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Easy Fish Taco Bowls

Fish Taco Bowls have all the fixins of your favorite fish tacos but are much simpler to make and eat!

These are great any day of the week and if you want to boost the heat a bit, consider adding some chopped jalapeno to the mix.

Fish Taco Bowls with beer battered cod, toppings and a brightly colored towel, avocado and lime next to the bowl.

Fish Taco Bowl Ingredients                                    

  • Grilled or battered cod, mahi, mahi, halibut or flounder filets
  • Red bell pepper
  • Poblano pepper
  • 2-3 ears fresh corn
  • Pico de gallo
  • Black beans
  • Shredded cheddar cheese, (optional)
  • Cilantro
  • Shredded cabbage
  • Avocado
  • Cooked rice
  • Serrano pepper

Try making my homemade pico de gallo recipe or use store or restaurant pico de gallo.

Fish Taco Bowl Sauce Ingredients         

  • Sour cream                                                    
  • Tabasco or other hot sauce
  • Fresh lime juice                                              
  • Pinch of salt, or to taste                                                         

(Scroll down to the bottom for the printable recipe card with exact measurements and instructions.)

Fish Taco Bowls with beer battered cod, toppings and a brightly colored towel, avocado and lime next to the bowl.

How to Make Fish Taco Bowls

This is a fun recipe that works great for solo cooking, but if you want to try a date night cooking setup this recipe can be made by two or more people thanks to the chopping and shredding needed for the cabbage, corn, and peppers.

You can prepare these Fish Taco Bowls with either grilled fish or some frozen battered fish filets, which are delicious enough to stand on their own. There are some great brands out there and I’ve found some great beer-battered cod (from Gorton’s but there are others that are good, too).

Fish Taco Bowls are flexible. You can use any toppings that sound good, and when it’s made in our house we try to use equal amounts of all ingredients; some battered or grilled fish, fresh corn off the cob, shredded cabbage, cooked rice, chopped red bell pepper, chopped poblano pepper, cilantro, a little cheese, avocado and Serrano pepper.

The simple dressing for these taco bowls is a simple one; sour cream, hot sauce (usually Tabasco), fresh lime juice and a pinch of salt.

Toss it all together and you have a delicious Fish Taco Bowl that everyone will devour. This is one of those shortcut meals that everyone loves – especially me, since it saves me so much time!

Fish Taco Bowl Variations

The first thing to remember is that different people prefer different fish. Believe it or not, some people like to try this recipe using all ingredients listed with one major exception–they use ordinary fish sticks in place of the recommended options. That is one way to do it, and it’s a useful hack if you are pressed for time.

But others turn their nose up at frozen varieties, seeking out fresher options. Any mild white fish can make a good fish taco. Some people enjoy tilapia as an alternative but others feel the flavor of that fish is a bit too earthy for a taco. It all comes down to personal preference.

Edible Taco Bowl Variation

Some are also very into the idea of making this recipe using an edible bowl. You can buy these, but did you know you can make them from tortillas at home using a simple frying and baking process?

You fry the tortillas in a pan until they get puffy. Don’t use too much oil! Once they are puffed out, bake them in the oven at 350 until golden brown. You will have to babysit these a bit but it won’t take long for them to be ready.

Black Bean Hacks

When preparing the black beans, if you aren’t using canned beans, it’s smart to soak the beans ahead of time for about 8 hours. Undercooking black beans leaves them tough, but if you don’t want to cook raw black beans, the canned variety works well.

Low Carb Variation

These taco bowls are healthy already but you can substitute the rice with lettuce, coleslaw, cauliflower rice or quinoa.

Fish Taco Bowls with beer battered cod, toppings and a brightly colored towel, avocado and lime next to the bowl.

Some prefer to use canned refried black beans instead of soaking and cooking black beans at home. Many sources caution against eating raw or undercooked black beans; it’s best to heed this advice.     

This is one of those shortcut meals that everyone loves – especially me, since it saves me so much time!

Fish Taco Bowls with beer battered cod, toppings and a brightly colored towel, avocado and lime next to the bowl.

Easy Fish Taco Bowls

Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

These easy Fish Taco Bowls have everything from your favorite tacos but are much simpler to make and eat!

Ingredients

  • 4 grilled or battered cod fillets
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 poblano pepper, chopped
  • 2-3 ears fresh corn, kernels removed and cobs discarded
  • 1 cup pico de gallo
  • 1 cup black beans
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, (optional)
  • 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
  • 1 cup shredded cabbage
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • 1 cup cooked rice
  • 1 serrano pepper, sliced

SAUCE

  • 1 cup sour cream
  • Tabasco or other hot sauce, to taste
  • juice of one lime
  • pinch of salt, or to taste

Instructions

  1. Mix together sauce ingredients and set aside.
  2. Cook the fish according to the package directions.
  3. Assemble the cooked fish and the remaining ingredients in 4 dinner bowls or plates. Drizzle with the sauce and serve.

Notes

Cod can be substituted with mahi, mahi, halibut or flounder filets, any flaky white fish.

This bowl is delicious with any meat. Steak, chicken, pork and shrimp are great substitutes if someone doesn't like fish.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 496Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 73mgSodium: 376mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 11gSugar: 9gProtein: 24g

This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix.

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Kristy Bernardo
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