I’ve tried some fish taco recipes in the past, and I’ve always been put off by the deep-frying required.
Deep-frying is messy and stinky.
And fish is stinky too.
The combo is really not my favorite, and that’s to say nothing of the not-so-healthy aspects of deep frying.
But a little while back, I tried some sauteed fish tacos at a restaurant and was pleasantly surprised at how good they were.
So when I saw a similar looking recipe in my America’s Test Kitchen slow cooker cookbook, I tried it, tweaked it, and these easy homemade not-fried fish tacos are now a regular at our house.
While I did start with an ATK recipe, this has morphed into something nearly unrecognizable when compared with the original.
ATK’s version is made with halibut, uses corn tortillas, is topped with a cabbage slaw, and is made in the slow cooker.
I use tilapia and flour tortillas, top the tacos with guacamole, pico de gallo, and sour cream (my family likes to add cheese too!), and I cook my fish on the stovetop.
Still, ATK deserves credit for the bones of this recipe.
Tilapia is a lot cheaper than the fish ATK called for, but it is also thinner, which means that the cook times called for in the recipe would be thrown way off, so I wasn’t sure a slow cooker would work for tilapia at all.
But given that I saute tilapia all the time on the stove in a skillet, I knew it would be simple to swap out the fish and the cooking method.
Like the kabobs I posted recently, this recipe uses chipotle chilies. In case you missed that post, I freeze my chilies on a plate and then transfer them to a zipper bag for easy access in the future. Highly recommend that!
Ok. So, first up, you’ll make the sauce that goes on your tortillas. This is a delicious mixture of mayo, sour cream, chipotle chilies, and cilantro.
It’s pretty spicy, so mostly only Joshua and I use this on our tacos. But we think it makes all the difference in the world.
More spice, he and I say. More spice.
Speaking of more spice, let’s move on to the fish. You’ll microwave some spices and some chipotle in oil (this blooms the spices, which makes them taste better). Then you rub this all over your fish.
You know how tilapia fillets have a thick side and a thin side? Since the sides need different cooking times, I cut the fillets down the middle so I don’t overcook the thin side while trying to get the thick side done.
Bonus: halved fillets are easier to flip!
I cook these in my All-Clad skillet, using oil to keep the fish from sticking. If you’re more into fat-avoidance than I am (I feed a houseful of skinny people!), you can certainly use a nonstick skillet, though.
To use the oil method, place the pan on medium heat, add a tablespoon or so of oil, and heat for about 5 minutes. Then add a single layer of fish, and cook, flipping once, until the fish flakes easily with a fork.
This should only take a few minutes per side, and obviously, the thick sides of the fillets will take a bit longer than the thin sides.
To assemble the tacos, spread a thin layer of sauce on a tortilla, top with a fish piece, and then add guacamole, pico de gallo, cheese, sour cream, or whatever manner of toppings you love.
Of course, I feel that guacamole is an essential topping. 
Give me some guacamole, and I don’t even care if there’s no cheese or sour cream.
How do you like to top your fish tacos? And are you partial to the fried kind or the grilled/sauteed variety?
Easy Not-Fried Fish Tacos
Printable Not Fried Fish Tacos Recipe
Sauce
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon minced chipotle chili pepper in adobo sauce
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
Fish Rub
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced chipotle chili pepper in adobo sauce
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
24 ounces tilapia fillets, patted dry
small tortillas, pico de gallo, guacamole, cheese, sour cream, or whatever other toppings you like
To make the sauce, combine all the ingredients in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper to taste.
To make the fish, in a small bowl, combine fish rub ingredients. Microwave for 30 seconds. Spread the spice mixture over the fish fillets.
Add a tablespoon of oil to a skillet and heat on medium for about 5 minutes. Add fish fillets in a single layer (you’ll probably have to do two batches), and cook, flipping once, until fish flakes easily with a fork.
To assemble tacos, spread a thin layer of sauce on the tortilla, top with a piece of fish, and add other desired toppings.
We grill the fish for fish tacos. I just find that I enjoy fish a lot more when it wasn’t cooked inside the house!
I put my tilapia on foil and sprinkle it with either a ”grill” seasoning or something like that. Wrap up the foil into a packet and either bake it or grill it…very easy. Flour tortillas and cole slaw and I’m good
We grill our fish, and use corn tortillas, southwest slaw, avocado, and sour cream.
So, do you put it directly on the grates? Or use something else? I always worry that thin fish like Tilapia would just fall apart!
