Grilled Mahi-Mahi was always a favorite during my restaurant days. It’s mild-flavored fish that holds up well to just about any type of preparation and flavors you’d like to add.
One of my favorites toppings to serve with Grilled Mahi-Mahi is caponata. Think of it as an Italian Salsa, loaded with flavor and easily adaptable to use your favorite ingredients or what you have on hand.
What Ingredients do I need to make Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Caponata?
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Caponata. In Chef Speak this is called the “Mise en Place” which translates to “Everything in its Place”.
Not only does setting your ingredients up ahead of time speed the up cooking process, but it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
Can I Use any other fish with this recipe?
You sure can. Just about any type of fish you enjoy grilling or roasting will go well with caponata. It also goes well with grilled or roasted chicken.
How do I make Caponata?
The first step is prepping is slicing the zucchini into long slices about one-quarter of an inch thick (no peeling necessary). Peel the eggplant and cut it into rounds or planks about one-half an inch thick.
After slicing, brush both sides of the eggplant and zucchini with olive oil and season well with sea salt and black pepper.
Grill the zucchini and eggplant slices on your outdoor grill or grill pan. Grill both sides to get the vegetables somewhat soft without getting mushy.
*You can also roast the vegetables in the oven
This is the grill pan I use -> Le Creuset Grill Pan. If you’d rather not deal with cast iron, this is a good option at about half the price -> Non-Stick Grill Pan
After letting the vegetables cool, dicing them into small chunks (including the tomatoes). Slice or rough chop the olives and mix them all together in a bowl.
In a small bowl mix the dressing ingredients for the caponata together. Then add the dressing to the olive/vegetable mixture and mix well.
Do I have to use all of these ingredients to make caponata?
No you don’t. Traditionally caponata is made with capers, olives and celery. As you can see I have adjusted this recipe to mimic one I had in Rome many years ago.
Think of this basically as vegetable relish. Olives are usually the star, but that doesn’t mean you have to include them, if you don’t like olives. Have fun creating your own version of caponata and serve with fish, chicken or bruschetta toasts.
The dressing can be adapted to your tastes as well, making it as simple as an oil and vinegar dressing or even going with your favorite Italian dressing.
How do I grill Mahi-Mahi?
Start by brushing the mahi-mahi with olive oil, then season with sea salt and black pepper.
You can use your outdoor grill or a grill pan to cook the Mahi-Mahi. Cook for 5-7 minutes per side.
Can I cook Mahi-Mahi in the oven?
I do enjoy grilling fish, but if it gets too cold or just can’t grill, you can easily roast this fish in the oven instead. Just a little olive oil sea salt and black pepper and you’re in business.
15 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees should do it nicely, just don’t forget to add a little water to your pan to keep the Mahi-Mahi from drying out.
Your going to love this Restaurant-Style Grilled Mahi-Mahi with caponata. The flavors are fresh and perfect for a light dinner for the family or a romantic date night dinner,
More Seafood Recipes You’ll Love!
- Poached Mahi-Mahi with Shrimp
- Blackened Mahi-Mahi with a Pineapple Lobster Sauce
- Pan Seared Halibut
- Red Snapper with a Lobster Cream Sauce
Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Caponata
Ingredients
- 14 ounces Mahi-Mahi skin removed
- 1 medium eggplant peeled then grilled cut into small dice
- 1 small zucchini sliced longway then grilled and cut into small dice
- ½ cup of assorted pitted olives small dice
- 1 medium tomato small dice
- 1 tablespoon chopped basil
- ¼ cup vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ⅛ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
Caponata
- The first step is prepping is slicing the zucchini into long slices about one-quarter of an inch thick (no peeling necessary). Peel the eggplant and cut it into rounds or planks about one-half an inch thick
- After slicing, brush both sides of the eggplant and zucchini with olive oil and season well with sea salt and black pepper.
- Grill the zucchini and eggplant slices on your outdoor grill or grill pan. Grill both sides to get the vegetables somewhat soft without getting mushy.*You can also roast the vegetables in the oven
- After letting the vegetables cool, dicing them into small chunks (including the tomatoes). Slice or rough chop the olives and mix them all together in a bowl.
- In a small bowl mix the dressing ingredients for the caponata together. Then add the dressing to the olive/vegetable mixture and mix well
Mahi-Mahi
- Lightly coat mahi-mahi with olive oil, and season with sea salt and black pepper.
- You can use your outdoor grill or a grill pan to cook the Mahi-Mahi. Cook for 5-7 minutes per side.
