• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Girl Heart Food®
  • Home
  • Recipes
  • About
  • Subscribe
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • Recipes
  • About
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » Handheld Meals

    Oven Baked Fish Tacos

    Published: March 22, 2016 Updated: March 17, 2022 / By: Dawn | Girl Heart Food 45 Comments

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    Jump to Recipe
    Oven-baked fish taco drizzled with chipotle sauce.

    These oven baked fish tacos are bursting with flavour! The fish has a nice crispy coating, there’s lots of fresh garnish and it’s all topped with a spicy and smoky chipotle sauce. Plus, these baked fish tacos are on the table in under 25 minutes!

    Oven-baked fish taco drizzled with chipotle sauce.

    Hey everyone! Happy taco Tuesday!

    Today I’m bringing you an easy fish taco recipe. These are unreal. The sauce is the bomb dot com. I think I could honestly tip the entire batch of sauce on my head & pour it into my pie hole and call it a day. Seriously. But that would be way inappropriate and then there would  be none left for the tacos and that would be a shame (I kid, I kid)!

    How To Make Them

    1. Cut fillets into pieces.
    2. Dredge in spice mixture.
    3. Dip into egg mixture.
    4. Dredge in cornflake mixture and press to adhere.
    5. Bake fish and assemble tacos.

    That’s pretty much the basics of this tilapia taco recipe (full details are in the recipe card below).

    Strips of raw tilapia in a a white casserole dish.
    Strips of raw tilapia coated in a spice mixture in a white casserole dish.
    Breaded tilapia fish strips on a sheet pan after being baked in the oven.

    Chipotle Sauce

    Now for these tilapia fish tacos, you’re gonna want a delicious sauce, right? Well this chipotle sauce recipe is really really good!

    Initially, I intended to make a chipotle mango sauce for this recipe, but when I started to peel the perfectly firm and ripe mango it was brown on the inside. Bummer. I guess that’s all you can do when you live on an island and much of the province’s food has to be shipped in from elsewhere.

    Now, it’s not what you may be thinking; it’s not an island like in the Caribbean or something where there are loads of white sandy beaches and turquoise blue oceans all romantical and stuff (yes, I made this word up and yes I do use it).  

    Despite not living in the Caribbean, I really love where I live. We have lots of trees and obviously surrounded by water, but it can get cold. And I think we have like 2 weeks of warm summer weather, that’s if we’re lucky. What we don’t have in weather we make up for in beautiful scenery, a rich culture and unique food.

    All this and, not to mention, if you aren’t from here and you visit you can get ‘screeched in’ where there’s a whole process involving you kissing a cod. Yeap, pucker up, baby! Don’t worry, it’s followed by a nice shot of rum. Ha!

    Anyhow, onto this easy chipotle sauce for those delicious fish tacos.

    So to make this fish taco sauce you simply place all the ingredients (mayonnaise, yogurt, chipotle peppers, lime and salt) in a food processor and process until smooth. Nothing to it!

    If you don’t want to mess with making a sauce, you can certainly use salsa or your favourite hot sauce instead.

    Chipotle sauce in a small food processor.

    Tips and Variations

    For these tacos, tilapia was used because I like the texture and firmness of it. Cod is another great option.

    Make the sauce for tacos as spicy as you like. If you want more spice, add a little more chipotle or adobo sauce. If you like it less spicy, add less.

    Don’t have cornflake crumbs? Use panko bread crumbs! These oven baked fish tacos will still be crispy, golden and delicious!

    Six fish tacos on a wooden serving board next to lime wedges and a whole lime.

    Garnish Ideas for Fish Tacos

    • Chipotle Sauce (as above)
    • Chopped cilantro
    • Sliced red onion or pickled onion
    • Diced or sliced avocado or guacamole
    • A good squeeze of fresh lime

    More Yummy Recipes

    • Easy Shrimp Tacos
    • Chickpea Tacos
    • Chunky Black Bean and Corn Salsa

    If you try these baked fish tacos, be sure to leave a comment below!

    Oven-baked fish taco drizzled with chipotle sauce.

