SO, listen up. This might just be the BEST taco recipe I’ve ever created. And that’s saying a lot because my amazing turkey tacos have been #1 in my heart (and yours) since about 2013.
As you may know, I have a lovely peach salsa on the blog that I just so happened to make a NEW YouTube video for it. I wanted to get the salsa involved with a delicious dinner situation. And WOW did it get involved. The team and I tested these chipotle salmon tacos a couple of summers ago and seriously couldn’t stop raving about them or munching on those incredible salmon bites. In fact, this recipe is so good that it’s Episode 1 of Season 2 of my YouTube series, Good Mood Comfort Food!
The salmon is marinated in a sweet and spicy chipotle brown sugar lime mixture and baked to crispy, caramelized perfection. You’ll then add that perfect corn avocado peach salsa for hints of freshness and sweetness, and finally, top everything with my brand new creamy cilantro yogurt sauce.
ARE WE KIDDING? So good.
This is truly a summer dinner you’ll want to make again and again, plus I included more fun sauce options and even ways to serve the taco mix-ins. Enjoy!
Everything you’ll need to make chipotle salmon tacos
I know it seems like there are a lot of ingredients BUT they all boil down to fresh produce, spices, and things you likely already have in your kitchen. Plus, each component in these chipotle salmon tacos makes them unique and irresistibly delicious. Here’s what you’ll need:
- For the salmon: we’re using a pound of salmon and marinating it with a little avocado oil, lime juice & zest, brown sugar, and spices like chipotle chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, paprika, salt & pepper. Sweet, spicy and amazing.
- For the salsa: practice those knife skills by chopping and mixing a peach, avocado, ear of corn, red onion, jalapeño & cilantro. My avocado peach salsa is famous for a reason and adds a lovely freshness to the tacos.
- For the sauce: the ultimate spicy cilantro yogurt sauce that I just posted as a little teaser to these tacos! It adds a wonderful creaminess and kick of heat to the tacos.
- For serving: load everything up onto corn tortillas and top with some extra sliced jalapeño, cilantro, and red cabbage for crunch.
What’s the best type of salmon to use?
Feel free to use wild or farmed salmon in this taco recipe. Farm-raised salmon tends to be milder in flavor and more fatty/buttery in texture, while on the other hand, wild salmon can be a little more spendy, but is leaner, pinker, and higher in minerals such as zinc and iron. Both are delicious!
Customize your tacos
Because there are multiple components to these amazing chipotle salmon tacos, there are plenty of ways that you can customize them to your taste preferences. Here’s what I can recommend:
- Choose your protein: yes, these are salmon tacos (and the salmon is amazing) but you could also use chicken or tofu! Feel free to marinate either in the same marinade and then learn how to grill perfect chicken here and tofu here.
- Keep them gluten free: be sure to use gluten free corn tortillas or grain free tortillas like these.
- Try a low carb option: feel free to serve all of the toppings over mixed greens, in lettuce cups, or cauliflower rice!
How to make the best chipotle salmon tacos
- Make your sauce. Start by making that creamy cilantro yogurt sauce in a blender or food processor. Set it aside in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the tacos.
- Cook your salmon. Toss your salmon with all of those delicious spices so that each bite is coated, then bake it on a parchment-lined baking sheet at 400 degrees F.
- Make the salsa. While your salmon is baking you can mix all of the ingredients for the peach avocado salsa together. Place the salsa in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the tacos.
- Assemble & devour. Char your corn tortillas if you’d like (see below for how to do so!) then top each with the salmon cubes, cabbage, salsa, extra jalapeño slices, cilantro, and the cilantro yogurt sauce. Then devour!
Don’t forget to char your tortillas
Who doesn’t love a warm, slightly toasty charred corn tortilla for tacos? To char them before assembling simply:
- Turn on your stovetop burner to the lowest setting.
- Place one tortilla on the burner and let it heat up for about 45 seconds – checking frequently to make sure it’s not burning.
- Once it has the desired char, carefully flip the tortilla with tongs and char on the other side.
