Easy Fish Tacos
My husband and I LOVE fish tacos. Anytime they are on the menu, at least one of us orders them. One of our favorite restaurants in Mexico had the most delicious fish tacos with red cabbage slaw.
After coming home, I was craving those battered fish tacos with red cabbage slaw, so I decided to try and make them myself.
These fish tacos were surprisingly easy (I used a few shortcuts), but they are definitely a “keeper” in our book!
How to Fry fish
If you don’t like the idea of packaged fried fish, you can easily fry your own for fish tacos. Frying fish can be difficult. It can also be scary. But if you follow these simple steps, it is pretty easy.
Step 1: What fish is best for frying?
We have found it easiest to use cod when it comes to frying fish. We have tried salmon, but we definitely recommend using cod for the best results.
Step 2: Prepare your frying pan and oil.
We recommend using a deep pan or pot and adding about two inches of oil to it. We recommend using canola oil because it has a high smoke point, which will greatly add to the taste, as well as the texture.
Step 3: Heat oil to medium-high heat on the stove top.
You don’t want it to be a roaring boil, but you do want it to have mini bubbles coming to the surface.
Step 4: Test your oil.
We have found the best way to test your oil is to take a piece of bread (just a small piece of it) and put it into the heated oil.
The oil is to the correct temperature when the small piece of bread is completely golden and crunchy within 40 seconds.
Step 5: Prepare your cod.
To make four servings of fish tacos, we recommend using two pounds of cod. Cut the cod into 6-8 ounce servings. You could also cut them into about 1/2 inch slices.
We love using a combination of bread crumbs and paprika.
Before dipping the cod into the mixture, soak them in a bowl of beaten eggs. We usually whisk about 3-4 eggs in a small bowl.
Dip the cod in the egg mixture first, followed by the bread crumbs and paprika.
Step 6: Fry the cod.
Gently place the cod into the heated and prepared pan with hot oil. Rotate after about two and a half minutes. The fish should take about 5 minutes to fry all the way through.
Once the fish is done frying, carefully remove it from the oil and place it on paper bags. It may seem crazy but placing them on a paper bag will soak up the oil so the fish won’t sit in it and get soggy.
If you use a paper towel, the oil and the fish will sit in the oil and won’t really leave a crunch factor that you are going for, when it comes to fish tacos.
How to pick a perfect jalapeno
Picking the perfect jalapeno for your fish tacos can be difficult if you have never done it before. If you are looking for heat, look for peppers that have little vertical squiggly lines close to the stems.
These lines indicate that the pepper has had a longer growing life and they are more developed. This allows the pepper to reach its spicy-hot potential, that will taste amazing with your fish.
Red peppers with lots of white lines also indicate strong heat.
If you have more sensitive taste buds, we recommend finding jalapenos with few white lines and going for the more green colored peppers.
You can also try canned jalapenos for a weaker heat, however, they don’t have much of a crunch to them, and they can be difficult to de-seed.
We recommend using fresh jalapenos for the best taste and texture for this fish taco recipe.
Looking for more fish recipes? Try these:
- Lemon Butter Tilapia
- Mexican Grilled Salmon
- Delicious Blackened Salmon Tacos
- 3-Ingredient BBQ Baked Salmon
Quick and Easy Fish Tacos Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 battered fish fillets
- 2 cups shredded red cabbage
- ⅓ cup grated carrots
- 1 green onion, thinly sliced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, (seeded and diced)
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 Tablespoon mayonnaise
- 1 lime, juiced
- 6 small flour tortillas, (can also use corn tortillas)
- 2 limes, (for squeezing over the top)
- 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro, (for topping)
- ⅓ cup chipotle mayo, (for topping)
Equipment
Instructions
- Cook fish fillets according to package instructions (about 25 minutes).
- In a small bowl, mix together cabbage, carrots, green onion, jalapeño, garlic, mayonnaise, and lime juice.
- Place one fish fillet on a tortilla, and top with 1/6 of the cabbage slaw. Top with extra fresh-squeezed lime juice, cilantro, and chipotle mayo.
Notes
TO FRY FISH
- We have found it easiest to use cod when it comes to frying fish. We have tried salmon, but we definitely recommend using cod for the best results.
- We recommend using a deep pan or pot and adding about two inches of oil to it. We recommend using canola oil because it has a high smoke point, which will greatly add to the taste, as well as the texture.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.Be sure to not miss another recipe!
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I LOVE fish tacos too!
Their fish sounds better, your slaw sounds better…guess I’ll do them together! Thanks for sharing!