Easy Spice Rubbed Fish Tacos

It’s so super easy to make your own Easy Spice Rubbed Fish Tacos at home. Here, I just pan-seared some tilapia after letting it sit for a short time in a lime/spice rub to cook up a simple 25 minute Taco Tuesday weeknight dinner, but grilled is great too — and any firm white fish works in this recipe, if you don’t do tilapia.

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Up today in Sunday Scratchups (your weekly recipe from scratch around grocery sales and affordable ingredients), we have some Easy Spice Rubbed Fish Tacos! It’s so super easy to make your own fish tacos at home: Here, I just pan-seared some tilapia after letting it sit for a short time in a lime/spice rub, but grilled is great too.

I used tilapia to make my spice rubbed fish tacos this time, because hello: half price sticker! (These red stickers are among my favorite ALDI finds, but tilapia is an affordable choice in general.)

Don’t do tilapia? Any firm white fish fillets will work here if you’re not a tilapia fan! Cod is good, or I sometimes use mahi mahi for fish tacos (yum!) when it goes on sale.

Easy Spice Rubbed Fish Tacos

Ingredients

1 pound fresh tilapia fillets (or other firm white fish of choice)
Juice from 1 small lime
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 Tbsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (omit if sensitive to spice)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
Black pepper, to taste
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 Tbsp olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 a medium yellow onion, diced
Taco fixings of choice, such as tortillas, pico de gallo, black beans, cabbage slaw, fresh lime wedges, sour cream, salsa, avocado, cilantro…

Directions

Place the tilapia in a baking dish or on a large plate. Combine the lime juice with chili powder, cumin, cayenne, smoked paprika, oregano, black pepper, and Kosher salt to create a paste.

Rub the lime/spice rub into both sides of the tilapia and let it sit to marinate for about ten minutes.

While fish is marinating, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and garlic and saute for two minutes.

Add tilapia to the same skillet and cook it for 2-3 minutes per side (depending on thickness), until fish becomes opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

Flake the tilapia into pieces and serve with any taco fixings of your choice!

Note: You’ll definitely want to use your oven fan if pan-searing the fish as I did here, but can grill instead if you prefer. If using frozen fish, let it thaw before doing the spice rub.

Finished fish tacos in under 30 minutes

Easy spice rubbed fish tacos are a great choice for a quick weeknight dinner, since you can have your finished tacos on the table in about 25 minutes start to finish! The fish tacos themselves are naturally gluten free (if you serve them on corn or other GF tortillas), low carb (if you serve them on a low carb wrap), and dairy free (if you don’t top with cheese), making this an easily adaptable recipe for different dietary needs or preferences.

These simple & flavorful tilapia tacos were a hit here with all my boys here, although everyone topped theirs with something slightly different — and, any keto folks can just swap out the flour tortillas for low-carb tortillas or cheese wraps. I’ll call this a win-win-win for Taco Tuesday, fish on Friday, or an easy dinner idea for any busy weeknight.

Easy Spice Rubbed Fish Tacos, printable recipe

Save Recipe! Saved Recipe!

Print Pin

Easy Spice Rubbed Fish Tacos

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

It's so super easy to make your own fish tacos at home: Here I just pan-seared some tilapia after letting it sit for a short time in a lime/spice rub, but grilled is great too — and any firm white fish works if you don't do tilapia.

Course dinner

Cuisine tacos

Keyword 30 minute meals, fish tacos, sheet pan tilapia, weeknight dinner, white fish

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Rachel Singer

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh tilapia fillets or other firm white fish of choice
• Juice from 1 small lime
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 Tbsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper omit if sensitive to spice
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• Black pepper to taste
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 a medium yellow onion diced
• Taco fixings of choice, such as tortillas, pico de gallo, black beans, cabbage slaw, fresh lime wedges, sour cream, salsa, avocado, cilantro…

Instructions

• Place the tilapia in a baking dish or on a large plate. Combine the lime juice with chili powder, cumin, cayenne, smoked paprika, oregano, black pepper, and Kosher salt to create a paste.
• Rub the lime/spice rub into both sides of the tilapia and let it sit to marinate for about ten minutes.
• While fish is marinating, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and garlic and saute for two minutes.
• Add tilapia to the same skillet and cook it for 2-3 minutes per side (depending on thickness), until fish becomes opaque and flakes easily with a fork.
• Flake the tilapia into pieces and serve with any taco fixings of your choice!

Notes

You’ll definitely want to use your oven fan if pan-searing the fish as I did here, but can grill instead if you prefer. If using frozen fish, let it thaw before doing the spice rub.

Recipes in the real world

Be sure not to miss the free ALDI meal plans, which show you how to use these easy family recipes to meal plan affordably and realistically for your family. Or, find more recipe ideas with the Recipe Search!