| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 50 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Inactive: | 15 min |
| Cook: | 15 min |
| Yield: | 6 to 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup dark Mexican beer*
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 2/3 cup Mexican crema** or sour cream
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons water
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Oil, for frying
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
- 2 pounds skinned halibut cut into 5 by 1/2-inch strips
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Corn tortillas
- 2 cups shredded cabbage
- 2 cups tomatillo salsa (store-bought or homemade) for garnish, optional
- Pickled jalapenos, for garnish, optional
Instructions
- For the Beer Batter:
- Mix the flour, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Gradually add in the beer while whisking. Set aside and let the batter rest for 15 minutes before using.
- For Cream Sauce:
- Add the mayonnaise and crema to a medium bowl. Whisk in the lemon zest, lemon juice and water. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper (can be made 3 days ahead, covered and refrigerated).
- For the Fish:
- In a large skillet, over medium heat, add enough oil to reach a depth of 1-inch. Heat the oil until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 degrees F or when the end of a wooden spoon sizzles when inserted into the oil.
- On a large plate, combine the flour and salt. Season the fish pieces all over with salt and pepper and coat with the flour. Working in batches, dip the fillets in the beer batter and coat on both sides. Fry in the hot oil until golden brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
- Make tacos with the tortillas and fish and top each with cream, shredded cabbage, tomatillo salsa and pickled jalapenos, if desired.
- *Cook’s Note: Crack open a cold Mexican cerveza like a Negra Modelo or a 2 Equis (XX) Amber to make this tasty beer batter, which will change the way you think about fried fish! You can use it for vegetables, too.
- **Cook’s Note: Mexican Crema is Mexico’s version of creme fraiche and is found at many supermarkets and can easily be substituted with sour cream.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 754 |
| Total Fat | 57 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Carbohydrates | 33 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Sugar | 4 g |
| Protein | 26 g |
| Cholesterol | 71 mg |
| Sodium | 789 mg |
Reviews
We only made the fish portion of this recipe but it was easy and delicious! We used rock fish and it came out great!
Will make again!
Will make again!
What a fantastic recipe! The entire family loved it. I made a couple of little changes to suite my family, but this was delicious !
My husband and I love this recipe. It’s easy and delicious! I always use tilapia and it tastes great. It’s so fun to experiment with the batter and toppings too!
Been making this specific recipe for years, it is one of our favorites, we frequently riff off this recipe with different beer, different fish, and whatever we have laying around.
Last night used Modelo and frozen cod portions, but have previously been successful catfish, swai, and halibut.
We always add a little cayenne, chili powder, and a dash Cumin To the beer batter. NOTE: you may not have enough batteries if you are making 2 pounds of fish, so reserve the last 4 ounces of beer and have extra flour on hand to beef up your batter (i know it is tempting to just finish the remaining beer)
For the crema, we have followed the recipe in the past, but last night SUBBED GREEK YOGURT in place of SOUR CREAM. We also subbed out the LEMON ZEST and JUICE for LIME, and we were very happy with the results.
We always make extra “crema” and toss with leftover cabbage and some shredded carrots and diced onions to have a kickass Cole slaw the next day.
Best of luck. Enjoy (:
The fish itself was really good. But, we didn’t care for the sauce. I cut the lemon zest and lemon juice in half and it was still too lemony. I added sugar, salt and pepper to try and cut the lemony taste. It helped very little. I didn’t want to waste the sauce so I refrigerated it. Hoping that will help with the flavoring. Why do chefs have to add lemon to most things? I don’t think that it enhances the flavor.
super good recipe. SImple as long as you use Mexican beer! Add salt to fish when it’s done frying for proper seasoning. Get quality corn tortillas and shred the cabbage finely for a delicious meal. We bought rock fish 5lbs at Costco for $20… It can literally make 50 of these delicious tacos!
These were delicious! I used the cole slaw I made from Molly Yeh’s BBQ brisket pretzel sandwich with caraway slaw since I made that earlier in the week and didnt want it to go bad. It went so well with the tacos and crema. Will make again!
So tasty and very easy to make. The light, crunchy coating is just perfect and the creamy sauce is excellent. We always add a few shakes of hot sauce as well.
Amazing
Very easy to make. Family loved it. Will make it again.