I Make This Fish Tacos Recipe Weekly… It’s THAT Good!
I’m sharing my go-to fish taco recipe that you can enjoy all year.
It’s Taco Tuesday somewhere! 🌮
With a million different ways to make tacos, I’ve found my fish tacos recipe makes it into our family’s weekly meal rotation nearly every single week!
It’s a dish my entire family enjoys (including the kids) and it’s gluten-free! So, if you’re looking for a fresh lunch or dinner idea with tons of flavor, look no further!
If you’ve been here long enough, you know I am not a recipe blogger. In fact, this recipe is the first I’ve ever written in the almost 3 years I’ve been working with Hip2Save. 🤣 I’ve talked about them enough for Collin to give me the go-ahead and share them with you all so I feel truly honored!
However, don’t let my lack of recipes at Hip steer you away from trying my fish tacos! I promise you, if my kiddos rave about them and my mom is always looking for an excuse to come over on fish taco night, you know they’ve gotta be banging!
I strive to eat a gluten-free diet (as well as my kiddos) so this is one meal we can always all get excited about. Plus, it’s packed full of fresh ingredients and tastes amazing!
The best part? This recipe is fail-proof so if there are some ingredients you don’t like, can’t have, or other toppings you know you’d love to add, you can feel free to adjust it as you like!
For this recipe, I always make sure to pick up fresh fish – it’s one of my favorite things to pick up at my local farmer’s market weekly. I used to buy the frozen cod packets from ALDI, however, I’ve noticed the quality of fish has declined in the last year so it’s not something I waste my time buying anymore.
On the flip side, here are the store-bought ingredients I always use in this recipe:
I typically do the bulk of my grocery shopping between ALDI and my farmer’s market, so these are three store-bought items I always make sure to grab when I’m there. At ALDI, they always have Simply Nature frozen organic corn, Fremont raw shrimp, and my favorite Specially Selected Jasmine rice.
If it’s available, I always grab their uncured bacon too!
Hot sauce is always a staple in my home. In fact, it’s practically a food group for me. 😂 This Grumpy Old Mark’s Curse of Dracula hot sauce happens to be made locally but, lucky for all of you, it’s also available on Amazon. (*Note that if you’re able to find it sold in your local store it will be more affordable).
If there’s one ingredient I would say I couldn’t live without on my fish taco recipe, this hot sauce would be it! It’s spicy, packed with only real ingredients, and will change your taco game so be sure to scoop up some of this delicious hot sauce!
Lastly, I always stock up on these Mission White Corn Tortillas from Target. They’re Certified Gluten-Free and have the best texture and flavor of all the other store-bought tortilla shells I’ve tried.
Not only do we use them frequently for fish tacos, but they’re great for keto pork carnitas, shredded chicken tacos, and quesadillas!
Hip Tip: You could also try Lina’s popular homemade flour tortilla recipe, which is easy to make! Or if you’re looking for a low-carb tortilla option, check out how Lina made these awesome ones out of just cheese over on Hip2Keto.
Here are some helpful tips for making these fish tacos:
- Use thick pieces of fish. The chunkier the fish filets, the better. The tails of cod can shrivel up too much and won’t give you the fluffy, fresh fish consistency you want to ultimately achieve in this recipe. Using fish that’s not meaty enough might also result in it tasting over-seasoned.
- Do not discard your bacon fat. I’ll mention this again later on when we’re making the recipe together, but this is one secret ingredient you don’t want to trash before your fish tacos are done cooking.
- Use different kinds of peppers. I love a colorful dish, so if I’m out of small melody peppers, I’ll grab a few bigger bell peppers, cut them in half, and use them for the recipe. Then I’ll slice the leftover halves and eat them as a snack the next day.
- Get creative with toppings. I’m all about building the perfect taco so make sure to include a bunch of your favorite taco toppings. The beauty of this recipe is that you really can’t go wrong, so if you’re feeling called to add some fresh lime or cilantro, go for it!
- Add more shrimp if you please. Recently I started adding shrimp to my fish taco recipe. It adds a wonderful salt flavor and great texture to each bite so if you love shrimp just as much, feel free to use up to a 50/50 ratio of fish and shrimp. If you do, just make sure to cut the spices down significantly so the shrimp and spices don’t compete. You can also nix shrimp altogether if you don’t enjoy it.
- Use fresh corn or none at all. If corn is in-season where you live, opt for cutting it off the cob! Or feel free to opt-out of adding corn altogether. Lately, corn has been bothering my stomach, so I often just make more peppers to make up for the absence of corn.
- Enjoy the leftovers tomorrow. Have some of your fish mixture left over? Heat it up in the microwave the next day and enjoy with some tortilla chips and hot sauce! Or put it over rice, diced fresh avocado, and enjoy as another meal.
Now let’s make some fish tacos together!
Easy Fish Tacos
yield: 4 SERVINGS
prep time: 20 MINUTES
cook time: 20 MINUTES
total time: 40 MINUTES
A fresh & flavorful Mexican dish you can enjoy year-round with fluffy fish, shrimp, bacon, blackened corn, & other fresh veggies.
Ingredients
Fish Tacos:
- 1 pound fresh cod fish (or 4 fist-sized chunky filets - wild caught preferred)
- 5 raw extra jumbo shrimp (or more if preferred)
- 4 slices uncured bacon (+ bacon fat once cooked)
- 1 cup frozen or fresh corn
- 1/2 cup jasmine rice
- 8 white corn tortillas (or more, if desired)
- 1 1/3 cup mini peppers (or 2 small bell peppers)
- 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 heaping tablespoon bacon lard
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 tablespoon paprika
- cracked pepper (sprinkle as desired)
- cracked sea salt (sprinkle as desired)
Toppings:
- hot sauce (I love Grumpy Old Mark's Curse of Dracula Hot Sauce)
- 1 large jalapeño (sliced)
- 1 avocado (sliced)
Directions
1
Preheat oven to 390°F.
