Baja Fish Tacos
Baja Fish Tacos recipe: beer-battered white fish is nestled inside a warm tortilla with a chipotle lime crema for an island-inspired recipe that will make you feel like you’re on vacation! These tacos are the perfect late summer dinner.
If there was a taco that I would always pick 100% of the time it would be Baja Fish Tacos. Hands down. Always! Especially at the beach while on vacation. Which I never am anymore…because, pandemics. Am I right?
This meal though! These Baja fish tacos. Yessss. Why is food like this so good? I can hardly even handle it. Put the entire world in a taco, please.
I came up with this recipe after having Baja fish tacos from or favorite Mexican restaurant here in Rochester, Old Pueblo Grill. It is the closest recipe to authentic I have found.
Here’s how it’s going down:
The base is a beer-battered tilapia. Which I LOVE. It doesn’t need anything in my opinion, even to go on tacos. You can even use Ginger Ale in place of the beer if you don’t prefer to use alcohol.
Beer battered is one of my favorite ways to prepare seafood, specifically fish, because even though it’s fried, it’s a fairly light coating. It’s nothing like food that you get our of a deep fryer. That type of food all just ends up tasting like whatever has been in the fryer before it. Um, no thank you.
The fish sauce/chipotle lime crema for this recipe is homemade and creamy and perfect. It is sour cream-based with fresh lime juice and a little added spice without being overwhelmingly spicy. Drizzle it on top of your Baja fish tacos. It is an absolute flava bomb. Sounds like a dream, right?
Serve these Baja Fish Tacos with few hundred salty tortilla chips and Homemade Ultimate Guacamole? Not saying no to an excuse to do that, ever. I will also take any excuse to have a Pink Lemonade Margarita. Nothing new. My Homemade Refried Beans would also be a fabulous choice.
Make these Baja Fish Tacos and you’ve officially arrived! Dinner is golden. To say we devoured them would the understatement of the century.
- 2 pounds fresh or frozen firm whitefish such as tilapia, cod or red snapper
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup beer **see tip at bottom
- 1 large egg, beaten
- Vegetable or canola oil for frying
- Flour or corn Tortillas
- Red cabbage or cabbage slaw mix
- Avocados
- Salsa or Pico de Gallo
- Lime wedges
- 1 cup sour cream, regular, light or Greek yogurt
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- Sriracha or hot sauce to taste, optional
- Thaw fish if frozen, rinse and pat dry with paper towel
- To make the batter, in a medium mixing bowl, combine ¾ cup flour, cornstarch, paprika and baking powder
- Add beer and egg and stir until batter is combined well, but a bit lumpy still
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees and place a sheet pan inside to warm
- In a large skillet, heat 1 inch of oil for frying to 375 degrees F
- Add remaining ¾ cup flour to a shallow dish
- Dip fish in flour, shake off excess
- Dip into batter and fry, 4-5 pieces at a time, depending on the size of your skillet for 2-4 minutes or until crispy and golden
- Drain on paper towel, place on sheet pan in oven to keep warm
- Fry remaining fish
- Serve 1-2 pieces of fish on tortillas with fish taco sauce and toppings of your choice
- Whisk together all ingredients in medium bowl until well combined
- Store in covered jar in refrigerator
- Chill at least 2 hours before serving
- Serve crema with Fish Tacos
- **!Tip:
- You can substitute Ginger Ale for the beer
Fish taco? That sounds delicious! Bookmark to try!
I love fish tacos! And cooking them in a batter is one of the best ways to go. Super recipe — thanks.