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.
making it tonight using sheepshead fish, hoping to love it, if so, next fish will be speckled trout
Let us know how it turns out, Jennifer!
I made these last night, but I used cod, which is my favorite. The only thing I did different was I didn’t use the olive oil or the butter. Just put the seasoning on both sides of the fish and baked as called for in the recipe. Excellent! And I LOVED the creamy lime taco sauce. I will definitely make these again, and again, and again!
So glad to hear that, Debra! Thank you for the review and for sharing your experience with the recipe.
How long can the taco sauce stay in the fridge ?loved the sauce and the recipe !
Hi Wendy, This sauce keeps well covered in the refrigerator for a few days. It can be used on almost anything!
So far I’ve probably made this about 30 times. It’s great for company, because guests can pick and choose what they want in their tacos and variations can be added. I usually add corn and some version of candied sweet potatoes or beans. It’s a solid recipe I rely on! Not too heavy, pretty healthy. Getting ready to serve it again this weekend.
It’s definitely a crowd favorite and it looks like a hit with your company too! That’s just awesome, Alisha! Thank you for your great feedback!
Crowd favorite in my house. As I speak, I’m making this for dinner tonight. However, substituting halibut for tilapia! Also have used rock fish before. Really works on just about anything. Love love love!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Missy!
Loved it and so did the family! Out of curiosity, can you do anything with the cabbage to make it a little less dry- saute or marinade it like a slaw?
Your sauce brought everything together well but if you have any thoughts… love to hear them.
Hi Neda! I’m so glad you loved the recipe. We love to use fresh cabbage and enjoy the crunch. You can definitely experiment with it. I have never tried sautéing it beforehand, but I think it could work or even lightly steaming it.
I just mix in a couple TBS a of the sauce to the cabbage
There’s never too much of that delightful cream
I love this recipe! It is my go to recipe for fish tacos. Last night I had leftover sauce. Today I made cole slaw with red and green cabbage and the sauce. Added a little bit of salt. It was definately a hit!
Thank you so much for sharing that with us. We appreciate your awesome feedback!
Natasha
Your recipes are some of the best. The only change I did to this was cut the lime juice down from 2 to 1 Tbs for the sauce and added a little salt and pepper, then it was perfect.
Thank you for sharing! I’m so glad you love my recipes.
Natasha…all your recipes are tremendous but we especially like your Mexican food recipes…and we Texans are pretty picky about our Mexican food! Thank you!
That’s great, Nancy! Thank you for the feedback. So glad you enjoy the recipes.
These are delicious!! My entire family loves them so we make this recipe on repeat. The sauce is the best. I can no longer find sriracha in my grocery store; it hasn’t been available for months! What else could I use in place of sriracha? I tried cholula and it’s just not as good.
Glad you like it, Jen. One of our readers shared this “Yummy fish tacos!! Another recipe winner from Natasha’s Kitchen. I made one slight change to the taco sauce by adding Chipotle sauce (approx. 1/4 cup) instead of Sriracha. My grandson rated the meal in the top 20 ever.” I hope that helps!
These tacos are fantastic! I was looking for a recipe that did not include breading the fish, we wanted the fish to be the star of the recipe – and it was! The recipe is absolutely delicious as written. The only change when I make them again (and again!) will be to use homemade tacos. The corn tacos we bought were too small for all the ingredients. But we sure enjoyed the mess! Thank you for sharing your recipe. 🙂
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that lovely review with us, Dianne!
These were amazing. Made a few changes. I didn’t have limes so I used lemons for the juice. Also for the seasoning I only used 1/8-1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper. I used green cabbage and sweet onion sliced thinly. Next time I will try avocado. Kinda used what my pantry had. The gosh I used was freshly caught crappie. Great recipe. Thanks Natasha.
Sounds amazing, Gretchen! Thank you for sharing that with us.
Made these in Hawaii with fresh mahi-mahi and pacific cod. They were both delicious!
Sounds amazing! So glad you loved them.
NATASHA…………LOVE YOUR RECIPE FOR THESE FISH TACO….S….WILL MAKE THEM TONIGHT
JEANNIE
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Jeannie! I hope you love them!
I made the fish toppings and sauce from this recipe for fish sticks tacos. It was delicious. My husband poured extra sauce on his tacos.
So glad it was enjoyed! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Hi Natasha-
Can you air fry the fish in this recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Corie! Yes, I’m sure you could but I haven’t tested that method to give instructions. Please let us know if you experiment.
My absolute favorite mango fish taco recipe!! No other recipe compares to this one. Fish always comes out delicious, and the sauce is unreal!
I’m so glad you love the recipe! Thanks for sharing.
DH, found this recipe for tomorrows Cinco de Mayo. you mention loving your “favorite mango fish taco recipe” but i don’t see mango in this recipe. did you just add it to the “toppings”? thank you.
Had a pound of shrimp in the fridge that needed to be used, and found this recipe this morning. My husband and i absolutely loved this recipe! Easy to cook and shop for and also economical! Will be trying other recipes soon. This is like a gourmet meal that we would have been happy to pay a lot for at a good restaurant!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Polly!
We tried this recipe tonight using Sole.
It was AMAZING!!
This is our new go-to for quick & easy dinner nights.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Lorie! I’m so glad to hear that. You’re very welcome.
These fish tacos were so delicious! I used scrod and shrimp and it was very tasty!
Thanks for another great recipe!
Hi Terry! Thank you for sharing. Glad you loved it.
I love the combination of flavors and the way the ingredients are put together. The instructions seem very clear and easy to follow, so I’m exited to give it a try soon. Thank you for sharing this recipe, I can’t wait to taste it!
I hope you love the recipe!
This was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! Thank you for sharing this dish.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Lenora!