These Vietnamese Fish Tacos feature pan-fried marinated halibut fillets and the freshest tomato and herb salsa. These fish tacos are healthy and refreshing, easy to make and Vietnamese-inspired.
Have you been on a bit of a health kick lately? Well look no further because these incredible fish tacos, Vietnamese-inspired, weigh in at just 349 calories for 2 tacos. No guilt!
These tacos are filled to the brim with aromatics like turmeric and ginger, super bright crispy veg like shredded cabbage and red onion, all topped off with lots of fresh herbs and a healthy squeeze of lime. Yum! Let’s not wait any longer and get a cookin’.
What Are Vietnamese Fish Tacos?
Vietnamese fish tacos are typically made up of a nice flaky white fish that’s been marinated in lots of lime juice, sugar, fish sauce and turmeric. It’s super aromatic, fresh, bright, and satisfying while also being nice and light. Not a fan of fish sauce? No worries, you can easily replace it with low sodium soy sauce.
What Is Turmeric?
Turmeric is what gives the fish this wonderful yellow color. Turmeric is a very powerful spice and has a long impressive list of uses and benefits. Feel free to add more if you want.
Ingredients
Detailed measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Marinade
- Aromatics – I really recommend using fresh garlic and ginger. If powdered is all you have on hand keep in mind that 1 tablespoon fresh is equal to 1/4 teaspoon dried.
- Turmeric – This bright spice is a must in this recipe, believe me. It’ll also be a great addition to your spice cupboard.
- Sugar – We need some sugar to balance out all the other flavors we’ve got going on in our dish.
- Fish sauce – This sauce is full of savory umami flavor and is a must in quite a few South East Asian dishes. Feel free to substitute it for low sodium soy sauce if you’re not a fan.
- Lime juice – Believe me fresh is always best in recipes like these, you’ll want the juice from about 1 lime.
- Meat – We want a nice flakey fish like Halibut.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper.
Salsa
- Onion – Green and red onion both, trust me on this one.
- Tomatoes – Cherry tomatoes chopped up.
- Herbs – Fresh basil, mint, and cilantro. Keep in mind that if dried is all you have on hand that 1 tablespoon fresh equals 1 teaspoon dried.
- Fish sauce – We want to carry that savory flavor all the way through the dish, if it’s too much fish for you feel free to omit.
- Lime juice – Believe me fresh is always best in recipes like these, you’ll want the juice from about 2 limes.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper
Taco ingredients
- Tortillas – Either corn or flour medium sized.
- Oil – A light tasting neutral vegetable oil like canola. To fry the fish fillets up in.
- Cabbage – Shredded up for bite and brightness.
- Hot sauce – I used sriracha which is my hot sauce of choice. Feel free to use whichever you’d like.
How To Make Vietnamese Fish Tacos
- Marinate the fish: In a medium size bowl combine all the fish marinade ingredients together, excluding the fish. Add the halibut pieces to the bowl and toss making sure each pieces is coated in the marinade. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.
- Create the salsa: Meanwhile, toss all the salsa ingredients together in a medium size bowl and refrigerate until ready to assemble tacos.
- Fry the fish: In a non stick skillet, heat the 1 tbsp of the vegetable oil. Add about half of the fish fillets and fry for about 2 to 4 minutes per side, they should start to lightly brown. Add the other tbsp of vegetable oil and repeat with remaining fish.
- Assemble the fish tacos: To assemble the tacos, fill each tortilla with some of the shredded cabbage, then with the halibut. Feel free to flake the fish a bit with a fork if necessary. Top with the tomato salsa generously then drizzle with some Sriracha sauce if preferred.
Can I Use A Fish Other Than Halibut?
If you’re not a fan of Halibut or can’t find it in your grocery store then you can sub it for any number of these:
- Cod
- Turbot
- Flounder
- Fluke
How to Serve
Now these light little morsels are a meal all of their own, but if you’d like to whip up some accompaniments I won’t stop you.
What Else Can I Use In My Tacos?