- Serve with Caponata and your favorite sides and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Ramona
Absolutely delicous recipe, I’ll make it again and again. Thank you for sharing!
Sunrita
Such a fabulous dish. Full of flavours and so healthy. Ev eryone loved it!
Anosa Malanga
I’d love to try making this recipe too! Good thing it will work on oven too! My sister will definitely love this too!
Kim Guzman
Looks great! I can’t wait to try it.
Mama Maggie's Kitchen
It was incredibly good. Sooo yummy!
Rosemary
I enjoy mahi mahi when I used to eat out at restaurants, but never thought of making it at home. Now with the pandemic and cooking more, I really do need to make it at home. Thanks for the recipe with all my favorite toppings.
Kita Bryant
Tuna is my favorite fish. This looks cooked to perfection.
Jere Cassidy
I don’t cook fish well so I am glad to have a good recipe to follow. I love Mahi Mahi so can’t wait to try this out.
Freya
I love Mahi Mahi, so versatile and I your way of serving it worked perfectly!
Amy
Great recipe! Trying to increase my fish in take and this was perfect!
Kristina
This was very good! I wouldn’t change a thing.
Kathy
I have not tried this before, but it looks really good. I really need to try this because it sounds like it would be amazing.
Catalina
It’s such a healthy dish. We loved fish and vegetables together!
Bri
Saving this one! Mahi Mahi is my FAVORITE fish! I usually do a pico de gallo over it but this looks SO GOOD!!
Allison C
Sadly, we seldom get mahi-mahi in the stores or fishmongers north of Boston. But I could definitely substitute cod, haddock or halibut. I will definitely try your caponata recipe when I have those veggies on hand. Right now, I could make caponata from olives, capers and celery since I have those!
Amber Myers
This looks like a tasty meal! I had never heard of capnata before today. I’m excited to try this!
Debra
Ah, the flavors of caponata are so so good….particularly on top of fish. We really enjoyed the mahi
Sue
I love seafood so knew this would be right up my alley. I was right! I love this grilling method for the Mahi Mahi. Thanks!
Marina
Love grilled Mahi-Mahi with caponata, absolutely delicious
Michele Peterson
I love how this recipe showcased the flavour of the fresh eggplant grown in our garden – I could eat a bowl full of caponata!
Leslie
Beautiful recipe! I bet it tastes just as good as it looks, if not, better!
Alexandra
Caponata is one of our favourites, but we had not served it with fish until we tried your recipe. What a delightful combination!
Christie Gagnon
Such an amazing combination of flavors – delish!
Sue
I love seafood, and am thankful to find recipes that help deliver more flavor variety. This one fits the bill – thank you!
Andréa Janssen
What a delicious recipe with such a lot of great flavors.
Estelle Forrest
What a beautiful plate of food! So fresh and vibrant
Emily Flint
I love mahi-mahi but have never tried it grilled. I can’t wait to make this recipe!
Jane Kennedy
Caponata looks delish! I’m mostly vegetarian but will get a piece of fish & try this. I can tell it will be wonderful!
Dorothy
Just whipped this up- WOWWEEE!!!-that is savory, tasty good !! Such a nice change from “sweet” on fish. Love it.
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m very happy to hear you enjoyed my recipe Dorothy, thanks for the great review!
Sara
This looks lovely. I am new to grilling but your directions are so easy to follow that I am going to give it a go. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Glad I found your site, you have a lot of tempting seafood recipes!
Jessica (Swanky Recipes)
I am away from home visiting family for 5 weeks and I’ve been so sad that I’ve left my kitchen behind. It’s so hard to cook my favorite recipes for the family since my kitchen tools are at home and I’ve made brats way more than I’d like to say. I like that this dish doesn’t require any special tools to make. I can even get my mom to help out and serve a fresh garden salad with this mahi mahi.
Kelly Anthony
I love eating fish in the summer because it is so light. This grilled mahi mahi with caponata looks like the perfect meal for a hot summer day.
Heather
This looks like an amazing dish. Can’t wait to try this one myself!
Analida Braeger
very nice presentation ! Mahi mahi is such a great delicate fish. I have never had caponata so i will have to try it this way
Sharon
Mahi Mahi is one of my favorite types of fish to make. I love the toppings on this too.
Anna
I have never tried mahi-mahi or caponata before, but this dish looks and sounds incredible, and I’m definitely going to be putting this on my list of things to try! Love how fresh and healthy this is!
Veena Azmanov
I love such healthy and tasty option. I am drooling with the thought of it. One of my favorite.