2
Place bacon on a baking sheet and lightly sprinkle with cracked black pepper. Bake for about 15 minutes at 390° or until crispy.
3
Rinse jasmine rice and boil in 3/4 cup water with 1 tablespoon olive oil until soft.
4
Dice all peppers into small, bite-sized pieces. If using a variety of larger peppers, cut them in half, and save the leftovers for snacks or use them as fresh toppings on your tacos if desired.
5
Coat your sauté pan with olive oil (about 4 tablespoons). Pour corn and diced peppers into the pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until blackened/charred, turning occasionally.
6
Heat air fryer on the air crisp setting at 390°.
7
Mix cumin and paprika into a small bowl and toss fish filets in seasoning. Use less seasoning if desired, as this recipe tastes just as good with only a sprinkle of each.
8
Chop crispy bacon & raw shrimp into bite-sized pieces and add in the skillet with 1 heaping tablespoon of bacon lard until shrimp is cooked through.
Shrimp cooks fast, so turn frequently until all sides are pink. Turn on low and cover when shrimp is cooked through. If you don't have bacon lard in your fridge, you can sub for more olive oil.
9
Place seasoned cod in the air fryer. Pour your leftover bacon grease from the pan over the fish and cook for 6-8 minutes. Cook time will vary depending on how thick your fish filets are. Lower the amount of time and seasoning for thinner filets.
10
Add air crisped fish to your sauté pan & chop it into bite-sized pieces with a spatula. If fish is not cooked through, finish cooking in the pan until you reach a white, fluffy result. Turn on low until ready to eat.
11
Place your tortillas on a griddle or sauté pan to warm them. This isn't necessary but preferred to keep your tacos hot while eating.
12
Slice avocado & fresh jalapeño and place on a dish for your toppings. If you don't like either of these toppings, fresh bell pepper, lettuce, or even radishes would make great substitutes.
13
Start loading up your tortillas with rice, fish, and all your toppings! (Psst...don't forget my favorite hot sauce!) Enjoy, friends!
I hope you all enjoy this dish! It’s my family’s favorite and it’s a wonderful dish to cook for friends and seafood-loving kiddos, too! I don’t like to spend a bunch of time in the kitchen, but this recipe is simple and fool-proof so it’s a winner every time!
Best of all, if we’re out of a couple of ingredients, I’m normally able to find a few other substitutions in the fridge to make it work.
My Hip sidekick, Jenna, tried my recipe, here’s what she thought about my fish tacos:
“I totally see why you make these weekly, I am so in love with these! They are so fresh and delicious and even better than the ones I often get from the restaurant up the street! I can’t say which part is my favorite because I love it all!
And using the bacon lard for flavoring is BRILLIANT…I was originally thinking I’d want to add salt, but after adding the bacon lard, the flavors that come together are perfection! I think my kids are going to expect fish will always taste that good. LOL! I will definitely be adding this to my dinner rotation, especially when we have company.”
Enjoy! 🌮
Try these easy White Claw cocktails to go with your fish tacos!
This looks amazing!! Thanks for sharing! Is there anyway to print just the recipe?
Yes! Be sure to click on the print icon at the top or bottom of the post.
You’re so welcome! Enjoy!
Can you add how-to do this recipe without an air fryer?
When I make fish tacos, I just bake the fish in the oven. Depending on the size of the fish, it’s about 8-12 mins on a lightly greased pan at 425.
Hey there! You could also grill them or to make this recipe even easier, I have also just cooked them in the same skillet with extra bacon lard as all the veggies. I would recommend putting the raw fish in the skillet a couple of minutes before the step where you add the cooked bacon and shrimp. The fish will also cook quickly this was, but not quite as fast as the shrimp so I would add those after. I hope this helps! Enjoy!
But how do you not have an air fryer? 😂
Literally the best thing I ever got!
Everything is better!
Anyone else weirded out by the taco in her hand being blurred out? 🙂
I see what you mean there! Sometimes my camera focus has a mind of its own, but not to worry, the blurred image is just due to my camera not focusing and not a representation of the integrity of these delicious tacos. 🙂 I hope you enjoy my recipe if you do give it a try!
I definitely will try it, Sara! I’ve been trying to bring more fish into our diets and this will be a great baby-step for our little kiddos (4 and 6)!
I sure hope they love it! Keep me posted! 🙂
Those camera focuses can be tricky! Thanks for changing it! My OCD was kicking in. Invisible taco! 😉
Haha, no worries! Have a great day, Crafty Bargainista!
If you leave the jalapeno seeds in this taco, this will be a VERY spicy food. I would suggest removing the seeds at least, unless you really enjoy spicy foods.
Thanks for the tip, Andrea! I actually do not find jalapeños spicy at all, but then again, I consider spicy food a food group so I’m probably an exception. LOL! I hope you enjoy this recipe (sans seeds) if you give it a try. 🙂
How is it without bacon? I try not to eat bacon for health.
I don’t like bacon much and just leave it out of recipes. I think it would be fine without bacon on this one.
This looks really good, thanks!
This looks amazing! I noticed how you formatted your recipe here with the informational text/ingredient photos first, then the step by step recipe photos with no text, then full ingredient listing and full recipe. Typically food bloggers have text, photo, text photo, text photo, with the recipe and ingredients all randomly hidden in between. Great look, I look forward to seeing more.