Fish Tacos (15-Minute Recipe!) (2024)

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Published on February 5, 2021 by Jamie Silva

Fish tacos made with pan-fried white fish, smoky spices, easy slaw, and chipotle mayo. You and your family will LOVE making these spicy fish tacos since they’re the perfect weeknight meal. Easy-to-make 15-minute weeknight meal!

Welcome to my go-to fish taco recipe! The fish is tender, smoky, flavorful, and the creamy, spicy chipotle mayo just makes them extra DELISH!

I mean, who doesn’t love a spicy kick in their tacos?! You can totally adjust the heat levels in the recipe.

My favorite part of this recipe is just how quickly it comes together. It’s the perfect weeknight meal because it’s ready in just 15 minutes!

Ingredients You’ll Need

Mayo (or plain Greek yogurt) and chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. These are the ingredients for the chipotle mayo sauce.
Smoked paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin powder, salt, and pepper. These are the spices you need for seasoning the fish.
White fish. Cod, mahi-mahi, halibut, any white fish will work!
Extra virgin olive oil.For cooking the fish.
Corn tortillas.
Thinly sliced red cabbage and chopped cilantro for garnish.
Lime wedges.

Recommended For This Recipe

Skillet

A 10-inch skillet perfect for cooking all kinds of dishes! It’s non-stick, with a wide flat bottom for frying, sautéing, or browning.

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How To Make Chipotle Mayo Sauce

In a food processor, add mayo, chipotle peppers, and adobo sauce. Pulse until well blended. It’s that easy! You can also buy storebought chipotle mayo.

How To Make Fish Tacos

Combine the spices. Mix the smoked paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
Season the fish. Lay the fish fillets on a clean work surface and sprinkle the spice mix evenly over each filet, rubbing it on all sides.
Cook the fish. In a non-stick skillet set over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add 2 of the fish fillets and cook, undisturbed, for about 4 minutes. Flip the fillets and cook for another 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan and swirl to coat. Repeat the cooking process with the remaining 2 filets.
Assemble the tacos. Using a fork, shred the fish fillets. Divide the cooked shredded fish evenly into the 12 corn tortillas. Add shredded red cabbage, cilantro, and drizzle with chipotle mayo.

What’s good to serve with fish tacos?

Here are a few recipes that would pair well with these spicy fish tacos!

Easy Guacamole Recipe
3-Ingredient Baked Sea Salt Tortilla Chips
How To Make White Rice (2 Ways!)
Quick + Easy Homemade Fire Roasted Salsa
How To Make Baked Plantain Chips

Fish Tacos (15-Minute Recipe!)

4.61 from 56 votes

By: Jamie Silva

Fish tacos made with pan-fried white fish, smoky spices, easy slaw, and chipotle mayo. You and your family will LOVE making these spicy fish tacos since they're the perfect weeknight meal. Easy-to-make 15-minute weeknight meal!

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Course Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine American

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

Easy Chipotle Mayo

1/3 cup mayo (or plain Greek yogurt)
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce from the can
3 teaspoons adobo sauce from the can

Fish Tacos

1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
Salt and pepper to taste
4 fish fillets (any white fish like cod, mahi mahi, halibut)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
12 corn tortillas
2 cups thinly sliced red cabbage
Lime wedges
Chopped cilantro for garnish

Instructions

If using store-bought chipotle mayo, skip this step. In a food processor, add mayo, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce. Pulse until well blended. Set aside.
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Mix the smoked paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Lay the fish fillets on a clean work surface and sprinkle the spice mix evenly over each filet, rubbing it on all sides.
In a non-stick skillet set over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add 2 of the fish fillets and cook, undisturbed, about 4 minutes. Flip the fillets and cook for another 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan and swirl to coat. Repeat the cooking process with the remaining 2 filets.
Using a fork, shred the fish fillets. Divide the cooked shredded fish evenly into the 12 corn tortillas. Add shredded red cabbage, cilantro and drizzle with chipotle mayo. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1 serving (3 tacos)Calories: 315 kcalCarbohydrates: 33.3 gProtein: 20.4 gFat: 12 gSaturated Fat: 1.7 gCholesterol: 42 mgSodium: 351 mgPotassium: 164 mgFiber: 5 gSugar: 0.9 gCalcium: 50 mgIron: 1.4 mg

Did You Make This?I want to know! below or tag @asassyspoon on social media!

Originally posted in July 2017. Updated photos in February 2021.

JAMIE SILVA
Miami native, first-generation Cuban-American, and the founder, recipe developer, and food photographer behind A Sassy Spoon. Since 2016, Jamie has been developing recipes inspired by her rich Cuban heritage and Latin-inspired recipes influenced by her hometown of Miami.

This page may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click on one of the product links above and complete a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I will never place a link or make a recommendation on a product or service that I don’t love or use personally. Thank you for your support. Please see myaffiliate noticefor details.

