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Home » Recipes » Fish and Seafood

Blackened Fish Tacos with Cilantro Lime Slaw

June 27, 2015 Updated June 10, 2020 by Lisa Goldfinger 16 Comments This post may contain affiliate links

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4 blackened fish tacos lined up

Here's an easy Blackened Fish Tacos recipe that will make everyone happy at the table. Tender fish with a spicy flavorful blackened crust, tucked into warm corn tortillas with a seriously scrumptious slaw! 

5 fish tacos with red cabbage slaw, sliced avocado, cilantro sprigs and wedges of lime

This blackened fish tacos recipe is easily manageable for a weeknight dinner. 'Blackening' is a flavorful technique for cooking fish, and it's fast. The slaw is creamy, crunchy, spicy, wonderful, with shredded red cabbage and white onions tossed with a puree of sour cream, jalapeño peppers, cilantro, and lime juice. 

Blackened fish is a Cajun dish invented in late 1970's by New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme when he was head chef at Commander's Palace. His blackening technique was an instant hit in the South and quickly spread in popularity to the rest of the country.

Prudhomme is credited with popularizing Cajun-style cooking in America. In 1979 he launched his own New Orleans restaurant K-Pauls Louisiana Kitchen, where one of his signature dishes was, and still is, blackened locally-sourced drumfish. He serves it with vegetables and mashed potatoes.

How to make blackened fish tacos

The most important thing to know about making blackened fish is that it creates a lot of heat and smoke. An outdoor grill is ideal. If you're cooking indoors, be sure to use a cast iron skillet and turn your exhaust fan to the highest setting. Be careful if you are using a non-stick pan, some coated pans are not safe to use at high temperatures. Cast iron is a great choice for high heat cooking. 

  1. Brush the fish with oil or melted butter and sprinkle on the blackening spices: paprika, brown sugar, oregano, garlic powder, salt, cumin and cayenne.
  2. Heat up your Cast Iron Skilletover high heat - on the grill or on the stovetop. Get it nice and hot. Then add the fish and sear it. It will only take 2-3 minutes per side to cook through.
  3. The high heat of the cooking surface creates a fragrant black spice crust on the fish while keeping the inside tender and juicy.
  4. The accompanying slaw can be made ahead of time. Combine sour cream, cilantro, lime juice and jalapeños in a food processor or blender; process until smooth. Toss with sliced onions and shredded cabbage.

4 fish fillets coated with oil and blackening spices, set out on a wax paper lined baking sheet

Two blackened fish fillets in a cast iron skillet

Cabbage onions slaw in a glass bowl

Fish tacos - putting it all together

  • Heat the tortillas in the oven, wrapped in foil.
  • Divide the blackened fish evenly among the warm tortillas. 
  • Top with the slaw and avocado slices.
  • Spoon on any remaining cilantro lime sauce from the bowl of slaw. 
  • Garnish each taco with cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. 
  • Enjoy!

Blackened Fish Tacos with spicy cabbage and onions

What kind of fish works best for blackened fish tacos?

Choose firm white fish fillets such as snapper, tilapia, grouper, catfish, halibut or flounder. Any of these will hold up to high-heat searing and will taste delicious with the blackening spices.

If you have time, you may want to try making these fish tacos with homemade corn tortillas!

Here's the recipe for blackened fish tacos. If you try this recipe I hope you'll come back to leave a star rating and a comment. I'd love to know what you think!

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blackened fish tacos recipe

Blackened Fish Tacos with Cilantro Lime Slaw


★★★★★

4.8 from 5 reviews

  • Author: Lisa
  • Total Time: 30 mins
  • Yield: 4 1x
Print Recipe

Description

A quick recipe for flavorful blackened fish tacos with cilantro lime slaw.

Adapted from a recipe in Cooking Light.


Ingredients

Scale

Equipment: You'll need a cast iron skillet for this recipe. The alternative is to use your barbecue grill.

For the Slaw:

  • 1 cup thinly sliced white onion
  • 1 cup shredded or very thinly sliced red cabbage
  • ½ cup sour cream (reduced-fat is fine)
  • 4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves plus extra leaves for garnish
  • 4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • 3 jalapeño peppers, seeded, deveined and roughly chopped

For the Blackening Spices:

  • 1 ½ teaspoons paprika
  • 1 ½ teaspoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Fish and other ingredients:

  • 4 (6-ounce) skinless fillets of firm white fish such as catfish, talapia, halibut, or red snapper
  • 1 tablespoon light cooking oil
  • 8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
  • 1 ripe avocado, peeled and thinly sliced

Garnish:

  • 4 lime wedges
  • Cilantro leaves, optional

Instructions

  1. Make the Slaw: Combine sour cream, cilantro, lime juice and jalapeños in a food processor or blender; process until smooth. Toss onions and cabbage with the cilantro lime sauce. (the slaw can be made up to a day ahead. Refrigerate until ready to use.)
  2. Make The Spice Mix: Combine paprika, sugar, oregano, garlic powder, salt, cumin and cayenne in a small bowl.
  3. Heat the Tortillas: preheat oven to 350ºF Stack tortillas and wrap them in foil. Heat them in the warm oven for 5-10 minutes.
  4. Blacken the Fish: Turn on your hood vent. Heat a large dry cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until hot. (if you don't have a cast iron skillet, heat your grill) Lay fish out on a platter or on waxed paper. Brush a little oil on each side and sprinkle the top of each fillet with ¾ teaspoon of spice mix. Place 2 fillets, spiced-side down, in the pre-heated skillet. Then sprinkle the top side of each fillet with ¾ teaspoon of spice mix. Cook for 2 ½ - 3 minutes per side, or until spices are blackened and fish is cooked through. Transfer fish to a platter and tent with foil to keep warm. Wipe the pan clean to avoid a burnt taste. (blackened is not the same as burnt!) Repeat with the other two fillets.
  5. Assemble the Tacos: Divide fish, slaw and avocado evenly among warmed tortillas. Spoon on any remaining sauce from the bottom of the bowl of slaw. Sprinkle cilantro leaves on top. Serve with lime wedges.

*This recipe assumes 2 tacos per person

  • Prep Time: 20 mins
  • Cook Time: 10 mins
  • Category: main dish
  • Method: blacken
  • Cuisine: Cajun

Keywords: blackened fish tacos with spicy slaw, quick and easy blackened fish tacos recipe

Did you make this recipe?

If you make this recipe, please let me know how it turns out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on instagram with the hashtag #panningtheglobe

 

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Filed Under: All Recipes, Cooking Light, Entertaining, Fish and Seafood, Lunch and Brunch, main course, Mexico, North America, Quick and Easy, The United States Tagged With: easy weeknight dinner, gluten-free

Reader Interactions

Comments

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    Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

  1. Eric

    October 28, 2022 at 7:01 pm

    Tasty recipe, and the leftover sauce made a great chip dip! We left out the onions but it's probably just as good with.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  2. Kimberly

    June 15, 2020 at 11:23 am

    Made this last night and served with a Mexican style street corn !! Awesome recipe!. Next time I will use a little less cayenne. Made a couple of changes to the slaw. I used a plain plant based Greek yogurt. Replaced the onion with shredded carrots and added a little honey and apple cider vinegar. Definitely will make again !

    ★★★★

    Reply
    • Lisa

      June 18, 2020 at 9:14 am

      Such a delicious sounding dinner! I'm glad you enjoyed the tacos. Thank you for reporting back!

      Reply
  3. samantha berman

    September 18, 2019 at 3:01 pm

    Amazing recipe! Fish was perfectly spiced! Will definitely be making again soon.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Lisa

      September 18, 2019 at 3:44 pm

      Hi Sammy, This makes me happy 🙂

      Reply
  4. Melissa

    September 06, 2018 at 12:25 am

    Delicious tasty kick butt seasonings! Tried the red snapper and hockey breast today so good. This will be a family favorite for sure. !

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Lisa

      September 06, 2018 at 1:58 am

      That's great news! Thanks for your comment!!

      Reply
  5. Fern

    December 13, 2017 at 6:25 pm

    A cold snowy stay in the house kind of day, so grabbed some grouper out of the freezer. Had Avacados that had to get used up.Also had 6 corn tortillas to be used up and I came across this recipe. I did have to make do with dried cilantro and bottled lime juice and used white cabbage and red onions! I made the slaw in the morning so flavors could meld together. Made guacamole out of the Avacados. We love blackened anything.All of it was very delicious. Thank you for sharing.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Lisa

      December 14, 2017 at 6:50 am

      Amazing that you had everything in the house to make these so you didn't have to shovel snow or bundle up and go to the store to cook dinner. I love when that happens! I'm so glad you enjoyed the fish tacos. Thanks for letting me know.

      Reply
  6. Carol Borchardt

    September 05, 2015 at 8:12 pm

    I'm always on the lookout for the perfect fish taco. These look fantastic!

    Reply
  7. Laura @MotherWouldKnow

    September 04, 2015 at 11:16 pm

    I love oldies but goodies like this Paul Prudhomme special. Great for weeknight dinner - simple and healthy.

    Reply
  8. Rachel (Rachel's Kitchen NZ)

    June 29, 2015 at 1:31 am

    Yes, a very happy dish Lisa for both cook and eater - love blackened food.

    Reply
  9. pete goldfinger

    June 28, 2015 at 10:21 pm

    I ate these very fish tacos. And they were delicious. Also, I like this font. It makes everything I write look classy.

    Reply
    • Lisa Goldfinger

      June 29, 2015 at 8:03 am

      Glad you like the tacos and the new font, Pete! 🙂

      Reply
  10. jen

    June 27, 2015 at 9:13 am

    DELICIOUS!! Love anything with lime and avocado this time of year! Thanks, Lisa!

    Reply
    • Lisa Goldfinger

      June 29, 2015 at 8:04 am

      Thanks Jen!

      Reply

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