This mayonnaise-free Fish Taco Slaw is a crunchy cabbage slaw with lots of fresh-squeezed lime juice, cilantro, and carrots. The perfect slaw recipe for topping your favorite fish taco or as a side for everything from Chiles Rellenos to Cochinita Pibil. Vegan and gluten-free!
Recipe first published January 24, 2010. Last updated April 18, 2022.
This simple and versatile slaw makes an appearance on our table quite frequently.
It is the perfect slaw for fish tacos or on top of tostadas and we even serve it alongside everything from black bean cakes to grilled pork chops. If you have one non-mayo based coleslaw in your back pocket, this should be it.
Another thing I love about this slaw is it is really versatile. The only vegetable you truly need is cabbage other than that you can swap in radishes, cucumber, jicama, or even thinly sliced golden beets for the carrots. If you prefer a spicier slaw, add a couple jalapeño chiles (leave the seeds in if you really like the heat).
This slaw is even good on the go; slice and combine all the vegetables and bring the dressing separately. Toss the coleslaw with the dressing when you’re ready to serve.
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Why You Will Love This Mexican Slaw
So simple. With just a little bit of chopping and whisking you will have the coleslaw mix ready in no time. To make the prep even easier, use a Japanese mandolin for thinly slicing the cabbages and red onion. I also use it to slice the carrots into thin strips then stack the strips on top of each other and thinly slice into matchsticks.
Vegan and gluten-free! This no-mayonnaise, allergy-friendly slaw is vegan, nut-free and gluten-free so it’s great to take to a potluck when you’re not sure about everyone’s dietary restrictions.
Super flavorful and extra crunchy. This slaw adds so much flavor and texture to any taco recipe and is a great way to pack in a few extra vegetables to your meal.
Kid-friendly. My kids absolutely LOVE this fish taco slaw and it’s by far their favorite “salad”.
Fish Taco Slaw Ingredients
This is a quick and easy slaw with not a ton of ingredients. You can opt to make a creamy dressing by whisking in 1/2 cup of sour cream to the dressing ingredients.
- Red cabbage. I like to use both red and green cabbage for a colorful slaw for fish tacos but you could use all of one or the other.
- Green cabbage. I’m not a huge fan of the bagged coleslaw mix (typically dried out and flavorless) but in a pinch you could use that instead of chopping your own vegetables.
- Carrots. Use only carrots or a combination of carrots, radishes, jicama, and/or cucumber.
- Red onions or green onions
- Cilantro. Roughly chopped. Use the thin, tender stems too.
- Lime juice. Freshly-squeezed please!
- Rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- Kosher salt. I only use Morton’s kosher salt unless otherwise noted.
- Black pepper. Freshly ground please.
- Ground cumin. I like cumin as the dominating spice but have also made with equal amounts of garlic powder and that was good too.
- Olive oil or avocado oil.
How To Make This Fish Taco Slaw Recipe
This coleslaw for fish tacos can be made ahead. Prep the vegetables and the dressing separately then toss everything together when you are ready to eat.
step one
Slice the vegetables.Thinly slice all your vegetables (a Japanese mandolin works great!). No mandolin? A sharp knife also is perfect or the grater attachment on your food processor but I tend to like the long thin shreds better than the short pieces from a grater.
Combine shredded cabbage and carrots and all the other vegetables in a large bowl.
step two
Make dressing. Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Drizzle over vegetables and toss until everything is evenly coated. Taste and add more salt and pepper or lime juice as needed.
step three
Serve! Use to top your favorite fish tacos or serve as a side dish.
*Make Ahead: This taco slaw looses its crunch after a few hours but you can mix it up to an hour or so in advance. See the note above for making it any further in advance than that.
What To Eat With This Taco Slaw
Obviously this fish taco slaw recipe is made for fish tacos but it is an excellent garnish for so many other Mexican dishes. Try it on:
- Grilled White Fish Tacos
- Weeknight Pepper-Lime Shrimp Tacos
- Bean-Stuffed Huaraches
- Instant Pot Carnitas Tacos
- Pork Tostadas Ahogadas {Drowned Pork Tostadas}
More Mexican Food Recipes To Try!
- Homemade Mexican Chorizo
- Easy Chamoy Sauce Recipe
- Chicharrones de Harina
- Best-Ever Canned Black Beans
- Shredded Beef for Tacos {Carne Deshebrada}
- Pickled Red Onions
- Crockpot Borracho Beans
What Your Fish Tacos Recipes Have Been Missing
This easy Mexican coleslaw recipe, of course! Let me know when you make it by snapping a pic and tagging me on Instagram @holajalapeno and #holajalapeno so I can see or leave me a comment below (don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating) ! Also, make sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter, lots of good stuff there too!
Cilantro-Lime Fish Taco Slaw
A light and crunchy slaw with lots of fresh-squeezed lime juice, cilantro, and crunchy cabbage and carrots. Dairy and gluten free!
Ingredients
- 1/2 head red cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1/2 head green cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1 large carrot, julienned or grated
- 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
For the Dressing:
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/3 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Mix vegetables. Combine vegetables in a large bowl and toss to combine.
- Whisk dressing and toss. Combine lime juice, vinegar, salt, pepper, and cumin in a medium bowl and whisk to dissolve salt in mixture. While continuously whisking slowly drizzle in oil until fully incorporated. Drizzle over vegetables and toss to coat.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 156Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 138mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 4gSugar: 6gProtein: 3g
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I purchased your book and am using recipes from your blog. Specifically the slaw one above. I think my recipe would come out much more as you intended if you gave a weight and or a volume measure for ingredients like the cabbages for example. Your head of cabbage and my head of cabbage are likely not the same size.
I love what you do, please keep on doing it.