Dinner, Recipes

Blackened Fish Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

Blackened Fish Tacos are seasoned with a simple spice rub and topped with shredded cabbage and fresh pineapple salsa. Perfect for Taco Tuesday, Taco Thursday, or any night of the week. Fresh, healthy, and another easy weeknight meal!

Food is my love language. And tacos might just be one of my favorite foods. They’re a perfect gateway for a complete meal: your tortilla of choice, protein of choice, veggie for a topping, and all the sauces that bring them together. Perfection and endless combinations. Awhile back I ate at a new taco restaurant in the area to check out all the hype. Atmosphere was A+. Drinks packed a punch. Guacamole was quite tasty. But their tacos (the two that I had) were batting 1-2. Tempura Shrimp was fried but too tough to chew. But their blackened fish taco, that had me dreaming of it for days. I love tacos, what can I say?

Still in the thick of my masters classes (class 4 of 13, week 1 of 8, but who’s counting?) and needing quick and easy dinners. Lucky you all get to reap the benefits as well. Taco Tuesday and Taco Thursday have been on rotation almost every week, simply rotating my protein, fillings, and sauce. Less thought on what I have to cook and the number one complaint of my patients: quick dinners that don’t require much thought. Enter tacos. The gateway for quick, simple, and flavorful.

Sauté pan with white fish starting to cook with blackened seasoning

Sauté pan with white fish fully cooked with blackened seasoning

Ingredients: Blackened Fish Tacos

Fish: I used tilapia as it’s what I had on hand. Any firm-fleshed white variety such as cod, halibut, mahi mahi or snapper will yield the same delicious results. Choose which one you prefer and aim to eat sources that are more sustainable (when possible). This guide can help guide you
Taco Seasoning: Always have this in my spice drawer. Simple to make and use for regular tacos or as I did here to ‘blacken’ the fish. The best part about homemade seasoning mixes is that you can control how much of any one spice you want (or don’t want). Salt is omitted here as you’ll see. I didn’t have time to make homemade tortillas and truth be told, sometimes bread products can be loaded. Any time I can cut back on sodium, I do. You won’t even miss it with all the flavor from these tacos!
Mayonnaise/Lime Juice/Hot Sauce and/or Chili Sauce/Cilantro: This is the dressing I used on my slaw for my Shrimp Tacos. Haven’t tried creating another as of yet, but this is quite tangy if you were to eat it on it’s own. Added on top of the tacos and the combination is out of this world. Trust me. Use hot sauce if you want spice, use the sweet chili sauce if you want to tame the tang.
Mango Salsa: This is my go-to ratio for making salsa. Instead of mango I opted to try pineapple. Pineapple salsa with the slaw and the spices from the taco seasoning worked quite well together. I kept this salsa very simple as it’s what I had on hand. Aiming to still use all my food and try to waste less food.
Toppings: Sliced Avocado, Pickled Onions, Crumbled Cotija Cheese. Remember the combinations are endless. Add more toppings if you please or use less toppings and let the slaw and filling shine through. Did I mention how tacos might be favorite meal??

pineapple, jalapeno, shallot, lime, scallion for pineapple salsa

How To Make Blackened Fish Tacos

Make Salsa: My go-to ratio for salsa is here in my mango salsa. 2 cups of mango, 1 cup red pepper, 1/4 cup red onion, 1/4 cup cilantro, 1 tablespoon lime juice, and a dash of black pepper. Here I substituted pineapple instead of the mango and as I didn’t have a red pepper, I threw in some shallot. Had a jalapeño on hand, so I added just a smidge for color and a bit of heat. Beauty in this is that you can make your ‘salsa’ as you like.
Cook the Fish: Adjust rack to top position and heat broiler to high or oven to 500 degrees. Pat the fish dry with paper towels and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, then season all over with taco seasoning. Rub seasoning into the fish to thoroughly coat. Broil or bake on top rack until lightly charred and cooked through, about 6-8 minutes. Alternatively, you can sauté in a pan on the stove. The broiling method is the easiest when making this whole recipe. I cooked one filet and didn’t want to turn the oven on.
Make Slaw: In a medium bowl, combine cabbage and chopped cilantro. In a separate small bowl, mix the mayonnaise, hot sauce (or chili sauce), lime juice, smidge of sugar, 1/4 cup cilantro, and 1 tablespoon water until smooth. Toss the coleslaw mix with the dressing. Season with 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Set aside.
Warm Tortillas: Heat the tortillas in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. I use PAM spray to coat the pan. Cook 1-2 minutes on each side.
Serve: Once cool enough to handle, break up the fish into bite-sized pieces. Divide between tortillas along with slaw and salsa. Add any other toppings you see fit. Sometimes I’ll make a mix of sour cream, mayonnaise, a squeeze of lime juice and a teaspoon of water to make a ‘crema’. However, between the slaw and salsa, no extra sauce was needed. Perfection in taco form. Enjoy!