Tropical Fish Tacos with Pineapple Salsa
Have you ever been locked out of your car in a parking lot with two small children and a shopping cart full of groceries? Just curious.
Hey, look! Tropical Fish Tacos!
I learned something interesting about pineapples this week. I was in Whole Foods picking up a few things and thought I’d grab a pineapple, too. I wasn’t planning on buying one at Whole Foods because I figured it’d be about $8, but I didn’t want to make a trip to another store. To my surprise they were $5. But they were organic so that wasn’t too bad. I pick one up and sniffed it to see if it was ripe. No smell. In fact, they were all as green as can be.
A produce guy meandered over and asked me if I wanted to know why they didn’t have a sweet smell.
Um, yes, please.
He informed me that most commercially grown pineapples are injected with artificial smells and artificial color to make them more yellow! (i.e. “Hawaii gold” pineapples) Is nothing sacred!?
I made him pick one out for me because my visual and olfactory (how’s that for a fancy word?) cues for picking a good pineapple were suddenly useless. Plus, it would be his fault if it didn’t taste good. I took it home, placed it by my kitchen window for a couple of days and hoped for the best.
You know what? It was a really good pineapple. I want to say it tasted more “real” than other pineapples, but that might be psychological because I knew there wasn’t anything artificial about it. We’ll just say it was a good pineapple.
AND it was absolutely fantastic made into a salsa, tossed over some coconut-crusted fish and drizzled with coconut crema. Oh, on a freshly-made corn tortilla. Have you ever made your own? You may never want to buy them again.
I’m officially ready for summer. And more tacos.
If you want to make these grain-free, omit the tortillas and use this Southwest Cabbage Slaw instead! (I actually tried it and loved it.)
Tropical Fish Tacos with Pinapple Salsa
When you make these Tropical Fish Tacos, please PLEASE make the pineapple salsa to go with it! It goes so beautifully with the coconut-crusted fish!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds wild-caught white fish fillets (cod, halibut, dover sole)
- 2-3 limes, divided
- 6 T coconut milk, divided
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1/2 cup Mexican crema or sour cream
- 2/3 cup unsweetened coconut
- 2-3 T coconut oil or other heat-safe cooking oil
- 8-12 corn tortillas, depending on the size
- For the Pineapple Salsa:
- 2 cups diced fresh pineapple chunks (about 1/2 of a medium pineapple)
- 1 cup diced cucumber
- 1 medium tomato, diced
- 2 T minced onion
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Pat the fish dry and place on a plate or rimmed baking pan. You may want to cut the fish into manageable pieces or you can leave the fillets whole. Sprinkle both sides of fish with salt and pepper, then drizzle 3 tablespoons of the coconut milk and juice from 1/2 a lime over the fish. Turn fish a couple of times to make sure they're coated. Let the fish sit for 15-20 minutes while you prepare the salsa.
- Combine the pineapple salsa ingredients in a medium bowl and squirt the juice from 1/2 a lime over the top. Stir to combine and set aside.
- Place sour cream in a small bowl and add the other 3 tablespoons of coconut milk, a squirt of lime juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside until you're ready to assemble the tacos.
- When you're ready to cook the fish, heat about 2 T oil in a pan over medium heat. Place the unsweetened coconut in a shallow dish, large enough to fit the fillets, and add a few pinches of salt and pepper. Toss to combine.
- Lift each piece of fish, letting the excess coconut milk drain off, and coat in the dry coconut. Place the coated fillets in the hot pan. To ensure that you don't lose all of the coating, make sure your pan is sufficiently hot.
- The fish should sizzle like crazy when you add it to the pan. Let the fish cook for a few minutes per side, flipping once. Let it form a good crust before you flip. Don't move the fish around or fiddle with it too much.
- When it forms a golden brown crust, it should come off the pan easily with most of the coating. You will lose a bit of the coating in the pan, just spoon out what you can between batches, adding more oil if necessary. I recommend covering the pan while it's cooking if the fillets are thick so the coconut doesn't burn before the fish cooks through.
- The fish should start to separate into layers and flake easily with a fork when done. Assemble tacos by putting a couple forkfuls of fish into the center of a tortilla and topping it with some pineapple salsa and a drizzle of coconut sour cream. Serve with lime wedges.
yum! this totally reminds me of summer and the lime in my margarita :) looks delicious, Natalie!
These sound absolutely wonderful. I will definitely be trying them! I love pineapple salsa. Also, corn tortillas are next on my to-try list after making flour tortillas in the fall. So basically, this meal is awesome.
