This fast and flavorful fish tacos recipe is the perfect quick lunch or dinner.
Seasoned fish fillets are baked, flaked, and then tucked into tortillas with your favorite toppings and a drizzle of taco sauce.
Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: Baked and not fried, these fish tacos are fresh and flavorful with a mild white fish and simple homemade rub. We love to serve these with the easy taco sauce below.
- Difficulty: Simple toppings and a little oven time are all you need for resort-style fish tacos.
- Technique: The fish is baked until flaky but can also be grilled.
- Swaps: Any white fish can be used in this recipe.
- Time-Saving Tip: The homemade taco seasoning mix can be replaced with a packet of taco seasoning.
- Leftovers: Stretch leftovers further by making fish taco bowls!
Ingredient Tips for Fish Tacos
- Fish: I use cod in this recipe, but any white fish like halibut, haddock, or tilapia will work. Frozen fish should be thawed and patted dry so the seasonings will adhere.
- Seasonings: The rub for these fish tacos is a flavorful blend of paprika, garlic powder, cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper. You can also use a packet or homemade taco seasoning.
- Sauce: The fish taco sauce is a rich and tangy addition and needs few ingredients. Fresh lime juice is recommended.
- Tortillas: Corn or flour tortillas work for fish tacos, so gently warm them before filling them so they don’t crack.
Variations
- Seasoning: Season the fish fillets with a blackened seasoning or a Cajun flavor.
- Onion slaw: Make a quick cabbage onion slaw by combining a cup of shredded cabbage, ½ thinly sliced sweet white onion, 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, 1/3 cup sour cream, 2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice, and one seeded and chopped jalapeno pepper.
How to Make Fish Tacos
- Prepare the fish: Pat fish dry and rub with homemade spice mixture.
- Bake: Bake the fish in the oven (full recipe below).
- Prepare the toppings: Chop and prepare desired taco toppings.
- Enjoy! Assemble and serve tacos once the fish and toppings are ready.
Fish Taco Toppings
- Guacamole and Pico de Gallo add fresh flavor.
- Pineapple or mango salsa also pair beautifully with fish.
- Add some Cotija cheese, shredded cheddar, or Monterey Jack.
- Serve with lime wedges and fish taco sauce.
Leftovers?
Store leftover fish from the tortillas and other ingredients in a covered container for up to 2 days. Use leftover fish in a cold wrap, on top of a salad, or reheat portions in the microwave and build new tacos with toppings and add-ins.
More Easy Taco Recipes
Did you enjoy this Fish Tacos Recipe? Leave a comment and rating below.
Fish Tacos
Tender and flaky, these baked fish tacos are lightly seasoned, nestled in soft tortillas, and drizzled with a creamy fish taco sauce.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds cod fillets or tilapia,haddock, or halibut
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Seasoning Rub
- 1 tablespoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
Tacos
- 8 corn tortillas or flour tortillas, 6-inch
- 1 avocado sliced
- 1 lime wedged
Fish Taco Sauce (optional)
- 3 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- ½ lime juiced
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon sriracha or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Fish Taco Sauce
- Combine sour cream, mayonnaise, lime, garlic powder, cumin, and sriracha in a small bowl (if making) and refrigerate until serving.
Seasoning Rub
- In a small bowl, mix the chili powder, paprika, oregano, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and salt.
- Dab the fish fillets dry with a paper towel and drizzle with olive oil. Rub the seasoning mix over all sides of the fish.
- Bake on a rimmed baking sheet for 10-15 minutes* or until flaky and heated to 145℉.
- Heat tortillas according to package directions.
- Use a fork to break the fish into large chunks. Divide the fish pieces among the tortillas and add toppings as desired.
Notes
Spice Rub: Substitute the rub above with our own favorite rub, cajun, or blackened seasoning.
Cabbage Onion Slaw: Combine 1 cup shredded cabbage, ½ sweet white onion, thinly sliced, 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, ⅓ cup sour cream (or Greek yogurt), 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, and 1 jalapeño pepper seeded & chopped.