    Oven Baked Fish Tacos

    Dawn | Girl Heart Food
    These oven baked fish tacos are bursting with flavour! The fish has a nice crispy coating, there's lots of fresh garnish and it's all topped with a spicy and smoky chipotle sauce. Plus, these baked fish tacos are on the table in under 25 minutes!
    Print Recipe Save RecipeSaved!
    Prep Time 10 mins
    Cook Time 12 mins
    Total Time 22 mins
    Course Main Course
    Servings 6 tacos
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Ingredients
     

    Chipotle Sauce

    • ¼ cup light mayonnaise
    • ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
    • 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
    • 1 tablespoon lime juice, from about ½ of a lime
    • ¼ teaspoon salt

    Tacos

    • 2 (6 ounce) tilapia fillets (boneless and skinless)
    • 1.5 teaspoon ground cumin
    • ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    • 1.5 teaspoon chili powder
    • 2 eggs
    • ½ cup cornflake crumbs
    • 6 flour tortillas, warmed according to package instructions
    • Cooking spray, to grease sheet pan and fish

    Garnish and Serving Ideas (optional)

    • Red onion, thinly sliced
    • Red cabbage, thinly sliced
    • Avocado, halved, pitted, peeled and sliced
    • Jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced
    • Cilantro, roughly chopped
    • Lime wedges

    Instructions

    Chipotle Sauce

    • Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process to combine. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

    Tacos

    • Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahreneheit.
    • Carefully cut each fish fillet into about 6 strips. Should have about 12 strips (pieces) in total, roughly.
    • Get you dredging station ready: In a shallow dish, mix together cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper and chili power. Then, whisk egg in a bowl. Finally, place cornflake crumbs on a shallow plate.
    • Start dredging your fish. Dredge each fish strip in spice mixture, shaking off excess. Then, dip into egg mixture, again shaking off excess. Finally, dredge in cornflakes, pressing to adhere.
    • Spray a sheet pan with cooking spray. Spread fish strips out onto pan and spray them with cooking spray (optional).
    • Bake for 10 minutes; turn fish and bake for 2 minutes more or until fish is cooked through, is opaque and flakes easily with a fork (insert the tines of a fork into the thickest part of the fish at an angle and twist gently; it should flake easily). Once done, remove from the oven.
    • Meanwhile, while fish is cooking in the oven, you can warm the tortillas in a dry cast-iron pan over medium heat (optional) or per package instructions.
    • To assemble tacos, place two strips of fish in each taco, garnish (as desired) and drizzle with chipotle sauce. Serve immediately with lime wedges (if using). Enjoy!

    A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.

    Keyword easy fish tacos, tilapia fish tacos

    Tried this recipe?

    If you do make this recipe, thank you!! It would mean so much if you could leave a comment below. Love to know how you enjoyed it, and it helps other readers too!

    « Easy Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe
    Traditional Newfoundland Cod au Gratin »
    • Facebook
    • Twitter

    © Girl Heart Food Inc. All photographs and content are COPYRIGHT PROTECTED.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Meg | Meg is Well

      February 07, 2017 at 6:40 pm

      I want to have these with a margarita or ice cold beer! That batter looks so crispy! I love chilies in adobo sauce-I started putting the extras I don’t use in a jar and freeze them whenever I want a little spice in my life.

      Reply
      • Girl Heart Food

        February 07, 2017 at 6:55 pm

        I hear ya, Meg! I actually had them for dinner tonight and they hit the spot! I love chipotle peppers and use them regularly. I’ve never thought about freezing them….great idea! Thanks so much for stopping by 🙂

        Reply
    2. smitha

      April 11, 2016 at 2:22 am

      I cant wait to comment. drooling over and this is my favorite. Just feeling like grabbing my part and enjoying

      Reply
      • Girl Heart Food

        April 11, 2016 at 8:03 pm

        Thanks Smitha! I love fish tacos too! They’re awesome, aren’t they?

        Reply
    3. Kevin | Keviniscooking

      April 01, 2016 at 3:04 pm

      So happy to have found your site. Living here in San Diego I eat many a fish taco and this one sounds right up my alley for sure. Methinks I’ll be make reading this blog a routine, love your writing, and from looking at the other commenters, I feel I am in good company. Thanks Dawn!

      Reply
      • Girl Heart Food

        April 01, 2016 at 3:31 pm

        Thanks so much, Kevin!! That’s very nice of you to say, appreciate it a lot 🙂 Hope you get a chance to try the recipe; I’d love to hear how you like them. Have a great weekend!!

