Pan-Fried Sea Bass with Butter Samphire
- Ready in 10m
- 2.3 g net carbs
- 550 kcal
- Serves 1
This post may contain affiliate links, see our disclaimer.

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,Trusted sourceWikipediaWikipedia is written collaboratively by largely anonymous volunteers who write without pay.Open link 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).
Step-by-step
Season the sea bass fillets with salt and pepper. If you don't have sea bass you can use sea bream or trout.

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.

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.
Cook for just 2 to 3 minutes, tossing with tongs to ensure even cooking.

Serve the samphire with the sea bass and drizzle with lemon juice just before serving. Eat warm or refrigerate for up to a day.


Recipe
Pan-Fried Sea Bass with Butter Samphire
★★★★★4.8Pan seared sea bass cooked to perfection with crunchy skin and served with butter samphire and lemon. An easy ...
- Hands on
- 10m
- Overall
- 10m
- Servings
- 1
- 2.3 g
- Net carbs
- 34.2 g
- Protein
- 43.6 g
- Fat
- 550
- kcal
Ingredients makes 1 serving
Instructions
Season the sea bass fillets with salt and pepper. If you don't have sea bass you can use sea bream or trout.
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.
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.
Cook for just 2 to 3 minutes, tossing with tongs to ensure even cooking.
Serve the samphire with the sea bass and drizzle with lemon juice just before serving. Eat warm or refrigerate for up to a day.
Nutrition per serving, 2 fillets + samphire
Carbs 2%Protein 25%Fat 73% of calories
- Net carbs
- 2.3 g
- Total carbs
- 7.4 g
- Fiber
- 5.1 g
- Sugars
- 0.4 g
- Protein
- 34.2 g
- Fat
- 43.6 g
- Saturated fat
- 17.4 g
- Calories
- 550 kcal
- Sodium
- 1,197 mg · 52.1% RDA
- Magnesium
- 162 mg · 40.6% RDA
- Potassium
- 676 mg · 33.8% EMR
Nutrition by ingredient
| Per 2 fillets + samphire | Net carbs | Protein | Fat | kcal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fish, bass, fresh water, mixed species, raw | 0 g | 32.1 g | 6.3 g | 194 |
| Salt, sea salt | 0 g | 0 g | 0 g | 0 |
| Pepper, black, spices | 0 g | 0 g | 0 g | 0 |
| Avocado oil, extra virgin | 0 g | 0 g | 14 g | 124 |
| Butter, unsalted, grass-fed | 0 g | 0.2 g | 23 g | 204 |
| Samphire, sea beans, greens, raw | 1.5 g | 1.8 g | 0.3 g | 26 |
| Lemon juice, fresh | 0.8 g | 0 g | 0 g | 3 |
| Total | 2.3 g | 34.2 g | 43.6 g | 550 |
Serving size 2 fillets + samphire
- Gluten free
- Egg free
- Nut free
- Nightshade free
- Pork free
- Avocado free
- Coconut free
- Shellfish free
- Pescatarian
- Low FODMAP
You may also like

Low-Carb Bacon Wrapped Cod Tray Bake

Low-Carb Green Eggs with Smoked Salmon

Easy Keto No Cook Tuna Pasta

Low-Carb Salmon Nicoise Salad

Easy Low-Carb Salmon Tray Bake

Chipotle Shrimp Guacamole Cucumber Stacks

Keto Smoked Salmon & Avocado Sushi Rolls

Quick Keto Salmon Power Bowl

Keto Curried Shrimp Zucchini Skillet

Mediterranean Oven Roasted Prawns

Baked Salmon With Garlic Butter

Easy Keto Sausage & Veg Skillet

Easy Shrimp & Avocado Salad with Seafood Sauce

Keto Garlic Steak Zucchini Skillet

Easy One-Pan Lemon Chicken & Asparagus

Pan Seared Salmon with Chunky Avocado Salad
Comments & ratings (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 😊