Simple Fish Stick Tacos

Hello and welcome! Today I have an incredibly simple recipe perfect for a weeknight – and perfect for one or two people. When was the last time you had a fish stick? It has been decades, for me…but I recently saw a taste test for store-bought frozen fish sticks by America’s Test Kitchen. They rated Gorton’s as their favorite. I thought, why the hell not? Let’s give it a go. So today we have Simple Fish Stick Tacos and coleslaw, on warm soft flour tortillas with chipotle sour cream, cilantro, pickled onions and hot sauce.

Prep

Preheat the oven according to the fish stick package directions. These Gorton fish sticks will cook at 375 degrees F for about 15 minutes, turning over halfway. While the oven is preheating, I gathered my ingredients. I love coleslaw on my fish tacos, so I am whipping up a quick coleslaw with some chopped cabbage mix, Marie’s coleslaw dressing and I will toss some diced fresh jalapeños and a handful of pepitas in the mix.

Otherwise, I have some pickled red onions; sour cream that I am going to mix with some chipotle peppers in adobo sauce with a little lime. All of this prep goes so quick that we can pretty much get it done while the oven is preheating.

One diced jalapeño and a small handful of of pepitas go in a bowl with the package of the chopped cabbage mix. I just eyeballed the dressing, start small and mix. Add more to get your desired dressing coverage. Set this aside.

Then take about 1/4 cup of sour cream and add about a tablespoon (or less) of chopped chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Squeeze in a little lime juice and stir this together until well combined. Set this aside.

Fish Sticks

Place however many fish sticks you want to bake on a rimmed sheet tray. I opted for three per taco, so I have 12 fish sticks, for 3 tacos each, for two people. Bake the fish sticks for about 8 minutes, then flip them over and bake for another 7-8 minutes, until the fish sticks are golden and crunchy on the exterior.

Taco Tray

Much like the Chicken Satay we did last week, I wanted serve these fish stick tacos on a single tray; so Alex and I can fix our tacos just how we like them right on the tray.

Warming the Tortillas

The last thing I want to do before putting everything together is warm up my tortillas. I am going to heat the tortillas directly on my gas burner, over low heat (just like my grandfather used to do). Use tongs or your fingers to flip the tortilla as it begins to soften and bubble in the center.

If this is too much for you, heat a dry skillet over medium heat and warm the flour tortillas, one or two at a time in the hot dry skillet. We are only looking for the tortillas to get soft and pliable. On my burner, they will get a little color. Place the warmed tortillas in a tortilla warmer as they come off the burner or the pan.

Assemble the Taco Tray

Place the coleslaw, chipotle sour cream, onions, lime wedges, and hot sauce on one side of the tray. Then use a spatula to scoop three fish sticks into each flour tortilla. Line the fish stick tacos up along the other side of the sheet tray. Place some cilantro sprigs on top and that’s it!

Set out some plates and you can assemble your Simple Fish Stick Tacos a la carte.

I did forget how good store bought fish sticks can be; the exteriors are crunchy while the interiors are tender and moist. They’re perfect for incorporating into other dishes like these Fish Stick Tacos – all the deliciousness of fish tacos but without all the work and clean up! Plus, these Simple Fish Stick Tacos are on the table in under 20 minutes. Can’t beat that!

This dinner idea is so simple, there’s no recipe for it today! That’s right – bake these fish sticks according to the package directions and you can top them with whatever you like! Everything today is pre-made, we’re just putting the components together.

I do hope you give these fish stick tacos a try, such a simple meal for you to get creative with. Have a great week, take care and be well. xo Kelly

Key Equipment

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