Fish Tacos

These fish tacos are easy to prepare, healthy to eat, and really yummy. This is our go-to meal for times when we have an evening meeting and we’re in a hurry.

I’ve never liked the fish tacos you get in restaurants. They usually deep fry the fish and then serve the tacos with fries so you wind up with a heavy calorie-laden meal. When we started making them at home, we had to figure out how to make our fish tacos healthy but still tasty.

Fish Taco Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make these fish tacos.

Starting with the fish, we experimented a bit and settled on mahi-mahi for these fish tacos. It’s very flavorful and it is firm enough to hold its own in a tortilla. Mahi-mahi is also high in omega 3s and it’s a great source of protein. Mark’s Daily Apple and this LiveStrong article both have some good info on mahi-mahi. Sticking with the healthy and quick plan, we chose to sauté the fish in a skillet using a light oil instead of breading and frying it. Because our dressing is very flavorful, we just used some seasoned salt on the fish.

The dressing is our own Smokey Cilantro Chipotle Ranch Dressing. If you don’t have time to make your own dressing, look for chipotle ranch dressing in the produce section of the grocery store. If you’re not into spicy things, thousand island dressing is a pretty good option too. In general, dressing flavors that go well with these fish tacos are ones that are spicy or slightly sweet — or a combination of those two flavors.

If you like lime juice on your fish, be sure to squeeze some on right before you serve it. Other fresh things that add flavor are avocado slices, colorful tomatoes, and fresh cilantro, and fresh bean sprouts.

Use the shredded cabbage or slaw mix from the produce section of the grocery store or cut up a fresh head of cabbage. The goal here is to use things you like and scale the process up or down depending on your available time. Fish tacos work best nestled in corn, rather than flour tortillas.

Making Fish Tacos

Did I say easy? I guess I haven’t yet, but this is a quick, easy meal. 

Cooking the fish

According to package directions, thaw out about six ounces of mahi-mahi (or other fish of your choice) per person. Do this part ahead of time, so the fish is thawed out and ready to cook. Because fish cooks fast, get the other ingredients ready so you can assemble the tacos as soon as the fish is ready. If you plan to cut up the cabbage yourself, do that before you start cooking the fish. Otherwise, put some slaw mix in a bowl so you can grab a handful for each taco. This goes for the avocados, tomatoes, dressing, and whatever else you plan to put on the fish tacos. Use two or three tortillas per person, depending on how hungry everyone is.

Add a couple of tablespoons of light oil like avocado oil to a 10-12 inch skillet. We use one that has raised grill-like sections. Put the fish in the skillet and cook it on low-to-medium heat two-three minutes per side. Fish is flaky when it’s cooked, so use some tongs or a fork to see if it has finished cooking.

Getting the rest of the ingredients ready

When the fish is almost done, put the corn tortillas on a plate, covered with damp paper towels or a damp cloth, and microwave them for 30 seconds. Turn them over (still wrapped in the moist cloth or paper towel) and zap them for 30 more seconds.

If you prefer, you can separate the tortillas and put them in a non-stick skillet without oil and lightly brown them on each side, using low heat. You just want to heat them up; if they get too browned in the skillet they’ll crack and your tacos will fall apart. We always take the easy route because we like these tacos on soft corn tortillas.

Assemble the tacos, drizzle a little dressing on them and enjoy!

Fish Tacos

These fish tacos are easy to prepare, healthy to eat, and really yummy. Just try them and see how easy they are to make and what a delicious meal you’ll have in minutes.

Print Pin Rate

Course: Seafood

Keyword: easy fish tacos, fish tacos, mahi mahi

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 6 tacos

Author: Julia

Ingredients

1x2x3x

• 12 oz of mahi-mahi or other fish of your choice
• 2 cups of shredded cabbage or slaw mix
• 6 corn tortillas
• 1 sliced avocado optional

Instructions

• Place the fish fillets in a skillet with about two tablespoons of avocado or other light oil.
• Cook on medium heat two-to-three minutes per side.
• Put out the sliced cabbage and other ingredients so they’re ready to add to the tacos.
• Wrap six corn tortillas in a damp cloth or damp paper towels and microwave them for thirty seconds.
• Turn the tortillas over and microwave them for thirty more seconds.
• Put the warm tortillas on the plates.
• Add the cooked fish to the tortillas.
• Grab a handful of cabbage or slaw mix and sprinkle some on each taco.
• Add tomatoes and/or avocados.
• Drizzle with dressing and serve.

Notes

• This recipe makes six tacos and is probably enough for two people. Try a side of Spanish rice with these to round out the meal.
• The nutrition information does not include an avocado or dressing.