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No. 31MexicanSeafoodAir Fryer

Air Fryer Fish Tacos

Not the battered crunchy version — the crunch comes from the slaw, and the fish stays juicy.

John Drummond

Three soft flour tacos filled with spice-rubbed white fish, red cabbage slaw, pineapple salsa, avocado and a drizzle of chipotle crema, with lime wedges and small bowls of crema and salsa beside them
Prep25min
Cook10min
All up35min
Serves4
LevelEasy

Mise en place

What you need

Tick each one off as it goes in.

Fish

Red cabbage slaw

Pineapple salsa

Chipotle yoghurt crema

To serve

Makes 4 serves

Fish tacos for summer, and not the battered crunchy version. The fish is rubbed with chipotle, smoked paprika, cumin and lime zest and cooked in the Ninja Crispi Pro, so it stays juicy and flakes into big pieces. The crunch comes from a red cabbage slaw, the sweetness and heat from fresh pineapple salsa, and the creaminess from a light chipotle yoghurt crema instead of mayo.

Written for the Crispi Pro 6-in-1 before it has arrived, so the times are a starting point, not yet tested. Fish varies more than chicken does: go by when it flakes, about 63°C in the middle, not the clock.

The fish: firm, skinless white fillets about 2 cm thick. Snapper, barramundi or ling all work. Thin fillets like flathead or whiting cook in half the time and fall apart; save them for the pan.

The wraps: we use the small, light and fluffy Mission soft wraps. It saves time and keeps everything fresh — just drop them in a dry pan for 20 seconds a side. Making your own is the Next Level below.

Shopping: 2 or 3 limes in all. A jalapeño or a long green chilli for the salsa. Chipotle in adobo comes in a small tin from the Mexican shelf; once open, freeze the rest in teaspoon blobs. No tin? Use ½ tsp chipotle chilli powder in the crema.

Make ahead: the slaw, salsa and crema all keep a few hours in the fridge. The fish is best straight out of the Crispi.

The method

Seven moves.

  1. Season the Fish

    Pat the fish dry and cut it into 6–8 cm pieces; bigger pieces stay juicier. Mix the spices, sugar, salt and lime zest, toss the fish with the oil, then with the spice mix until every piece is coated. Leave it for 10 minutes while you make the rest.

  2. Make the Slaw

    Toss the cabbage and spring onion with the lime juice and a pinch of salt, and squeeze it a few times with your hands. Leave it to soften a little while everything else happens.

  3. Make the Salsa

    Mix the pineapple, red onion, chilli, coriander and lime juice with a pinch of salt. Taste it: it should be sweet, sharp and a little hot. Add more lime only if it needs it — there is lime in everything else too.

  4. Make the Crema

    Stir the yoghurt, chipotle, lime juice, garlic and a pinch of salt together. It should taste a little stronger on its own than you want in the taco, so it stands up to everything else. Loosen it with a splash of water until it will drizzle off a spoon.

  5. Air-Fry the Fish

    Brush the crisper plate lightly with oil so the fish doesn’t stick, and put it in the 5.7L glass container; the Crispi Pro needs no preheat. Lay the fish on it in a single layer with a little room between the pieces. Air Fry at 200°C for 7–9 minutes, without turning. Start checking at 6 minutes: it is done when it is opaque all the way through, just flakes when pressed, and reads about 63°C in the middle.

  6. Warm the Wraps

    Heat a dry frying pan over medium-high heat. Warm the wraps for 20 seconds a side, until soft and lightly spotted, and stack them in a clean tea towel to keep warm.

  7. Build the Tacos

    Drain off any juice the slaw and salsa have let go, so it doesn’t soak the wraps. Smear each wrap with crema, then a little slaw, then big flakes of fish. Top with salsa, avocado and coriander, and serve with lime wedges to squeeze over.

Next level

Make your own flour tortillas

Optional · about 45 min more

Make the tortillas yourself. Mix 250 g plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder and ¾ tsp salt, rub in 40 g soft butter, then add about 150 ml warm water and knead for 2 minutes into a soft, smooth dough. Cover it and rest it for 20 minutes, while you do the slaw, salsa and crema.

Divide it into 12 balls, roll each one thin to about 15 cm, and cook them in a dry, hot pan for 30–45 seconds a side, until they puff and take brown spots. Stack them in a tea towel as you go: they steam each other soft. Nothing from a packet comes close.

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Air Fryer Fish Tacosserves 4 · 35 min