Unbelievably quick and easy, this Swordfish with Oregano and Caper Sauce is so tasty with its pepperoncini and fresh herbs! And, you can have it on the table in 20 minutes start-finish!
It’s fully summer here! Yay! But if you’ve ever been in the Pacific Northwest, you know that Summer here is somewhat different from other parts of the country. It’s a bit cooler, less humid, and often doesn’t even begin until sometime in July. But, like others, we still love to grill. And we often do it regardless of weather. There’s something about cooking outdoors that draws us all in, isn’t there?
Maybe it’s just a primal urge from long ago. After all, there is fascinating evidence that cooking food allowed our species to differentiate its development beyond that of other primates long ago. Turns out that eating cooked food made it easier to get enough calories and nutrients to spend our time doing things other than hunting for food. Like develop our brains and build better shelters, among other things. Who knows, this could all have been the tipping point that allowed us to develop societies, language and best of all – recipes!
I’m thinking about this because even though my friend Teresa recommended this recipe to me, I admit I wasn’t really fully on board until I saw the grill marks. Honestly, I was drawn to it once I saw those beauty marks. Yep, that’s what caused me to make this recipe. And so glad I did! It’s actually the perfect recipe. Grilled Swordfish, the steak of the seafood world. Flavored with a sauce made from capers, pepperoncini, garlic, oregano, thyme and mint. Wow! So much flavor, you’ll actually want to lick the plate.
And, it cooks in 7 minutes. Adapted from Martha Stewart: Grilling Cookbook, it’s a recipe so flavorful, quick and easy, you may just make it on repeat. Use a grill pan or outdoor grill, but it truly takes less time than preheating a grill, so, unless you’re cooking for a crowd or an entire meal on the grill, the grill pan is a great investment!
Recipe Details
This Swordfish with Oregano Caper sauce truly is super easy and super-tasty!
The first thing to do is make the sauce. You can do this a couple minutes in advance of cooking, (for example, while the grill pre-heats!) or a couple hours. You’ll want to mix together the garlic, the sliced Pepperoncini, capers, oregano, vinegar, and lemon juice. Set this aside, and just before serving, add in the chopped mint, thyme and olive oil.
Next, salt and pepper the swordfish steaks. You can grill them outdoors if you like, but I used my grill pan on my stove. The grill or stove should be set at Medium heat. Total cooktime for a 1-inch swordfish steak is 6-8 minutes.
So first, I put the steaks on the lightly-oiled grill, cooking until they were nicely grill-marked. This takes about 3-4 minutes. Then I turned them, and cooked until I could just see a little slightly-translucent flesh. You can see it in the photo below. This took another 3 minutes. Since it is hot, carryover cooking will allow it to just finish cooking prior to serving. This takes about 3 minutes – the time it will take you to finish the sauce and get it on a plate and the table!
Note that if you cook it until you see white bubbles exuding from the fish, it will be well-done. If you like it that way, great! That’s your sign that it’s definitely done! If you don’t, then cook until you see just a bit of the light pink-ish flesh in the middle, around the 6 1/2 to 7-minute mark total cooking time over medium heat.
At the end, finish the sauce, pour it over the steaks and serve with a big green salad!
Ingredients for Caper Pepperoncini Sauce 
Finished Sauce 
Grill first side until marked, second side 2-4 mins. 
Perfect! Just a little light pink middle. 
White bubbles mean well done, maybe a bit over cooked for some.
So, let’s all get grilling!
Enjoy!
For more seafood recipes, check out my Honey Sriracha Salmon or this Shrimp Cobb Salad with Cilantro-Lime Dressing or this tasty North Carolina Fish Stew.
PrintSwordfish with Oregano Caper Sauce
This super-quick and easy Swordfish is adapted only slightly from this recipe from Martha Stewart. I used white wine vinegar instead of red, and also used already-sliced pepperoncinis.
This dish takes just minutes to prepare – you can make the sauce while your grill preheats, and cooking a 1” swordfish takes about 6-8 minutes. So you can have it on the table in about 20 minutes!
- Prep Time: 5 -10 mins
- Cook Time: 7-8 mins
- Total Time: 18-20 mins.
- Yield: 4–6 Servings 1x
- Category: Seafood
- Method: Grilling
Ingredients
For the Sauce:
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- 2 Tbls Fresh Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp. Wine Vinegar – I used White
- 1 Tbls Capers, rinsed and chopped
- 1 Tbls Dried Oregano
- 1 1/2 Tbls. Sliced Pepperoncini, chopped
- 1 Tbls. Chopped Fresh Thyme leaves
- 1 Tbls. Chopped Fresh Mint leaves
- 4 Tbls. Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, plus more for grill
For the Fish:
- 4–5 Swordfish Steaks, thawed if necessary, about 6–8 oz. each, 1-inch thick, about 2 lb.
