Easy Fish Tacos with Blackened Cod

Delicious, easy blackened fish tacos with the most delicious seared blackened cod! The fish is pan-seared in a nonstick skillet for easy cleanup (and no frying!) with a delicious, easy homemade blackening seasoning. These come together in under half an hour and are delicious served with poppyseed slaw and peach salsa.

This, my friends, is our summertime, weekend, weeknight, anytime super fun taco night plan. Blackened fish tacos with cod, a delicious blackening seasoning, and your favorite Mexican side dishes.

These are seriously yummy tacos, and you make them yourself in half an hour.

I'm all about a fried fish taco (very into this always), but truly frying things at home is such a pain. For home seafood cooking, give me delicious pan seared cod anytime. Let's do it.

Recipe Notes

• For these easy fish tacos, I use cod - frozen or fresh, whatever you find at the store. Cod is almost buttery tasting, very mild, and not expensive. If you aren't into cod, halibut, flounder, and tilapia all work really well in this recipe.
• I like flour tortillas for tacos, but using corn tortillas will make this meal gluten free.
• The blackening seasoning in this recipe is not spicy, but feel free to add some cayenne pepper if you'd like to make the dish spicy. OR, use a blackening seasoning you already have on hand to make these tacos even faster.

Blackening Seasoning Ingredients

For this blackened fish taco recipe, you'll want to set aside a little time to make some side dishes before you make the fish. OR, pro tip, I'm very into making the fish and having other people bring side dishes.

For the blackened cod itself, you'll need fish (duh), chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, cumin, taco shells, and a little olive oil for cooking.

I cut the fish into stick-like shapes, but sometimes I cook the cod in larger pieces and like that method as well, just flake it a bit as you assemble the tacos to make everything fit nicely.

Step By Step Instructions

The fish part of these fish tacos (hello, hi, duh) comes together really quickly, so I usually prep my side dishes and measure spices, then make the blackened cod very last right before serving.

(not to tell you what to do, but having some sour cream guacamole out with chips and drinks is a nice touch during this "yes everything smells like fish" cooking moment).

Heat a pan to medium-high with some olive oil or cooking spray, then grill the fish on the first side until the edges turn white, about 5 minutes.

If the pan is nice and hot the fish will be very crispy and moist on the inside - yum!  Once you can see white on the edges of the fish, flip it and cook it for 2 or 3 minutes until completely cooked through.

Then, remove the cooked fish to a plate and let it cool for a few minutes, then break it up with a fork into large crumbles.

Doesn't this look delicious?  

I serve this meal buffet-style so people can make whatever incarnations of tacos they'd like - it's always a crowd pleaser!

Don't forget all the other stuff we made to go on top of these beauties, and serve these for quick, easy entertaining soon!

This post was originally published in November 2011 and has been updated with better instructions and images. It's the same delicious recipe!