- The tortilla might puff up a bit once you flip, which is okay!
- Cover your tortillas with a dishtowel as you finish them so that they stay warm.
Can I grill the salmon?
Absolutely! I would suggest using the foil pack method so that the salmon bites don’t fall through the grill grates. Alternatively, you could thread the bites onto sticks and grill salmon kabobs before adding them to your tacos! Get all of my tips for grilling salmon here. As always, it’s best to slightly undercook your salmon rather than overcook it and risk it being dry.
More delicious sauce ideas
The cilantro yogurt sauce adds the perfect creamy, spicy, savory element to the tacos, but these sauces would also be delicious on these chipotle salmon tacos:
Get all of my sauce recipes here!
Storing tips
If you have any leftovers, I recommend storing each component (salmon, salsa, and yogurt sauce) separately in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days so that you can easily assemble your tacos and the ingredients stay fresh.
More peach recipes you’ll love
- Gluten Free Peach Crisp with Salted Coconut Milk Caramel
- Pretty in Pink Peach Smoothie
- Grilled Peaches (+6 different topping ideas!)
- Summer Peach Spinach Salad with Avocado, Toasted Almonds + Goat Cheese
- Avocado Peach Tomato Salad with Dilly Tahini Dressing
Get all of my peach recipes here!
Good Mood Comfort Food
I hope you love these chipotle salmon tacos. If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Chipotle Lime Salmon Tacos with Corn Avocado Peach Salsa & Cilantro Yogurt Sauce
Ingredients
- For the salmon:
- 1 pound salmon, cut into 1 inch cubes and skin removed
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- ½ lime, juiced
- 1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar (or sub coconut sugar)
- ¾ teaspoon chipotle chili powder
- ¾ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- For the avocado peach salsa:
- 1 medium ripe but still slightly firm peach, diced
- 1 ripe but still slightly firm large avocado, diced
- 1 large ear corn, kernels cut off (about ¾ cup corn)
- 2 tablespoons finely diced red onion
- ½ jalapeño, seeded and diced (reserve other half for slicing and garnishing)
- 1 tablespoon finely diced cilantro
- ½ small lime, juiced
- Salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- For the sauce:
- Spicy cilantro yogurt sauce
- For serving:
- 8 soft corn tortillas
- Extra thinly sliced jalapenos
- Extra cilantro
- Shredded red cabbage
Instructions
- Make your cilantro yogurt sauce. Set aside in the fridge until you are done and ready to put it on your tacos.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, add cubed salmon, avocado oil, lime zest, lime juice, brown sugar, chipotle chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper; toss well to combine the salmon in the seasonings. Add the salmon cubes to the baking sheet and spread out evenly. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
- Make the avocado peach salsa: Place all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix to combine. Cover and place in the fridge until ready to use.
- Char your tortillas if you’d like, then top each with salmon cubes, cabbage, peach avocado corn salsa mixture, extra thinly sliced jalapeños and a drizzle of cilantro yogurt sauce on top plus extra cilantro. Enjoy! Serves 4; 2 salmon tacos each.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on July 28th, 2022, republished on July 24th, 2023, and republished on August 10th, 2024.
Make this recipe! It is so good, fresh and so flavorful. There is a bit of prep IMO but worth it and you can prep ahead of time (a day or more probably) if you need to/want to. The sauce specifically I could probably drink. Which you can make more or less spicy.
Yes, a great one to prep ahead! Perfect dinner for warmer months 🙂
This is worth all the work, and it goes fast!! So fresh and delicious!! I make this on repeat!
Okay I was looking for a good fish taco recipe and came across this. I was pretty skeptical about salmon in tacos though and my husband thought it sounded weird too! But we tried it and wow this was so good, so easy, so fresh and healthy! I think it would be a good recipe to use with even chicken or a white fish like tilapia or cod too!
So happy to hear that! And yes, this one’s very flexible 🙂
Soooo yummy!!
I will give this recipe a try.
This came out great! I used chili lime seasoning instead of the chipotle chili and didn’t have ingredients for the sauce, so I used Siracha mayo. Would this work ok in the air fryer?