I just took a class at our food co-op to learn how to make fish tacos, and we did both grilled and fried. The teacher said to either grill them on a grill pan, or put foil on your outdoor grill, brush on a little olive oil, and then grill it on the foil. She said it would work just as well as not having foil, but you wouldn’t lose any of your fish if it fell apart.
Ah, I’ve wondered if it would still taste grilled without touching the actual grill grates. This is good to know!
My husband grills it directly on the grates. He’s really good about not losing food. We’re making fish tacos tonight to celebrate his birthday.
I tried fish tacos for the first time in Jamaica. They were so good! I just might have to try this recipe it looks similar.
I’ve never had fish tacos. I like fish and I love tacos, but I can’t see the 2 tastefully mixing up…. Darn, now I want a beef taco!!!!! You can keep the guacamole, I’ll take the cheese!
This looks super easy! I’ve always been afraid to try making fish tacos because they seem pretty involved. I might have to try making these for our next Small Group get-together!
We love fish tacos made with halibut, or salmon, or rockfish. Either grilled,or sautéed, never deep fried. We use the fish tacos seasoning sold by a local restaurant that makes great ones. We are fans of cabbage slaw, avocado, and salsa on top.
Yum. We have tilapia, corn tortillas and avocados at home—this may be a dinner soon!
If you want the fish a little crispier, you can also bread the fish and cook it with a touch of oil on the pan. (my kids ONLY like it this way, so any fish we cook is rubbed with spice & then dredged in flour, egg mixture and then bread crumbs).
Yum! This looks delicious!
Hi Kristen, did you use fresh or frozen tilapia?
I used frozen. So, of course, I thawed it before I started.
At church yesterday they were giving away a lot of leftover food from the youth camp last week. I held back so that needy families could get what they needed first, but there were tons of random leftovers in the end (two pretty full boxes worth…most of my groceries for a week!). I was told to take them or they’d get thrown out. Some were easy to work into meal plans like enough lasagna for my family for two meals or tons of chili that we are freezing in small portions to serve with baked potatoes. I’m more than happy to reduce food waste, save money, and inherit some great homemade leftovers.
This meal uses up a lot of the random bits that would have been difficult to incorporate with the main dishes we got like sour cream and guacamole. I saw your post while working on my menu plan, and we’ll be eating this on Wednesday. I’m excited!
I cannot wait to try these. I love fish tacos!
I hate deep-fried anything, so I’ve sautéed fish for fish tacos all along. We use shredded lettuce and thousand island dressing, usually.
I live in Socal, home of the fish taco. I liked the fried ones in a restaurant, but at home I grill. My seafood store sells ” chowder pieces” for 8.99lb. I ask for the white fish, swordfish, halibut, etc. The pieces are small and they grill fast. I do not eat tilapia, its a horribly unsustainable fish. Most of it is farmed in Vietnam and there are no regulations there. Same with Swai, stay away from that one too.
Isn’t fried stuff always so much better in a restaurant? No mess, no cleanup, and you can leave the smell there and go home to your nice, fresh-smelling home!
I also have a “fear” of frying at home, plus I have horrible ventilation. I’ve made this fish taco recipe from ATK, slow cooker book. I used monkfish, which was just OK for me. The method was good, it steamed more than anything, but it was flavorful.
I’ve got awful ventilation too, which makes the stink problem all the more…problematic.
Thanks for this recipe! I tried your chipotle chicken kabobs on Sunday (which we all loved) but we didn’t eat all the dipping sauce. It’s so similar to the sauce for these, I’m just going to add a little mayo & chipotle and avoid some food waste, yay!
Oh my goodness, I made these fish tacos on Friday. Someone had given us some fresh Blue Fin Tuna. I stuck mostly to your recipe. I didn’t have coriander for the spice rub or cilantro for the chipotle mayo so I left it out. I baked the fish with the spice rub while I made some coleslaw. My family likes to put black beans and coleslaw on our tacos. Everyone else prefers flour tortillas while I prefer corn. But back to the recipe. Oh my goodness! This was one of the BEST fish tacos my husband and I have ever had! We are form San Diego and have had a number of fish tacos. I especially loved the chipotle mayo. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing this recipe.
Yay! So glad you enjoyed them. We love the chipotle mayo too….so tasty.
These would also be good with a squeeze of lime juice.
Oops delete that as I missed the lime juice in the sauce.
We tried this recipe last night, and it was delicious!! We will definitely be adding this into our regular dinner rotation!