Easy Spice Rubbed Fish Tacos

It’s so super easy to make your own  Easy Spice Rubbed Fish Tacos at home. Here, I just pan-seared some tilapia after letting it sit for a short time in a lime/spice rub to cook up a simple 25 minute Taco Tuesday weeknight dinner, but grilled is great too. 

Up today in Sunday Scratchups (your weekly recipe from scratch around grocery sales and affordable ingredients), we have some Easy Spice Rubbed Fish Tacos! It’s so super easy to make your own fish tacos at home: Here, I just pan-seared some tilapia after letting it sit for a short time in a lime/spice rub, but grilled is great too.

I used tilapia to make my spice rubbed fish tacos this time, because hello: half price sticker! (These red stickers are among my favorite ALDI finds, but tilapia is an affordable choice in general.) Any firm white fish fillets will do if you’re not a tilapia fan, however; cod is good, or I sometimes use mahi mahi for fish tacos (yum!) when it goes on sale.

Easy Spice Rubbed Fish Tacos

Ingredients

1 pound fresh tilapia fillets (or other firm white fish of choice)
Juice from 1 small lime
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 Tbsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (omit if sensitive to spice)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
Black pepper, to taste
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 Tbsp olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 a medium yellow onion, diced
Taco fixings of choice, such as tortillas, pico de gallo, black beans, cabbage slaw, fresh lime wedges, sour cream, salsa, avocado, cilantro…

Directions

Place the tilapia in a baking dish or on a large plate. Combine the lime juice with chili powder, cumin, cayenne, smoked paprika, oregano, black pepper, and Kosher salt to create a paste.

Rub the lime/spice rub into both sides of the tilapia and let it sit to marinate for about ten minutes.

While fish is marinating, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and garlic and saute for two minutes.

Add tilapia to the same skillet and cook it for 2-3 minutes per side (depending on thickness), until fish becomes opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

Flake the tilapia into pieces and serve with any taco fixings of your choice!

Note: You’ll definitely want to use your oven fan if pan-searing the fish as I did here, but can grill instead if you prefer. If using frozen fish, let it thaw before doing the spice rub.

Finished fish tacos in under 30 minutes

Easy spice rubbed fish tacos are a great choice for a quick weeknight dinner, since you can have your finished tacos on the table in about 25 minutes start to finish! The fish tacos themselves are naturally gluten free (if you serve them on corn or other GF tortillas), low carb (if you serve them on a low carb wrap), and dairy free (if you don’t top with cheese), making this an easily adaptable recipe for different dietary needs or preferences.

These simple & flavorful tilapia tacos were a hit here with all three boys, although everyone topped theirs with something slightly different — and MashupDad went the low-carb route. I’ll call that a win-win-win for Taco Tuesday, fish on Friday, or an easy dinner idea for any busy weeknight.

Easy Spice Rubbed Fish Tacos, printable recipe

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Easy Spice Rubbed Fish Tacos

It's so super easy to make your own fish tacos at home: Here I just pan-seared some tilapia after letting it sit for a short time in a lime/spice rub, but grilled is great too.

Course dinner

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 4

Author Rachel Singer

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh tilapia fillets (or other firm white fish of choice)
• Juice from 1 small lime
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 Tbsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (omit if sensitive to spice)
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• Black pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 a medium yellow onion, diced
• Taco fixings of choice, such as tortillas, pico de gallo, black beans, cabbage slaw, fresh lime wedges, sour cream, salsa, avocado, cilantro...

Instructions

• Place the tilapia in a baking dish or on a large plate. Combine the lime juice with chili powder, cumin, cayenne, smoked paprika, oregano, black pepper, and Kosher salt to create a paste.
• Rub the lime/spice rub into both sides of the tilapia and let it sit to marinate for about ten minutes.
• While fish is marinating, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and garlic and saute for two minutes.
• Add tilapia to the same skillet and cook it for 2-3 minutes per side (depending on thickness), until fish becomes opaque and flakes easily with a fork.
• Flake the tilapia into pieces and serve with any taco fixings of your choice!

Notes

You'll definitely want to use your oven fan if pan-searing the fish as I did here, but can grill instead if you prefer. If using frozen fish, let it thaw before doing the spice rub.

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