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Pan-Fried Sea Bass with Butter Samphire

4.6 stars, average of 16 ratings

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This single-serve pan-fried sea bass with butter samphire is an easy summer inspired pescatarian keto recipe you can cook in just 10 minutes. And check the carb count in this recipe — less than 3 grams of net carbs per serving!

What is Samphire?

 Samphire, also known as seafennel, is a delicious low-carb vegetable that grows in rocky coastal regions of northern Europe and the Mediterranean. Because it can tolerate sea water, it is naturally salty and requires no seasoning.

I found samphire to be common in the UK and also in Greece where it's known as horta (armira) in Greece, or sea beans in the US. It's a common seasonal vegetable served with fish and seafood. It can be cooked or eaten raw and simply drizzled with a simple olive oil & lemon vinaigrette.

You may not be able to find samphire where you live and if that's the case, swap the samphire with fresh spinach. It's available all year round and has the same carb count as samphire, about 1.5 grams of net carbs per 100 grams.

More Simple Meals to Build Your Own Custom Keto Diet Plan

This meal is one o the many simple keto recipes to come in the next few weeks as part of the next big feature in our KetoDiet App — a custom diet plan generator!

Ready for this? We won't charge our users anything extra and it will cost them a fraction of what they'd pay for a similar service, not to mention they get a ton of other features on top if it.

Everyone who is a premium subscriber in our app will be able to use our custom diet plan generator. We worked really hard to make this happen and I hope you love it when it's out. You can read all about this and more features to come in my announcement on Facebook. Any feature requests? We love feedback! Let me know here in the comments or under this thread on Facebook (Note: You need to be a member of our private Facebook group or send a request to join).

Hands-on Overall

Serving size 2 fillets + samphire

Allergy information for Pan-Fried Sea Bass with Butter Samphire

✔  Gluten free
✔  Egg free
✔  Nut free
✔  Nightshade free
✔  Pork free
✔  Avocado free
✔  Coconut free
✔  Shellfish free
Pescatarian
Low FODMAP

Nutritional values (per serving, 2 fillets + samphire)

Net carbs2.3 grams
Protein34.2 grams
Fat43.6 grams
Calories550 kcal
Calories from carbs 2%, protein 25%, fat 73%
Total carbs7.4 gramsFiber5.1 gramsSugars0.4 gramsSaturated fat17.4 gramsSodium1,197 mg(52% RDA)Magnesium162 mg(41% RDA)Potassium676 mg(34% EMR)

Ingredients (makes 1 serving)

  • 2 fillets sea bass, sea bream or trout (170 g/ 6 oz)
  • pinch of sea salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 tbsp avocado oil or ghee (15 ml)
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter or more ghee (28 g/ 1 oz)
  • 100 g samphire (sea beans) or spinach if you can't find samphire (3.5 oz)
  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (15 ml)

Instructions

  1. Season the sea bass fillets with salt and pepper. If you don't have sea bass you can use sea bream or trout. Pan-Fried Sea Bass with Butter Samphire
  2. Heat a skillet greased with avocado oil over a medium-high heat. Once hot, add the sea bass fillets, skin side down, and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes until the skin is nicely crisp. Use a spatula to carefully turn the fillets, and depending on the thickness of the fillets, cook for another minute or two. Remove from the skillet and keep warm. Pan-Fried Sea Bass with Butter Samphire
  3. Add butter (or ghee) to the pan where you cooked the sea bass. Add the samphire (or use spinach if you can't get samphire). Do not add salt is you're using samphire as it's already salty.
  4. Cook for just 2 to 3 minutes, tossing with tongs to ensure even cooking. Pan-Fried Sea Bass with Butter Samphire
  5. Serve the samphire with the sea bass and drizzle with lemon juice just before serving. Eat warm or refrigerate for up to a day. Pan-Fried Sea Bass with Butter Samphire

Ingredient nutritional breakdown (per serving, 2 fillets + samphire)

Net carbsProteinFatCalories
Fish, bass, fresh water, mixed species, raw
0 g32.1 g6.3 g194 kcal
Salt, sea salt
0 g0 g0 g0 kcal
Pepper, black, spices
0 g0 g0 g0 kcal
Avocado oil, extra virgin
0 g0 g14 g124 kcal
Butter, unsalted, grass-fed
0 g0.2 g23 g204 kcal
Samphire, sea beans, greens, raw
1.5 g1.8 g0.3 g26 kcal
Lemon juice, fresh
0.8 g0 g0 g3 kcal
Total per serving, 2 fillets + samphire
2.3 g34.2 g43.6 g550 kcal

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Martina Slajerova
Creator of KetoDietApp.com

Martina Slajerova

I changed the way I ate in 2011, when I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. I had no energy, and I found it more and more difficult to maintain a healthy weight.

That’s when I decided to quit sugar, grains, and processed foods, and to start following a whole-foods-based ketogenic approach to food.

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Comments (10)

This looks delicious!  I found this recipe after googling to see if sea beans were keto because Misfits Market had them last week and I'd never heard of them.  I was so pleased to see that they were and ordered some.  It turns out I do love them but they sent a tiny little plastic herb box of them and not nearly enough for a recipe like this, and the cost would be way too high to order the amount I need.  We ended up just nibbling them and I diced a few to put in our keto chicken fried "rice" last night.  I guess I'll have to dream of visiting Greece.  😊  

I've never heard of sea beans but I will check them out, thank you! 😊

Sea beans are what this recipe uses.  As you noted in your post above, it's an American name for samphire.  😊

Oops you are right! I didn't remember that! 😊  

Love crispy seabags and salty samphire. Can't wait to try this one soon.

So good! I love samphire, especially with fish and seafood 😊 I got addicted to it (is that even a thing?) in Greece!

Dreaming of Greek seas and food... from the bathtub! So making this.

Where did you get the nutritional values for the samphire please? Every site I’ve looked at comes to about 8.5-9g net carbs for 100g samphire.

Hi Avril, I first found the nutrition facts here: https://www.ocado.com/products/waitrose-samphire-56743011 and then I cross referenced with studies. I can't remember which one, I think I found it in a Google book on the origin of salicornia. I always check when I find a new ingredient that is not in the main (USDA) database as I follow the diet myself so I'm confident it's accurate.
I wasn't sure so I actually tested how it affects my blood sugar levels - absolutely no spike even with 150 grams (I like it that much) 😊 It's like spinach.
I can explain why you may have found a few sources with the same number of carbs per 100 g. I assume what you found was in a tracker or on a website? They are all using the same faulty database.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of trackers and websites list a lot of inaccurate data, most of them crowd sourced and prone to errors. Although we also use crowd sourced data, we do basic and more advanced checks to eliminate errors - our priority has always been accuracy over quantity of data: Barcode Scanning and Food Database in the KetoDiet App
I hope this helps!

Perfect thanks. I’m so happy to hear this because I love samphire too!! Sea bass is also my favourite fish so can’t wait to try this fish tonight 😊