This sounds great, Ann! And I am not sure, I don’t have an air fryer so I can’t say for sure. Let me know how it turns out if you give it a try!
Excellent – perfect for weeknight dinner but also wonderful for a dinner party! The flavor and heat combinations are wonderful. Wouldn’t change a thing.
My husband does not care for salmon. But this recipe looked too good not to try. He LOVED it, as did I. The salsa and the yogurt sauce with the salmon is such a great combination. Thank you for the recipe. It will definitely be a repeat in our house.
Ah this is so great, Hanna. I am so glad you gave this recipe a try and you both loved it ❤️
Fantastic! Better than restaurant tacos. Felt spoiled to be able to make these tacos at home. Thank you so much for sharing! We will definitely be making these again.
Ahh this is seriously the best, Nadine. I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe and it turned out great for you!
Made this today for a quick dinner, it was so good! Everyone loved it, even my 5 year old! Made it with chicken thighs instead of salmon as it was what i had on hand.
Ah yay! I am so glad to hear this recipe is a hit for the whole family. Good to know chicken works well for this recipe too, thanks for sharing!
Five stars for a delicious and simple recipe! I say simple because of the fish being baked – makes for easier cleanup! My family said these were the best fish tacos they ever had. I used halibut as that is what looked best at our store. Mahi mahi would work well too if you wanted something other than salmon. I could drink the cilantro sauce!
Yum! So glad you and the family are loving this recipe, Katie ❤️
These were amazing! I have never done salmon in the oven and it was super easy! I also cheated a little and doctored up a store bought mango salsa. Great way to save time on a weeknight!
Oh yay!! SO glad you loved them, Nikki! Appreciate the comment 🙂
Made my own dish based on this recipe, and it was incredible! Thank you for this delightful recipe that inspired me to make my own adaptation https://ahavabite.com/2023/02/11/chipotle-salmon-with-citrus-avocado-salsa-and-cilantro-yogurt-sauce/
These were so good!! We used shrimp and salmon both delicious. The sauce is excellent I could eat that on everything!!
Love that! New favs for us, too 🙂
I made these tacos for dinner last night and I absolutely love them! I’ve been enjoying trying your taco recipes all summer and you’ve definitely outdone yourself with this one. Everything that could go wrong while cooking did – we lost power just as I was about to put the salmon in the oven so that delayed dinner by a whole hour and a half, and our blender stopped working so I tried making the cilantro yogurt sauce in the food processor and it didn’t fully blend the way I hoped it would. BUT it was still so worth it! Thank you for this!
Haha I saw your FB & IG posts, sounds like a disaster! But SO happy they still came out great!!!
This was a great recipe to make for company! I did a few modifications – I used shrimp instead of salmon, and grilled them on skewers. I also grilled the ear of corn before using it in the salsa. I found the cilantro sauce to be very spicy with 1 whole jalapeno with seeds, but by the next day the sauce mellowed out quite a bit. I would definitely make this again. Served with a watermelon mezcal margarita!
That all sounds amazing, especially the mezcal marg haha!! Thanks so much for the review, Becky 🙂 Glad you enjoyed them.
So quick, and maybe stupid, question. For the salsa, do you cook the corn or use it raw? Review sounds and looks delicious! Can’t wait to try
Excited for you to try it!! I add it in raw, but if you prefer to cook it, go ahead!
Super easy and yummy!
So glad you enjoyed them!
Soooo good! I’m avoiding wheat right now so I skipped the tortilla and just ate it as a bowl. 🥣Used sweet vidalia onion instead of red as that’s what I had on hand. Instructions were easy to follow, Looking forward to impressing my sister and her husband with this delicious meal! The chipotle chilli powder gives it quite a kick🔥…but in a good way 🤤😋
Perfect! Great idea to enjoy as a bowl – sounds delicious 🙂
These were AMAZING! I didn’t have paprika or chipotle chili powder and it was still delicious!! I will definitely be making these again!
I love your recipes
I’m so glad!