This pan fried fish with pineapple salsa is healthy, simple and so delicious. It’s a perfect summer meal bursting with tropical flavours!
A lip-smacking tropical dish of fresh fish and pineapple
Mangoes, pineapples, guava, dragon fruit or any kind of exotic tropical fruit has always got my attention. I love it simply because the juicy flavours of tropical fruits remind me of beachy holidays and spectacular cocktails. These fruits also taste good and bring exotic flavours when used in savoury dishes.
Turquoise water and dreamy sunsets are on a long pause thanks to the pandemic. Luckily, we can still indulge in some delicious fusion dishes and there’s no better way to do it than creating it ourselves. Big explosive flavours with little prep and ingredients involved because that’s how we like it here!
It started with the Salmon and Mango Salsa which had beautiful Asian flavours, so now we’re heading to Mexican inspired flavours with this fabulous Fish and Pineapple salsa.
I thought I found my favourite salsa with mango, but now that I had a taste for pineapple salsa I’m now a little conflicted. The good thing is, I can have much as I want with both dishes as they’re low in calories, healthy and quick to prepare!
For the fish, I used beautiful, fresh, skinless and boneless snapper fillets, but any variety of white fish or salmon would work. We just lightly season the fillets and dust them lightly in flour before shallow frying them.
The salsa has a combination of pineapple, jalapeños, red onions, coriander, lime juice and brown sugar. It’s basically freshness and flavour overload! To add a smoky flavour and make the pineapples even sweeter and juicer, try charring the pineapple. It’s an extra step, but it’s so simple, all I did was dry fry them in a frying pan. Charred pineapple takes this salsa to a whole new level!
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What is this foodie’s worst nightmare?
Going to the dentist, of course! Especially if it’s a super painful visit, like having to get your wisdom tooth out. This happened to me today and here I am writing this post with throbbing pain on the entire left side of my face.
My dentist extracted my tooth out at around 11.30 am, but the numbness took forever to wear off. It was still numb after 3 hours and I had no choice but to eat whilst half of my face felt frozen, as I was starving. I wonder if this is how having Botox feels like! Eating with a numb face and tongue is not fun at all!
Before I left, my dentist instructed me to eat soft food, but I went home and ordered myself a burger through my phone App. Yes, I know, I do myself no favours!
I’m terrified of going to the dentist and it’s not because of the pain. I would like to think that I can tolerate pain well, unlike my husband, Tomasi. He likes to dramatise and scream in agony over the smallest little things, like when he stumped his toe on the side of the bed the other day. Yes, I know that hurts, but he goes on about it longer than the pain lasted.
I hate going to the dentist because I have a terrible gag reflex and it got even worse when I fell pregnant. So imagine how many times the poor dentist would have to stop what she was doing to allow me to sit up and dry heave every time that awful hose or water trickles down my throat. Gosh, I feel like dry heaving now just thinking about it. Anyway, enough about the dentist and dry heaving and back to this lovely Fish and Pineapple Salsa dish.
Quick 101 on how to prepare fresh pineapple
Remove approximately 1cm (0.4In) of the top and base of the pineapple with a sharp knife.
Stand the pineapple up by the flat base and run the knife down to slice down the thick skin. Rotate the pineapple each time you remove the skin so you can see what you’re doing. You don’t need to slice off too much flesh in order to remove the skin, but remove any green parts that are showing. What you should have is a smooth pineapple with some little dots from the skin remaining.
Place the pineapple on its side and use a small sharp knife (paring knife) to remove the little remaining skin dots. Do this by cutting out little wedges diagonally into the pineapple. Ah, doesn’t it look pretty like this? A little like an art sculpture, but too bad it has to be sliced up!
Slice the pineapple into 5 to 6 wedges lengthwise. Then remove the woody core of each wedge by slicing it off. This should leave you with just the juicy part of the pineapple, YAY!
Ingredients for Fish with Pineapple Salsa
You also need brown sugar to balance the salsa dressing, but I forgot to add it to the above photo.
