You don’t need to deep fry to make terrific Fish Tacos. You just need a really great marinade! A seriously delicious way to serve up white fish fillets, this recipe can be cooked on the BBQ or stove. Either way, they’re healthy, fresh and bursting with serious taco goodness!
Bonus: they happen to be HEALTHY 💪🏼
Fish Tacos
A bad fish taco is worse than a bad chicken taco.
And while most people would be turned off after multiple dismal experiences, I persevered, believing there to be better.
I mean, tacos. They have always been one of my favourite foods, ever since the first time I tried them.
And I’m thankful I didn’t give up. Because it just got better and better. Went to Mexico, tasted the real deal, then used that as my benchmark to make my own.
And now I’ve got The Fish Taco recipe. Well, at least, what I think is the BEST Fish Taco recipe. 🙂
What I like to do is load the fish with flavour with a chipotle lime marinade. You just know by looking at it that it’s gonna be good, right??!
Will you LOOK AT THAT!!! Tender and juicy on the inside, deep golden brown on the outside, flavoured all the way through with just a quick 20 minute marinade!!
What to serve with Fish Tacos
Here’s what I serve with Fish Tacos:
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The chipotle marinated fish;
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“Pink Taco Sauce” – 2 ingredient, mildly spicy sour cream or yogurt sauce, goes very well with the fish;
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Quick pickled cabbage; and
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lime wedges and coriander/cilantro leaves.
What you need for Fish Tacos
Here’s what you need to make fish tacos.
Any firm white fish fillets will work fine here, especially if they are fleshy.
My favourites are snapper and barramundi. They have “meaty” flesh which I particularly enjoy in tacos.
Other common fish that are ideal include: tilapia, basa, cod, John Dory and Silver Dory, ling, bream, haddock, pollack, monkfish.
I recommend avoiding:
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really lean fish – like swordfish, tuna and kingfish
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very delicate fish – like dover sole and flounder
Quick Pickled Cabbage for Tacos
I serve these tacos with a quick pickled cabbage. Pickling it makes the cabbage floppy so it kind of melds together better with the fish (raw cabbage would be too pokey and crunchy for tender fish), and the slight tang is a classic pairing with seafood.
Here’s what you need for the pickled cabbage:
Don’t restrict yourself to using this pickled cabbage just for Fish Tacos! It will go with any type of tacos – chicken, old school beef tacos, shredded beef, beef barbacoa, or pork carnitas.
How to make it
I think I’ve pretty much talked through the making part, but here’s a visual anyway!
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20 minute fish marinade – no longer, because otherwise the lime juice in the marinade will “cook” the fish;
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cook it, flake it;
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quick taco sauce – sour cream and sriracha. I call it my Pink Taco Sauce;
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pickle the cabbage – 20 minutes to become floppy (same as the fish marinating time, nice and convenient!);
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stuff and devour.
I typically cook Fish Tacos on the stove for midweek meals. But this is fantastic food for a barbecue with friends! It cooks so quickly so it doesn’t take you away from your guests and you can throw the tortillas onto the BBQ to warm up.
It also scales up easily, and you can lay everything out on the table and let everyone help themselves. Definitely my preferred method of entertaining!! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Fish Tacos
Ingredients
Fish Marinade
- 1.2 lb / 600g firm white fish fillets (Note 1)
- Zest of 1 lime
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp chipotle powder (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp canned jalapeno , finely chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro / coriander , finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Quick Pickled cabbage
- 4 cups red cabbage , finely shredded
- 3 green onion stems , finely sliced on the diagonal
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar, cider vinegar)
- 1/2 tsp salt
Pink Taco Sauce
- 3/4 cup sour cream (or yogurt)
- 2 - 3 tbsp sriracha , adjust to taste (Note 3)
To Cook & Serve
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 12 small tortillas (corn or flour), warmed
- lime wedges
- coriander/cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Marinade fish: Combine Fish Marinade ingredients in a ziplock bag. Set aside for 20 minutes to marinate - no longer than 1 hour.
- Pickled Cabbage: Place Pickled Cabbage ingredients in a bowl. Toss to combine and set aside for 30 minutes. Drain excess liquid, scrunch cabbage with your hands (to help soften). Set aside.
- Pink Sauce: Mix to combine.
- Cook fish: Heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Cook fish for 2 minutes on each side, or until golden and cooked.
