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.
What if I don’t have an oven? Can I still do the fish by an ordinary frying, microwave, or toaster?
Frying the fish will work just fine!
My 13-year-old sous chef son and I made these for a women’s curling tournament a couple weeks ago.
They were absolutely fantastic – every ounce of the 24 pounds of fish/tacos were gobbled up — that I didn’t even get to try one!
Mind you there were 68 women – and also 50 Chicken Enchiladas, 24 Vegetarian – Sweet Potatoe/Black Bean Enchiladas and 24 “Naked” Enchiladas…and only 8 chicken enchiladas left at the end of the night.
Let’s just say wow everything was a hit – particularly your Fish Tacos recipe that I made a couple days later to try for myself on my family – the husband who rarely compliments – said they were “downright awesome and he’d like to have them again even though he doesn’t really love fish” – So this is definitely a keeper!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me!! I love that, Nicole!!
Made this tonight and could not believe how amazing this was!! absolutely delicious!!! Never made fish tacos before did lil nervous but OMGOODNESS they were amazing!! Dfntly a keeper!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
I love this sauce! Thank you
You’re welcome! I’m happy you enjoyed that!
Would you say 24 tacos serves 12 people or 8?
Hi Nicole! This recipe makes 24 tacos. It honestly depends on the crowd and what else you are serving with it if anything. Most people can eat 2-4 easily. Also depends on peoples appetites 🙂
Excellent recipe – so delicious!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that! Thank you for the great review!
amazing
tasty
simple
pefect
I’m so happy to hear that Aurora!! Thank you for a great review!
The best tacos
Thank you for sharing your awesome review, Anna!
I made these tonight for dinner and wow! What a win. This will be making its way into our rotation. I substituted the fish for shrimp and pan seared it. This meal went over very well with the entire family! Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Jamie! That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
I loved them… My boyfriend and my son thought the cheese was too salty and the sauce was too spicy but I thought it was perfect.
Thank you for the wonderful review, Heidi! I’m so happy you liked it!
OMG. This was amazing! My husband loved these fish tacos! I was happy to prepare a healthy meal for my family. When my husband tells me ” Put this one in the menu.” I know it’s exceptional. Thank you!
Sounds like you found a new favorite, Jaz! Thank you for the wonderful review!
This recipe looks absolutely fabulous, and I plan on making the tacos tomorrow. Can anybody give me an estimate as to how long the sauce keeps in the fridge? Thanks in advance!
Hi Claudia! We kept it for a few days. Hasn’t lasted long enough to test it longer
Usually don’t give reviews. But this was amazing and so easy!
Thank you for the wonderful compliment, Ann!
Love this recipe. I used halibut because I had it. Reminder not to use the super hot cayenne if you buy from bulk. Delicious.
I’ so happy you enjoyed it, Jo Anne! Thank you for the great review!
Hi Natasha,
We’ve adopted your perfect fish taco recipe as our own. It’s now our family’s official go-to for fish tacos. We’ve tried it with Coral Trout, Spanish Mackerel and rock fish. All perfect. Bravo and thank you
Hi Abbie! I’m so happy you found a family favorite!! Thank you for the awesome review!
For fish tacos with best taco sauce how many tacos are in a serving
Hi Mary! The serving size is towards the top left on each print-friendly recipe card. This recipe makes 24 tacos and the nutrition label is for each taco. I thought that would be the simplest way for someone to calculate if they were to eat 1, 2 or 5 tacos :).
The fish tacos were amazing!! Thank you for the recipe! My family loved them! ❤️😍👌🏽 Next time I probably won’t add salt to the fish, that is the only change I’ll make.
I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, Ericka! Thank you for the wonderful review!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for the recipe! These are better than the fish tacos I had at a fish house in FL. I used polluck & flour shells, because that’s what was in the house. 😊 I also added some taco seasoning to the fish. It still came out delish! My family loved them, too!
That’s so great, Kasonya! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review!
This was soooo good! I tweaked, of course – added a little cilantro, jalapeños and chili powder here and there. This is a keeper! Thank you!
So happy you enjoyed this Connie! Thank you for the great review!
These fish tacos are amazing!! I love the sauce, my husband who isn’t a big fish person liked them so much that he asked we have them again the next night! I like that you bake them verse sauté in the skillet which makes it easier and gives you time to prep other stuff. I did also make a mango salsa to go with them. These are my new go to recipe for fish tacos now! Thank you!!
You’re so welcome, Sarah! I’m so happy you both enjoyed that!