I tried so many versions of fish tacos throughout the years but this breaded fish finger tacos recipe is absolutely our all-time favorite!
During the lent season, sometimes I will really be out of new ideas for a fish or vegetarian meal. Add to this that sometimes I don’t have the energy or time to cook. And yet I want a fancy meal to enjoy!
Well, these breaded fish finger tacos hit check all those boxes!
This fish tacos recipe is loaded with fresh ingredients and perfect textures combined with just the perfect sauce ever! And all of that is a healthier version with no frying or fatty processed sauces.
This is my to-go kind of recipe whenever I want something quick for lunch or for dinner gatherings. It comes together so quickly and it is a very light yet flavorful kind of meal.
I tasted so many fish tacos in restaurants but I always felt that there is something missing. The sauces used are too dense and fatty and they oversaturate the fish taste. The coleslaw salad is always basically just some just chopped raw veggies with no margination whatsoever. And even if some use a sauce, they would end up just adding more mayonnaise to the tacos. And those build-up sauces ended up dripping through your hands while eating the tacos. It was always honestly too much of a mess for too less of flavors and texture.
So, I started from that craving for really good perfectly built tacos and ended up with that beautiful delicious taco recipe that I’m going to share with you today!
I usually have always some homemade breaded fish in the freezer for quick recipes like this one. But whenever I don’t have one, I just purchase a good organic fish finger brand and prepare my tacos with it. You can check my homemade breaded fish recipe I just cut them into fingers instead of big bites and proceed with the same ingredients and instructions. Any kind of fish will work for this recipe even if it is not breaded. Just season it and cook it in the oven or stovetop or any way you like it.
avoid soggy tacos with a simple trick
Make sure you follow my instructions shared below for the coleslaw to avoid having that soggy dripping taco with raw strong crunches. And even if you found the sauce ingredients new to your knowledge, I highly urge you to give it a try before switching back to just smothering your tacos with mayonnaise and killing all the flavors underneath.
This is a healthier version of tacos and a great new way to serve fish fingers. I used a lighter version of sauce with a super healthy coleslaw marinate and cooked my fish fingers with my air-fryer for a super healthy well-balanced meal. And because it is a family meal that Jeanna will enjoy also, I skipped the hot sauce for her version.
Breaded fish fingers tacos
Ingredients
For the coleslaw salad:
- 300 g white cabbage finely shredded
- 200 g red cabbage finely shredded
- 100 g carrots julienned
- 100 g green capsicum finely sliced
- 2 clove garlic minced
- 25 g salt
- 15 g brown sugar or white
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 handful fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 mango diced into bite size
For the sauce:
- 100 g low fat yoghurt
- 25 g light mayonnaise
- 15 g lime juice
- ¼ tsp salt
- 10 g smoked paprika
- 1 tsp honey
- 20 g cucumber pickles finely diced
- 10 g fresh dill
- 10 g fresh parsley
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp tabasco sauce skipped for baby version
For the fish taco:
- 15 soft 10 cm tortilla wraps see notes
- 30 breaded fish fingers see notes
- Extra mango and cilantro for garnish
- Lime wedges for garnish
Instructions
For the coleslaw:
- First, we start with a quick pickling for the coleslaw so it will release all the juices.
- In a bowl mix the chopped cabbages with carrots, onion and capsicum. Add the garlic, salt and sugar.
- Mix all the ingredients together rubbing the salt and sugar into the salad vegetables to make sure everything is dissolved and mixed. Set the salad aside for around 30 minutes to release all their juices while you prepare the other ingredients.
The breaded fish fingers:
- If you are preparing your fingers at home or they are store bought. Preheat your air-fryer at 200 C°.
- Add your fingers, spray with some oil (optional) and cook for 8 minutes, then flip and cook for 4 extra minutes. For 30 fingers I did two batches of cooking so I don’t overwhelm my air fryer and get that crispy outside texture.
Prepare the sauce:
- While the coleslaw is marinating and the fish fingers are cooking, prepare your sauce. In a deep bowl add all the sauce ingredients and whisk till smooth.
After 20 to 30 minutes:
- Remove the coleslaw veggies and add to a salad spinner or any strainer to drain al the liquid that they release. I found the salad spinner the best option to drain the veggies quickly. After all the juices have been drained from the veggies, add them to your mixing bowl and add the lime, honey, cilantro and diced mango and mix till everything is combined. Set aside for assembly.
After the fish fingers are cooked:
- You can toast your soft tortilla a little bit like I did or you can just skip this step. On the serving plate lay your tortilla and top it with some of the coleslaw salad, then the fish fingers than drizzle the sauce on top and garnish with extra coriander and mango. And enjoy!!
Video
Notes
- For the tortilla: you can use any kind of tortilla you like and even if you like to prepare it in a bigger size as a wrap you can. You can also use the hard-shell tacos but for me, I prefer the soft ones
- For the breaded fish: you can make your own at home following my recipe linked here. I use the same recipe but cut them into fingers instead of bigger pieces, but you can keep the size big and flake the fish after cooking into smaller chunks.
- For the assembly: if you are preparing those wraps for a big crowd for a dinner party or something like that, you create a big tacos board with the salad in a bowl and the sauce in a separate bowl, and the tacos covered in a bowl and the fish in another bowl with an extra bowl of toppings for garnish like mango, coriander, lime wedges, hot sauce, … and serve it as a big board of tacos where everyone can assemble his own tacos to their liking.
- For meal prep and storing: you can chop your salad and store it separately. if you mix, it will stay good up to 2 days after. and if you don’t mix, it will stay up to 1 week. Just marinate and mix before serving or packing for the lunchbox. For the sauce, it will stay good also after mixing for up to 2 days. The cooked fish fingers will stay fresh for 72 hours in the fridge. For me, I prefer to just prepare the chopped veggies for the salad and store them. and whenever I want to serve, I mix the sauce, the salad and cook my fingers just before serving.
- for the serving: in this recipe, I used two fish fingers to make 15 tacos