Thanks Annie! I’ve yet to make flour tortillas, but that’s on my list as well :)
I’ll take 4 BILLION.
My husband hates pineapple but he absolutely looooooved the pineapple we ate in Hawaii. All the pineapples that are shipped out of Hawaii have to be picked before they are fully ripe, and they do not ripen anymore once they are picked. The ones there stay on the ground until the perfect ripeness. They are so much more flavourful than any other pineapple I have ever had. The smell once you cut into them is super potent and will flavour everything else in the fridge like pineapple. I miss those … nothing in the grocery store compares and it makes me sad.
These fish tacos look so good. Haven’t had fish tacos since the Foodbuzz festival!
Ah yes… I’ve heard that. I’ve never been to Hawaii, and I’m almost afraid to try the pineapples there because I won’t want to eat any when I get back!
These looks – insane. And am I ever ready for summer!!
I learned another trick to picking out pineapples, tug on one of the spiny sharp leaves out the center of the top and if it comes out easily you know it’s ripe. No need to rely on olfactory senses that might lead you astray. :)
Dang, is it weird to crave tacos at 7:30 am? Okay good.
I forgot about the leaf trick! I was surprised how sweet and ripe it tasted even though it was so green! BTW – thx for the FB shout out :)
Totally trying these out!! I love your recipes.
Fish tacos are always a good idea – – always. They are just so delicious … but now, you’ve taken it over the top with this salsa!! WOW – – I need to make these soon.. I know I will fall in love :)
I totally agree. The only fish tacos I’ve eaten that were seriously bad were at Red Robin… basically fishsticks in a tortilla with some kind of tartar sauce on top. Devestating. But I had that coming, I mean who orders fish tacos at a burger place? :)
Oh my word. Fake coloring and flavors in pineapples? I want to weep.
I almost did. *hands Janssen a tissue box*
Those look really yummy…You should make those when you come up :) Mom probably wouldn’t like them though cause they are sweet. She can have a different filling :)
Ya, mom doesn’t mix fruit and meat. Dad wouldn’t touch it either, and I wouldn’t even try anything like that if Grandma and Grandpa were there. My, you’ve become one of the adventurous eaters in the family! Never saw that one coming. Haha. If you come out and see me I’ll make them for you :)
I am obsessed with fresh pineapples. I can pretend I am on a tropical island when I eat them (as opposed to some starkly frozen land in the middle of winter). Lovely recipe.
Looks so wonderfully summery on a cold winters day–yum!
I still haven’t tried fish tacos. These look promising. I might have to make these this week. (That’s crazy about how they inject pineapples with that stuff! Really, nothing is truly what it seems anymore!)
Really?? Never?? Go over to Rubio’s in American Fork and try some. They have the best ones (they’re fried… that’s probably why).
I had no idea about pineapples! That’s pretty sad actually :( Your tacos look delicious though! I’ve been craving fish like crazy lately and these look perfect :D
There is nothing worse than getting locked out of the car. Okay, maybe not NOTHING but it’s pretty bad. you needed a good pineapple after that. I’m glad this one came through!
I could eat tacos every day…in fact, your post inspired me to make tacos, but it’s still morning here, so I will make an egg and sausage taco for breakfast :) Halibut is my all-time favorite fish and I never thought to put it in a taco – a fantastic idea. Gorgeous photos, lady! I am very impressed by your blog, so I have chosen it to receive the Versatile Blogger Award! Congrats and have a wonderful day!
Thanks so much Julia!
P.S. I love the breakfast taco idea! I ate scrambled egg tacos for a while when I was first pregnant because it was the only thing that sounded good!
Delicious!
Thanks!
I am so sold on these tacos. And pineapple salsa! Why didn’t I think of that?! I am really surprised to know that pineapples are injected with dye. I’ll cough up the extra money for organic pineapples from now on.
I was surprised, too. I felt a weird kind of betrayal. I mean pesticides are one thing, but dye? Artificial smells? GAH!
We LOVED these! My husband is still raving about them and making “Ooooooh, they were SO GOOD!” comments. I should probably mention that he normally doesn’t eat fish. We used tilapia, because that’s what we had, and store-bought white corn tortillas, because I’m not nearly as motivated as Natalie, but other than that we followed the recipe and it turned out so delicious. I LOVED the coconut crema (we used mexican crema)! I would like to try to bake the fish next time, just to see if it will work, and more of the crust will stay on. If not, we’ll go back to frying in coconut oil because it was very light and the fish was delicious. Thanks so much for this recipe, Natalie!