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!
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
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.
Hi natasha!
I really love ur cooking so much.
The foods tht make feel delicious every day send me more ur cooking recipes.
We’re glad you’re enjoying the recipes!
Hi natasha!
I really love the way u cook and all of ur recipes look very delicious 😋 send me more recipes of ur cooking
Had some leftover mahi mahi and used this recipe as a guide. Didn’t have any cheese, and didn’t cut an onion. Also, pan fried the fish as small cubes. Despite these deviations from the recipe it turned out very good. The seasoning was great on the fish, the sauce was very flavorful and accented, as opposed to covered, the flavor of the fish. Toppings paired well too. Can’t wait to try this recipe on salmon.
Hi JK! I’m glad you still enjoyed the recipe. Thanks so much for sharing. Let us know how it turns our with salmon. 🙂
Can you use other fish besides talapia? We’re not big talapia fans…
Another white fish would work! I have even tried this with Crappie fish fillets and it was great. Common ones are halibut, Mahi Mahi, snapper, cod, bass, and cat fish.
Hands down this is the best of the best fish taco recipe I have ever found. I don’t like cumin myself but wanted to include it to be true to the recipe. Oh my goodness..what have I been missing? And the lime crema..to die for! Thank you,
You’re welcome, Bob! I’m so glad you love the recipe. We love these tacos too! 🙂
10th 11th? Time I have made this. Truly just double the amazing sauce! You can dip shrimp into it or even pretzels.
Hi Lisa! I’m so glad you love this recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Is the tilapia chopped into pieces? If so, before or after cooking. How cut? into strips? chunks?
Hi Amy! No, it is not. I provided the step-by-step instructions with the images above in the blog notes so you can see my process.
I’ll make these for my Christmas meal! Do you have any ideas for sides?
Hi Belinda! Rice, beans, pico de gallo, chili… they’re all great choices! 🙂
Merry Christmas!
Tx for the sauce recipe We like it hot, so we tripled the Sriracha and I never seem to have cilantro on hand (I love it, but my family doesn’t 😞 ) so I added about 1/8 top ground coriander seed. Gave it a bit more depth.
Great idea, Jen! I’m so glad it all worked out! Thank you or your great review!
Making this tonight. Does the sauce store, well, for several days? Can the fish be prepped several hours, before, and refrigerated?
Hi Carol! This sauce keeps well covered in the refrigerator for a few days. It can be used on almost anything! We enjoy it best fresh, but that may work for the fish! I would recommend finding a way to reheat it without overcooking it. Perhaps the oven or a skillet.
Loved it!!
I added fresh garlic to the sauce cause I love tons of garlic and a few other spices to the fish but loved how it’s put together and the cabbage idea. It was perfect (coming from a person who’s not fond of fish 🐠!!!!)
I’m so happy you loved it, Isabelle! That’s so great!
I must be in the minority. I made these as instructed and I thought they were very bland and nothing special. The sauce tasted like nothing and was too thick to drizzle. All I could taste was red onions. A huge waste of my time and ingredients. Sorry!
I absolutely love this recipe, especially the taco sauce! I did not have sriracha sauce so I substituted Matouk’s Jamaican hot sauce. I also did not have lime so I used lemon juice. Instead of spreading the sauce on top of the toppings I spread it all over the warm tortilla then added everything else on top of the slaw. That way I got a taste of the sauce with every bite. It was the best taco I ever had. Thank you Natasha for sharing your delicious recipe! 🥰
You’re welcome! So glad you loved it!
Everything I have made from your recipes have turned out AMAZING! I know when I make something new from your recipe collection, it’s going to be a 5 star. Just made these tacos tonight, and they were a perfect balance of flavor, delicious. Thank you!
Thank you! I’m so glad you loved them, Christa! These are one of our favorites.
We just had a fish taco bar for a Taco Tuesday. I added some store bought mango pico del gallo and guacamole to to the toppings you suggested. This is an easy and economical spread to put together. This is a winner!
I’m so glad this was a hit, Audrey!
I made these tacos tonight for dinner. They were soooooo good. Will definitely be making them again 🙂
That’s great, Shandra! Thank you for the review.
WOW… I never leave reviews for anything but I was so empressed by this recipe that I couldn’t wait to write a review. Absolutely hands down the BEST FISH TACOS I’VE EVER HAD even from a restaurant!!!!!
If you want to empress someone with your cooking, this is the a winner every time. I’ve even made these for people that hated fish tacos but after trying one of these the were hooked. The sauce is what really makes these Tacos amazing.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Christy! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
This recipe is amazing. The only thing I changed was the fish. We had some fresh caught walleye, so I used that. It was perfect for these tacos. They were better than any fish tacos I’ve had at restaurants. Perfect combination of flavors!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Karen! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
this recipe ROCKS! I have followed it several times with different varieties of fish. all is great!
Thank you for the feedback, Johnny! I’m glad that you loved this recipe. It’s one of our favorites.
I’m not a tilapia fan. Do you think it would be just as good with cod?
Hi Beth, I bet that could work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
We have a dairy allergy in the family. So I omitted the sour cream and cotija. The sauce was still amazing.
So glad to hear that, Vann! 🙂