Boneless fish fillets – For quicker frying time, use fresh thin boneless fillets from your favourite fish. I went with snapper fillets that weighed approximately 200 to 250gm (7 to 9oz) each. Thicker slices of fish such as salmon, Blue-eyed cod or even an entire fish would work, but you would have to adjust the cooking time as they’ll take longer to fry.
Pineapple – I grilled the pineapple prior to adding it into the salsa to give it a smoky flavour. Grilling also makes the pineapple a little juicer and sweeter. This step is optional and the salsa will still be delicious should you decide to skip it.
Jalapeños – I find fresh jalapeños are mild in heat, especially without the seeds, but it still has a nice taste. If you love spicy dishes as I do, you can also add some small red chillies to the salsa.
How to make Fish with Pineapple Salsa
Step-by-step guide with photos
Grilling the pineapple (optional) – Heat a heavy-based frying pan over high heat. Place down the pineapple wedges and grill both sides for 3 to 4 minutes or until charred. Once cooled, chop the pineapple roughly into little cubes and set it aside in a bowl along with its juices.
Pat the fish fillets dry all over with a paper towel and season lightly with salt and pepper. Mix the flour and garlic powder together in a bowl and transfer onto a large plate. Working one fillet at a time, dust the entire fillet in flour and shake off any excess.
Pour in oil just enough to coat the entire surface of a large frying pan. Heat the oil over medium to high heat. Carefully place one or two fish fillets into the oil and fry for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until cooked. Place the fillets on a cooling rack and repeat the same steps with the remaining fillets.
Make the pineapple salsa
For the dressing, combine lime juice, sugar and salt in a small bowl and mix until the sugar has dissolved. In a separate large bowl, place in the pineapple and all of its juices. Add in the jalapeños, onion, coriander and the dressing with the pineapples and stir to combine. Have a taste and add salt or pepper if needed. Serve the salsa over the fish fillets or as a separate side dish.
Looking for some more simple healthy dishes with fish? I recommend this oven-baked quick and delicious Parmesan Panko Crusted Fish or dip your chips into this addictive Spicy Tuna Dip.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.
A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information. Please use this as an approximate guide only.
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Cheers (I’ll drink to that) – Cat Tre
Fish with Pineapple Salsa
Ingredients
- 4 boneless fish fillets (approx. 200-250gm/7-9oz) (NOTE 1)
- salt and pepper (to season)
- 1 cup plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- oil (to fry)
For the pineapple salsa
- 350 gm fresh pineapple (peeled) (NOTE 1)
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 large fresh jalapeños (seeded and finely diced) (NOTE 3)
- ½ large red onion (finely diced)
- ½ cup finely chopped coriander (cilantro)
Instructions
- Grilling the pineapple (optional) – Heat a heavy-based frying pan over high heat. Place down the pineapple wedges and grill both sides for 3 to 4 minutes or until charred. Once cooled, chop the pineapple roughly into little cubes and set it aside in a bowl along with its juices.
- Pat the fish fillets dry all over with a paper towel and season lightly with salt and pepper. Mix the flour and garlic powder together in a bowl and transfer onto a large plate. Working one fillet at a time, dust the entire fillet in flour and shake off any excess.
- Pour in oil just enough to coat the entire surface of a large frying pan. Heat the oil over medium to high heat. Carefully place one or two fish fillets into the oil and fry for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until cooked. Place the fillets on a cooling rack and repeat the same steps with the remaining fillets.
- For the dressing, combine lime juice, sugar and salt in a small bowl and mix until the sugar has dissolved. In a separate large bowl, place in the pineapple and all of its juices. Add in the jalapeños, onion, coriander and the dressing with the pineapples and stir to combine. Have a taste and add salt or pepper if needed. Serve the salsa over the fish fillets or as a separate side dish.
I loved -not only- eating this meal but preparing it ? prepping dinner can be a bit autopilot sometimes. But this meal was so bright it just made me cheerful ?. Overall dinner description cheerful, colourful & flavorful!
Hi Stacey,
I agree, this meal is a burst of sunshine and it makes me happy too! So simple and delicious, and it’s a bonus that it’s quite healthy as well. Thanks again for stopping by to leave this awesome feedback x