Spicy Fish Tacos

 Spicy Fish Tacos are a low calorie, high protein meal that is packed with flavor.  

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!  I love another excuse to eat more Mexican food, don’t you!?  It already happens almost once a week in our home anyway.  

Usually I make Mexican meals using chicken, pork, or beef but my husband’s been working to shed some pounds that he has put on since starting med school (and since I started making lots of sweets for the blog) so I decided to use fish for a leaner protein source.

At Costco I picked up a gigantic package of fresh tilapia (3 pounds!!) and made Tilapia with Mango Salsa for our first meal and then these yummy tacos for our second… and third!  Yes, since there’s just the two of us (Carly doesn’t eat enough to count) that means we ate this for three nights plus a lunch.  My husband seriously went crazy over these.  He was over the moon that he could eat so much deliciousness for so few calories.  445 calories for 3 fully loaded tacos!

I don’t really care about it being low calorie since I’m trying to put on the pounds with this pregnancy (though I’m sure I will come post pregnancy) but I was pretty stoked that this meal took just 30 minutes to throw together.  And I just love all the pretty colors!!!  Gosh that red cabbage is gorgeous!  I’m going to have to add it to more recipes just for the looks if not the taste.

Now, I just have to warn you, the fish is pretty spicy.  Probably a 4-5 on a scale of 1-10 when it’s in the taco with all the other toppings.  You can easily adapt it though to your spiciness liking by omitting (or just reducing) the crushed red pepper flakes.

Enjoy!

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Spicy Fish Tacos

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 12 tacos

Author Garnish & Glaze

Ingredients

For the Fish:

• 4 6 ounce tilapia fillets
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 4 teaspoons chili powder
• 4 teaspoons cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt

Pico de Gallo:*

• 3 Roma tomatoes diced
• 1/4 cup onion finely diced
• 1 jalapeno seeds removed, finely diced
• 3 tablespoons cilantro chopped
• 1 tablespoon lime juice

For Serving:

• 12 white corn tortillas
• 1 1/2 cups red cabbage shredded
• 1 1/2 cups romaine lettuce shredded
• 1 1/2 cups sweet yellow corn roasted**
• Sour cream
• Limes cut into wedges

Instructions

For the Fish:

• In a small dish, mix together chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and red pepper. Sprinkle the fish with the mixture and some salt.
• Preheat oil in a large non-stick skillet and cook fish over medium-high heat on each side for 4-5 minutes until blackened and cooked throughout. When done, flake into 2-3 inch pieces.

For the Pico de Gallo:

• In a bowl, mix together tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, cilantro, and lime juice.

For Serving:

• Lightly spray tortillas with oil and grill tortillas on a non-stick fry pan or a griddle for 20 seconds each side.
• Fill tortillas with tilapia, cabbage, lettuce, corn, and pico de gallo. Top with sour cream and serve with a lime wedge.

Notes

*You can substitute with store bought pico de gallo too.
**You can use regular frozen or canned corn if you can't find roasted or don't want to roast your own. I pan roasted mine in a lightly greased non-stick skillet over high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned (about 3-4 minutes).