Zesty Fish Tacos

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Fish tacos have been on my bucket list for a while now. This was my first time eating and making them. I gotta say, I set the bar pretty high this time. My taco cream sauce is packed with so much delicious flavor, it really seals the deal.

I had some perch in the freezer I chose to use this time. It was great, but I’m looking forward to trying some mahi mahi, tuna, and catfish in these tacos eventually.

This recipe works best if you prepare all your toppings in advance. Then you can focus on frying the fish. You wanna serve these beauties fresh, crispy, and hot.

The Cream Sauce

In a sealable bowl, mix together 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup southern style mayonnaise, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp chili garlic sriracha sauce, 1 tspn Badia Sazón seasoning, 1/2 tspn ground black pepper, and a nice fat squirt of lime juice. Whisk everything together until it’s smooth and creamy. Cover with a lid and pop it in the fridge until you’re ready for it.

The Pico

This is a quick pico de gallo option. You can buy premade pico, or go all out and hook up some homemade. There are some amazing recipes out there for it. This totally satisfies my pico craving though. I dice up a medium sweet onion, and mix it in with a can of Rotel with green chilies. Cover this up and set it to the side until later.

The Tortillas

Now that the toppings are sorted out, we move on to the tortillas.

I toast my own tortillas in a cast iron skillet. Then I keep them warm in another cast iron skillet in the oven while frying the fish. Everything came out perfect, no soggy tortillas or anything. Preheat a cast iron skillet on medium heat and drizzle a little olive oil in there. You’ll have to drizzle a little more in there every few tortillas to keep your skillet from drying out.

When it’s good and hot, back the heat off one notch. Toss a tortilla in there and only toast each side for 30 seconds tops.

When it’s done transfer it to a cooling rack. Keep toasting and stacking them. But don’t stack them in a single stack. Keep them offset so they don’t stick together. Once they’re all done, transfer them to a cast iron skillet (stacking them the same way), and place them in an oven on warm.

Breading & Frying the Fish

Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium heat with about 1/2 inch oil. I used a Mediterranean blend of sunflower and olive oil.

Go ahead and have three bowls laid out. You want one for your dredging mix, one for your egg mixture, and one for your breading. It should be a little assembly line leading to your skillet.

The dredging mix I used was simply 1 cup of flour. You can add salt and pepper here (along with any other seasonings) or wait to add it in the breading bowl, like I did. The word dredge used here means to lightly coat a food with a dry ingredient. You’ll want to coat every nook and cranny with this before you go on to the egg bowl.

The egg mixture is the second station for your fish to visit before it goes to the pan. I whisked together 2 eggs, a splash of milk, and 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar. After you dredge it in flour, you’ll want to coat it in the egg mix before it gets breaded.

The breading is where it all comes together before it goes into the hot oil. This will give you a nice crispy, crunchy bite of fish. So for the breading I mixed 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs, 1 tspn ground black pepper, 1 tspn garlic powder, 1 tspn onion salt, and 1/2 tspn of basil. Mix everything together well. I mixed mine in a Ziploc bag first so I could crush those breadcrumbs up a bit. When it’s good, pour them into your bowl, and line them all up in order to make it easier. Once you start frying you’ll want your focus to be on that fish in the skillet.

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Now it’s time to fry the fish. This is the most important part. It will either make or break your fish tacos.

When your oil is nice and hot, back the heat off one notch. I always do this because once cast iron warms up, it gets hot and maintains that heat really well. So by backing the heat off a notch, I get the perfect temp for most things.

I cut my fish into about 1-2 inch wide strips. Take your strips and run them through the stations. Make sure they get coated nicely in each bowl. Then gently lay them in your hot oil.

You shouldn’t have to worry about these bringing your heat down any. I didn’t have any issues. But don’t get too far ahead of yourself. Work with as much fish cooking at one time as you can handle. Cook each side until browned (about 3 minutes per side).

When they’re done, transfer them to a cooling rack to drain the grease off. Don’t put them straight onto paper towels or anything, that will make them get soggy. Letting them dry on a rack allows the air to help that breading harden up everywhere. That’s what gives you a nice crunchy piece of fish. Once they’re all cooked and have dried on the racks for a few minutes, you can place them in a basket or bowl to be served up.

Tacos, Assemble

Now all you gotta do is assemble these amazing fish tacos with all your favorite toppings, and enjoy!