These healthy fish tacos are PACKED full of flavor. Oven-baked, marinated, flaky cod pairs perfectly with the Greek yogurt pineapple slaw for a high-protein, healthy meal!
It's hard to argue against a good fish taco. A nice flaky fish taco, with a refreshing margarita, just makes me feel like I should be at the beach. These are healthy fish tacos that are baked and have a delicate flaky texture, with a tangy slaw, and a spicy marinade.
The flavors of this marinade were inspired by a recipe from the ever-popular @wishbonekitchen on TikTok, who made a similar fish tacos al pastor. I made some adjustments to the recipe, enough to make it my own, but the outcome is just as marvelous.
Table of Contents:
📖 Recipe Origins
According to NPR, the modern-day iteration of the fish taco originated in the 1950s in either Ensenada or San Felipe, both of which are in Baja. There is an ongoing debate regarding which city can truly claim to be home to the fish taco.
As I mentioned, these healthy fish tacos are inspired by a recipe that uses an al-pastor marinade. Al-pastor refers to tacos made of a marinated pork that has been cooked on a spit and sliced to order. The al pastor pork typically has a marinade of smoky peppers and often some pineapple, too. This recipe does not use an al-pastor marinade, but I would say it is al-pastor adjacent, just...with fish, not pork.
🎥 Watch the video of this recipe
🌮 Why you'll love these Healthy Fish Tacos
- Fresh & Light! These healthy fish tacos are made with cod, making them light and flaky, plus there is a pineapple slaw to cut through the heat!
- Full of Veggies and Protein. With lean cod, greek yogurt slaw, and a spicy sauce, these tacos have it all.
- They're shockingly easy! Because we bake the fish, this recipe turns out to be very easy, despite all the steps. The hardest part will be waiting to eat them!
🥘 What you need for this recipe
Ingredients and Substitutions:
- Cod - I highly encourage using cod, as I think it is one of the best white fish options. It is flaky and easy to cook. However, any white fish you like will work as a substitute.
- Corn Tortillas - Flour is okay to substitute, or a gluten-free option like almond or cassava is fine.
- Dried Chilies - This recipe calls for 1 dried ancho chili and one dried chile de arbol. I don't recommend omitting these, as they're important for the marinade.
- Spices - You'll need ground clove and ground cumin for this recipe.
- Fresh Juices - Fresh squeezed orange and fresh squeezed limes. While you could use bottled juices, I highly recommend squeezing them fresh.
- Pineapple - For the slaw, you can substitute with mango if preferred.
- Red Onion - Finely diced, for the slaw.
- Cabbage - Shredded cabbage, for the slaw. I used green cabbage, but red would be fine too.
- Greek Yogurt - This is the "healthy" alternative to the sour cream in the slaw. If you prefer the sour cream, by all means!
- Limes - Fresh limes for zesting, juicing, and garnishes.
Tools and Equipment:
- Sharp Knife
- Citrus Juicer
- Blender
- Mixing Bowls
- Sheet Tray
📋 How to make Healthy Fish Tacos
Step 1: Prepare the Ingredients
Begin by bringing 2 cups of water to a light boil.
If you are sensitive to heat, I recommend taking the two chilis and cutting off the very bottom of the pepper. Then, over a sink or trash can gently tap the dried peppers to get the seeds out. If you like a lot of heat, skip this step.
Place the peppers in a large heat-safe bowl, then pour the hot water over the peppers. Immediately cover with plastic wrap and set to the side for about 10-15 minutes, then drain and discard the water.
Juice the adequate amounts of orange and zest, then juice the adequate amount of limes for the marinade. Add orange juice, lime juice, re-hydrated peppers, ground clove, ground cumin, salt, olive oil, and 3 cloves of garlic to a blender with ½ cup fresh water and blend until smooth.
Slice the cod filets into roughly 1-inch wide strips. Add the fish strips to a bowl and cover with the marinade, using your hands to ensure they are fully coated (I recommend doing this with gloves on).
Step 2: Make the Slaw
While the fish is marinating, thinly shred the cabbage and dice the pineapple and red onion. Finely chop cilantro.
To a new bowl, add the cabbage, pineapple, red onion, greek yogurt, cilantro, and lime juice and zest. Combine until well incorporated. Season to taste with salt.
Step 3: Finishing Steps
Set your oven's broiler to high.
Remove the fish from the marinade and, using gloves, wipe excess marinade off of each piece of fish. The fish should still look red from the marinade, but you should be able to see the flesh easily.
Places the wiped fish pieces on a parchment lined baking tray. Broil on high for 8-10 minutes, until the fish is flaky and cooked through.
