Grilled White Fish Tacos
Grilled Cod Fish Tacos are delicious, healthy and perfect for a summer dinner! Crisp and tangy slaw is really the secret ingredient to these spicy tacos.
Grilled White Fish Tacos
Jump to RecipeGrilling seafood can be a tricky thing (as I learned for these Grilled Cod Fish Tacos).
Typically, I stick to grilling sturdier seafoods like salmon and I almost always try to leave the skin on to help hold the fish together as it grills.
For these guys though, I tried grilling a flaky white fish (great for tacos, tough for grilling) and I tried doing it without the skin on because it’s hard to find cod filets with the skin on.
After a few trials, I found a great way to do it that leaves you with really flaky, tender fish that’s the perfect add-in for a spicy and crunchy taco.
My taco aficionado friend Jeff proclaimed these Grilled Cod Fish Tacos as good as any fish taco he’s had in Mexico.
I will take that!
Grilled Fish Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds white fish filets cod
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Coarse salt and pepper
Spicy Cabbage Slaw:
- ½ head green cabbage
- 2 carrots shredded
- ½ red pepper sliced thin
- 4 scallions minced
- 1 jalapeno seeded and minced
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar
- Big pinch of salt and pepper
Chipotle Cream:
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 lime juiced
- 2 tablespoons adobo sauce from chipotle peppers
Other needs:
- 8-10 medium flour tortillas
- 1 avocado sliced thin
- 4 ounces queso fresco crumbled
- Fresh cilantro
Instructions
- For slaw, shred cabbage finely with a knife or in a food processor. Grate carrots and slice red peppers thin. Then mince jalapeno and scallions and add to a bowl.
- Stir in sour cream and white wine vinegar and season well with salt and pepper. Let this sit for 20 minutes or so before serving (or make it a day in advance).
- For cream mixture, stir lime juice and adobo sauce into sour cream. Just use the sauce from the chipotle can (not the actual peppers).
- To prepare the fish, preheat grill to medium-high heat. Season fish well with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and place a few pats of butter on the fish. Wrap white fish filets in foil tightly.
- Grill the fish wrapped in foil for about 5 minutes per side until it’s cooked through, but light and flakey. It’ll be hard to overcook it because of the foil wrapping.
- When you’re ready to make a taco (or 8), grill tortillas for 10 seconds just to warm them up. Then add some slaw to a tortilla and top with some flaked fish, a spoon of spicy sauce, and any other toppings you want (avocados, queso fresco, and cilantro).
- You’ll have leftover slaw which is great just to eat as a side dish!
Nutrition
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Grilled Cod Fish Tacos
The Slaw
Honestly, the fish isn’t the most important part of this taco. You can use almost any fish really.
But the slaw… don’t mess with the slaw! It’s so important to a good fish taco.
Take your time cutting the vegetables. If you have a food processor you can absolutely just shred everything through that, but you can also just use a knife and a box grater to get the job done.
This is what you’re looking for.
Then stir in the sour cream (or you could substitute Greek yogurt) and white wine vinegar. The dressing should just lightly coat the cole slaw.
Season that well with salt and pepper and it’s ready to be tacos! (You’ll probably have leftover slaw, but that’s cool. It’s great to just eat as a side dish.)
The second important topping is super easy to make. Just stir some sour cream with a few spoonfuls of Adobo sauce (the stuff in the chipotle can) and the juice from a lime.
You can also prep the rest of your toppings: I used some avocado, crumbled queso fresco, and fresh cilantro.
Grilling Fish
I’ve grilled fish before and I usually leave the skin on.
This time, I seasoned a filet of cod and just tossed it on my hot, oiled grill.
Well, it cooked, but it also fell completely apart on the grill.
The fish was just too flaky and too tender to cook on the grill without losing huge chunks of it.
SO, the way to do it correctly is just to wrap the fish in foil along with a small amount of butter, a drizzle of oil, and a good pinch of salt and pepper.
Then you can grill the fish over medium-high heat for 5 minutes per side (depending on thickness).
It’s fine to check on the fish every few minutes and it’s done with it’s cooked through and flaking apart.
Then you can make as many tacos as you want by throwing on some slaw, a few forkfuls of fish, the spicy cream sauce, and the other toppings!
I recommend tossing the tortillas on the grill for 10 seconds to warm them up also!
Many fish tacos are fried, but because the slaw is so crunchy, I didn’t miss the fried fish really.
Grilling the fish in foil leaves you with this beautifully tender and buttery fish that goes really well with the spicy sauce and crunchy vegetables.
These Grilled Cod Fish Tacos make a great summer dinner. It takes around 30 minutes to make and there’s no need to turn on the stove!
These tacos look tasty. Prep work can be a deterrent to cooking but it is well worth it in the end. The first time I had fish tacos was in DelMar , Ca at a place on the beach, we sat outside and the ambience still tickles my memory. Thanks for posting this recipe.
Do you have a recipe you recommend for making your own flour tortillas? I’ve tried several but am struggling to find one with “real food” ingredient (not lard) that actually press out well and cook well. Would love you to tackle that if you haven’t. :) I searched under bread and didn’t see a recipe.
Hey Kristi, I never have tried them (on my list though), but I would for sure trust Lisa’s Recipe (http://www.homesicktexan.com/2007/03/and-end-to-my-quest-flour-tortillas.html) It doesn’t look like it has lard in it so maybe give that a go? Good luck!
Lard is more of a real food, straight from an animal, than flour is…
Hi… these taco’s look delicious and I want to make them right away. But, my family doesn;t like spicy foods much. What would you suggest to take the heat and spice out of this recipe?: Help me!
Thanks for d
Hey Stacey, that should be easy enough. I would just leave out the jalapeno (or sub in 1/4 of a bell pepper if you want a little pepper flavor still) and then just do sour cream and lime for the sauce (no chipotle). Good luck!
The best flour tortillas recipe is King Arthur! Very good!