Love fish tacos? Love salad? Then you’ll love these easy Fish Taco Salad Bowls! They’re healthy with quickly-seared white fish and plenty of fresh vegetables. Serve with tortilla chips alongside or over top for extra crunch!
Fish tacos are one of my family’s all-time favorite kinds of tacos, although let’s be honest: they are pretty excited to see a taco of any kind at any time.
Turn Tacos into a Dinner Salad!
This recipe takes fish tacos, deconstructs them, and turns them into a salad. While fish tacos are often served in soft tortillas, in this case you get a bonus crunch in the form of tortilla chips. The chips can be used to scoop up delightfully messy bites of this salad, or crushed lightly and sprinkled on top. Or both!
This salad has so much going on in terms of color, texture and taste. The combo of garlic, cumin and chili powder gives the fish a classic taco-seasoning flavor. The fish is quickly seared on the stovetop, which keeps these taco bowls firmly on the healthy side.
Use any white firm fish that is the freshest (and if possible, go for Alaskan fish, which is delicious and very sustainable).
Top Your Bowls with a Quick Veggie Slaw
The vegetable slaw on top consists of a pretty tangle of radishes, onion, cucumber and peppers.
But change up this slaw as you like—other good ingredients would be thinly sliced fennel, olives, and another color of bell pepper. A combination of colored peppers would be especially vibrant, which is something to think about if you are multiplying the recipe for a crowd. Once you need to use more than one pepper, you might as well get another color in there!
Aptly-named watermelon radishes are popping up more frequently in farmers markets, in food magazine recipes, and on restaurant menus, and they look sensational when sliced: red on the inside, green out the outside. They are featured here, but you can use whatever radishes are available to you.
If you can find baby cucumbers, all you need to do is slice them crosswise and use them instead of the regular larger cucumbers.
More Ways to Enjoy Fish For Dinner!
Fish Taco Salad Bowl Recipe
- Prep time: 20 minutes
- Cook time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 8 radishes, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded, and cut into thin half moons
- 1/2 red onion, cut into wedges, then slivered
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced red or yellow pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
- 4 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 pounds flaky white fish fillets, such as cod, halibut, or red snapper, cut crosswise into 1-inch wide slices
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- 8 cups thinly shredded romaine hearts
- 2 tablespoons cider or rice wine vinegar
For serving:
- Diced avocado
- Fresh cilantro leaves (optional)
- Tortilla chips
Method
1 Prep the veggie slaw: In a medium bowl combine the radishes, cucumbers, red onion, peppers, 1 tablespoon of the lime juice, and 1 tablespoon of the oil. Season with salt and pepper.
2 Season and cook the fish: Mix together the cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper. Sprinkle it over the fish.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet (preferably nonstick or well-seasoned cast iron) over medium high heat. Add the garlic, swish it around, then add the fish without crowding (cook it in batches if necessary), and cook for 3 minutes. Then flip and cook for another 2 or so minutes until cooked through.
The pieces may fall apart a little as you cook them; that’s perfectly fine, since this is how you will serve them anyway. Place them on a serving plate and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice.
3 Assemble the salad and dressing: Meanwhile toss the lettuce with the vinegar and remaining 2 tablespoons oil, and season generously with salt and pepper.
4 Serve the bowls: Pile the lettuce into 4 individual shallow bowls. Break up the fish into bite-sized chunks, and divide the fish evenly between the bowls, piling it onto the lettuce.
Spoon the vegetable slaw in equal amounts over the fish, then top with avocado and cilantro, if desired, and serve with tortilla chips on the side.
