Lemon Butter Sauce For Fish – (Al’s Stolen Fish Sauce)

Learn how to make a simple lemon butter sauce that goes great with fresh fish and more. It’s a quick and delicious sauce in 5 minutes or less!

David makes this special sauce to baste fish fillets with when grilling them. Only four ingredients, butter, lemon, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic, make a grilled fish taste like a million dollars! But that’s not all; this basting sauce is universal and can be used on any seafood you’d like to mop it onto. You could use it on rice, pasta, vegetables, chicken, or pork.

This sauce for fish has been around for a long time. When David and I were “courting,” he liked to impress me with his cooking. One night he whipped up a batch of this lemon butter sauce for some grilled rockfish. I grew up on fried fish and had never eaten grilled fish before. When I asked David what he called the sauce, he said he didn’t know. 

Turns out, David “stole” this recipe from an old fishing buddy of his. “Al’s Stolen Fish Sauce.” is named after David’s late friend and fishing buddy, Allen.

Over the years, we’ve modified this fish sauce enough that, technically, it’s not Al’s sauce anymore. It’s ours, and we are going to share it with you!

What is Lemon Butter Sauce?

Lemon butter sauce is a lemon and garlic-infused butter that adds delicious flavor to all your fish and seafood dishes. This sauce can be used for basting fish on the grill, in the oven, or on the stovetop. You can use it on rice, pasta, vegetables, chicken, or pork.

You Only Need Four Ingredients! (and Substitutions)

The recipe card at the end of this post provides a detailed list of ingredients.

• Butter: unsalted so you can control the sodium in your dish. But you can use salted butter; adjust the seasoning on your fish.
• Lemon: we use lemon zest and lemon juice to give this sauce freshness and zing. Always use fresh lemon juice!
• Worcestershire Sauce: adds rich umami to the sauce. You can use soy sauce or Asian fish sauce.
• Garlic: Grated garlic adds savoriness to the sauce without a toothy bite. 

How to Make Lemon Butter Sauce for Fish?

This simple and delicious sauce comes together quickly! Detailed instructions are provided in the recipe card at the end of this post.

1. Combine: Use a whisk to mix the ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir well.
2. Heat: Do not boil. Only heat until the butter melts and the sauce is thin. It only takes a few minutes.
3. Baste: Baste onto fish with a brush while grilling.

Tips for Making this Sauce

• Make the lemon butter sauce before you start cooking the fish. This way, the fish doesn’t overcook or burn while you are making the sauce. If the lemon butter sauce solidifies, warm it back up. It doesn’t take long.
• Discard any unused sauce that has basted fish.
• Store fish sauce in the refrigerator for up to a week in a bowl wrapped tightly with plastic wrap or in a jar with a lid.
• The refrigerated sauce becomes thick. Reheat the sauce in a saucepan over low heat to melt it down, and it becomes thin again.
• This sauce for fish can benefit from fresh herbs, such as parsley, tarragon, fresh dill, or thyme.

We love this sauce and know you will too. It is simple goodness!

Making lemon butter sauce for fish? We’d love your feedback. Leave us a comment and a star rating below. We value your opinion and appreciate your time.

See ya on the mountain!

Check out our other sauce recipes HERE!

Updated recipe from September 2014.