Sous vide cooking has a reputation for long, slow cooking – hours and hours of cooking foods at low temperatures before its ready to serve. Many recipes certainly do take this long (and with delicious results!), but you can use your immersion circulator for quick-cooking recipes, too! That’s right – sous vide can definitely be used to make fast, easy weeknight meals! These fish tacos are the perfect example.
Sous Vide Fish Tacos
These sous vide fish tacos are ready in about 45 minutes flat. Yes, this is a bit longer than a quick stovetop sear, but the advantage is fish that you don’t have to worry about over-cooking (or under-cooking). The fish can even hang out in the sous vide bath a few extra minutes if you’re not quite ready to serve. As the fish cooks, you can make the apple salsa and sour cream sauce, and dinner is ready in no time. The fish itself goes straight from the sous vide bath to the taco and is flaky and well-seasoned after just 45 minutes cooking. What could be easier?!
Two Fun Toppings for Your Fish Tacos
Since the fish has about 45 minutes to cook in the water bath, I like to use that time to make a few fun taco toppings. First, the cilantro sour cream sauce: This is my go-to for lots of tacos. Stir together some sour cream with lime juice and cilantro, and it’s ready to go. Then add a fall apple slaw: The apple and radish salsa is different from what you’ll find on most tacos, but has a great texture, which these tacos need. This is also the time of year when apples are at their best, so why not show them off in a crunchy slaw?! For more information on apple varieties, check out our Guide to Apples.
New to Sous-Vide Cooking?
This is one of my favorite recipes for first-time sous-vide cooks. It’s low stress and much easier than cooking halibut in the oven or in a skillet. In fact, it would be hard to screw this up! Here are a few other resources if you need some help getting started with sous-vide cooking:
Everything You’ve Been Wondering About Sous Vide Cooking at Home How to Use Your New Sous Vide Immersion Circulator How to Seal Foods Without a Vacuum Sealer Sous Vide and Food Safety: What to Know
Video: Sous Vide Fish Tacos
You can do this in the pot of water as it heats. (Just be careful if the water is already steaming!) Set the halibut aside on a kitchen towel until the water has finished heating. In another small bowl, stir together the sour cream, cilantro, lime juice, and salt for the sour cream sauce. Assemble the tacos by adding a smear of sour cream sauce to each tortilla and topping with a few slices avocado, cabbage, a few scoops of slaw, and about two ounces of sous-vide halibut. Drizzle more sour cream sauce over top, and serve!
