, making sure to coat both sides. Sprinkle the seasoning mixture over both sides, coating until all the seasoning is used.
Using an oven-safe cast iron skillet, heat on medium-high heat. Pour the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet. Place the swordfish steaks in the skillet and sear on both sides until a crust is formed (about 1 minute on each side).
Remove from the heat and bake for 8 minutes until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
While fish cooks, slice the lemon in half. Reserve one half for juicing and slice the other half into 4 equal wedges.
Remove the cooked fish from the oven. Squeeze to juice half a lemon over the steaks. Then, top with 1 tablespoon compound butter.
Serve immediately.
FAQs
Here I’ve compiled a few questions I’ve gotten when sharing this recipe for swordfish. Take a look.
Enough for about 4 people, depending on how much you all eat, of course!
If you fully follow the recipe, these swordfish steaks are entirely gluten-free. However, they are not dairy-free, due to the butter. There may be dairy-free substitutions you can make with regards to the butter, but I haven’t tried them out.
412kcal, give or take a few.
20 minutes—10 for prep and 10 for cooking. Yes, really…a whole high-quality, delicious seafood meal in less than a half hour. It’s a dream.
Swordfish is a thick steak-like fish. It’s not light and flakey–it’s denser and resembles more of a texture of a tuna steak. It has a mild to medium fish flavor. This is definitely not a cut of fish you should start out trying. I would try something very mild like tilapia if you are trying fish for the first time.
No, unlike tuna you can not eat swordfish rare. Swordfish steaks need to be cooked through and internal temperature reaching 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep in mind that the fish will continue to cook even once it is off the heat.
Tips & Tricks
A few little tidbits to make your swordfish even better…
- Compound butter: Put together the compound butter ahead of time. If you don’t have compound butter on hand, you can use salted butter and garnish with fresh parsley.
- Searing: The swordfish steaks should have a nice golden crust—not a burnt crust. If they start to brown too fast, you can reduce the heat on your stove top to medium.
- Internal temperature: Swordfish must be fully cooked through, unlike some other fish. Its internal temperature should reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit. The best way to check this is with a meat thermometer.
If you liked this Swordfish Steak recipe, you’ll love my other seafood recipes!
Get your fill of seafood on my blog, Katie’s Cucina with these 5 star rated meals:
- Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos
- Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta
- Baked Cod Recipe
- Grilled Lemon Garlic Red Snapper
- Ahi Tuna Steaks
If you make this recipe, I would be honored and love for you to take the time to leave a ⭐ star rating and comment! I spend hours developing and testing these recipes, and always love to hear feedback and user experience!
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Swordfish Steak Recipe
Equipment
- Stove Top
- Oven
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil divided
- 4 Swordfish Steaks
- 1 Lemon sliced
- 4 tablespoons Garlic Parsley Butter
Instructions
- Mix garlic, salt, and pepper together in a small bowl.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Rinse and pat dry the swordfish steaks. Pour olive oil all over the steaks making sure to coat both sides. Sprinkle the seasoning mixture over both sides coating until all the seasoning is used.
- Using an oven safe cast iron skillet, heat on medium-high heat. Pour the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet. Place the swordfish steaks in the skillet and sear on both sides until a crust is formed (about 1 minute on each side).
- Remove from the heat and bake for 8 minutes until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- While fish cooks, slice the lemon in half. Reserve one half for juicing and slice the other half into 4 equal wedges.
- Remove the cooked fish from the oven. Squeeze to juice half a lemon over the steaks. Then, top with 1 tablespoon compound butter. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Compound butter – Make compound butter ahead of time. If you don’t have compound butter on hand you can use salted butter and garnish with fresh parsley.
- Searing – Steaks should have a nice golden crust not burnt. If they start to brown to fast you can reduce the heat on your stove top to medium.
- Internal Temperature – Swordfish must be fully cooked through unlike some other fish. Internal temperature should reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit and best checked with a meat thermometer.
Nutrition
Disclosure: There are affiliate links present in this post. That means if you click on a link and purchase something. I will receive a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your continuous support of Katie’s Cucina!
Shannon
We tried this tonight. So simple and delicious! My husband loved it. Thanks for sharing with us.
Katie
Shannon, so happy you enjoyed my recipe!
Jon Røren
I modified the recipe slightly (my swordfish steaks were like an inch and a half thick), using a mixture of Tagine, garlic powder and black pepper, cooked in the oven for ten minutes after searing.
Was absolutely delicious and perfectly cooked.
Katie
Thanks Jon for taking the time to leave a 5 star comment.