I love fish tacos! Especially this recipe with a hint of coconut, mango slaw and cilantro lime sauce.
They remind me of vacations. I have tried many recipes, many ways of making them, and many different toppings and slaws.
This is now my very favorite. It also happens to be easy and healthy. Win, win!
I love to make this for summer dinner parties because the taste is so much more impressive than the amount of work that goes into it. Also, I can make the slaw and sauce in the morning and prep the fish right before guests arrive.
In my opinion there are two things a great fish taco need. One is a slaw, and the other Is a sauce. With great taco toppings the beauty of the fish taco is that it’s simple and still packed with flavor.
I mentioned in another post that I really only like to make things that can be prepared ahead of time for dinner parties, so that I don’t have to do much except dish it out once guests arrive.
I have tried this with frozen cod (defrosted), and also with fresh from the fish market. There is no comparison, it is really so much better with the fresh fish.
Best Fish Tacos with Mango Slaw
Ingredients
Fish
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs *can sub GF breadcrumbs
- 1 1/2 cups canned full fat coconut milk
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 12 flour tortillas *I like the mini size from Trader Joe's
Mango Slaw
- 4 cups colesaw mix
- 1 mango peeled and diced
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 4 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 tbsp jalapeno minced
- 2 tsp salt
Cilantro Lime Sauce
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/4 cup cilantro minced
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
Mango Slaw
- Combine slaw mix, diced mango, minced jalapeno, and cilantro.
- Stir in lime juice and sauce. Combine well and set aside.
Fish
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Grease or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl stir together coconut milk, cumin, and cayenee pepper.
- In another medium bowl stir together shredded coconut and panko.
- Pat cod dry with paper towel, season with salt and pepper and cut into approximately 24 pieces.
- Dip fish in coconut milk mixture.
- Roll in breadcrumbs and coconut then set on baking sheet.
- Repeat with all of the fish.
- Bake until the internal temperature reaches 145°F, approximately 10 minutes.
Cilantro Lime Sauce
- Stir together mayonnaise, sour cream, lime juice, cilantro, and salt.
Tacos
- Warm tortillas in the oven or on a griddle once the fish is almost done.
- Plate by placing three tortillas on a plate and add some of the mango slaw to each.
- Add two pieces of fish to each taco.
- Drizze cilantro lime sauce on each taco.
Recipe Substitutions
One substitution I most frequently do is that in addition to tortillas I buy jicama wraps from Trader Joes. My husband doesn’t like to eat many grains so he uses these in place of tortillas.
If you don’t know what jicama is, it’s a crunchy mildly sweet root, sometimes called a Mexican turnip. If you are trying to go low carb or limit your grains this is a good substitution,
If you do not eat fish, you can substitute the fish for cauliflower florets! Double the baking time.
If you do not like spicy foods, reduce or eliminate the jalapeños.
No mango? You can use peaches.
Have celiac or looking for gluten free, you can use gluten free breadcrumbs instead of panko and corn tortillas, jicama wraps, or whole romaine lettuce leaves instead of flour tortillas.
What to serve with Fish Tacos
I serve these as an entree without any other side dish usually.
Mexican street corn (elote) would be a good side dish if you’re looking for one.
As far as drinks go, I do feel it goes hand in hand with my favorite jalapeño margarita recipe.
If you are hosting a dinner party I do love to make my favorite healthy appetizer smoked salmon cucumber rounds.
You certainly can eliminate the spice by making these citrus margaritas without the jalapeños if you prefer.