Air Fryer Frozen Tilapia

Name: Air Fryer Frozen Tilapia
Prep time: 2 min
Cook time: 14 min
Ingredients: 4 small tilapia fillets (or sustainable white mild fish of choice. Can be frozen or fresh with skin removed. ); 1 whole lemon (sliced to air fry the fish on - optional ); oil spray (just enough to lightly coat the fish and in the air fryer basket to prevent sticking.); 1.5 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning (or to taste); 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 teaspoon parsley (dried or 1 tablespoon fresh - optional); ground black pepper (to taste); 1/4 cup butter (4 tablespoons - ghee or plant based butter); 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder; 2 tablespoons lemon juice (or about 1/2 fresh lemon); 1 teaspoon parsley (dried or 1 tablespoon fresh); sliced lemons (as desired)

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

Crispy on the outside, tender & flaky on the inside. Our low-carb Air Fryer Frozen Tilapia is the world’s easiest dinner that even the pickiest fish eaters will love. You don’t have to bother thawing out your fish and it’s ready in under 15 minutes.

Try our Old Bay seasoned whitefish in tacos, salads, or with a drizzle of lemon butter sauce. Just like our Crab Stuffed Whitefish, it will soon become your family’s favorite fish dinner.

Cooked air fryer frozen fillets on a black plate with lemon wedges.

Whether you plan on cooking fresh or frozen tilapia, or don’t even have an air fryer, we’ve got you covered. We’ve included oven baked directions in the recipe card for your convenience. So, let’s get started!

Jump to:

What’s to Love
Ingredients for Fish
Garlic Butter Sauce for Seafood
Step by Step
Recipe Tips
How Long to Cook Frozen Tilapia in the Air Fryer?
No Flour or Breading
What to Serve with Fish?
Storage and Reheating
Frequent Asked Questions?
More Air Fryer Recipes
Air Fryer Frozen Tilapia

What’s to Love

If your fish is frozen when you get home from work, you can still get a healthy dinner on the table in a jiffy. (Hey, we’ve all been there.)
Huge time saver! Cooks in around 14 minutes from frozen or 7 minutes for fresh fish, depending on the thickness of the fillet.
Low carb, keto and diabetic friendly with only 2 grams of carbohydrates per serving. These tilapia fillets are made without flour or breading. Serve these air fried tilapia fillets with a refreshing Heirloom Tomato Cucumber Salad or tossed greens for a healthy dinner idea.
Seafood recipe only uses a handful of pantry ingredients and cleanup is a snap.
Cooking tilapia in the air fryer makes them extra crispy on the outside but tender and flaky inside. Seriously, if all you ever make in your air fryer is fish, it’s worth its weight in gold. The air fryer is our secret tool for making the Best Tasting Fish and Seafood Recipes for Picky Eaters.
Uses less oil and fat than traditional cooking methods. After all, who wants to clean the kitchen disaster after deep or pan-frying fish on the stove.

Ingredients for Fish

Ingredients for tilapia recipe and butter garlic sauce for seafood on a wooden table.

Tilapia – is a very mild flaky fish with a delicate flavor so it’s perfect for those weary fish eaters. You can use either fresh or frozen fish fillets. We prefer ours with the skin off.

Tilapia is a budget friendly option in the US and is also a delicious choice for our Baked Tilapia with Caramelized Onion Lentils. You can also use your favorite mild sustainable white fish of choice. A thin white fish like flounder, halibut, sole or maybe fish local to your region are all good choices. Wild caught fish is best but can be hard to come by.

If you do purchase farmed tilapia, it is best to purchase from aquaculture farmers who use a controlled closed system with recirculation tanks and a form of wastewater treatment management. In addition, you want to confirm that they do not use antibiotics or hormones.

According to Seafood Watch, Blue Tilapia from Peru, Hybrid Red Tilapia from US and Ecuador are listed as the top 3 best choices for sustainable tilapia. Be sure to check out the package to find out “where” your fish originated before you make a purchase.

Old Bay Seasoning – is a spice blend that makes seafood taste extra delicious with a punch of spice and flavor. The primary ingredients are celery salt and paprika with a pinch of cayenne pepper and other spices.

To keep it lower sodium, you can make a homemade mixture of paprika, black pepper, cayenne pepper without adding the celery salt. Other close substitutions to Old Bay Seasoning are Cajun Seasoning or Creole seasonings. We are all about using what you have on hand.

Garlic Powder – dried ground. You can substitute fresh minced garlic for dried.

Parsley – we used dried as that was in the pantry. This garnish can be omitted. Alternatively, you can use fresh, if desired.

Fresh Lemon Slices – this is not a mandatory ingredient, but it prevents the fish from sticking and gives the fish a bright flavor.

Air fried tilapia fillets on a black plate drizzled with lemon garlic butter sauce.

Garlic Butter Sauce for Seafood

A little bright buttery drizzle on top of the fish upon serving is optional but it’s just too good to pass up.

Butter – If you are lactose intolerant, you can try ghee or a plant-based butter.

Lemon Juice – Fresh is best but you can swap with a splash of lemon juice concentrate. Fresh lime juice is also quite nice.

Garlic powder – just a pinch for good measure

Parsley – dried or fresh. It’s an optional ingredient.

Step by Step

The full seafood recipe with all the recipe tips is in the recipe card below. Here are the basic steps for how to cook frozen tilapia in the air fryer with a garlic butter sauce.

Preheat the air fryer to 400° F (204° C)
Slice fresh lemons for fish to air fry on-approximately 2 slices per fish. This provides 2 functions. First it prevents the tilapia from sticking to the air fryer basket. Secondly, it seasons the fish with a bright lemon flavor.
Remove the frozen fish from the plastic.
Spray fish with a light oil on each side and sprinkle Old Bay Seasoning, garlic powder, parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

Lemon slices laid on air fryer tray and seasoned tilapia getting placed on top of the lemons.

Place the lemon slices in the air fryer basket and place the seasoned frozen or tilapia on top of the lemons. We like to line our Cosori toaster oven style air fryer tray with parchment paper for easy cleanup.

Lemon garlic butter sauce getting mixed in a white bowl.

Melt butter in microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Then, add the lemon juice, garlic powder and parsley and stir to mix.

Air fried tilapia hot out of the air fryer and garnished with lemons.

Air fry frozen tilapia at 400° F (204°C) for 12 to 15 minutes or the fish flakes easily with a fork or registers 145° F (62°C) with a meat thermometer. Fresh tilapia, depending on the size may cook in half of the time.
Drizzle the lemon butter sauce over the fish and enjoy!

Recipe Tips

You are going to love this easy fool proof fish recipe. Try these helpful hints for a perfectly air fried fish every time.

If your make and model of air fryer allows you to line the basket or tray with parchment paper or aluminum foil, do it. It makes cleanup a snap.
Placing the prepared frozen fish fillets on top of fresh lemon slices is not required. However, it makes it for easier clean up and adds a lovely bright flavor.
Leave space in between the tilapia fillets. If you overcrowd the air fryer, it can’t function as convection oven and circulate the air around the fish. Instead, you may end up with a steamed fish fillet instead of a crispy one.
Lightly spray or brush fillets with a little oil before putting on the spices. It helps the spices stick to the frozen fish and makes the exterior of the fish crispy.

How Long to Cook Frozen Tilapia in the Air Fryer?

Every tilapia fillet can be a different size and thickness. They range in size from around 3 ounces per fillet to up to whopping 8 ounces per fillet depending on the species. For a 3.5-ounce frozen tilapia fillet, it takes between 12- 15 minutes of air fry time at 400° F (204°C)

If you are cooking a thawed or fresh fish 3.5-ounce fillet, it takes approximately 7 to 8 minutes to cook at 400° F. We recommend that you do not depend on time to know when the fish is done cooking.

Instead, we suggest you check the fish for doneness when it meets one of these 2 criteria...

Fish fillet registers 145° F (62°C) on a meat thermometer.
Tilapia is no longer translucent and flakes easily with a fork.

If you decide to cook a whole tilapia fish, it will require a much longer time to cook, especially if still frozen. In addition, it may not fit in your air fryer. You might prefer to try our recipe for Asian Steamed Fish, if space is an issue.

Lemon garlic butter sauce just poured over the fish.

No Flour or Breading

To keep our fish keto diet friendly, we opted to not use any breading or flour on the tilapia. It’s super crispy without the added carbohydrates. Other low carb topping ideas for fish are ...

grated parmesan cheese
crushed pork rinds
your favorite spices
lemon pepper

If you do use a prepared spice mix, you will want to make sure there is not an added sugar.

What to Serve with Fish?

One our first choices are budget friendly rice dishes. Say hello to a side of Lemon Pepper Rice. Its bright and fresh and the perfect pairing with our air fryer frozen tilapia. Middle Eastern Rice and Lentils is another quick and easy recipe. We love using red lentils because they cook up quickly.

We may be going meatless but that does not mean you have to hold the potatoes too. Our Herbs de Provence Baby Potatoes and Tomatoes or garlic smashed potatoes are easy one pan side dishes that complement the delicate flavor of the fish well.

Fresh salads topped with a Lemon White Balsamic Vinaigrette is light and refreshing on all of your favorite greens.

To keep your air fryer tilapia keto friendly, try a side of Garlicky Sesame Stir Fried Green Beans, Grilled Asparagus or even roasted sweet mini peppers.

Storage and Reheating

Leftover air fried tilapia can be stored in the refrigerator in a covered container for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2-3 months. Reheat and enjoy as a tilapia taco, add to soups, curries or just as is.

You can reheat the fish fillets in a pre-heated 325° F air fryer for about 2 minutes or until warm. Alternatively, you can bake at 275° F for 3 to 4 minutes covered or pan fry until warm and toasty. Avoid the microwave, if possible, as it can make your fish texture rubbery.

A bite of crispy but tender and flaky tilapia on a fork.

Frequent Asked Questions?

Is it better to cook frozen or thawed tilapia?

You can cook tilapia in the air fryer either frozen or thawed. If you cook frozen tilapia, it will take approximately 50% longer than cooking thawed or fresh tilapia. Either method is safe if you confirm that fillet has been cooked to 145° F (62°C) or is no longer translucent and flakes easily with a fork.

Do you flip fish in the air fryer?

The decision to turn food in the air fryer depends on what you are cooking, whether you are using an air fryer basket or tray, how thick and how fragile the food is. Turning the food over in the air fryer helps promote even cooking on all sides of the food. However, if cooking a very thin and fragile tilapia fillet, you may opt to not turn it, so it does not apart. If the fish fillet is thicker, we like to turn it midway during the cooking process.

Can you eat the skin of a tilapia fillet?

It is okay to eat the skin of a cooked tilapia fillet if it has been cleaned and the scales have been removed properly. However, some say that the skin can have a slightly bitter taste, so we prefer eating ours without.

More Air Fryer Recipes

If you have not quite got on the air fryer bandwagon, we have included oven baking directions in the recipe card below. We were late adopters of this tabletop convection oven but now can’t imagine cooking dinner without it. Everything from our Air Fryer Jalapeño Poppers appetizers to Banana Spring Rolls dessert is a testament that the air fryer appliance makes everything crispier, with less oil and in less time. You gotta love that!