- Remove fish onto plate then flake into large pieces.
- To assemble tacos, top with cabbage then fish, a dollop of sour cream and a squeeze of lime juice. Fold tortilla over and enjoy!
Recipe Notes:
- lean fish - like swordfish, tuna, kingfish (unless you can get fatty kingfish)
- very delicate fish - like dover sole and flounder
Nutrition Information:
Originally published May 2016. Updated with new photos and video, and most importantly, new Life of Dozer section added!
Life of Dozer
Helping shop for new appliances!! Need an industrial strength washing machine that can cope with all this darn FUR.
Hi Nagi,
I have made this recipe many times and we just love it. It’s great for 2 or for a crowd.
I’ve made a few “improvements” 🙂 ….
I bake the fish in the oven on some foil and works perfectly
I use only a teaspoon of chipotle so it’s not overpowering.
In terms of sides, I love the cabbage salad, but also serve some avocado mashed with coriander and lemon juice, some finely julienned carrots soaked in a little lemon juice for 20mins and plain Greek yoghurt (instead of sour cream or taco sauce). The yoghurt is just lovely and fresh on top of the spicy fish.
It’s a delicious meal every time and healthy too!
Made this recipe tonight for dinner. I found it to be too spicy for my taste. I should have known better after seeing the chipotle, jalapeno and sriracha. I’m not a big fan of spicy food. Sorry Nagi! Everything else I have made has been excellent.
Sorry to hear it was too spicy for you Ryan! Yes, it does have a bit of a kick to it. Next time feel free to reduce, or sub out for a couple of teaspoons of say cumin? – Nx
Hi Nagi, Can I cook this with chicken?
Sure could – I also have a chicken tacos recipe here too: https://www.recipetineats.com/chicken-tacos-with-sauce/ N x
This is my favorite fish taco recipe! And that pink taco sauce is the bomb!
The fish recipe is absolutely amazing and the fish tasted just how I hoped it would taste. My only problem is I need to learn how to cook it without burning it, and I cooked on it medium-high rather than high. I tried two pans – one good quality copper core stainless skillet and a regular cast iron. Best results were in the cast iron, but what a mess I made of it, lol.
The only thing that didn’t work for me was the Sriracha/sour cream sauce. It was okay but for me, it needs something. I just don’t know what. I’m not going to deduct a star for that because the fish is amazing all by itself.
Thanks for a fantastic recipe, Nagi.
You might want to try this sauce with the taco, I love using it on my shrimp tacos. 8 ounces sour cream
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons red onion, finely chopped
1 whole chipotle chile in adobo sauce (canned),
seeded and chopped
1 teaspoon adobo sauce (from the can)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
1 Tablespoon lime juice, freshly squeezed
My husband said “This is the best fish taco I ever had.” Thank you for this delicious recipe that was a hit with the family! I had to take out cayenne to make it more kid friendly but it was SO good!!!
These are now a regular menu item in our House! Delicious, thanks Nagi, we love your recipes 😊
Made this tonight using skin on snapper served with sliced avo, veggies from the garden (sweet long yellow peppers + green tomato), coleslaw mix, sour cream and coriander. It was such a fun and delicious meal. Thank you, Nagi. You have revolutionised my joy of cooking.
These fish tacos were full of flavor, delicious and quick! We will definitely make these again. Spice level was a bit much for my husband and two teenage kids so I’d use about half the chipotle next time.
This is absolutely delicious and so easy to make! It’s everything I’ve always wanted fish tacos to be! We like to play with the toppings now that we’ve mastered the basics but highly recommend you try this! We’ve also made for friend’s kids that don’t like as much chilli heat by making with less jalapeno and sriracha!
I’m going to try this recipe for my kids tonight. Just wondering if I don’t add the jalapeño and chipotle powder, would it still taste ok? Just that my kids can’t take food that’s too spicy/ hot. Thank you
I made these today using barramundi and it was so good, I added sliced avocado to mine and it really was a game changer. I love your recipes ❤️
Hi! I made these tonight and I had a fast question if you have time. 🙂 It didn’t really seem like the marinade flavor soaked into the fish (I used tilapia) and I was wondering if you might have any tips or suggestions to get a stronger flavor in the fish. All of the comments say they had great flavor and mine were kind of bland 😅 Any help you could give would be appreciated!