Lime-chili fish marinade
10 min · 1 g protein · 38 cals / serving
A quick, punchy citrus marinade for fish: lime and orange juice, jalapeño, garlic, cilantro, cumin and chili powder, with only a splash of oil. Twenty minutes is all it needs. Use it for grilled fish tacos, sheet-pan salmon or prawn skewers.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup lime juice, about 2 limes, zest grated first
- 1/4 cup orange juice, about 1 orange
- 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, finely grated
- 1 jalapeño, finely chopped; keep the seeds for more heat
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, loosely packed leaves, finely chopped
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp paprika, smoked
- 1 tsp salt
Steps
- Grate the zest of the limes into a bowl before juicing them, then whisk in the juices and everything else until the salt dissolves. This makes enough for about 1 1/2 lb of fish or prawns.
- Lay firm white fish (cod, mahi-mahi, halibut, tilapia), salmon fillets or peeled prawns in a shallow dish and pour the marinade over. Turn once.
- Marinate in the fridge 15–30 minutes, no longer: citrus starts to 'cook' the fish and turns it mushy.
- Lift the fish out, pat the surface lightly and grill, broil or pan-sear on high heat until it flakes and reads 145°F, 3–4 minutes per side for fillets and 2 per side for prawns. Discard the used marinade.
Good to know
Make it a fish taco night
Flake the fish into warm corn tortillas with shredded cabbage, sliced radish and a spoonful of a yogurt-based lime or chipotle crema.
Can I use it on chicken?
Yes, and chicken can take it longer: 2–6 hours in the fridge. Cook to 165°F.
Does the score mean I eat all of this?
No. It is scored as the bowl of marinade; most of the juice stays behind when you lift the fish out.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 86
- Protein
- (7%)
- 2 g
- Fat
- (49%)
- 5 g
- Carbohydrates
- (43%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 4 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 1,161 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 154 kcal goes into the pot and 178 g of ingredients comes out as about 178 g of food: 86 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.