RECIPE: Catfish Tacos | StyleBlueprint (2024)

While tilapia and mahi seem to be the fish of choice at most Mexican restaurants, I really love making catfish tacos at home. (Is this Mexican-Southern fusion cuisine?!) Catfish are typically fried at restaurants in the South, but I make mine blackened at home. It’s easy, super tasty, and my whole family enjoys it.

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One thing I have learned to do to make these really pop is to serve them with a tartar sauce made with capers instead of pickles. Then, diced pickles are served as a topping, which works for my very divided family when it comes to #teampickles vs. #teamNOpickles. And, for all you pickle lovers, Grillo’s Pickles are soooooo very good on these tacos. If you know, you know. And, I know.

I highly suggest serving these with a Caesar salad, some sliced tomatoes, and this butter bean and corn salad for a meal that showcases a late summer bounty!

RECIPE: Catfish Tacos | StyleBlueprint (1)

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RECIPE: Catfish Tacos | StyleBlueprint (2)

RECIPE: Catfish Tacos | StyleBlueprint (3)

RECIPE: Catfish Tacos | StyleBlueprint (4)

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RECIPE: Catfish Tacos | StyleBlueprint (5)

Back to the catfish tacos … you’ll want to have a few things to top these tacos with. As already mentioned, diced pickles and caper tartar sauce (again, that’s a no-pickle tartar sauce) are great. Other toppings we always have on hand for our tacos include shredded cabbage, sliced red onion, and fresh cilantro. If you happen to keep pickled onions in your refrigerator, have those available as well. Sometimes I add corn to the tartar sauce. Green pepper is good, also.

Serve catfish tacos on corn tortillas — I prefer white corn tortillas with fish and yellow corn tortillas for meat. But that’s a personal preference, and both will work nicely.

Again, this is a really quick and easy dinner. You can make it midweek in a flash!

Catfish Tacos

Liza Graves

This super fast recipe uses blackened catfish. Catfish is a mild fish and most of the commercially sold catfish comes from Mississippi, so you're supporting a regional fish as well!

5 from 4 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican, Southern

Ingredients

1 pound catfish most catfish filets are about half a pound each, so for one pound, you'll likely need two fillets
1 tbsp blackening seasoning use your favorite blend
2 tbsp avocado oil
8 small white corn tortillas

Caper tartar sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp caper juice from the bottle the capers are in
1 tbsp chopped capers
1 tbsp chopped green onions
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice typically this is the juice from one half lemon
1/2 tsp black pepper

Toppings

handful cilantro
thinly sliced onions
shredded cabbage
pickled onions
lemon slices

Instructions

Rinse the fillets and pat them dry.
Sprinkle the blackened seasoning evenly on both sides of the filets, covering the entire filet.
Add oil to a frying pan (cast iron works well) and heat over medium-high heat. Once hot, place your fillets in the pan and cook for approximately 3 minutes on each side. If you prefer to cut the filets into strips, you can do that as well.
In a large skillet, heat the tortillas over medium-high heat while the fish cooks, which is about 90 seconds per side. I like to place about 4 tortillas at a time in a large skillet to heat them up.
Remove fish from the skillet and let sit for a couple minutes. Then cut and place a small section on each of your 8 tortillas and top with the toppings of your choice. For the photo above, I used Herdez guacamole salsa because I had some on hand and was feeling it! Be creative with your toppings — it will likely taste great!

No-Pickle Tartar Sauce (Caper Tartar Sauce)

Place mayonnaise, capers, caper juice, onion, black pepper, green onions, and lemon juice in a bowl. Mix. Taste to adjust black pepper or add salt.

Nutrition

Calories: 476kcalCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 22gFat: 33gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 15gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 78mgSodium: 586mgPotassium: 521mgFiber: 3gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 96IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 64mgIron: 1mg