These easy to make Blackened Salmon Tacos are topped with a fresh and delicious mango salsa. The combination is the perfect balance of sweet and smoky flavors. And the prep time and cook time combined are less than 30 minutes.
This is a fabulous fish taco recipe to make for your next Taco Tuesday, and you’re going to want to add it into your regular dinner rotation to make again too! You might also like to try my recipes for fish tacos with citrus salsa, ceviche style shrimp and avocado tacos and beer battered fish tacos with Baja sauce.
If you’re not a fan of salmon, it’s okay to make blackened shrimp tacos or blackened chicken tacos. They’re both terrific served with the mango salsa! This taco recipe can easily be made gluten free by using corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas.
Ingredients Needed:
- Mango: Use a fresh mango, peeled and chopped into small chunks.
- Jicama: This is a veggie that is not super common, but you can find it in the produce section (ask if you cannot fine it). Peel and chop into small chunks.
- Cucumber: Cut into small chunks (no need to peel).
- Nectarine or Peach: Use either of these. It will add a little unique flavor to the mango salsa. You can certainly leave it out though and use all mango.
- Cilantro: Be sure to wash your fresh cilantro before chopping.
- White Vinegar: Regular white vinegar is what you need.
- Salt: Table salt is fine.
- Oil: The recipe calls for using olive oil and canola oil. You can certainly use all olive oil or avocado oil.
- Sugar: Granulated white sugar is what you need.
- Blackening Seasoning: This can be purchased in your market’s spice aisle. Alternately, I’ve included instructions for making the blackening seasoning homemade further down in this post.
- Salmon: Fresh salmon filets will be the most delicious!
- Tortillas: I like to use the small flour tortillas for this blackened salmon tacos recipe, but you can certainly use corn tortillas if you prefer.
- Lettuce: Chopped green leaf lettuce works great, but you can use any kind of lettuce.
How to make Blackened Salmon Tacos:
The complete, printable recipe is at the end of this post.
Combine the salsa ingredients. Cover and refrigerate.
Heat a cast iron skillet and add your choice of oil. Coat strips of salmon in blackening seasoning, and pan sear the salmon in the skillet until charred and crisp on both sides.
Warm your tortillas, and add blackened salmon, mango salsa and lettuce.
Recipe Tips
- Make a pineapple salsa to go with the salmon tacos instead of mango salsa. Yum!
- Grilled corn is a delicious addition to these tacos too.
- Instead of making mango salsa and adding lettuce, make mango slaw and add crumbled cotija cheese and a drizzle of Mexican crema that has been combined with a little lime juice.
- Chopped avocado and pickled red onions are also pretty amazing additions to blackened salmon tacos.
How to make Homemade Blackening Seasoning:
If you’d prefer to make the blackening seasoning homemade, combine the following:
- 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 1 teaspoon chipotle powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
What to serve with Blackened Salmon Fish Tacos:
This recipe delivers two blackened salmon tacos per serving. Serve with fiesta rice and your favorite margaritas! It’s also nice to serve a few lime wedges on the side for squeezing, just in case you want to add a little blast of citrus.
What You’ll Love About This Recipe:
- To be super healthy and low carb, you can turn these into lettuce wraps.
- It’s a versatile recipe! You can make blackened salmon taco bowls instead of tacos!
- It’s a delicious and unique way to make fish tacos!
Blackened Salmon Tacos
Ingredients
MANGO SALSA:
- 1 large mango, peeled and chopped
- ¾ cup peeled and chopped jicama
- ½ medium cucumber, chopped
- 1 large nectarine or peach, peeled and chopped
- 15 sprigs cilantro, stems removed and chopped very finely
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons granulated white sugar, (more or less, to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
SALMON TACOS:
- 1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons blackening seasoning
- 1½ pounds fresh salmon
- 8 taco-sized flour tortillas, warmed
- 1½ cups chopped green leaf lettuce
Instructions
PREPARE THE MANGO SALSA:
- In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients for the mango salsa. Cover and keep refrigerated until ready to use.
PREPARE THE SALMON TACOS:
- In a frying pan (cast iron is best for blackening), add 1 tablespoon of oil and heat to medium-high.
- Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of the blackening seasoning to cover the bottom of a shallow dish.
- Slice the salmon fillets in ½-inch strips and dredge them in the blackening seasoning.
- Add the salmon to the frying pan and cook for about 4 minutes, turning once.
- Fill each tortilla with salmon, mango salsa and lettuce.
Notes
- The mango salsa recipe makes quite a bit, however, it’s so delicious you’ll likely have no problem using all of it using chips as dunkers!
- Blackening seasoning should be available in the spice section of your local market.
- These unique tacos go very well with Spanish rice and black beans. Enjoy them with a delicious pale ale.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
