Blackened Fish Tacos (with a creamy Cajun sauce!)

IT’S TACO TUESDAY!

Wait, it’s Wednesday.

YESTERDAY WAS TACO TUESDAY!

Tacos are one of those meals that we make on nights when one of us is working late.  They’re fast, easy to cook, and can be made with whatever we’ve got on hand.  In most cases, our tacos aren’t fancy.  We grab a boxed taco kit on the way home from work, brown some ground turkey, and we’ve got an instant dinner.  If we’ve got a bit more time, we’ll make chicken fajitas.  There was one night where I didn’t know that we were short on the cheese we use for topping, so Beard got beef fajitas and I topped mine with bleu and steak sauce and called it a cheesesteak taco.

On the other hand, we had some extra time last night, and some fish in the freezer that wasn’t set aside for anything.  In my opinion, fish tacos always feel fancier than the beef or chicken tacos, even though they take the same amount of time to make.  They can be dressed up a bit with fancy batters and breading, or go with just some spices.  These blacked fish tacos pack a huge punch of flavor into a meal with very little effort at all.

Start with some fish.  Note that this recipe is only a small batch of tacos, just enough to feed me and the Beard a couple of tacos each.  We used cod in this recipe, but it would work just as well with tilapia or any other white fish.  Pat it dry with some clean paper towels and set it aside while you make your spice coating.  Add the oil to your pan and get it nice and hot.

Next, for the spices, we’ll be going with a Cajun blend.  It’ll give you a great flavor with a decent amount of spicy heat that will go well with the creamy sauce that tops them.  While the pan heats up, mix the salt, garlic powder, paprika, pepper, onion powder, thyme, chili powder and chili flakes in a bowl.  You can adjust the amount of heat by using more or less chili powder or flakes to suit your needs.  Reserve 1 tsp of the spice blend for the cream sauce.

Press each side of the fish fillets into the spice blend.  Don’t worry if your fish falls apart, it’ll all cook the same way in the end.  Because the fish won’t take long to cook, let it sit on a plate and soak up those spices and take a few minutes to make your cream sauce.  Mix together the yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon and lime juices, dill, and the bit of Cajun spice that you saved.

At this point, your pan is hot.  You need it hot to sear those spices on to the fish.  Place each fillet into the pan, cooking for 3-4 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of your fish.  As your fish is cooking, heat up the tortillas. You can toast them on a griddle or stick them in the microwave for 15 seconds, whatever works for you.

Remove the fish from the heat and flake it up with a fork.

Now flake dat fish!Is everything heated and cooked that supposed to be?  Excellent!  Scoop your fish on the tortillas and top with the sauce and cheese.  Feel free to add whatever veggies or salsa that you might like, the possibilities are nearly endless.

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Blackened Fish Tacos

This cajun-spiced blackened fish taco recipe can be adjusted to meet your heat needs!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican, Seafood

Keyword cajun, spicy, taco

Servings 4 tacos

Ingredients

Blackened Fish

• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsps garlic powder
• 2 ½ tsps smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 ½ tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 3⁄4 tsp red pepper flakes optional, adjust to your preference
• 4 cod fillets, small
• shredded Mexican cheese blend
• 4 tortillas, small
• 1-2 tbsps vegetable oil

Creamy Cajun Sauce

• 1⁄4 cup Greek yogurt
• 1⁄4 cup mayonaise
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1 tsp dried dill
• 1 tsp Cajun seasoning

Instructions

For the Fish

1. Dry fish with some paper towels and set aside.  Heat the oil in a skillet until very hot.

   

2. While the skillet heats up, mix all of the dry ingredients in a small bowl, reserving 1 tsp for the sauce.  Press both sides of the fish into the spice mix, then put in the hot skillet.

   

3. Cook until the fish flakes easily, about for 3-4 minutes on each side depending on the thickness of your fillets.  While the fish cooks, heat up your tortillas using whatever method you choose.  When it's done, flake the fish with a fork before serving.

   

4. To make the creamy Cajun sauce, mix yogurt, mayo, dill, lemon juice, lime juice, and the reserved spice coating in a small bowl.

   

5. Assemble your tacos, topping with the cream sauce and cheese.  Feel free to add your own vegetable toppings, go wild!

   

Recipe Notes

We didn't add veggies to our own tacos, mostly because Tart won't eat them and Beard won't finish them before they'd go bad, and we don't want to waste the food.

The Tart

The Tart likes to eat, cook, and bake things.  She eats to work out, and she works out to be able to eat.