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There’s no need to travel to the West Coast for Baja battered fish tacos because this recipe lets you recreate the experience at home.
Baja Style Battered Fish Tacos
On a college road trip through Southern California, my best friend and I stopped at the Santa Monica Pier and ordered a basket of battered Baja fish tacos from a beachside stand. No fancy toppings. Just crisp batter, flaky fish, and a bit of slaw. They were perfection, especially with their Palomas.
This recipe is my version of those unforgettable tacos, and it's so good it made it into The Taco Tuesday Cookbook. There's no sauce needed here. The slaw is simple, the fish is the star, and the result is taco night made easy and unforgettable.
Ingredients
These battered fish tacos are a breeze to make with my simple one-bowl breading made of crushed crackers, Panko bread crumbs, flour, taco seasoning, an egg, and a little water. The white fish can be mahi-mahi or cod fillets, which are wrapped in a warm tortilla with a little slaw, avocado, and pico de Gallo.
Best Fish for Baja Battered Tacos
Thicker white fish like mahi-mahi or cod work best for battered fish tacos because they can be sliced into 1-inch strips.
How to Make Battered Fish Tacos
I created the easiest method for battering these Baja-style tacos at home with a one-bowl batter, where instead of battering one piece at a time, the fish pieces sit in the large batter bowl until they’re placed in the hot oil and get fried. The fish taco stand on my road trip did something similar. After you’re done frying the whole batch, you simply assemble the tacos.
Battered Fish Tacos (Baja Style)
Watch how it’s made:
Ingredients
- 24 round crackers, such as Ritz, finely crushed
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tablespoons taco seasoning
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup lime juice, about 2 limes
- 1 ½ pounds mahi-mahi or cod fillets
- ½ to 1 cup vegetable oil, for cooking
- 1 ½ cups shredded green and purple cabbage
- 12 corn tortillas, for serving, warmed
- Toppings: avocado, pico de gallo, sour cream
Instructions
Prep:
- Make the batter in a large bowl by combining the cracker crumbs, Panko, flour, taco seasoning, egg, water, and lime juice into a very thick batter.
Bread the fish:
- Cut the fish into strips about 1-inch thick and 4-inches long. Pat the fish pieces dry between two paper towels so the batter can adhere.
- Place the fish pieces in the large batter bowl and with a rubber spatula, give everything a mix to coat them. I just let the fish pieces sit in the batter until I remove them, one by one, and fry them.
Cook:
- Heat 1-inch of oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until the oil reaches 375F. Remove a few fish pieces from the bowl by lifting them out of the batter with a fork, making sure to allow the excess batter to drip down. Add several pieces in the skillet to fry them, in batches, until golden on one side, then turn them over and cook them on the other side. Remove the cooked fish pieces from the oil onto a paper-towel-lined plate. Repeat the process with all the fish pieces.
Assemble the tacos:
- While the last batch of fish is cooking, warm up your tortillas and line up the toppings.
- Assemble each fish taco by placing a thin layer of cabbage on top of each tortilla, placing one or two pieces of battered fish on top, then topping it with avocado, pico de gallo, and a little sour cream.
Paula says
Omg these looks so good. I know what we’re trying next Tuesday!