Starting My One-Pan Tilapia Adventure
Okay so yesterday, I figured we really needed some easy dinners for the week. Saw some tilapia fillets chilling in the freezer. Always cheap. Decided to try cooking everything in one pan because honestly, who wants to scrub a sink full of dishes? Grabbed whatever veggies were lurking in the fridge drawers.
What I Dug Out First
- Frozen tilapia fillets (like, 6 of them)
- Bag of mini potatoes – kinda wrinkly but still good
- Half an onion that seemed okay
- Old carrots – slightly bendy but not mushy
- That giant bag of broccoli florets from Costco, again
- Random spice jars: garlic powder, paprika, dried parsley, salt, pepper, lemon pepper
- Olive oil bottle with maybe a cup left
Getting Down To Business
Threw the tilapia fillets into a bowl of cold water. Just dumped them in straight from the freezer bag. Let them swim for like 20 minutes while I chopped stuff. Sliced the potatoes thin because they cook faster that way. Chopped the onion kind of rough. Peeled the bendy carrots and cut them into little sticks. Took out broccoli florets and gave them a quick rinse. Drained the tilapia and patted them dry kinda haphazardly with paper towels. They felt slimy. Whatever.
Grabbed my biggest non-stick pan. Dumped a big glug of olive oil. Probably used too much. Dropped in the potato slices and onion bits. Sprinkled a ton of garlic powder and paprika over them. Maybe some salt too. Set the burner on medium-high. Stirred that mess around for about 15 minutes. Potatoes started getting brown at the edges. Added the carrot sticks. Stirred again. Let it cook another 5 minutes.
Shoved the veggies to one side of the pan. Made space. Laid the tilapia fillets in the empty space. Heard the sizzle. Good sign. Rubbed the top of each fillet with some lemon pepper and dried parsley. Splashed a tiny bit more oil over the fish because why not? Put the broccoli florets right on top of the veggies kinda piled up.
Covered that pan with a lid. Steam started puffing out the edges. Reduced the heat a notch. Set a timer for 8 minutes. Peeked under the lid once. Steam cloud hit me. Fish looked white and kinda flaky on top. Flipped one fillet carefully with a fork. Bottom looked golden brown? Hard to tell. Poked a thicker piece – seemed cooked through okay.
Took the lid off. Broccoli bright green. Smelled pretty decent honestly. Left it all in the pan on the table cause nobody wanted extra dishes.
How We Ate It All Week
That night was just the fish + potatoes/broccoli/carrots/onions from the pan. Basic.
- Next day: Flaked the leftover fish super small with forks. Mixed it with some mayo and extra lemon pepper. Squished it into sandwich rolls with some spinach leaves. Kid lunch.
- Third day: Reheated the leftover veggies in the same pan. Beat some eggs. Made a lazy veggie scramble for breakfast. No fish involved.
- Fourth day: Chopped the last fish fillets even finer. Stirred them into a box of mac and cheese after cooking it. Added frozen peas too. Ultimate lazy win. Kids didn’t complain.
What My Messy Pan Taught Me
Got four different meals out of it with barely any extra effort. Tilapia’s soft and breaks easy, so flipping needs care or you get fish crumbs everywhere. Thicker potatoes = longer cooking. Lid is crucial for steaming the broccoli on top without another pot. Spices can fly everywhere – especially paprika, stains stuff orange. Ended up washing one pan. Totally worth the zero-effort other meals later. Stuff tastes fine mushed together in bread or mac and cheese. Will probably do this again when the fridge gets empty.
