The Easiest Tilapia Fish Tacos

Get this delicious recipe for fish tacos made with perfectly cooked Tilapia and a simple, tasty coleslaw. It’s perfect for your Taco Tuesday rotation!

How To Cook Fish For Tacos

At restaurants, the fish in tacos is often fried. I really can’t be bothered with frying at home, plus it’s not as healthy as baking. And so, I bake the tilapia fillets. You can use another kind of white fish for this recipe if you prefer. 

They just get seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper (though you can add more spices like cumin and paprika or taco seasoning), and drizzled with bit of olive oil. Then they go into the oven until they’re cooked through and flaky, about 10 minutes.

Note that if you’re in a hurry, you can cook the tilapia fillets straight from frozen. Cooking fish from frozen is an easy technique and it’s totally safe. You would just put the frozen fillets on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Don’t add oil because it will freeze to the fish. Then bake it for about 1.5 times as long as fresh would have needed. In this case, it will be about 15 minutes until your tilapia fillets are opaque throughout, and nice and flaky.

Note that the oven is set at 400°F for this recipe, but most hard taco shells call for you to heat them at 325°F. They will be perfectly fine at 400°F though, they just won’t need as long. Put them on a baking sheet and bake for about 4 minutes. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn, they won’t take long to heat. (If you prefer soft shell tacos, you can get my recommendations for heating corn tortillas instead.)

The Slaw And Sauce

As I mentioned above, the coleslaw for these tacos can be as simple as using a bagged chopped salad. Several brands do a Tex-Mex or Southwest one that works perfectly.

If you want a more classic slaw, get a bag of shredded cabbage or a coleslaw mix (or shred your own) and then mix it with a creamy Southwest or Tex-Mex dressing. Several brands carry things that will work. Or, you can buy or make up some Ranch dressing and then add chili powder to it for a simple creamy taco sauce.

If you’d like to make your own slaw, this is my favorite Homemade Coleslaw Recipe.

Assembling Your Tacos

Once the fish is cooked, chop it roughly and put it into the heated taco shells.

Then, you’d just scoop that slaw or chopped salad into the taco shells over the fish.

And then, you can add other toppings or garnishes if you like. Last time I made these I had some fresh basil so that’s what’s on top there. But avocado slices, tomato, green onion, cilantro, or a squeeze of fresh lime juice would all be really great. I hope you love these easy tacos!

More Amazing Taco Recipes:

I love to keep things interesting for Taco Tuesday and you can too with these delicious recipes.

• The BEST Shrimp Tacos
• Instant Pot Chicken Tacos
• BBQ Pulled Pork Tacos
• Banh Mi Grilled Tacos
• Easy Carne Asada Tacos