Shannon Gurnee
I love fish and haven’t had Mahi-Mahi in such a long time! This looks like a delicious recipe.
Louisa
You had me at “Grilled Mahi-Mahi”! I did not even know what Caponata was before reading this post. Looks soooo tasty!
rika
That looks amazing! I love fish especially Mahi Mahi! So good for grilling
Ruth I
I am not sure if I’ve tasted mahi mahi already. This looks so good and I think I will be trying this soon!
Danielle
This looks like one of those dishes that you try once and keep making over and over again one week after another. Delicious fish that I really enjoy cooking.
Tasheena
This sounds amazing to make. This would be perfect to add to my upcoming menu plan for my family.
Eva
I love caponata! Never tried mahi-mahi but I appreciate its texture judging from the pictures. I would want to try it. I’m sure it pairs wonderfully with all the veggies.
Stacie
This is such a majestic meal. I haven’t had Mahi in a long time but I may just need to pick some up for this recipe.
Kathy
That looks so delicious. I must give this a try. I honestly don’t think I’ve even had caponata before. Sure looks good.
Aleta
Yum!! I love how fast this dish is to make and it looks really easy too! The caponata looks extra delicious… can’t wait to give it a try!
Heather
It looks delicious! I love mahi-mahi! The topping looks amazing with it and I bet it tastes as such!
Kim
I’ve never had mahi mahi, but have heard it is delicious. The vegetables on top look yummy.
Tatiana
I love fish! It’s such a great idea for dinner. I like the presentation and it looks unrealistic beautifully!
Rena
Chef Dennis, you never fail to tempt me with these amazing creations. I love Mahi Mahi and this recipe looks absolutely delicious! Pinning!
cait
im always a huge fan of fish but this seems amazing- def love a good mahi mahi so i cant wait to try it w/ friends this weekend! Thank for sharing!
Jacquelyn Hastert
I love mahi-mahi and have never tried to make it at home. The reason I haven’t is cause I thought it was going to be too difficult and now I know that has been a lie. Can’t wait to give this a try!
Amber Myers
My family would like this! They are big on seafood. I am not. But I’ll sometimes make seafood for them and have a salad.
Jeanette
I love grilled mahi-mahi! It’s probably My favorite way to eat it. I am definitely going to try this. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it.
Alli Smith
I love seafood, especially grilled fresh seafood. The caponata looks so fresh and delicious – the perfect way to top the mahi.
GiGi Eats
With a topping like that, I would DEVOUR this mahi mahi in 5 seconds! I am not a huge white fish fan, but I would take it down, no problem because over all, I just love fish. My husband ADORES mahi, but I don’t think he would like the topping because he’s pretty picky. Blackened is his preferred.
Janet
Living in So FL we have lots of fresh mahi available year round. Never would have thought of topping this way and looks like a winner!
Giovanni
The Mahi-Mahi’s sicilian name is Capone. This is the recipe that gave rise to the “caponata”
Nikki Wayne
Baked or grilled, I love it. Your recipe sounds really nice to try.
Maria
The presentation gets 5 stars for sure!! And it looks absolutely delicious as well!!! I love olive tapenade with white fish. Sounds weird, but tastes amazing!
Chef Dennis Littley
thank you Maria! I do love the flavors together too.
Mary Frances
It really looks beautiful. Mahi Mahi is definitely a dish I am guilty of ordering during vacations to Florida! You did a beautiful job jazzing it up!
Chef Dennis Littley
Thank you Mary Frances, I do love eating our fresh Florida seafood!
Gwen @SimplyHealthyFamily
I made this last night and it was a huge hit w the Fam! Even the little ones loved it! Thanks so much for sharing Dennis.
Chef Dennis
Thanks for letting me know Gwen, the caponata was such a nice accompaniment to the Mahi!
mangiabella
very nicely done – I just bought some Mahi Mahi, one of my favorites…hope things are warming up a bit in your neck of the woods
Jeanette
I love this healthy preparation of mahi-mahi. Now if it was just a bit warmer outside, I might turn on the grill.
Dara
I love caponata on anything – but I’ve never tried fish. What a light and tasty dinner.
Minnie@thelady8home
I love fish, though Mahi-Mahi is a bit too smelly for me. But I love this recipe.
Betty Ann @Mango_Queen
Oh I just love fish and seafood! This will be a great menu idea for meatless Fridays and Lent in a few weeks. Thanks for sharing! Perhaps I’ll put some mango on my magi-mahi ~ what do you think, Chef Dennis? 🙂
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
Such a nice presentation and the caponata sounds like a perfect topping!