Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass Mediterranean Style
Published March 30, 2022. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This incredibly flavored pan seared Chilean sea bass is served with Mediterranean-style vegetables and is finished with fresh basil. You won’t believe how fast this restaurant-style recipe comes together.
I absolutely love seafood and eat it whenever I can. If you are looking to try out a few new fish dishes, then for sure make my tasty Sicilian Style Swordfish or Honey Garlic Salmon.
Chilean Sea Bass
Chilean sea bass is caught in deep waters in and around southern oceans near Antarctica. It is a buttery, firm, mildly sweet, melt-in-your-mouth fish that pairs with just about anything. It is snow-white in color and can be eaten with or without the skin.
You can grill, broil, bake, pan-sear, or poach it. Chilean sea bass is a bit of an overfished species and is often very expensive.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Oil – Any neutral flavored oil will work.
- Butter – unsalted butter helps to brown the fish, add flavor, and assists on releasing it from the pan.
- Sea Bass – Use fresh, skin on sea bass for this recipe.
- Tomatoes – I prefer to use cherry tomatoes as they are decent all year long.
- Peppers – Use roasted red peppers for this recipe.
- Olives – I like a combination of kalamata and Frescatrano olives.
- Shallots – Small diced shallots will help add a lot of flavors.
- Garlic – Finely diced garlic will take the sauce to the next level.
- Potatoes – I use baby Yukon gold and red potatoes, but any baby potatoes will do.
- Basil – Finish the sauce with fresh basil, but if it is not available then use half the amount of dry.
- White Wine – You can use chardonnay, pinot grigio, or sauvignon blanc, and hit will help deglaze the pan.
How to Make Mediterranean Style Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass
Use these easy-to-follow instructions and pictures to make this perfect Pan Seared Halibut recipe:
Add olive oil to a large saucepan over high heat and sear the baby potatoes for 3 to 4 minutes.
Next, add in the onions and cook for a further minute before adding in the garlic, olives, peppers, and tomatoes and sautéing for 2 more minutes.
Deglaze with white wine and cook for 2 minutes, season with salt and pepper, and fold in fresh basil. Set aside.
Pat the sea bass down with paper towels and then season both sides with salt and pepper.
Add some oil to a large frying pan and heat over high heat until it begins to lightly smoke.
Place in the sea bass, turn the heat down to medium to medium-high, add in some butter and cook for 5 to 6 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked throughout.
Serve the fish with the Mediterranean olive and potatoes mixture.
Alternate Cooking Methods
For grilling the sea bass, please follow these instructions:
- After patting the fish dry with paper towels, coat it in oil, salt, and pepper.
- Cook on a hot grill (500° to 600°) for 5-6 minutes per side. Rest for 1 to 2 minutes before serving.
Here is how you bake the sea bass:
- Pat the fish dry with paper towels, then coat it in oil, salt, and pepper.
- Pour on some melted butter and bake at 450° for 12-15 minutes. Rest for 1 to 2 minutes before serving.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can keep warm covered in a pan for up to 15 minutes before serving, but this recipe is meant to be eaten as soon as it is done being cooked.
How to Store: Cover and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. This will freeze covered for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator for 1 day before reheating.
How to Reheat: Place the desired number of sea bass with Mediterranean-style base sauce in a pan and heat in the oven at 350° for 5-6 minutes or until hot.
chef notes + tips
- You can use frozen sea bass; just be sure it’s completely thawed before using.
- This recipe is very versatile so just about any fish will work with the Mediterranean style base ingredients.
- The other options for tomatoes would be Roma tomatoes and then canned san Marzano.
- If you cannot find baby potatoes, substitute in fingerlings.
More Fish Recipes
Video
Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass Mediterranean Style
Ingredients
For the Mediterranean Vegetables
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound baby potatoes, sliced in half
- 1 peeled and thinly sliced shallots
- 3 finely minced garlic cloves
- 10 kalamata olives, sliced in half
- 10 Frescatrano olives, sliced in half
- 2 julienne roasted red bell peppers
- 15-20 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- ½ cup white wine.
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- salt and pepper to taste
For the Sea Bass
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 teaspoons unsalted butter
- 4 8- ounce skin on fresh Chilean sea bass fillets
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a large sauce pan over high heat. Once it begins to smoke sear the baby potatoes for 3 to 4 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Next, add in the shallots and cook for a 1 minute before adding in the garlic, olives, peppers, and tomatoes and sautéing for 2 more minutes.
- Deglaze with white wine and cook for 2 minutes, season with salt and pepper, and fold in fresh basil. Set aside.
- Pat the sea bass down with paper towels and then season both sides with salt and pepper.
- Add the oil to a large frying pan and heat over high heat until it begins to lightly smoke.
- Place in the sea bass, turn the heat down to medium to medium-high, add in some butter and cook for 5 to 6 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked throughout.
- Serve the fish with the Mediterranean olive and potatoes mixture.
YUMMY
Many thanks!
I have to make this recipe! It looks amazing! Thank you!
This is one of my faves. I love sea bass. I cook my potatoes longer, because, at 4 minutes, they are still too hard.
Thank you for trying it!
Soooo tasty ops really love fish as well thankyou Chef Billy oh my yummy 🤤 recipe 😁😋🤩👏
Thank you for posting this delicious recipe.
Great flavor! I had small baby red potatoes but cut them in either half or quarters. It took longer to get them soft but loved the method of pan frying them. I also added lemon pepper marinate to the Sea Bass and added more flavor!
I have used Ling Cod and Halibut , they are both wonderful in this recipe ; I miss friends in Lake County, Ind.
appreciate you trying this!
Fabulous tasty recipe thank you ChiefBilly 😁😋👋😍
Absolutely great. Tender, melt in the mouth deliciousness. Sea bass at its finest.
Perfect!
I made this and it was great. However, I had to cover the potatoes to get them to cook through.
This dish was awesome! My husband and I both loved it! I will definitely be making it again soon. Certainly appreciate the clear directions and the video.
We love this recipe. I am a high school culinary teacher and my Pro Start team chose this recipe to prepare for competition. We have watched your video several times and reviewed this page too. The ingredients go so well together. We added a teaspoon of Herbs de Provence and made a pan sauce to meet competition requirements. There are many layers of flavor in this dish. It is a great recipe to teach taste. The students fight over who gets the practice dishes and we always have adults peeping in to see what’s cooking. Six days until competition. Thank you!
I made this last night and it was SO good!! Every recipe of yours that I’ve made has been exceptional! Thank you Chef.