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.
Made these tonight, following the recipe exactly. LOVED them. The 13yo devoured approximately 10…which is unusual for him.
While I did say “exactly”, I made one small change. We like a slaw rather than plain cabbage. So I put 3 tablespoons of the fish sauce in the grated cabbage. Que perfecto!
Hi Moriah! Thank you for sharing your feedback. So glad you loved them. 🙂
Love this recipe for shrimp tacos. I add 2 tbs of seafood sauce to the sauce which takes it to another level! Thanks Natacha for this incredible recipe!!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Chris!
I made these with left over ling cod fillets. I breaded the fish yesterday with GF flour & basic season. Dressed in butter olive oil & garlic sauce. Great on its own. Today used left over fish adding Mex seasoning. Perfect! The sauce is wonderful. Made corn salsa as a side.
Yum! Don’t you just love versatile recipes? I’m so happy you enjoyed this one, Polly!
These fish tacos were fabulous! Don’t know how I could improve on this recipe. Thank you!
I’m so happy you enjoyed them, Patricia! This is a top-rated recipe, and we love it too!
okay seriously!!!!? THESE WERE AMAZING 🤯🤯🤯 best fish tacos, or tacos in general, that we’ve EVER had, including tacos we’ve eaten in mexico and in restaurants. i made mine with basa fillet, but i can’t wait to try with other fish as well. thank you so so much for sharing this!
Hi Viv! These are a favorite in our household. I’m so glad you found them to be just as good. Thank you for your feedback and wonderful review. 🙂
This is the best recipe. We grilled MN Walleye instead. I added a tablespoon of our own maple syrup to the sauce … delicious. Everyone loved it. Will be making this again. Thank you!
Hi Therese, thanks for the great feedback! Happy to know that you all enjoyed it.
This sauce took me back to my days living at the beach in San Diego! It’s quick and easy and uses pantry items.
I subbed:
– Plain yogurt for the sour cream
– Trader Joe’s Chile Lime seasoning
It is going to become part of my regular rotation.
Sounds delicious! So glad you found a favorite, thank you for sharing.
Followed the recipe and these are the best fish tacos I’ve ever eaten. The sauce is amazing. Thank you.
We love these tacos! I’m happy you enjoyed them too. The sauce is one of our favorites!
Do you think I could prepare the fish and grill it on outside grill? I want to make this for family vacation and don’t want to stink up the whole place!
Hi Laure. One of my readers commented that they make them on the grill and loved the results.
I made your fish taco recipe and it was fantastic. I used mahi mahi and shrimp but the end result was amazing. Thank you.
You’re welcome, glad you enjoyed it!
The sauce is the key to this whole recipe. Question: How long will the sauce keep in the refrigerator? Thanks!
Hi Jason, I usually make my sauce fresh when I prepare the tacos. I would say up to 1 week but you’ll also want to take into consideration the expiration dates on the ingredients you are using.
Hi Jason, I usually make my sauce fresh when I prepare the tacos. I would say up to 1 week but you’ll also want to take into consideration the expiration dates on the ingredients you are using.
Really really good and I love the sauce I did exactly what you said except I added finally dice cilantro to it and just to kick it up I put a little slap your mama in it. It was perfect I already had some tilapia that I was going to do something with and some fresh made tortillas.
So glad it was enjoyed! 🙂
had the fish tacos tonight and loved them! Definitely making them again.
That’s great, Dorothy! So glad you enjoyed them.
We absolutely love these fish tacos. So easy to prepare and the sauce makes this recipe amazing!
Thank you, Loretta! So glad you enjoyed these.
Hello Natasha! Excellent recipe! I live on the Pacific so I used fresh Mahi (not a fan of Tilapia) and these were amazing!! Instead of sriracha we use chiltepe here in Guatemala.
I bet this was so good with fresh Mahi! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
Delicious! I would leave out the cayenne in the seasonings maybe replace with paprika and chili powder as my preschoolers thought it was too spicy. we made a large batch of fish and shrimp and the ENTIRE plate was demolished. I mixed the cabbage, avocado, tomato, onion, cilantro with some of the crema and made a sort of salsa-coleslaw. So So Good!!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Lisa! I’m so happy to hear it was a hit with the preschoolers!
Oh my, that sauce! It took all my willpower not to eat it plain. So good. I had made some mango salsa and had some left over after the tacos. Ate it with tortilla chips with a little of the sauce squeezed over, best snack ever! I love your site Natasha, it’s my go-to when looking for a new recipe.
Thank you for the trust, Elise. I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe and especially the sauce! It is indeed so irresistible.
Made it exactly as written and it was excellent, as are all your recipes. Thank you for another quick and easy week night meal that the entire family loves!
You’re very welcome, Kelli!
Love everything about this recipe but it’s a hard, “NO” on Tilapia. Fresh from the ocean grouper, snapper, cod…all are great in place.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Ginny! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I loved this recipe however I did the fish in a beer batter first, used pickled red cabbage instead of shredded purple cabbage and substituted the Cotija for Feta cheese. Definitely a winner in our house.
Sounds delicious, Bonnie! Thank you for your review. I’m happy you enjoyed this recipe.