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
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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.
Yum! I used catfish filets instead of tilapia and it tasted fabulous. The flavor “layering” in this dish is perfect, from the warm, dense, flavourful seasoned fish, to the tangy onions, then creamy avocado and cheese (I used Spanish tetilla cheese), topped off by the great taco sauce (used extra lime and sriracha for a stronger bite)! I’ve eaten too much now but was worth every minute of prep time and of course, every bite ☺️
This is the absolute BEST fish taco recipe ever! The sauce is amazing!!! The only change I made was using Queso Fresco cheese instead of Cojita, because I couldn’t find it at the store. This has quickly become a dinner time favorite! Everyone loved them, hubby, 16 year old, 12 year old and 8 year old!
Turned out to be the best fish tacos I have ever made and my family greatly enjoyed them! Thanks for the share!!!
What do you mean by “4 oz 1 cup Cotija cheese, grated”?
Hi Sam! 4oz by weight, it’s about 1 cup grated.
The best fish tacos I’ve ever had. The sauce especially is incredible! I never understood the hype behind fish tacos in general until I tried this recipe. Restaurant quality dining at home. Highly recommend.
Hi Ali! Thanks so much for trying my recipe. I’m glad you loved it. We love these around here too!
This was SO delicious! I love fish tacos ( tilapia is my favorite fish to use), and these have replaced my old tried and true recipe that I’ve been using for years.
The really great thing for me, is you don’t need to marinate the fish, and I don’t need to grill it, so we can have it rain or shine.
The seasoning is perfect and the sauce is fabulous! I was sorry that I only cooked 1 lb vs 1.5 lb, b/c the leftover fish and sauce were yummy the next day, even cold! This is going into our regular rotation. Thank you!
Great tacos. My daughter said: “it is 10 out of 10 meal”, and she does not really like fish.
As a Mom, that makes me so happy to hear!! Thank you for sharing your great review.
This was my first time making fish tacos and they were better than I expected!! Family favourite for sure!
I love this recipe! Made it for a crowd and everyone raved about them! Every single person said best Fish Tacos they ever had! I serve Mexican Rice ,and super moist Mexican corn bread as sides for extra filler up!
I’m so glad they were a hit! Thank you for sharing.
I made this as rice bowls as an experiment because I’ve never made tilapia before. It’s rich, flavourful, bright and creamy. 10/10 it will definitely be making it into my regular recipe rotation
Hi Trudi! That’s a great idea. I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
This is always the recipe I look up when I make these. But this is the very first time that I used plain yogurt instead of sour cream to save a bit on calories. It turned out even better. I thought it taste just like your normal recipe. Thank you
That’s wonderful, Lisa! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for posting this comment! I was wondering about substituting plain yogurt for the sour cream. Now I know! 🙂
I used fresh flounder from Mexico. It only took 10 mins because it’s thin. Made the sauce with Cholula because I had no Sriracha. This was a winner with our friends from Mexico. As good as any fish tacos there!!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Julie!
So good! No need for more salt, the cotija does the job!
It turned out so good!
Thanks
This recipe is the BOMB! It’s fantastic. I did go with one of the suggestions in the comments to add a bit of salt and cumin to the sauce. Perfect!
Hi Kathy! I’m happy you loved this recipe!
I have made this recipe numerous times. We love it. Have shared it with friends
Such a great recipe to share with company! Thank you!
The only thing this recipe needed was a little cumin and salt, added to the fish sauce. Outside of that, it was delicious.
It turned out so delicious!! Thank you Natasha!
Not only are these the best ever fish tacos (EVER) with the best sauce (ohhhh, this sauce!!!), but regardless of the event, this is the number one meal request in our family of nine adults. I feel safe making any of Natasha‘s recipes, but this is one of our all-time favorites. I’m so thankful that I found Natasha’s Kitchen a few years ago. I just purchased her new e-book and can’t wait to get the spiral bound copy! Thank you, Natasha, for sharing your life and your amazing food creations with those of us who immensely enjoy being “in the kitchen” with you.
Hi Marybeth! You’re so very welcome. I’m glad you loved the tacos! They are one of our favorites too.
This is truly a great recipe! I actually used frozen Gorton’s Fish Sticks that we buy at Sam’s Club, pulled them out of the oven at the halfway point and seasoned them up with this recipe’s seasoning, then finished them in the oven, chopped them up a bit, and wow! Turned out great! The whole family loved the tacos! And that sauce! It’s really wonderful. Thanks for a great recipe.