Fish Tacos & Chili Lime Slaw

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FISH. TACOS. This is one of my all time favorite, fastest, and easiest meals to make! I put it in pretty much every meal rotation. Use these sloth shortcuts to have delicious, crispy, fish tacos on the table STAT.

I recommend making this in an air fryer – it gets so much CRISPIER and in way less time than the oven, but it can also be done in the oven if you don’t have one (see recipe notes). I’m always slow to add a new kitchen appliance… I need it to earn it’s keep — only so much room in the kitchen! This one is worth the space though- I probably use it once a day at least now (it’s amazing for heating up leftovers…).

It gets food nice and crisp without using much (or any) oil, and it preheats way faster than my oven does. I usually let it preheat it for 3 minutes and then throw the food in. Easy Peasy.

Back to the tacos. The secret to this recipe is to use… are you ready…

frozen, breaded fish.

By frozen, breaded fish, I mean any kind. And by any kind, I mean you could literally use fish sticks. Remember fish sticks? Really though- any kind of white fish, like tilapia, is great. I like this one from Costco the best. It has a flakey tortilla breading with just a little lime and spice to it- perfect for these tacos. Plain, unbreaded tilapia would also be ok too (although it’s so good with some crunch). Or fish sticks. Seriously.

Onto the slaw…

This chili lime slaw is the best if you can make it the day before, or a few hours before at least, to let everything get to know each other. WAIT DON’T LEAVE! You want to make this now and eat it ASAP?? (me too). Alternate plan- make just the dressing for the slaw and drizzle it on the cabbage or some greens on the tacos. JUST AS GOOD. I do this… shall we say, often.

The key is that you just need SOME kind of crunchy green thing for these tacos. The slaw is amazing, but I’ve also used kale or other greens (especially the bottom of that bag of salad you need to use up). Whisk up the slaw ingredients, minus the cabbage, and use it as a sauce.

For the sauce, you need:

Something creamy: sour cream and/or mayo – use what you have. Greek yogurt would also work
Some acid: a bunch of lime juice (I didn’t have fresh limes, so I used the bottled kind) AND some vinegar. Slaw needs acid.
Something sweet: a squeeze of honey
Something SPICY: chili powder, paprika, and this chili lime seasoning I found at Trader Joe’s. Holy Moly, this stuff is amazing.
Also, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Ok though, this this chili lime stuff. It’s just so good. I’ve been putting it on fruit, popcorn, tortilla chips…. YUM. Big fan.

For tacos for two people, I used 3 fish fillets for 4 tacos. Throw them into the air fryer. One of mine broke while transferring- that’s ok, we’re going to slice them up anyway to divide between the tacos. After they cook, I slice them in half both ways, making small pieces. Or… fish sticks.

To use the air fryer, throw your food in, slide the basket in, and let the hot air do all the work. It’s not really frying it – just circulating really really hot air, which is what gets the food so crispy. The number one rule with air fryers is to give your food some breathing room. Don’t crowd the basket – that hot air needs to circulate around the fish.

While the fish is cooking, prep the tacos. I like to sprinkle some shredded cheese in each tortilla and fold in in half. WE GONNA PUT THESE IN THE AIR FRYER TOO. This is optional, but it gets the tortilla just a little bit crispy and it’s SO SO GOOD. And the air fryer is already hot, so why not?

Here’s my little tortillas with cheese, all nestled in their little tray. Now, I’m kind of breaking the cardinal rule of air frying here, crowding them in there like that. Pop them into the air fryer for no more than a minute – the ones on the outer edges get done first. You can take these out and let the middle ones crisp up a little more. You don’t want them to be totally crunchy – they tend to fall apart on you then – just a little crispy texture. It goes a long way. Don’t sleep on this- I promise it’s worth it! You could also broil them in the oven, flipping once, if you’re not using an air fryer.

Put your tacos together!

Cheesy, crispy tortilla, a few slices of fish, a scoop of slaw, and some salsa! Repeat and inhale. And remember these sloth shortcuts so you can make this again tomorrow.

Sloth Shortcuts:

Sloth Shortcut #1: USE. FROZEN. BREADED. FISH. LIKE. FISHSTICKS. Or this one (Chili Lime Tortilla Breaded Tilapia). Thank you, Costco.

Sloth Shortcut #2: No time to make the slaw ahead of time? Or, no cabbage mix? Whisk up just the sauce (sans cabbage) and drizzle it on your tacos with WHATEVER green type of thing is in your fridge.

Sloth Shortcut #3: No arm power or will power to squeeze a bunch of limes? Don’t do it. Use the bottled stuff. Yes, fresh squeezed lime juice is delicious, and by all means do it if you can, but i’m writing this from my quarentine kitchen and I have no limes. Don’t let that stop you from enjoying fish tacos.

Sloth Shortcut #4: Last but not least, get you an air fryer so you can have maximum crispiness in minimum time!! Thank you to my mother in law who got me mine for Christmas!

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