Our all-time favorite Fish Tacos recipe! These are loaded with fresh ingredients and perfectly seasoned plump fish. Don’t skip the best fish taco sauce – a garlic lime crema that you will want it on all your tacos!
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This is our go-to recipe for family get togethers and company because it comes together quickly and it always gets rave reviews. These fish tacos are so flavorful and satisfying but you will feel good and light at the end of the meal.
This recipe is party sized and can be scaled down to feed a smaller crowd. It was developed by my brother-in-law, Slavik and it has been adopted by pretty much everyone in our family. I have had so many requests to publish the recipe so here it is! It’s an easy, excellent fish tacos recipe. Thank you Slavik for sharing your awesome fish tacos with us. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to ever get tired of this recipe. P.S. They just happen to be gluten free fish tacos!
Seriously though, be generous with that fish taco sauce! The sauce recipe was adapted from Kaylee on All Recipes. We simply doubled it because there never seems to be enough of the sauce ;).
Ingredients for Fish Tacos:
We used tilapia but you are welcome to use any white fish. Salmon or shrimp would be amazing as well!
Fish Taco Toppings:
*Cotija cheese is a Mexican cheese that crumbles when you grate it; similar to feta but much milder in flavor and not nearly as salty. It is inexpensive and found in the refrigerated cheese section of the grocery store.
Ingredients for Best Fish Taco Sauce:
For the fish taco sauce, all you need is sour cream, mayo, lime juice, garlic powder and sriracha. The sriracha gives it a little kick of spice so you can add more or less based on your preference. This taco sauce is essentially a lime crema – the perfect blend of tanginess and heat (print the recipe below).
How to Make Fish Tacos:
1. Line a large baking sheet with parchment or silicone liner. In a small dish, stir together seasonings: 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper and evenly sprinkle the seasoning mix over both sides of tilapia.
2. Lightly drizzle fish with olive oil and top each piece with a dot of butter. Baked at 375˚F for 20-25 min. If you want it to get a little browned around the edges, you can broil for 3-5 minutes at the end if desired.
3. Combine all the Taco sauce ingredients: 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/3 cup Mayo, 2 Tbsp lime juice (from 1 medium lime), 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp Sriracha sauce, or to taste in a medium bowl or a large measuring cup and whisk together until well blended. It’s really fun and feels like dining out to serve the sauce in a squeeze bottle like this one.
4. To serve the tacos, toast quickly toast the corn tortillas on a large dry skillet or griddle over medium/high heat.
5. To assemble: start with the fish then add remaining ingredients finishing off with a generous sprinkle of cotija cheese and finally that awesome taco sauce! Serve with a fresh lime wedge to squeeze extra lime juice over tacos.
Mmmm so much sauce! I’m so crazy about this taco sauce. Seriously the best!
⬇ Print-Friendly Fish Tacos Recipe:
Fish Tacos Recipe with Best Fish Taco Sauce!
Ingredients
Fish Taco Ingredients:
- 24 small white corn tortillas
- 1 1/2 lb tilapia
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
Fish Taco Toppings:
- 1/2 small purple cabbage
- 2 medium avocado, sliced
- 2 roma tomatoes, diced (optional)
- 1/2 diced red onion
- 1/2 bunch Cilantro, longer stems removed
- 4 oz 1 cup Cotija cheese, grated
- 1 lime cut into 8 wedges to serve
Fish Taco Sauce Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp lime juice, from 1 medium lime
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp Sriracha sauce, or to taste
Instructions
- Line large baking sheet with parchment or silicone liner. In a small dish, combine seasonings: 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper and evenly sprinkle seasoning mix over both sides of tilapia.
- Lightly drizzle fish with olive oil and dot each piece with butter. Bake at 375 for 20-25 min. To brown edges, broil for 3-5 minutes at the end if desired.
- Combine all Taco sauce ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk until well blended.
- To serve the tacos, toast quickly toast the corn tortillas on a large dry skillet or griddle over medium/high heat.
- To assemble: start with pieces of fish then add remaining ingredients finishing with a generous sprinkle of cotija cheese and finally that awesome taco sauce! Serve with a fresh lime wedge to squeeze over tacos.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
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Love Tacos? Don’t miss our most popular taco recipes here (the beef bulgogi and shrimp tacos are completely swoon worthy!)
I’m so tempted to make these again for dinner tonight. I will never stop loving this recipe! I hope you all love it as much as we do.
Do you have a dairy-free dressing option for the fish tacos? Grateful!
Hi Meghan, I haven’t tried a dairy-free substitute to advise on the outcome. If you happen to try or find something, I’d love to know how it works out.