For Serving:
- Lemon wedges
Instructions
- Preheat Indoor or Outdoor Grill to Medium Heat. While grill is preheating, prepare the Sauce. (See Note 1).
- In a small bowl, mix together the garlic, capers, Pepperoncini, oregano, lemon juice, and wine vinegar.
- Season the Swordfish steaks with Salt and Pepper. Lightly oil the grill or grillpan. Place swordfish on grill, leaving it about 3-3 1/2 minutes, until grill marks are nice and dark golden. (See Note 2)
- Turn and cook until desired doneness, another 2 1/2 – 3 1/2 minutes for Medium-Rare, or about 4 minutes for well done.
- Remove to serving plate.
- Finish the sauce by adding the fresh thyme and mint, and the olive oil. Season sauce with a bit more salt and pepper. Spoon over steaks. Serve.
Notes
- You can start the sauce a few hours in advance. But wait until just prior to serving to add the fresh thyme, mint, and the olive oil.
- To get the criss-cross grill marks, rotate the steaks 90 degrees after 90 seconds.
- When the steaks are Medium Rare, you will still see a bit of translucent flesh in the middle of the steak. Carryover cooking will make it perfectly juicy.
- 1 serving is a 6.5 oz. steak. Assuming 32 oz. fish, the recipe will serve 5 people with 6 oz steaks, or 4 people with 8 oz. steaks.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/5 Recipe
Keywords: Grilled Swordfish
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i love the sound of this dish laura. that oregano and caper sauce sounds really delicious. i’m a bit wary of eating swordfish though as it is often considered an endangered species or at risk of overfishing so i would try a more sustainable fish like a well-farmed salmon etc. thanks for the recipe. cheers sherry
Thanks, Sherry! The sauce is delicious! I believe North Atlantic swordfish is at sustainable levels, at least according to NOAA. But any fish choice would work well here! Thanks for visiting and your comment!
Omg this is something I would love so much! Pepperoncini in the sauce?!!! It really sounds fabulous.
Thanks, Mimi! I agree, pepperoncini in anything is fantastic!
What a great recipe, Laura – fresh lemon juice, caper sauce, wine vinegar and dried oregano are our favorite for fish and I like your additions and explanations. Made this exactly as written a few days ago and it turned out absolutely delicious! Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
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Thanks so much! I’m glad you loved it as we did! I appreciate your kind words, and thank you so much for visiting my site!
Laura, this looks so delicious! The sauce is amazing – love the bright flavors in it! I think I would also love your Pacific Northwest summer!
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Thanks, Kelly! The sauce is definitely flavorful! We do have nice summers here, however we pay with grey days and rain a good part of the year. So we totally make the most of the nice weather! Thanks for visiting!
Holy sauce deliciousness! Oregano caper sauce? That sounds amazing! You know what’s funny, though? I was literally just talking with a buddy this weekend about grilled swordfish. I haven’t had a good piece of swordfish in quite some time. This sounds like a delicious meal for summer…no matter what summer means to you! (We’re the same as you when it comes to summer…although we’re finally getting into the mid-80’s here in upstate New York this week.) Cheers, my friend!
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Thanks, David! Yes this dish is as much about the sauce as the swordfish, although I don’t make swordfish as often as I should either! It really is the steak of the fish world, isn’t it? Glad your summer is finally getting underway, I’m afraid we still have a couple weeks until we see it! Thanks for visiting!
I’ve never made swordfish before but the sound of this caper sauce makes me think I need to try–I love capers! Have a great week, Laura!
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My family would love this dish so much. Such lovely flavors…so delicious ♥️
Thanks so much! It is a very tasty dish! Hope you get the chance to try it! And thanks for visiting!
Thanks, Kelsie! Hope you get the chance, swordfish is unlike most other fish in texture and flavor! Hope your week is awesome as well!
When we lived in Gibraltar we were able to BBQ outside all the time and most of the year round because the weather was fantastic. Sadly, as beautiful as Scotland is the weather isn’t great and even with it being “summer” here at the moment I haven’t been able to get our BBQ out yet this year!! However I see I can use my grillpan indoors to make this delicious swordfish recipe (and I love swordfish!) so that’s OK! Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe Laura.
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Thanks, Neil! It sounds like your summer is similar to ours. Doesn’t feel quite summer-like, at least so far. But, I’m sure you will love this quick and tasty swordfish! The grillpan is perfect!
I have never had swordfish before so I love how informative this post is on properly cooking it!! Looks delicious! Will definitely have to try!
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Thanks, Kelly! It is an awesome fish and the steak-I-ness can’t be beat!