Cod Ceviche
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This Cod Ceviche recipe is great as an appetizer or a very healthy main course! There’s fresh cod (& mackerel) as well as crunch, creamy, spicy & sweet additions to make it a delicious dish!
What You Will ❤️ About Ceviche
- Fresh! That’s what drew me to the ceviche every day when I was recently in Costa Rica. The flavor is so fresh! I had to come home and copycat this dish!
- Healthy! Wow – white fish, lime juice and not a carb in sight! It’s very low calorie and low fat.
- Authentic! If you want to make something that is authentic to your favorite oceanside vacation spot – this is it!
Ingredients for Ceviche
The key to ceviche is FRESH fish! The citrus juice cooks the fish – but you want to be sure that you’re using sushi-quality fish. I advice going to a seafood specialty counter or store and asking them for guidance.
This recipe makes 8 cups of ceviche – which is quite a bit. You can easily cut this recipe in half if you’re having a smaller gathering. You can plan on about 1/2 cup as a serving – depending on what else you’re serving.
- Fish: Cod, Seabass and Shrimp are very common in Ceviche – but fresh is most important!
- 16 oz Cod
- 16 oz King Mackerel
- Marinade: Limes are essential but you can add lemon and orange juice if you’d like as well. The honey adds just a touch of sweetness.
- 8 small limes – you need quite a bit of fresh lime juice to cover two pounds of fish – but I was also using bagged limes which were fairly small.
- 1 orange
- 1 tbsp honey
- Additions – the combination of crunch, creamy, sweet & spicy are what’s really magical with ceviche – and that’s where the additions come in! See the next section for swaps you can make.
- 2 mangoes
- 1 cup pineapple
- 1/2 Red bell pepper
- 2 habanero peppers – In Costa Rica, they used aji chili pepper and the habanero is a similar pepper that can be found easily here.
- 2 Avocados
- 2 small cucumbers
- 1/4 cup fresh Cilantro
- 1 tsp coarse sea salt
Recipe Variations
- Fish – You want to use a firm white fish – cod, sole, sea bass, King mackerel, red snapper, grouper, halibut, mahi-mahi and flounder are all good options! If you’re not sure about fish – you can always do raw shrimp and have shrimp ceviche!
- Fruits & Vegetables – Same as the fish – use fresh fruit – plantains are very popular as well but mangoes and pineapple were in abundance in Costa Rica. Peaches and Tomatoes and olives would also be good as they have a unique texture that would add to the dish if you were doing a more Mediterranean ceviche.
- Crunch – a little crunch is essential – other options to use are red onion and the wide variety of sweet peppers
- Seasoning – you could also add garlic, hot sauce or fresh coriander as seasoning
How to Make Cod & Mackerel Ceviche
Get ready to dice!!! You’re going to be chopping for a while! Be sure to dice things so they are about the same size – and that they are a fairly small dice. You’ll be eating this either with a spoon or tortilla chips – so you want to be sure they’re small enough for that!
- Dice the raw fish into small cubes.
- Juice limes and orange into a bowl and whisk in honey
- Add diced fish to a shallow dish and pour juice mixture evenly over the fish. Push the fish down into the liquid so it’s all coated.
- Be sure to use a non-reactive dish like ceramic or stainless steel. Don’t use aluminum or copper as it will react with the citrus juice and cause a metallic taste.
- Cover with plastic wrap and marinate for 30 minutes.
- Transfer fish and juices to a large bowl. Add in remaining ingredients (mango, peppers, avocado, cucumber, cilantro and salt – all in small pieces)
- Stir fish and veggies and continue marinating for 30-60 minutes longer or until fish is not opaque and is a more solid white. And – frankly – take a bite!
- Season the ceviche mixture with additional salt as needed.
- Stir again and serve immediately with tortilla chips or in a bowl as an entree.
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Tips, Tricks & FAQs
Cod, Sea Bass and Shrimp are my favorites – but what you really want is a thick and FRESH white fish. I highly recommend going somewhere you can get fresh – not frozen – fish. I went to Jungle Jims here in Cincinnati and asked the fishmonger what he recommended. He suggested the cod loin and the King Mackerel because it was the freshest. So ask someone that knows more than you! 😉
Normally it’s fish-based with fresh citrus juice, something sweet and something crunchy. The sweet can be mango/pineapple and the crunch can be peppers/onions. You can also make a vegan ceviche with fruit and veggies.
Until the fish is “cooked”. Depending on the thickness and size of your dice – it would take anywhere from 30 min – 2 hours. You’ll know the fish is done when the opaqueness is gone and it’s a more solid white color.
Yes – the longer the fish is in the citrus juice – the more it will basically disintegrate.
When I was in Costa Rica – we just had bowls of it at every meal! But it’s quite often eaten almost like salsa with tortilla chips.
Store leftovers in an airtight container (I like these glass ones) in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. The fish will continue to “cook” in the lime juice so after a couple of days the fish will be too soft. You should try and make just what you’ll need – feel free to cut the recipe in half.
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Cod Ceviche
Equipment
Ingredients
- 16 oz cod small dice
- 16 oz king mackerel small dice
- 8 small limes juiced
- 1 orange juiced
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2 mangoes small dice
- 1 cup fresh pineapple small dice
- 1/2 red bell pepper small dice
- 2 habanero pepper seeded, thinly sliced & diced
- 2 avocados peeled and small dice
- 2 small cucumbers peeled and small dice
- 4 tbsp fresh Cilantro finely chopped
- 1 tsp coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Dice the raw fish into small cubes.16 oz cod, 16 oz king mackerel
- Juice limes and orange into a bowl and whisk in honey8 small limes, 1 orange, 1 tbsp honey
- Add diced fish to a shallow dish and pour juice mixture evenly over the fish. Push the fish down into the liquid so it's all coated.Be sure to use a non-reactive dish like ceramic or stainless steel. Don't use aluminum or copper as it will react with the citrus juice and cause a metallic taste.
- Cover with plastic wrap and marinate for 30 minutes.
- Transfer fish and juices to a large bowl. Add in remaining ingredients (mango, peppers, avocado, cucumber, cilantro and salt – all in small pieces)2 mangoes, 1 cup fresh pineapple, 1/2 red bell pepper, 2 habanero pepper, 2 avocados, 2 small cucumbers, 4 tbsp fresh Cilantro, 1 tsp coarse sea salt
- Stir fish and veggies and continue marinating for 30-60 minutes longer or until fish is not opaque and is a more solid white. And – frankly – take a bite!
- Season the ceviche mixture with additional salt as needed.
- Stir again and serve immediately with tortilla chips or in a bowl as an entree.
