Baja Fish Tacos

With their crunchy fried fish complemented by sweet cabbage slaw and a spicy serrano salsa, Baja fish tacos are perfect for lunch on a hot day. I have eaten countless wonderful fish tacos on trips to La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur, and there are also great fish tacos where I live in Mazatlán, just across the Gulf of California from the tip of the Baja Peninsula. While I prefer to eat fish tacos somewhere with an ocean breeze, with the recipe below you can enjoy them even if you're landlocked. Pair them with a light-bodied beer like a pilsner or lager or a Coke—the drink of choice in many Mazatlán taquerías.

History of Baja Fish Tacos

These tacos were likely first served in Ensenada, Baja California, in the early 1960s, according to Ensenada’s former city historian, Arnulfo Estrada, among other sources. It started with a Sinaloan man nicknamed “El Bachigualato” who worked in Ensenada’s famous Mercado Negro fish market. Bachigualato would fry up the day’s catch for his own consumption while he worked. Over time, fishermen and other market-goers began to ask him for some of his fried fish, which he would share with them on a tortilla. Fried fish tacos were new to the area, but were clearly delicious since they quickly caught on.

Today, fish tacos can be found throughout the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur, as well as across mainland Mexico and the US. The recipe I am sharing here is by Francisco Gerardo Gaztelum Laredo, known as Paco, a second-generation taquero in Mazatlán, Sinaloa. Paco studied to be a teacher, earning a doctorate in education before taking over his family’s celebrated taquería, Tacos El Veneno, in Mazatlán several years ago. He’s familiar with these slightly sweet, Baja-style fish tacos partly from his travels to Baja California Sur, but he learned to fry fish tacos (which are common in many areas of Mexico) from growing up in the family business, and he gives his family a lot of credit for teaching him what he knows about cooking consistently crisp fish tacos.

Bachigualato’s original fish tacos were nothing more than seasoned fish that was fried and then served on a warm tortilla. But since then the recipe has evolved. Fish tacos in Baja can be beer-battered, dry-dredged, or grilled, among other options, and are served with a plethora of topping options—a creamy coleslaw and a spicy fresh salsa are standard. 

This Baja-style taco recipe uses a batter made with pancake mix, which is typical of Baja. Paco points out that the Baja region developed this battered and fried style of taco to cater to American tourist tastes, who frequent the region. The dried mix is thinned with soda water and creates a light, crisp coating on the fish when deep fried. It's served with a quick and easy coleslaw and a hot fresh serrano chile salsa.

Paco’s salsa de chile serrano is a special Tacos El Veneno recipe that he generously shared with me. Salsa recipes throughout Sinaloa are often as jealously guarded as state fair chili recipes in my home state of Ohio, so we’re lucky! It’s a simple but stunning sauce, combining deep-fried serrano chiles with salt, garlic, onion, and oil.

A mayonnaise-ketchup sauce, avocado, and various toppings complete the tacos. The combination of the fried fish with all of the toppings guarantees each bite is crisp, creamy, spicy, and bright. To understand the recipe, I first watched Paco prepare it before then preparing it myself repeatedly with his guidance. Read on for Paco’s tips for making taquero-worthy Baja fish tacos at home and to get the full recipe.

Paco's Tips for Making Great Baja Fish Tacos

Choose firm fish fillets that are free of bones. In the early iterations of his fish tacos, Bachigualato used angelshark, an unconventional choice even at the time. But its firm meat held up well to frying and there was no risk of biting down on a sharp fish bone (sharks have cartilage rather than bones). For this recipe, we’ll be skipping the shark. Instead, any firm white fish such as cod, haddock, flounder, or tilapia works well. Swordfish is another traditional choice that’s used throughout Sinaloa.

Soak the fish in a salt and vinegar solution. Before battering the fish, Paco briefly marinates it in a brine of salt and vinegar. He explains that this quick soak salts the fish evenly throughout and minimizes any fishy flavor, leaving the fried fish mild, juicy, and well seasoned. Just make sure not to let the fish sit in the vinegar for longer than 10 minutes, otherwise the vinegar will start to denature the protein structure in the fish, and “cook” the fish, making the flesh too firm, similar to ceviche.

Use pancake mix for the batter. The first thing I learned from Paco is to use store-bought pancake mix for the base of the batter. It’s not only easier than making batter from scratch—less portioning and scooping of ingredients—but he explained that the premade mix, with its measured added sugar, gave the fried fish its characteristic touch of sweetness, differentiating Baja-style tacos like these from other tacos capeados de pescado (batter-fried fish tacos). But instead of whisking the boxed mix with milk and eggs like you would for actual pancakes, here the dried blend is mixed with seltzer and a squeeze of yellow mustard, resulting in a fairly thick batter that clings to the fish evenly (the batter should be slightly thinner in consistency to actual pancake batter).

Monitor and regulate the frying oil. As with anything deep-fried, it’s important to use a lot of oil (enough to fill the pot about two inches deep) and to keep it hot: about 350 to 375℉. While I recommend using a thermometer to monitor the oil temperature, Paco monitors his oil temperature without a thermometer, dropping a strip of tortilla into the oil to check the temperature before beginning to fry the battered fish. He knows the oil is hot enough when the tortilla puffs and the oil around it bubbles when dropped into the pot. Once the oil was at temperature,I could see ripples of heat deep within the pan. 

The oil should react in the same way to each battered fish strip: a delicate explosion of bubbles that gradually slows down as water in the batter turns into vapor and bubbles away. Paco says that if you stop getting that characteristic explosion of bubbles when you add a fish strip, it’s time to turn up the heat and wait for the oil to get back up to its optimum temperature.

While Paco is a pro and can rely on his tortilla strip technique for monitoring the oil’s temperature, I still recommend a digital thermometer to check your frying oil temperature at home, and adjust the heat as needed to maintain the oil temperature between 375 to 350℉ while frying. You'll know that the fish strips are done when they turn golden-brown and there are fewer bubbles.

Top with a spicy fresh green salsa. Paco’s trick to the salsa is quickly frying its ingredients to soften them before blending and to deepen their flavors. When everything is blended with the oil, it transforms in a creamy, smooth hot sauce perfect for spooning down the length of each taco. Frying sweetens the onion, softens the garlic’s flavor, and tames the chile’s raw heat, and when blended with a neutral oil, the serrano’s deep-fried flavor and spice stands out without overpowering the fried fish. 

Don’t forget the slaw. A simple fresh cabbage-based coleslaw is a must for Baja-style tacos. According to Paco, most professional taqueros use green cabbage because it’s cheaper, but earthy purple cabbage is more striking in flavor and color. Paco prepares his slaw with shredded carrot and raisins for a little extra sweetness to counter the spicy serrano salsa.

Serve with a variety of toppings. While the original Ensenada tacos were just fried fish on a tortilla, over time it’s become standard to serve the tacos with a variety of toppings, like most other tacos.To counter the heat of the serrano salsa, Paco serves his with a quick mayonnaise-ketchup sauce, a standard topping found on restaurant tables throughout Baja. But if you prefer, you could also whip up some chiplotle mayonnaise for added smoky flavor. Avocado should find its way into the taco in some form, whether it’s sliced, guacamole or a thinner, taquero-style avocado salsa. To keep the colorful toppings coming, add pico de gallo and/or pickled red onions, a squeeze of lime, and your favorite hot sauce. Serve it all up on a hot corn tortilla and enjoy it with an ice cold drink.