The BEST Vegan Baja Fish Tacos! Loaded with citrus cabbage slaw, mango-avocado ceviche, and Puerto Rican mayo-ketchup.
Vegan | Gluten-free | Soy-free
Did someone say “THE PERFECT SUMMER RECIPE”? This recipe tastes straight out of Ensenada, Baja California; hence the name, Vegan Baja Fish Tacos!
These vegan fish tacos will change your life. I have to tell you, I think this recipe bumped itself up to the Top 5 of my favorite recipes I’ve made. Once you make this, you’ll understand why; every single layer of this recipe is PACKED with flavor.
But how do you make Vegan “Fish” Tacos? The secret to nailing vegan “fish” lies in an unusual veggie called hearts of palm. When seasoned and cooked correctly, the texture of hearts of palm can resemble some seafood. I’ve used it before for my vegan ceviche recipe and it’s insanely accurate. For this recipe, the hearts of palm are battered and fried, then served on top of citrusy red cabbage slaw and mango-avocado ceviche, topped with an incredible vegan mayo-ketchup.
I know it looks like a lot of steps, but don’t let this intimidate you. In reality, this recipe may take up to 45 minutes, with prepping, cooking and assembling, which to me seems like a win! And as always, no fishies were harmed in the making of this recipe.
Notes– There are a couple of variations that will enhance/take this recipe to the next level:
- Any recipe that requires a batter, can become a beer batter situation😉 Just substitute the room-temperature water for a chilled pale ale or lager.
- Hearts of Palm are pretty accessible when they come in cans. However, I have to admit that I absolutely hate the smell of canned hearts of palm. There’s no way I could eat them on their own. If you can’t easily find them or you can’t stand them, you can substitute them for portobello or oyster mushrooms.
- For this recipe I chose the mango-avocado ceviche, because it’s mango season in Puerto Rico and we have a sh*t ton of mangoes in my house, and I don’t want them going to waste. However, if you don’t want to use mango, you can substitute with papaya, cantaloupe or even peach.
- Making a bigger batch? This recipe is easily adjustable. The most important thing here is to have equal amounts of water & flour; so if you double up on water, double up on flour.
- For an extra seafood taste, add some finely chopped nori sheet to the batter. But this is completely optional; hearts of palm already have a seafood taste.
- Important: Each hearts of palm will give you 4 pieces; that means that if 1 can brings 8 hearts of palm, you’ll end up having 32 pieces hence making 16 tacos. Since I was only cooking for two people, I used 3 hearts of palm (12 pieces) for our tacos, yielding 6 tacos.
Recipe: Vegan Baja Fish Tacos
Yield: 8 tacos
Total time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
For the “Fish”
- ½ jar hearts of palm (about 4 hearts of palm)
- ½ cup all-purpose flour (use garbanzo flour if gluten-free)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ cup water (room temperature)
- Oil for frying
Mango-Avocado Ceviche
- 1 lime
- 2 small mangoes, cubed (or 1 big mango)
- 1 avocado, cubed
- ½ red onion, diced
- ½ yellow or orange bell pepper
- Optional: 1-3 cloves of garlic, minced
Other:
- 2 extra limes (one for serving)
- 2 cups purple cabbage, shredded
- 8 small corn tortillas
- Seasonings: salt, pepper, paprika, turmeric (optional), garlic & onion powder, and parsley.
- Optional: nori sheet, finely chopped
- Mayo-Ketchup sauce
Procedure
- Place shredded cabbage in a bowl and squeeze over the juice 1 lime and sprinkle a pinch of salt. Combine and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine the mango, avocado, bell pepper, minced garlic and red onion. Squeeze 1 lemon, season with salt & pepper, combine until evenly mixed and set aside.
- Then prepare the mayo-ketchup sauce, following the instructions here.
- In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and seasonings (salt, pepper, paprika, turmeric (optional), garlic & onion powder, and parsley) to taste. Add in the water to make the batter, just like pancake batter; make sure there aren’t any lumps. This is also the step where you would add the nori sheet if desired.
- Next, drain & rinse the hearts of palm. Then slice them crosswise and lengthwise into four even pieces. Each taco should have 2 pieces.
- Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat and prepare a plate lined with paper towels.
- While the oil is heating up, warm up the tortillas. You can either slightly toast them in the oven to 350F for 5 minutes, in a pan or in the microwave.
- Drop in a few pieces of hearts of palm into the batter and fry them in hot oil for about 2-3 minutes on each side (or until golden). Then remove them from oil and place in a paper-towel lined plate to drain.
- Assemble each taco with shredded cabbage, mango ceviche, 2 fried “fish” pieces, and drizzle on the mayo-ketchup. If desired, serve with a slice of lime on the side. ENJOY!
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