These Fish Tacos with Chipotle Crema are absolutely delicious! The fish for these tacos are dipped in a beer batter which uses cake flour before being fried, which means an incredibly light end result. Traditional toppings include cabbage and radish for crunch, avocado, cilantro, and an addictive chipotle crema. This recipe is simple to prepare, and worth the wait!
Two words:
FISH. TACOS.
Everyone loves em’, and I would dare to say that many people don’t make them at home.
Mistake #1.
In my research in Martha Stewart’s book, “Cooking School” (a.k.a. my cooking bible), I can’t tell you how many recipes I was drooling over. It’s not because they’re fancy. Or over the top. Or even use unique ingredients. The book focuses on making the basics – and making them well.
There’s a whole section dedicated to eggs. How to boil, baste, scramble, and poach. A chapter for vegetables. How to select the freshest of fresh, how to store them, and of course, delicious ways to prepare. A chapter for poultry. For desserts. For seafood. It’s an all-inclusive, educational guide to Food. I absolutely adore this book!
Let’s circle back to these Fish Tacos, mummy? ‘Cause I’m hungry, and you’re about to be.
OH MY GOSH. Come one! Fish Taco spread, #winning.
Golden fish, fried lightly and to perfection.
Red cabbage and radishes offer the perfect crunch.
Perfectly toasted corn tortillas.
Herbaceous cilantro. A squeeze of lime. Avocado (all of it).
A a drizzle of chipotle crema.
Hummina.
Ok let’s talk about this fish please because you guys know me and know that I’m not one to condone fried food.
Yes, the punctuation was missing from that sentence because I wanted to get it out in the open. Glad we’re clear on that.
I definitely try to keep things on the healthy side over here at So Happy You Liked It. But, I also like to keep things balanced. If I want a special occasion to feel extra special, dammit I’m going to make full fat ice cream. (My favorites here, here, and here).
And when I want Fish Taco…well, I’ve now learned that there isn’t a recipe out there that will convince me to make anything but this:
So unbelievably light – I forgot the fish was even fried!
Ha…says no one, ever. These were certainly fried you guys. In the lightest damn beer batter EVER.
The secret is using cake flour – which actually BLEW MY MIND when I read the recipe. Like, of course!
And I have to confess: this was my first frying experience EVER! I was definitely intimidated (hot oil splattering all over my stove and likely myself? No thanks).
But, as expected, Martha calmed those nerves. She walks you through the process with ease. Step by step. With helpful reminders (like not to let the oil to exceed a certain temperature throughout frying the fish – and adding room temp oil if gets too hot).
And, I am happy to report, it was (as I’m sure you suspected) a TOTAL FREAKING SUCCESS.
I’m not one to share my ravenous moments, but this one was pretty intense. Like, imagine Jabba the Hut, with his mouth wide open, having food poured down his throat. That was essentially me.
No words.
No breathing.
Grunting in approval.
No utensils.
Pouring copious amount of chipotle crema on every bite.
Yea…it was pretty disturbing. But I literally could not control myself with these tacos.
THEY WERE THAT GOOD.
Told you you’d be hungry.
Fish Tacos with Chipotle Crema
Ingredients
For the beer batter:
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup Mexican dark lager, (such as Negro Modelo)
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self rising)
- 1 Tbsp salt
For frying the fish:
- Vegetable oil, for frying
- 2 lbs skinless firm white fish, (such as cod or haddock)
For the chipotle crema:
- 1 cup sour cream or greek yogurt
- 2 tsp adobo sauce, (from canned chipotles)
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
To assemble tacos:
- 16 corn tortillas
- Purple cabbage shredded
- Radishes thinly sliced
- cilantro
- avocado, diced
- limes, for serving
Instructions
For frying the fish:
- Whisk eggs in a small bowl, and gradually whisk in the beer. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Slowly whisk wet ingredients in to dry. Mix until just combined - overmixing will not yield as crispy results. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes or up to 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. In a large cast iron pot, add 3 inches of oil, and heat to 375 degrees (use a candy or deep fryer thermometer). Be sure to watch the temperature of the oil, and don't let it exceed 375 during the cooking process.
- Once oil is ready, start coating the fish. Using tongs, carefully dip fish in to hot oil. Be sure to rotate the fish as it cooks, so it browns evenly. Cook until fish is cooked through, 5-7 minutes. As fish completes cooking, remove from oil on to paper towel lined baking sheet. Keep warm in the oven as remaining fish cooks.
For the chipotle crema:
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl mix greek yogurt, adobo sauce, lime juice, and salt. Stir to combine, and set aside.
To assemble tacos:
- Using tongs, one at a time place the tortillas over the flame of a gas burner until blackened. Keep tortillas warm in a kitchen towel.
- Arrange fish pieces on tortilla. Top with shredded cabbage, radishes, avocado, cilantro, and chipotle cream. Serve with extra limes!