        Reply
    4. Kathryn @ Family Food on the Table

      March 29, 2016 at 11:38 am

      Taco night is of course a favorite around here and I’m partial to fish tacos myself! I love how you stepped it up a couple of notches with this smoky sauce – yum! (And good riddance mango – that happens to me, too, even not on an island… sometimes it makes way for better things!) Can’t wait to give these a try for a new twist on taco Tuesday!

      Reply
      • Girl Heart Food

        March 29, 2016 at 7:21 pm

        I’m partial to fish tacos too, Kathryn! So light so I don’t mind eating an extra one 😉 Hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Have a great week!

        Reply
    5. Rachelle @ Beer Girl Cooks

      March 25, 2016 at 2:05 pm

      What a perfect Taco Tuesday recipe! That sauce looks fabulous with or without mangoes! I want to hear more about this very interesting island!

      Reply
      • Girl Heart Food

        March 25, 2016 at 3:05 pm

        Thanks Rachelle! It is pretty interesting around here 🙂 Have a Happy Easter weekend!!

        Reply
    6. Serena @ Serena's Kitchen

      March 24, 2016 at 2:52 pm

      These look amazing! Fish tacos totally remind me of summer, and I could really use that thinking today because it is really blah out there! Maybe I’ll whip up some of these fish tacos, set up my lawnchair in the living room, crank up the heat, and pretend it’s summer out! Oh yeah, and crack a nice cold beer to go with these as well of course 😉 .. Yikes only 2 weeks of summer weather, where are you? Sounds pretty though!

      Reply
      • Girl Heart Food

        March 24, 2016 at 2:58 pm

        Thanks for stopping by Serena! Appreciate the comments 🙂 That sounds like a great plan to me 😉 I know, we have a fair bit of rain in the Summer or fog or it’s not supper warm. Last Summer the weather was not great at all. That’s Newfoundland’s weather for ya!! Have a great weekend, girl!

        Reply
    7. demeter | beaming baker

      March 24, 2016 at 10:40 am

      Dawn!! Did I tell you that I always start smiling when I read your posts? 🙂 <— see? 😉 This sauce looks absolutely spectacular. I may just need to dip chips in this, crackers in it, cookies… erm… Ahem. Oh, forget it! I'm just gonna pour the whole lot of it in my mouth. Loved hearing about your island life. Erik and I dream of moving to Hawaii one day. Sigh… In any case, I just LOVED your step by step photos. Thanks for an amazing post, Dawn! Have a wonderful weekend. xoxo

      Reply
      • Girl Heart Food

        March 24, 2016 at 10:58 am

        Thanks Demeter! Appreciate that and so nice of you to say!! I’m right there with ya on the sauce! Maybe I should have just named the post, Smoky Chipotle Sauce with Oven Baked Fish Tacos, lol!! Hawaii sounds delightful, especially since it’s soooo cold and windy here today. Still have my winter jacket and boots on. I could do with some warm weather right about now. So happy you enjoyed the post, girl! Have a wonderful weekend too! xo

        Reply
    « Older Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Profile picture of Dawn from Girl Heart Food.

    Hi, I'm Dawn! Welcome to Girl Heart Food, a food blog that's all about easy comfort food recipes (especially cheesy recipes) that'll satisfy your taste buds and make your belly happy. Have a look around and find something that'll inspire you to get into the kitchen and whip up something delicious to enjoy today!

    More about Girl Heart Food →

    Currently Trending

    • Stack of six cheesy ground beef quesadillas.
      Cheesy Ground Beef Quesadillas
    • Old-fashioned cabbage rolls with tomato sauce and dill garnish in a serving dish.
      Old-Fashioned Cabbage Rolls (Inspired by Nan)
    • Cheesy baked broccoli and cauliflower in a dish.
      Broccoli Cauliflower Bake (Vegetable au Gratin)
    • Ground turkey rice bowl.
      Ground Turkey Rice Bowls
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

    Footer

    ^ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use

    Newsletter

    • Sign up for emails & updates

    Contact

    • Contact

    Copyright © 2023 Girl Heart Food Inc.

    Girl Heart Food® is a Registered Trademark.

    Use of this site constitutes acceptance of its Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.