Don’t limit yourself to just what I’ve included in my recipe card, you can use whatever you’d like to in these tasty little hand held treats.
Meat
- Shrimp
- Carne asada
- Carnitas
- Steak
I’ve included recipes that include all these proteins in the section below if you’re wondering how to cook them for this dish.
Fillings
- Mango salsa
- Corn
- Avocado
- Lettuce
Leftovers
These components stored separately in airtight containers will keep for up to 3 days in the fridge. Unfortunately the components of this dish don’t freeze well so I don’t recommend making them that far in advance.
More Delicious Recipes To Try:
- Blackened Fish Tacos with Mango and Avocado Salsa
- Cajun Shrimp Tacos with Mango Salsa
- Steak Tacos with Chimichurri Sauce
- Steak Fry Bread Tacos
- Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Oven Baked Beef Brisket
- Fish Tacos
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Vietnamese Fish Tacos
Ingredients
Fish Marinade
- 1 teaspoon turmeric *
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce **
- 1 tablespoon lime juice fresh
- 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper or to taste
- 1 1/2 pound halibut fillets cut into 2 inch pieces
Salsa
- 6 green onions chopped
- 1/2 red onion chopped
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh basil chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh mint chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- salt and pepper to taste
Other Taco Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 12 medium tortillas
- 2 cups cabbage shredded
- Sriracha sauce optional
Instructions
- In a medium size bowl combine all the fish marinade ingredients together, excluding the fish. Add the halibut pieces to the bowl and toss making sure each pieces is coated in the marinade. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.
- Meanwhile, toss all the salsa ingredients together in a medium size bowl and refrigerate until ready to assemble tacos.
- In a non stick skillet, heat the 1 tbsp of the vegetable oil. Add about half of the fish fillets and fry for about 2 to 4 minutes per side, they should start to lightly brown. Add the other tbsp of vegetable oil and repeat with remaining fish.
- To assemble the tacos, fill each tortilla with some of the shredded cabbage, then with the halibut. Feel free to flake the fish a bit with a fork if necessary. Top with the tomato salsa generously then drizzle with some Sriracha sauce if preferred.
Recipe Notes
- * Turmeric is a powerful yellow spice made from a plant of the ginger family. Turmeric has a lot list of health benefits, for nearly every system in the body. It’s known for its antioxidant content and ability to work as an anti-inflammatory.
- ** Fish Sauce is a liquid that’s amber color and is extracted from the fermentation of fish with sea salt. This can be substituted with low-sodium soy sauce.
- You can use any type of white fish that you prefer, or that is available to you.
- Nutritional information is based on 2 tacos!
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
I just made these incredible Vietnamese tacos. Fresh, delicious and packed with flavour. Pow! I modified the recipe using fresh garlic paste and fresh squeeze ginger, parsley as I had it in my fridge. The fish sauce is pungent so start with minimum but I put a tad more in. I decided to use low sodium soy for the salsa verses the fish sauce and added yellow and red peppers to it. Also garnished with low fat sour cream and avocado. I did try the siracha as well and just layered another complexity of deliciousness! Yummy! Thank you. Ann
So glad you liked it, Ann!
Where is your SAVE OPTION? I miss it.
I am sadden today, as I tried to print this recipe, & as I pushed print it came up to another page without the “PRINT COMMAND”, so I was unable to print it out. I never refuse a good to “GREAT” taco recipe, as I thrive on them. I did try to post to “Face Book” so IO will see what happens. Love your sight, as I am a male retired widowed & no lovely lady to fix my meals. So I always watch to see what’s cook’n on your sight JO, as all looks so good!!!
At least you are trying to cook and doing new things. When you click on the recipe it will come up then just right click and select print and it should work. Thanks for following our recipes and trying them out. Please stay in touch and comment any time. Its great to have you as part of our Jo Cooks community
I had that problem with printing and found I needed to open my browser, go to jocooks.com, search for the recipe, and select print. For some reason when Pinterest takes you to the recipes you can’t print. Hope this helps.
The seasoning and colors on that halibut looks so delicious. I have got to try this =)