Fried Fish Tacos With Mango Salsa
These crispy fried fish tacos topped with mango salsa are perfect for celebrating the warm weather. They’re light, fresh, healthy, and packed with tropical flavor. Plus they come together in just 30 minutes and pair perfectly with our pineapple coconut water mocktail for an easy weeknight summer dinner under the sun.
Equipment
- Deep cast iron pan or dutch oven for frying
- Slotted metal spoon
Ingredients
Mango Salsa
- 1 medium red mango diced
- 2 small roma tomatoes diced
- 1 medium jalapeno diced
- ¼ small yellow onion diced
- ½ medium lime juiced
- 1 pinch sea salt
Lime Crema
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 to 2 medium limes juiced
- 1 pinch sea salt
Fried Fish
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp chipotle powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 2 fillets cod fish
- Vegetable oil for frying
Other Taco Ingredients
- 8 4-inch corn tortillas
- Crumbled queso fresco or cotija cheese
- Lime wedges
Instructions
Mango Salsa
- Combine the diced mango, tomato, jalapeno, and onion in a medium bowl. Stir in the lime juice and salt, adjusting to taste. Set aside or refrigerate until you're ready to serve.
Lime Crema
- Combine the Greek yogurt, lime juice, and salt in a small bowl and stir well to combine. Adjust salt and lime to taste, then refrigerate until you're ready to serve.
Fried Fish
- First, beat the egg in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chipotle powder, salt, and black pepper until well-combined. Set aside.
- Pat the cod fillets dry with a paper towel, aiming to get rid of as much moisture as possible. Then, slice the cod into roughly one-inch cubes.
- Fill a deep cast iron frying pan or dutch oven with about a half-inch of vegetable oil and heat over medium-high. In the meantime, position a cooling rack over a sheet of paper towels next to the stove so you have somewhere to drain the fish after cooking.
- While the oil heats, dredge the fish. Coat the fish in the egg first, then transfer it to the flour mixture, letting excess egg drip off the fish before adding it to the flour. Then coat the fish completely in the flour, making sure to separate any pieces that stick together so that each piece is entirely coated.
- Once the oil is very hot (about 350F), carefully add the fish to the pan. Fry until golden-brown and crispy, flipping the fish over once or twice during cooking, about 6 to 8 minutes total. We recommend using a slotted metal spoon for this so you can be as gentle as possible with the fish and avoid breaking the coating as it crisps.
- Make sure the fish reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F. Once it's cooked, use a spider strainer or slotted spoon to transfer the fried fish to the cooling rack where excess oil can drain.
Assembly
- If you're not making tortillas fresh, warm them up on a cast iron griddle for about 30 seconds to 1 minute per side.
- To assemble the fried fish tacos, spread the lime crema over a tortilla, add a few pieces of fried fish, then top with mango salsa and a sprinkle of cotija or queso fresco. Serve with lime wedges on the side for squeezing over the tacos - this gives them a lovely extra pop of acid.Enjoy!
Notes
Fried fish: Cod works best for fried fish tacos since it holds together well while frying. We like to buy frozen wild-caught cod and fully defrost it before slicing and frying for this recipe.
Corn tortillas vs. flour: Corn tortillas work best with fried fish tacos - they're a little thinner and less chewy in texture than flour tortillas, which complements the fried coating on the fish very well. We always recommend making these from scratch for the best flavor; otherwise, check a local Mexican market if you have one nearby.
Mango salsa: You'll have plenty of extra mango salsa from this recipe. We like to serve it on the side with tortilla chips, but it'll also stay good in the fridge for a few days if you want to enjoy it later.
Nutrition
Serving: 1taco | Calories: 165kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Trans Fat: 0.003g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 129mg | Potassium: 331mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 539IU | Vitamin C: 18mg | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 1mg
