Fish Taco Recipe

Best Fish Taco With Baja Sauce
Tastebuds of Restaurant Guests Decide

Looking for a simple, but really yummy Fish Taco Recipe with a white sauce, sometimes called a Baja Sauce? Congratulations - you found it!

In Mexico, the word taco generally means sandwich. A taco is simply a tortilla wrapped around a filling.

Fill a tortilla with almost anything and you have a sandwich - oops, I mean a taco. Anything that can be rolled inside a tortilla becomes a taco.

What usually goes in a taco varies from region to region in Mexico. A taco is frequently made with a soft corn tortilla or a fried corn tortilla, although flour tortillas are now gaining in popularity. That is what this fish taco recipe calls for. And a taco can be an entree or just a snack.

The people in the coastal areas of Mexico have been eating fish tacos for seemingly thousands of years. The people of Ensenada say their port town is the birth place of the fish taco recipe of today. The best place to sample them is at the small food stands around the Mercado Negro, Ensenada’s fish market.

Fish tacos were popularized in the United States by Ralph Rubio, who first tasted them in Baja, Mexico. As it is told Ralph Rubio acquired a recipe from a local fish taco vendor and then he opened up a restaurant in San Diego in 1983 called Rubio's - Home of the Fish Taco. Today, fish tacos are on numerous menus throughout San Diego and the Southwest. Fish tacos are a signature dish of San Diego.

Once you try a really good fish taco recipe like this one, you'll understand their popularity.

What kind of fish do you use to create a delicious fish taco? Most people will tell you to use a firm white fish like shark or mahi mahi. I prefer using cod or halibut or snapper because of availability and because the restaurant customers and I seem to like these fish better than some others.

The fact is, you can use a variety of seafoods with this recipe, including catfish, haddock, flounder, shrimp, crab or even salmon.

How do you prepare the fish? There are two basic ways I am familiar with. Often the fish is dipped in a batter similar to a tempura and then fried. It is very good prepared this way. The other way, as in this fish taco recipe, is to coat the fish in an egg wash and then Japanese bread crumbs (Panko). This way is also delicious and is easy to prepare.

One of the keys to pleasing the people you cook fish tacos for is to provide a variety of excellent tasting toppings or condiments for the fish tacos and then allowing those you are cooking for to choose their own. One very important complement to a fish taco is a fish sauce often referred to as Baja sauce. Again, the sauce can be prepared in a variety of ways and I have included a fantastic version of the sauce below.

Other condiments you'll want to consider serving are cabbage or lettuce, salsas, taco sauce, guacamole, peppers, and wedges of limes or lemons. In Mexico, you'll find cabbage is normally an ingredient in the taco rather than lettuce. Cabbage tastes good, for sure, but the other reason it is used so much is that it holds up longer than lettuce in the Mexican heat.

This fish taco recipe is a quick and easy recipe everyone will enjoy. Remember, making a taco like making a sandwich. It's all in the assembly.

What else to serve with this fish taco recipe? You have a number of options but I like warmed black beans, and / or spicy cole slaw.

Fish Taco Recipe
Favorite Restaurant Fish Recipe
Preparation time: 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 tacos.

Cooking Conversion Table

Ingredients: