Try the best fish tacos recipe ever!
I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making fish tacos for quite some time.
I never seem to get around to it, probably because I’m intimidated by the thought of choosing the right fish and proper coating and cooking method, coming up with the right toppings, and finding the time to make it in the evening when my kids are on best behavior countdown to melt down.
That, and the fact that I almost never love a dish the first time I make it (I’m pretty hard on myself when it comes to getting recipes just right), I just never took the plunge.
Until now.
Best Fish Tacos Recipe
The Best Fish Tacos ~ Ingredients
I went to the store last night, and asked the butcher what kind of fish would be good for fish tacos. He recommended cod or tilapia (they didn’t have Mahi Mahi, which I’ve heard is a good option, too). I went with cod since I already know what tilapia is all about.
Then I grabbed a bag of shredded cabbage (which, oddly enough, was cheaper than the red cabbage I really wanted to get because there were only huge heads of the organic kind available), a bunch of green onions, and just guessed that I had all the remaining ingredients at home. Huge leap of faith, I know! That kind of wishful thinking almost never works out for me, but my little one was not in a good mood, and I needed to get out of there fast.
Long story short, I went with the first recipe I found online when I searched “fish tacos recipe” in Google. It was on AllRecipes.com, which usually works out pretty well for me.
Restaurant Style Fish Tacos!
And we have a winner! These fish tacos taste as good as the ones I pay $12.95 for at my favorite Cali-Mexican restaurant! Good for me…bad for them! These ultimate fish tacos are definitely going into our regular meal rotation.
Without itemizing every last ingredient, I’d say I spent roughly $15 on this meal for two adults and two children. That’s about the cost of one adult to eat the same meal at a restaurant!
After dinner, I immediately pinned this recipe to my Tried and True Recipes board on Pinterest. To save you the trouble of pinning it yourself, I’ve linked to my pin for you.
Slight Recipe Modifications
Ok, so I kinda lied – I didn’t find the perfect recipe. I used the All Recipes guidelines, added a couple of things, and made a few substitutes to get to what I consider the best fish tacos ever. I know. How are you supposed to replicate this? Just stay with me, and I’ll explain.
I didn’t have the beer, so I didn’t use any. I just added enough milk to get the batter to the right consistency. I also didn’t have any dill (my sister snatched it from me yesterday because she just ran out!), so I used dried cilantro instead.
Probably the biggest substitute that didn’t really make these fish tacos taste any less awesome…I didn’t have fresh lime (remember me guessing that I had all of the ingredients?), so I used concentrated lime juice with great results.
This particular fish tacos recipe didn’t call for green onions, but I thought they would pair well with it, so I chopped some up to sprinkle on top.
Secret Ingredient for the Best Fish Tacos ~ Extra Seasoning
Oooooh, and I almost forgot. I realized as I was making this that I had purchased a random packet of Archer Farms fish taco seasoning from Target way back when I had grand plans of making fish tacos and never got around to it. So, I decided to just throw that entire packet into the batter. It added a nice kick and, in my opinion, set these fish tacos over the edge into ridiculous good!
I was so excited about this dinner that I forgot to take pictures of the final product. Next time, I’ll make sure to do that.
Side Dish Make-Do
For a side dish, I wanted to make Mexican rice, but couldn’t find it in my pantry (I think one of the kids moved it…yeah, let’s go with that). So I improvised with my own version of Mexican quinoa. I just made 1 cup of dry quinoa according to the package directions (it cooks just like rice, just not for as long), then I added 3/4 cup drained mild salsa, 1/2 cup Mexican cheese, and a dash of salt. It was pretty good, if I do say so, myself!
If you try this recipe, I would love to hear if you liked it as much as I did. Let me know what side dish you used as well! I am always up for trying different things.
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