While the fish is broiling, heat the corn tortillas in a pan for a few seconds or gently over an open flame, just enough to heat through and char the edges, but not so much to make the tortilla crunchy.
Assemble the fish tacos by placing the tortillas on a plate, topped with 2 pieces of cod per taco, then with the slaw on top. Garnish with lime wedges on the side.
💭 Expert Tips & Tricks
- This recipe calls for 1 dried ancho chili and one dried chile de arbol. I don't recommend omitting these, as they're important for the marinade.
- I highly recommend using fresh ingredients as much as possible in this recipe. So, squeeze the citrus yourself and buy high quality tortillas, fish, and herbs.
- I recommend using cod, since it is flaky and easy to cook, but any white fish will be fine if you need to substitute.
Recipe FAQs
For fish tacos, either cod or halibut are great choices. If you're baking the fish, I recommend cod. If you're pan frying, I recommend a firmer fish that wont flake apart, like halibut.
Fish tacos can be very healthy depending how they're made! If using fresh, whole ingredients, and limiting fried fish or excessive cheese, they can actually be quite low calorie. This recipe bakes the fish and uses greek yogurt instead of sour cream, so it is low calorie and packed with veggies and protein!
While I do recommend eating these soon after making them, you could save them for a few days buy storing each part separately. Store the tortillas alone, the cooked cod alone, and the slaw alone. Then, to assemble, heat the cod back up in the oven, and warm the tortillas. Don't wait more than 3 days to consume.
Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Healthy Fish Tacos (with Cod)
Equipment
- Sharp Knife
- Blender
- Mixing Bowls
- Sheet Tray
Ingredients
- 1-2 filets Cod 1 large filet, sliced into 4 "fingers"
- 2 Corn tortillas
- Lime wedges
Marinade Ingredients
- 3 cloves Garlic
- ¼ teaspoon Ground clove
- ½ teaspoon Ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Orange juice fresh squeezed
- 2 tablespoon Lime juice fresh squeezed
- 1 Dried ancho chile (rehydrated)
- 1 Dried chile de arbol (rehydrated)
- ½ cup Water
- 2 cups Boiling water For rehydrating peppers, NOT to go in the marinade.
Pineapple Slaw
- 1 cup Pineapple or mango small diced
- ½ Red onion small diced
- 2 tablespoon Cilantro finely chopped
- 1 cup Cabbage thinly sliced
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 1 teaspoon Lime zest
- ¼ cup Lime juice (½ lime)
Instructions
- Begin by bringing 2 cups of water to a light boil.
- If you are sensitive to heat, I recommend taking the two chilis and cutting off the very bottom of the pepper. Then, over a sink or trash can gently tap the dried peppers to get the seeds out. If you like a lot of heat, skip this step. Place the peppers in a large heat-safe bowl, then pour the hot water over the peppers. Immediately cover with plastic wrap and set to the side for about 10-15 minutes, then drain and discard the water.
- Juice the adequate amounts of orange and zest, then juice the adequate amount of limes for the marinade. Add orange juice, lime juice, re-hydrated peppers, ground clove, ground cumin, salt, olive oil, and 3 cloves of garlic to a blender with ½ cup fresh water and blend until smooth.
- Slice the cod filets into roughly 1-inch wide strips. Add the fish strips to a bowl and cover with the marinade, using your hands to ensure they are fully coated (I recommend doing this with gloves on).
- While the fish is marinating, thinly shred the cabbage and dice the pineapple and red onion. Finely chop cilantro.
- To a new bowl, add the cabbage, pineapple, red onion, greek yogurt, cilantro, and lime juice and zest. Combine until well incorporated. Season to taste with salt.
- Set your oven's broiler to high.
- Remove the fish from the marinade and, using gloves, wipe excess marinade off of each piece of fish. The fish should still look red from the marinade, but you should be able to see the flesh easily.
- Places the wiped fish pieces on a parchment lined baking tray. Broil on high for 8-10 minutes, until the fish is flaky and cooked through.
- While the fish is broiling, heat the corn tortillas in a pan for a few seconds or gently over an open flame, just enough to heat through and char the edges, but not so much to make the tortilla crunchy.
- Assemble the fish tacos by placing the tortillas on a plate, topped with 2 pieces of cod per taco, then with the slaw on top. Garnish with lime wedges on the side.
Video
Notes
- This recipe calls for 1 dried ancho chili and one dried chile de arbol. I don't recommend omitting these, as they're important for the marinade.
- I highly recommend using fresh ingredients as much as possible in this recipe. So, squeeze the citrus yourself and buy high quality tortillas, fish, and herbs.
- I recommend using cod, since it is flaky and easy to cook, but any white fish will be fine if you need to substitute.
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