I have never had fish tacos. I fixed this tonight and shared it with my neighbors who have never had fish tacos, one being very picky. All three of us greatly enjoyed these and are now fans! Very good recipe!!!
These are always a hit! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Amy!
On Christmas day in 2019 my husband and I were in Puerto Vallarta, and we had fish tacos at some small, “hole in the wall” kind of a place. The best I’ve had in my life! Since then, I cooked many recipes and this one is among the best. I used salmon, I cut it in 1 inch strips and cooked it at 375 F for about 25 minutes and broiled for 3 minutes or so, for crispiness.
My husband said these were “the best fish tacos ever”, even better than the ones we had in Mexico!
My advice: use any fish but tilapia.
Hello Carmen, wow that is an awesome compliment. Thanks to you both for trying out this recipe and giving it a great review!
Yup, that sauce! The baking info is great too. These are delicious! I add chopped lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, and avocado.
Thank you so much for your great comments and feedback, Heather!
Simply delicious and easy to make, also kids approved!
Hi Tanya, thanks for your good feedback! I’m happy to hear that your kids also enjoyed these tacos.
I’ve made these many times and love this recipe. Can they be frozen and reheated? Thank you!
Great to hear that, Nina. Glad you loved this recipe! This sauce keeps well covered in the refrigerator for a few days. It can be used on almost anything!
Second time making these, the one adjustment I made is to double the seasoning for the tilipia ( I probably use 1 1/2 the amount and sav the rest) as we like spicy food, but wow it’s delicious and easy.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Erin! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Truly a fantastic recipe. I swapped chipotle for cayenne because I love the smokiness. Also, swapped fresh flounder for tilapia because that’s what we catch here. My daughter and I had four tacos each. It was hard to stop eating them. Sooooo good.
Thanks for sharing your experience trying this recipe, Ed. Glad to hear that the substitute ingredients that you used worked great! Thanks for sharing that with us.
My kids and I made these last night. Hands down delicious and we will be making them more and more! Also, we only changed the recipe by adding a little more Sriracha to the sauce… yum!!!
That is the best when kids love what we parents make. That’s so great!
How long does the Taco Sauce last in the fridge?
Hi Marge, I think it will last for a couple of weeks, but I haven’t tried it longer than a few weeks to advise of the exact time.
These were delicious. The sauce was amazing. I had frozen beer battered cod fillets on hand and made the spice mixture and sprinkled it on both sides of the fish. Baked them per directions on the fist package and we all loved them. I will be passing out the recipe to family and friends.
Thank you, Debbie. I hope your family and friends will love this recipe too!
If I want to double this recipe, any tips? Can you cook the same temp and time?
Hi Lisa, you can double the recipe using the same instructions. If you click on the serving size in the recipe card, you can slide it up or down to scale the recipe ingredient lists. I hope that helps!
My sister made them and sent the recipe to my 6 sisters and nieces. I didn’t have red cabbage so I used broccoli slaw. It was delicious!
Yum! I’m glad that worked out!
Can I use Ranchero cheese instead of cotija? Its a Mexican crumbly cheese
Hi Monica, I honestly haven’t tried that yet to advise. If you do an experiment, please share with us how it goes!
Delicious!! Love the sauce
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Mariana!
This is the second recipe that I tried and loved! I did switch the fish to Mahi Mahi it was delicious! The sauce was incredible! I’m so happy I found your website.Thank you for the recipes and tips.😊
You’re very welcome, Lulu. I’m also happy that you found and love my recipes!
We LOVE these tacos!!
… I double the seasoning!!
We like them spicy!!
I also use cod, it’s meatier than tilapia.
And yep! I double the sauce too!!
Thanks Natasha!
Our absolute favorite! I’m so glad you enjoyed them also!
I must add…
No way do we use the small tortillas! We use the medium size, flour ones and we stuff those suckers! They’re so good!
Hmmm…ups the calories tho!
Oh well.
Thanks again!
Oh I bet you can fit a lot more fish and flavor into those medium flour tortillas!
Very good!
Thank you!
Careful with seasoning! It’s fantastic, but spicy. I had 4 filets-cut in half. We love spicy food and it was to much for us. I was able to scrap a little off-but a little goes a long way ;).
Thanks for the reminder, Flavia.
Love this recipe. I am going to make it for a crowd and would like to know how far in advance I can make the sauce
Hi Christine, This sauce keeps well covered in the refrigerator for a few days. It can be used on almost anything!
I tried this recipe tonight and it was SO good! We grilled our tilapia (roasted and ground our own cumin too for the fish seasoning). This recipe is so fantastic, we will be making it often! You are absolutely right about that sauce, it is wonderful!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Holly!