Keep an eye on your fish. Thinner pieces of fish will cook faster.
Leftover fish can be refrigerated for 2 days. Fish should be stored and reheated separately from the tortillas.
Nutritional information includes 1 fish taco in a corn tortilla. Toppings are not included in nutritional information.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 163 | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 5g | Sodium: 348mg | Potassium: 174mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 875IU | Vitamin C: 4.9mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 1.6mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner, Fish, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine American, Mexican© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Delicious!!! Used leftover fried red fish.
Is it possible to use fried fish for this recipe?
Absolutely! That would be delicious in this recipe.
Hit the spot – deliiiiiish !
Delicious! Used cajun spice I had on hand. Made the sauce and Mango Salsa to accompany. Small salad on side. Perfect supper.
Will definitely make again. Thank you for your delicious recipes.
You’re welcome, Beth! So happy you are enjoying them. Mango Salsa is such a yummy choice to serve these with!
Super delicious
Definitely delicious. My whole family loved them. This is a keeper. We are adding it to the menu. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Could you substitute mahi mahi for the fish?
Hi Debra, we haven’t tried this recipe with Mahi Mahi but another reader has made it with good results.
Hello! Do you think you could substitute Greek Yogurt for the mayo? Not big mayonnaise fans in this house :)
We haven’t tried that substitution but another reader has and had great results! You will have to let us know how it turns out.
These tacos were excellent. We used cod because that’s what we had in the freezer. Only used the rub and the methodology. Had made chipotle salsa so used that and made cabbage slaw a little differently.
Years ago, I had fish tacos for the first time while vacationing in Virginia Beach. Your recipe is astoundingly delicious and matched the very dish I have been craving for a while. I used Basa and made my own spice mix and the sauce is oh so wonderful. Fabulous recipe!
So glad we could help with your craving, Jan!
I made this for supper for my family tonight. It was super fast, easy, and absolutely delicious. Thank you for the great recipe.
You’re welcome Annie! Glad you enjoyed it.
I made this tonight at the request of my son. I had a similar fish taco in Myrtle Beach two years ago and honestly, this recipe matched it to a tee! Wonderfully, delicious recipe and light!
My husband who is very picky loved this! Asked for it to be in the regular rotation. Thank you for posting delicious recipes like this one!
You’re welcome Rebecca! Love to hear when picky eaters enjoy the dishes!
Fantastic recipe!! I used cod fillets and my family enjoyed it immensely. Great summer meal.
We made this tonight just as written with one exception. I didn’t have Sriracha so I just used a hot sauce that we had in the pantry. The cabbage onion slaw is great too. Next time I will skip the slaw dressing and just double the fish sauce. This was a big hit with our friends. Thank you for this great recipe, as usual.
You’re welcome Kathy, thanks for sharing that idea!
I would like to try this recipe but we dont care for sriracha. What would you suggest for a substitution?
You could try your favorite hot sauce Michelle. Enjoy!
Hello Michelle,
We don’t care for Sriracha either. A product I’ve used a lot as a substitute is Sweet Red Chili sauce by Thai Kitchen.
You can find the Sweet Red Chili sauce by Thai Kitchen on Amazon!
I decided to try this recipe because past ones didn’t quite measure up. It was a hit! Even my son enjoyed it and will usually not eat fish.
A great recipe! We had it on a Friday during Lent. Our family devoured these. I would recommend you follow the entire recipe. We made it with flounder marinated in the curry, the Pico de gallo, and sauce. For our preference- next time I would make it with a little less cumin and a little more curry. …buy plenty of fresh limes,,, and make it spicey!
I give this a five stars because when my family and I made this taco dish, it was fantastic! I love how basic it is which makes it good and the choice of the fish was good.
My daughter (13 years old) who doesnt like fish LOVED this recipe!
That is awesome Diana! So happy she enjoyed it.