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The long standing hashtag of #TacoTuesday is proof that tacos never gets old — *especially* fish tacos. They do, however, tend to be on the predictable side which is exactly why I wanted to put a seasonal spin on these bad boys: to demonstrate that fish tacos can in fact be versatile. With fall coming, I thought this was the perfect opportunity.
The inspiration for this recipe comes from good ol’ North Carolina BBQ and my husband, who is the pit master in our group of friends. His pulled pork is mind-blowingly delicious, and despite his modesty, he could easily compete with the big guns in the Raleigh area. His dry rub and mop for it are lip-smackingly delicious and, now that I’m pescetarian, I’ve been missing out.
Until now…
If that, right up there ^, isn’t flaky perfection, then I don’t know what is. With a piquant dry rub made up of brown sugar, cayenne pepper, and crushed chilies, and smoked paprika, not to mention a mop that’s made up of the same ingredients with a splash of tangy apple cider vinegar, this salmon can be eaten just as is!
But the tacos are damn good, so let’s stay focused.
Trust Orca Bay for Sustainable Seafood
Anyone who’s new to shopping for sustainable seafood can vouch for the fact that it can be puzzling; there are so many labels and so many fishing methods! A lot of people are under the belief that a failsafe way to getting sustainable seafood is at the fish counter — but that’s not always the case, and frozen seafood has come a long way in a short period of time as far as quality and sustainability goes.
Making this recipe? Snap a pic and tag me on Instagram: @Killing__Thyme /#killingthyme. For more delish eats, follow me on INSTAGRAM + PINTEREST.
Sweet and Spicy Salmon Tacos With Apple Almond Slaw
Ingredients
- 1 lb Orca Bay Alaska Sockeye Salmon
- 4-6 soft flour tortillas
Apple Almond Slaw
- 2 oz red cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1 apple, skin on, julienned, I like to use honeycrisp or gala
- 1 oz red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 TBSP pomegranate arils, you can also use dried cranberries for a sweeter bite
- 1/2-1 cup shaved almonds, toasted* (see notes), I like to use 1 full cup since I'm a sucker for a lot of crunch
Apple Cider Mop (You will end up with extra, but that's okay! It keeps in the fridge for months and use it again on other meats or with other slaws!)
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
Sweet and Spicy Dry Rub
- 2 TBSP brown sugar
- 1/8 tsp kosher salt
- 1/8 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
Optional toppings
- Microgreens
Instructions
Apple Cider Mop
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix all of the ingredients for the cider mop until well blended. Taste. If you want more heat, simply add more crushed red pepper. Set aside.
Apple Almond Slaw
- Prepare all of the slaw ingredients and toss into a large bowl. ( *See notes for toasting almonds.) Add 1/4 cup of the mop to the slaw and toss to coat. If you feel you need a bit more, add some more of the liquid bit by bit until you reach desired coverage.
Sweet and Spicy Dry Rub
- In a small bowl, mix all of the ingredients for the dry rub until well blended. Set aside.
Salmon
- Remove salmon from fridge, unpack it, and set it on a baking sheet. Pat it dry with paper towels and let it come to room temp, approx. 15 minutes. In the meantime, pre heat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Once the salmon has come to room temp, evenly distribute the dry rub over the salmon and, with clean hands, massage it into the fillet until evenly coated.
- Bake salmon at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes, or until it flakes perfectly and has an internal temp of 140-145 degrees F.
- Remove from oven and, with a fork, flake the entire fillet of salmon into nice bite-sized flakes.
- With basting brush, baste approx. 1/4 - 1/2 cup of the mop onto the flaked salmon fillet to moisten it up.
- Transfer flaked salmon to tortillas, add desired amount of slaw, and top with microgreens if desired.
That salmon looks perfect! I love the vibrant colours in these tacos – they look like they are full of flavour!
How great that you can enjoy the BBQ flavours on fish! This looks like a wonderful creation, and that apple slaw is lovely!
That was indeed flaky perfection, Dana! That salmon looks to die for, and the tacos…well…let’s taco about it (like you would say) ;-) . Fish tacos and veggie tacos are the only ones I eat as well, being pescetarian like you are, so this is another great recipe to add to our Taco Tuesday nights!
Oh. mi. god. I have pressed print and this will be coming out of my kitchen soon. It sounds amazing and a nice change from using whitefish in tacos. Thx for the share. Bravo for your fund raising work as well! Diane from Kitchen Bliss / FBC
Thanks so much Diane! I’m glad you’re as excited about this recipe as I was. I couldn’t sleep one night and I was stressing over what to do with this salmon and it sort of came to me out of nowhere. I was so happy that it came out the way it did. Please let me know if/when you try them :)
OMG. You have such an amazing blog. The photos are outstanding and let’s talk about this Salmon with the beautiful pink color. I just LOVE the photos:)
Carlos! Thank you so much! That means a lot, especially coming from someone with quite the gorgeous blog himself. I also absolutely love your story. I, too, have the Food Network to thank for getting me into cooking. When I first moved out on my own, I wanted to cook, but I had no idea how. To me, cooking was boiling pasta and dumping jarred sauce into the bowl with it. (Ugh, lol). My, have we come a long way!
Thank you so much for the kind words. I was recently obsessing over your poke bowls. Can’t wait to see what else you and Geoff have up your sleeves <3
This looks so delicious!
Thanks!
Oh my goodness!! Such a beautiful and delicious Recipe.. going to try this on Saturday when my girlfriend’s come over :) They all are salmon lovers!
Thank you, Soniya! (Love the spelling of your name!) Please do let me know how it goes! I’d love some feedback :)
My husband LOVES fish tacos! This would be such a good dinner idea!
Aw yea! Let me know if you guys decide to give them a go!
Wow really so yummy. Love how flaky and delicious it looks.
Thanks, Roxana! Orca Bay’s Alaska Sockeye is SO flaky and moist, I can’t help but photograph it in its freshly flaked form whenever I make it.
I don’t usually like salmon, but these look too good to pass up. I’ll have to try them!
Salmon is definitely considered one of the “fishier fish”, especially if it’s overcooked. So I get that. A lot of my friends and family claim to not like salmon and I’m always like, “BUT… BUT… ” trying to convince them to no avail. Haha. Let me know if you do try them, and let me know what you think :)