Tilapia fillets are coated with a blackened fish rub and cooked in an oil/butter mixture. Then the blackened fish is topped with a blue cheese sauce. It’s a simple tilapia recipe that is packed with flavor.

This WW friendly tilapia recipe is just 4 WW FreeStyle SP per serving.

I’ll tell you where this recipe came from.

The other day, a friend of mine asked me, “Where do you get inspiration for your recipes?” I told her I get inspiration all over the place. Grocery stores, restaurants, other cookbooks, friends, pictures, and today my answer to her question would be, “I was inspired by wanting to use up foods that were already in our refrigerator.”

I found tilapia at my Aldi store a couple of days ago with a nice little $2 off sticker on the package, so I bought it but did not have a plan of what to do with it. Then I noticed I had blue cheese dressing and blue cheese in my refrigerator from another recipe that I did not want to expire, so I did a Google search for “blackened tilapia.” From there, I took some spice ideas from multiple recipes, picking out just the ones I liked and already had on hand, and leaving out the others.

This recipe had mixed reviews in our house.

As with most of my recipes, there were mixed opinions in the Hughes household. My oldest son, who says he has an aversion to all things seafood, said it looked and smelled good until I told him it was fish (shrug). He still ate it anyway and told me, “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” so I am proud of him for that. My daughter told me it was great, except that she doesn’t like blue cheese (sigh). She was pleased with the tilapia part, so she ate most of hers anyway.

My husband and I ate ours up with no complaints. And then there’s our youngest son, who politely asked for cereal…so yeah… Just trying to be honest with you. I know this recipe is not for everyone, but if you are feeling a little adventurous and want to try something new, then you will appreciate this Blackened Tilapia with Blue Cheese Sauce.

If you can’t take the heat, stay in the kitchen.

This fish seasoning has a little bit of a kick to it. The blue cheese sauce helps to tame the heat, but if you really don’t like spicy foods, you can simply use less of the blackened fish seasoning on the tilapia prior to cooking it. You could also try topping your blackened tilapia with a little extra blue cheese.

I tried making two of our fish fillets with a lot of seasoning and the other two with just a little. Different family members liked it different ways, so this really is a preference thing. I like it somewhere in the middle. The more seasoning you use, the darker the fish will be.

Here is what you need:

Blackened Fish Seasoning Ingredients:

1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Tilapia with Blue Cheese Sauce Ingredients:

4 (4 ounce each) tilapia fillets
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon light butter
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup reduced fat blue cheese
1/4 cup light blue cheese salad dressing

Here is what you do:

In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the blackened fish seasoning.

Sprinkle tilapia with the blackened seasoning. Sprinkle more if you like things spicy and less if you do not. Using your hands,  gently press the seasoning into the fish.

Add oil and butter to a large skillet and set it over medium-high heat. Carefully add the tilapia to the skillet and cook 4-6 minutes on each side, using a spatula to flip the fish. (The tilapia will fall apart if you try to pick it up with tongs.)

Sprinkle fish with the lemon juice and transfer to a plate.

Reduce heat on stove-top to low and add blue cheese and blue cheese dressing to the skillet, mixing constantly. Only allow the sauce to cook for about 30 seconds or less, scraping the bits at the bottom of the skillet into the sauce. Cooking the sauce too long will scorch the sauce, so this step should be quick. Pour sauce into a small bowl and stir the sauce with a spoon.

Top each piece of blackened tilapia with approximately 2 teaspoons of the blue cheese sauce.

Makes 4 servings.
One serving is 1 tilapia fillet and 2 teaspoons blue cheese sauce.
One serving is 5 green, 4 blue, and 4 purple points.

Print Recipe

Blackened Tilapia with Blue cheese sauce

5 green, 4 blue, & 4 purple points per serving.

Makes: 4 servings

Author: Alisha Hughes

Ingredients

Blackened Fish Seasoning Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Tilapia with Blue Cheese Sauce Ingredients:

• 4 (4 ounce each) tilapia fillets
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon light butter
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/4 cup reduced fat blue cheese
• 1/4 cup light blue cheese salad dressing

Instructions

• In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the blackened fish seasoning.
• Sprinkle tilapia with the blackened seasoning. Sprinkle more if you like things spicy and less if you do not. Using your hands, gently press the seasoning into the fish.
• Add oil and butter to a large skillet and set it over medium-high heat. Carefully add the tilapia to the skillet and cook 4-6 minutes on each side, using a spatula to flip the fish. (The tilapia will fall apart if you try to pick it up with tongs.) Sprinkle fish with the lemon juice and transfer to a plate.
• Reduce heat on stove-top to low and add blue cheese and blue cheese dressing to the skillet, mixing constantly. Only allow the sauce to cook for about 30 seconds or less, scraping the bits at the bottom of the skillet into the sauce. Cooking the sauce too long will scorch the sauce, so this step should be quick. Pour sauce into a small bowl and stir the sauce with a spoon.
  
• Top each piece of blackened tilapia with approximately 2 teaspoons of the blue cheese sauce.