Baja Fish Tacos
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Crispy beer-battered cod tucked into corn tortillas and topped with slaw and a smoky chipotle sauce, Baja fish tacos are the perfect summer meal.
Photo by Alexandra Grablewski (Chronicle Books, 2018)
Many years ago, Michael and I rented a convertible and drove up the California coast. One of our favorite stops was La Jolla, where we strolled around town and stumbled upon a Mexican restaurant with great food and breathtaking views of the Pacific ocean. I don’t know if it was the scenery, the margaritas, or the fact that we were on vacation, but the Baja fish tacos were out of this world. To recreate them at home, I came up with this version made with crispy beer-battered cod tucked into corn tortillas with a cabbage slaw and smoky chipotle sauce. I’m happy to say they come pretty darn close. To complete the meal, pair the tacos with chips, salsa, and guacamole.
“I have made these so many times – now my friends a family are all making them as well. The chipotle sauce is the star!”
What You’ll Need To Make Baja Fish Tacos
Most of the ingredients are pretty straightforward, except maybe the canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. If you’ve never had them, get ready to add a new staple to your pantry! They’re small peppers (usually red jalapeños) that have been dried and smoked, and they come in a spicy tomato sauce that has a smoky flavor. You can find them in the Latin section of most supermarkets, and I have many recipes that incorporate them.
How To Make Baja Fish Tacos
Begin by making the slaw, which is a combination of shredded red cabbage, chopped red onions, cilantro, apple cider vinegar, oil and salt.
Next, make the chipotle sauce by combining the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, mayonnaise, lime juice and garlic in a mini food processor or blender. I use three peppers for a spicy sauce; of course, use less if you prefer a milder sauce.
When you’re ready to fry the fish, prepare the beer batter by whisking together the flour, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
Slowly pour in the beer, whisking all the while.
Cut the cod into 1-inch wide x 4-inch long strips.
Then dip the fish into the beer batter.
Pan-fry the fish until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. As you can see, there’s no need to deep fry the fish. I use about a 1/2 inch of oil, which is plenty as long as you flip the fish midway through.
If you’re wondering if you can skip the beer batter and frying altogether and just grill or pan-sear the fish, the answer is yes but the tacos won’t be nearly as good. Fried fish has a wonderfully crispy texture and depth of flavor that really can’t be achieved any other way. It’s worth it! Plus, even with the fried fish, these tacos are still amazingly light and fresh.
When the fish is golden brown, drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
Warm up the corn tortillas (I do it in the microwave), then assemble the tacos with a generous amount of chipotle sauce, a heap of cabbage slaw and a piece of crispy cod. Serve with lime wedges, lots of napkins and enjoy!
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Baja Fish Tacos
Crispy beer-battered cod tucked into corn tortillas and topped with slaw and a smoky chipotle sauce, Baja fish tacos are the perfect summer meal.
Ingredients
For the Cabbage Slaw
- 5 cups (or one 10-ounce bag) shredded red cabbage
- 3 tablespoons minced red onion
- ½ cup fresh chopped cilantro
- 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1½ teaspoons vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Chipotle Sauce
- ¾ cup mayonnaise, best quality such as Hellmann's
- 2 tablespoons lime juice, from one lime
- 2-3 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (canned), roughly chopped, plus 1-2 teaspoons sauce (see note below)
- 1 large garlic clove, roughly chopped
For the Beer Batter
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup beer
For the Fish and Tortillas
- 1½ pounds skinless cod, cut into 1-inch wide x 4-inch long strips
- Vegetable oil, for frying
- 12 (6-inch) soft corn tortillas, warmed
- Lime wedges, for serving
Instructions
- Toss the cabbage, red onion, cilantro, vinegar, oil and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Combine the mayonnaise, lime juice, chipotle chiles with sauce and garlic in a blender or mini food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Mix the flour, salt and pepper together in a medium bowl. Gradually add the beer, whisking until the batter is smooth with no lumps. Set aside.
- In a medium skillet, over medium heat, add enough oil to reach a depth of ½-inch. Heat the oil until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 degrees F, or when the end of a wooden spoon sizzles when dipped into the oil.
- Working in batches so as not to crowd the pan, dip the fish strips in the beer batter and coat on both sides. Let the excess batter drip off, then fry the fish in the hot oil until golden brown and cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain.
