Tacos de pescado zarandeado
Tacos de pescado zarandeado are tacos made from fish that has been butterflied, marinated and grilled over coals in a hinged basket, the pescado zarandeado of Nayarit and Sinaloa, with the flaked fish wrapped in tortillas at the table.
History
Pescado zarandeado is credited to the Indigenous peoples of the coast of Nayarit and Sinaloa; Mexico News Daily names the Totorame among its originators and describes the dish as having pre-Hispanic roots and roughly five centuries of history. The island town of Mexcaltitán, a pueblo mágico in the lagoons of northern Nayarit that many consider the ancestral home of the Mexica, is generally named as the place where it first flourished.
The name refers to the zaranda, a hinged basket that holds the fish so it can be turned over the fire. Rick Bayless notes that the word suggests flipping. The basket was traditionally made of mangrove wood, which also fed the fire, but protections for mangroves have pushed most cooks to metal baskets and charcoal.
Marinade
The older marinade combined achiote, garlic, lime juice, salt and pepper. Bayless reports that researchers trace the original Mexcaltitán seasoning to a mixture that also included soy sauce, a sign of the Asian influence felt along Mexico's west coast. Most cooks now use a creamier coating built on mayonnaise and mustard, often with Worcestershire sauce or the Nayarit hot sauce Huichol, and sometimes without achiote or soy at all.
From platter to taco
Zarandeado is traditionally served as a whole fish, split from head to tail, that diners pull apart at the table and eat with tortillas, sliced onion, cucumber, tomato and salsa. Turning it into tacos is simply a matter of flaking the grilled flesh into a warm tortilla. Restaurants and home cooks increasingly grill fillets instead of whole fish and serve them ready-made as tacos, as in Bayless's recipe, which pairs fillets with thin red onion, lime and extra hot sauce.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 700 g skin-on fillets of snapper, sea bass or corvina, about 2.5 cm thick (or a 1.5 kg whole fish, butterflied)
- 6 garlic cloves
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Huichol or Valentina hot sauce, plus more to serve
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp achiote paste (optional)
- Salt and black pepper
- 12 corn tortillas
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
- Lime wedges
Steps
- Pound the garlic with a pinch of salt and mix with the olive oil. Stir in the mayonnaise, mustard, soy sauce, hot sauce, lime juice, achiote if using, and pepper.
- Score the flesh side of the fish with shallow cuts every few centimeters, season with salt and coat all over with the marinade. Rest 15 minutes.
- Heat a charcoal or gas grill to medium-high. Oil a hinged fish basket, close the fish inside and grill skin side down first, turning every 2 to 3 minutes, until just cooked through, about 8 to 10 minutes for fillets or 15 for a whole fish.
- Lift the fish onto a platter and break it into large flakes, avoiding bones.
- Serve with warm tortillas, red onion, cucumber, lime and hot sauce for everyone to build their own tacos.
Without a basket, grill the fillets on a well-oiled, very hot grate and turn only once.
Where to try it
- Tino's, Near Puerto Vallarta: Cited by Rick Bayless as a well-known place for fish zarandeado split and grilled over wood.
Reviews
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See also
References
- "State By Plate: Nayarit and pescado zarandeado". Mexico News Daily. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Zarandeado Grilled Fish Tacos". Rick Bayless. Retrieved 2026-10-10.