Fish Stick Tacos
Frozen fish sticks cooked over a grate, folded into charred street tortillas with a lime-cumin crema.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 58
- protein
- 18 g
- serves
- 5, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Grill grate
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Real dishes
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Frozen fish sticks | 1/2 of a 44-count box | about 22 sticks; keep them frozen in the cooler until they hit the fire |
|---|---|---|
| Street taco corn tortillas | 24 | the small ones, two sticks per taco if you like |
| Sour cream | 8 oz | cooler item; swap in a shelf-stable crema or mayonnaise packet if you have no ice |
| Lime | 1 | half for the sauce, half cut into wedges |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Ground cumin | 1/2 tsp | |
| Chili powder | 1/4 tsp | optional |
| Bagged coleslaw mix | 1 package | optional, holds a day or two in the cooler |
| Scallions | 2 | chopped, optional |
| Cilantro | 1/4 cup | optional |
Method
- Set a skillet or foil pan on the grate over medium coals. Cook the fish sticks until the coating is firm and browned on all sides, roughly 8 to 10 minutes, turning them a few times.
- While they cook, stir the sour cream with the juice of half the lime, the garlic powder, the cumin, and the chili powder in a cup or a zip bag.
- Move the fish to the side of the grate. Lay tortillas straight on the grate for 15 seconds a side, until they blister and go soft.
- Build each taco with one fish stick, a pinch of slaw, a spoon of the sauce, and scallions and cilantro if you brought them.
- Serve with lime wedges. Eat them as they come off the grate rather than assembling all 24 at once.
This is a car-camping dinner, not a pack dinner. Fish sticks are frozen, which is the point: they act as cooler ice on day one and become dinner on day two, and their breading holds up on a grate far better than raw fish does. Cook them in a skillet or a foil pan rather than directly on the bars, or half of them fall into the coals.
The sauce is doing the work that makes it read like a taco instead of a school lunch. Lime, cumin, and garlic powder in sour cream take thirty seconds and cover the fact that the protein came out of a box. Everything else on the list is optional and mostly texture. If you have no ice at all, this recipe does not survive the trip, so use the tuna version in the variations.
Packing
Fish sticks stay in the freezer bag at the bottom of the cooler under the ice. Mix the sauce spices into a film canister at home so you are not hauling three jars. Tortillas ride flat in their own bag or they crack.
Variations
- No cooler: use pouched tuna or salmon warmed in the skillet with oil and the same spice mix, and swap the sour cream for a mayonnaise packet.
- Shredded cabbage from a whole head keeps far longer than bagged slaw if you are out more than two days.
- A can of pickled jalapenos replaces the slaw and weighs less to keep cold.
https://mealswithmaria.site/fish-tacos-best-recipe