- Smear each tortilla with a generous amount of the chipotle sauce, then top with the cabbage slaw. Lay one piece of fish inside each tortilla and serve with lime wedges.
- Note: 3 chipotle peppers and 2 teaspoons sauce will give you a spicy sauce. Use less for a milder sauce. You can freeze any leftover chipotle peppers from the can.
- Note: Nutritional information was calculated assuming that approximately 3 tablespoons of oil are absorbed into the fish when fried.
- Note: Nutritional Information does not include the chipotle sauce.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 577
- Fat: 16 g
- Saturated fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 66 g
- Sugar: 4 g
- Fiber: 7 g
- Protein: 39 g
- Sodium: 1025 mg
- Cholesterol: 73 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Easy easy easy and scrumptious. I make these fish tacos all the time for my family, who never tire of them. I keep the chipotle sauce in a squirt bottle in the fridge and always have mahi mahi fillets in the freezer. Cabbage lasts forever, so in my book this is an easy pantry meal. Instead of breading, I sauté the fish in avocado oil and then finish with a splash of beer. Great recipe and excellent cookbook, good for tasty-but-easy weeknight meals.
This was Delicious! The whole family loved it!
Hi Jenn, I found your site this week. So far this week I have made 3 of your recipes! They were all delicious! These baja tacos remind me of me favorite restaurant. They were spectacular. The sauce and the cabbage slaw layer beautifully with the fish. These are definitely going into my monthly rotation! Thanks for the great recipe……keep them coming!
Welcome to the site, Salee. Happy Cooking! 😊
Hi, it’s me again, your fangirl. Oh Jenn, have I told you lately how much joy your recipes give me? Tried these fish tacos the other night and they were magnificent! Best tacos I’ve ever made. So easy, too. The slaw was so tasty, I can use the leftovers in other applications.
Only change I made was to replace the salt with Old Bay seasoning in the batter. Btw, I love how I don’t need like a gallon of oil to fry the fish, yet still end up with deep-fried results! Used my wok for this.
Seriously, I don’t remember the last time I used anyone else’s recipes. I don’t trust them anymore because there’s always something not quite right. Jenn Segal will always steer you in the most amazing direction. Thank you for always delivering such perfect recipes.
Thank you for your support Linda!! So glad you’re enjoying the recipes. ❤️
One of the best dishes/foods in the entire planet! It’s so easy to make and yet so sophisticated and wonderful! Every dish I make from this site/blog is exceptional and amazing! Jenn Segal is one of the best chefs ever! Thank you for these wonderful recipes
Loved this recipe – it was such a hit at a dinner party I hosted. I swapped out 1/2 the mayo serving for sour cream instead, better flavor and more of a ‘cool’ aftertaste vs mayo-y 🙂
I want to try this recipe, and I was wondering if I could use mahi mahi instead of the cod? I have some mahi mahi in the freezer. Thanks. Love your recipes.
Sure, Kathy, mahi mahi should work here. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Hello
Made this recipe tonight…I’m just wondering about the batter. 1 cup flour to 1 cup beer made the batter more like a paste….is this how it is suppose to be? I ended up adding more beer to make the batter a little thinner, however when I went to fry the fish, all the batter stuck to the bottom of the pan (did not stay on the fish).
Please help! I would like to try it again as I loved the rest of the recipe.
Thank you!
Hi Tammie, the batter for this should be thick but not like a paste. It’s fine if you add more beer, just add 1 tablespoon at a time so it doesn’t get too liquidy. Also, when measuring the flour, make sure to use the spoon and level method explained here so you don’t end up using too much flour. Also, if your batter stuck to the pan, it could be that your oil was not hot enough. Here’s a link that shows how to tell when the oil is the right temperature. Hope you have more success next time!
We loved this recipe and the “delicious” meal it provided us. Thank you!!🤗
What a great recipe! I used tilapia and substituted basil for the cilantro. Restaurant quality results!
Flavor was amazing…especially the sauce. My challenge was that the batter would stick to the frying pan and peel off when I flipped the fish. Is there something I can do to avoid that from happening? Maybe pan got too hot?
Hi Inna, Sorry you had a problem with the batter sticking. It could be that your oil was not hot enough. Here’s a link that shows how to tell when the oil is the right temperature. Hope you have more success next time!
One of my favourite recipes!