Low Carb Flounder Piccata Recipe

If you are looking for a light and flavorful fish dinner, try this low carb flounder piccata recipe. This dish is low carb, gluten free and just has 1.3 grams net carbs and 17.2g protein. With delicious flavors of butter, garlic, lemon and capers you can make this fish dinner in less than 15 minutes.

You might also like this keto chicken Romano recipe!

The other day I was at Aldi (surprise, surprise) and I saw they had frozen flounder and I remember my mom used to always order that in restaurants. So I bought some and thought what would be easy, tasty and low carb? And sometimes I like to have a dinner without meat. 

So I came up with this low carb flounder piccata recipe which has a buttery sauce with capers. It’s low carb so I didn’t use any flour nor any kind of bread crumbs. I just used a few simple ingredients and made this tasty seafood dinner in about 15 minutes!

If you are looking for a light and healthy seafood dinner this is the one for you. Especially if you have ever had chicken piccata and like that flavor combination. This low carb flounder recipe is quick and easy and great for busy weeknight dinners.

Recipe ingredients I used and substitutions.

You only need a few ingredients for this simple but flavorful dish – flounder filets, fresh garlic cloves, lemons, butter, olive oil and capers. Also I used salt and ground black pepper to season. I love fresh lemon juice and zest in this recipe but if you don’t have any you can use bottled lemon juice.

Note some people use white wine in the sauce and all purpose flour to make a light crust like classic piccata dishes. However I didn’t want the flour because I wanted this to be gluten free and low carb. If you really want a light coating of flour you can try finely ground almond flour but it won’t work in quite the same way as wheat flour.

And I wanted to keep it simple and felt the brine from the capers would make up for the white wine. You can of course use them if you don’t care about carbs.

Capers are actually a flower bud that is dried and pickled to preserve it. They taste a bit like a lemony, floral olive but they are tiny. They are brined so they are also salty. They really add flavor to dishes like this. Learn more.

I bought my flounder fillets frozen at Aldi but if you can find fresh that would be even better. That being said the frozen flounder is still quite good. Flounder is a popular fish that is a mild, white fish with a flaky texture. Other types of fish you can use are tilapia, sole or snapper as a substitute for this white fish fillet.

Lastly if you want to use unsalted butter you might want to add a pinch of salt to the sauce when you are making it.

How to make this low carb flounder piccata recipe.

Step 1: If you are using frozen fish you have to thaw them first. Read the package and follow the thawing instructions. Once thawed, dab fish fillets dry with a piece of paper towel and place on a plate. Season fish with salt and black pepper.

Step 2: Get out a large skillet and heat to medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and once hot turn the heat down to medium heat. Add the filets to the skillet and brown for 1-2 minutes on each side.

This will depend on how thick your fillets are. Mine were very thin. If yours are a bit thicker just add a minute or two on each side. Take out and transfer fillets to a dish and set aside.

Step 3: Add the butter, crushed garlic, lemon juice and lemon zest to the skillet. Whisk together and then add the capers to the butter mixture. Cook for a few minutes.

Step 4: Add back the flounder to the pan and let heat up the fillets with sauce for a minutes or two and your are done.

You can also cook the fish a few minutes longer at the beginning, then finish the flavorful sauce and pour it over the fish when it’s done. I just like using the pan for everything and then I actually serve it in the pan for my hubby and me.

Serve with lemon wedges and if you want add some fresh parsley for garnish. Other seasonings you can use are hot pepper flakes for a little spice or even a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

Please scroll down to view the printable recipe card.

As you can see this was really a quick and easy keto dinner. All you need is a green salad and perhaps a vegetable side dish and you have a healthy dinner in no time.

What to serve with this fish piccata recipe.

You can simple serve this fish piccata with a steamed green vegetables like asparagus, broccoli or green beans. If you have enough of the sauce you can add the cooked vegetables to the pan or pour some sauce on top of them. For more substantial side dishes try one of these keto recipes.

• cheesy broccoli cauliflower rice
• pesto turnip pasta or zucchini with cheese and pepper
• Mediterranean cauliflower rice with sun dried tomatoes and spinach
• roasted cauliflower mash with gruyere or cheddar mashed cauliflower
• scalloped turnips or cauliflower au gratin

And if you don’t care about carbs this lemon rice and lemony greens and rice recipe would go nicely too.

More low carb seafood dinners to try.

I have over 45 keto seafood recipes on this site. Everything from crab and shrimp to salmon and tuna. Below are a few of my favorites seafood recipes.

• parmesan baked tilapia
• air fryer salmon bites and air fryer cajun fried shrimp
• grilled marinated shrimp
• salmon cakes and crab cakes
• tuna steaks with cream sriracha sauce or lemon dijon sauce
• seafood chowder or clam chowder

We really enjoyed this keto flounder piccata recipe. It was the perfect light dinner and was full of flavor from the butter and garlic to capers. I hope you enjoy it too!

The nutritional information for 1 filet was: 232 calories / 18.4g fat / 1.4g carbs / 0.1g fiber / 17.2g protein – 1.3g net carbs