Reader Interactions

Comments

Leave a Rating and a Comment

Eve says
January 10, 2023 at 10:29 pm

Super good! Easy, delicious and quick healthy weeknight dinner ♥️
Reply
- Jamie Silva says
  January 11, 2023 at 11:10 am
  Happy you loved it, Eve! :)
  Reply
Elizabeth says
September 15, 2020 at 10:47 pm

These were amazing! My husband is normally picky when it comes to tacos, but he asked me when we could make these again! I was especially impressed with how quick it truly all came together and was perfect for a busy weeknight!
Reply
- Jamie Silva says
  September 16, 2020 at 1:17 pm
  So happy to hear, Elizabeth!!
  Reply
Reena Bansal says
August 27, 2020 at 8:29 am

Loved this! My fish of choice was halibut and salmon (yes, salmon works) because that is what we caught and had in the freezer. I went light on the rub because the fish was, well, wild caught. The sauce is awesome!! I didn’t do the slaw but I did use finely shredded cabbage for crunch.
Reply
Phil says
April 28, 2020 at 4:06 pm

It looks like I’m about 3 years late to this party! (Story of my life, lol)
I just made these AMAZING fish tacos for lunch and my girlfriend said “this recipe is a keeper!!”
I used fresh halibut and I did cheat a bit with a store bought Chipotle mayo and I added some cotija cheese too…
It took us right back to Mexico!!
Thank you for sharing/posting
Sincerely,
Phil Archer
Seattle WA.
Reply
Allie says
April 25, 2019 at 12:25 pm
So excited to try this! But is it really 93g of protein per serving? Obviously it depends on the type of fish! Thank you for the recipe!!
See Also
Yotam Ottolenghi’s sage recipes | Vegetables
Reply
- Jamie Silva says
  April 25, 2019 at 1:51 pm
  Hi Allie! Oops that’s not right. I went ahead and updated the nutritional info. Sorry! Hope you love this recipe as much as I do! :)
  Reply
Sam says
January 9, 2019 at 10:27 pm

Excellent recipe! So easy, healthy and flavourful
Reply
- Jamie Silva says
  January 10, 2019 at 12:32 pm
  So happy you loved it, Sam!
  Reply
Shayna says
August 7, 2018 at 11:50 pm

This was amazing! I can’t wait to make it again. I was surprised at how easy it was – it really was 15 minutes!
Reply
- Jamie Silva says
  August 8, 2018 at 1:55 pm
  So happy you LOVED it! :)
  Reply
Leah Vachani says
May 18, 2018 at 2:15 pm

Hi Jamie! I love your recipes! Just wanted to drop you a line that I love this recipe so much that I linked to it (https://lunchwithleah.com/9-easy-quick-healthy-weeknight-meals/) in a recent recipe round-up post I wrote about healthy weeknight meals for busy families.
This recipe is in constant rotation at our home, sometimes with variations but always yummy. Thanks for creating delicious recipes!
Leah @ LunchwithLeah.com
Reply
- Jamie Silva says
  May 18, 2018 at 2:32 pm
  Hi Leah! Thanks so much. Glad you liked it! :)
  Reply
Karen says
April 27, 2018 at 2:02 pm

I have made these twice now, and they are for dinner tonight. These tacos are SO SO good! We made the fish just as directed. I like that there is NO breaded coating. The chipotle mayo was actually chipotle yougurt here, with lots of the adobo sauce, we like things spicy! We skipped the veggies listed and topped it with cabbage and jicama slaw (from Epicurious.com). Delicious! A favorite for us, and it will be served often here! Thanks for sharing!
Reply
v8web says
January 18, 2018 at 10:54 pm

It looks delicious!
Reply
Senior says
October 13, 2017 at 9:51 am

It looks delicious! thank you!
Reply
- Jamie Silva says
  October 13, 2017 at 10:53 am
  Thank you!
  Reply
Riva says
April 29, 2017 at 5:08 pm
Oh man, I have been looking for a good fish taco recipe! This one looks amazing, and I love how fast it comes together. Definitely pinning this one to try!
Reply
- Jamie Silva says
  April 29, 2017 at 5:16 pm
  Hope you LOVE it, Riva! :)
  Reply
Erica says
April 28, 2017 at 1:48 pm

Super love that these come together in 15 minutes! Chipotle mayo is one of my favs, can’t wait to try out this recipe!
Reply
- Jamie Silva says
  April 28, 2017 at 1:49 pm
  Thanks Erica!!!
  Reply
Alyssa @ A Bite of Inspiration says
April 26, 2017 at 4:24 pm

Love how quick and easy this dish is. It looks delicious!
Reply
- Jamie Silva says
  April 26, 2017 at 4:28 pm
  Thanks Alyssa!
  Reply
Shaquira Bonilla says
April 23, 2017 at 8:31 am

These look delicious!!
Reply
- Jamie Silva says
  April 24, 2017 at 11:50 am
  Thank you so much!
  Reply