Ceviche is a delicious way to eat fish. It’s light, tasty, and incredibly satisfying. It’s great for tacos and salads, Or you can just eat it all by itself. Bonus – it’s easy to make.
Jump to RecipeWhat is ceviche?
Ceviche is fish cured in lime juice and salt. I’ve had some people try to tell me that the fish gets “cooked” by the lime juice.
It doesn’t.
That’s a lie to make people feel comfortable eating uncooked fish. As if sushi hasn’t somehow normalized that whole practice.
Saying that ceviche is “cooked” is like saying a pickle is a cooked cucumber or sauerkraut is cooked cabbage. It’s not. It’s not exactly “raw,” but it’s not cooked either.
By definition, cooking involves heat. You never heat ceviche. In fact, I highly recommend you keep it cold to avoid all chances of botulism. Lime juice can’t “cook” your food.
All in all, ceviche is super simple. It’s a regional dish from Latin America and has a ton of different variations. Each culture adds its own flair, so you can really play with it as much as you want.
The only necessary ingredients are fish and lime juice. That’s it.
As for me, I like to throw a bunch of other tasty stuff in there.
How to make ceviche.
This is one of the easiest things I’ve made in a long time. All the work took less than 20 minutes, including cleanup. It was ready to eat in under an hour.
Since you don’t have to cook ceviche, you’ll dirty a knife, a cutting board, and a bowl.
So grab all the vegetables and your favorite kitchen knife, and get to work.
In that bowl, you’ll see cubed fish, grape tomatoes, and cucumber. Then you add minced jalapeno, garlic, and onion. You finish it with some chopped cilantro, salt, pepper, and lime juice.
If your knife skills are halfway decent, all that chopping should take you about 15 minutes. My girlfriend helped me do all that and we knocked it out in less than 10.
You have time to make this.
Once you get it all into a bowl, you stir it together. You’re done with the work.
Then you put it back in the fridge and let it sit for at least 30 minutes to finish curing.
Now it’s ready to eat.
You can put it on top of a salad, in tacos, or just eat it straight out of the bowl. I did all of those things and they were great choices.
You can also top it with a good extra-virgin olive oil and some avocado.
If you want some more ideas, go here. She’s a better cook than me and her avocado sauce is delicious.
Raw Fish?
Some people are deeply disturbed by the thought of raw fish.
First off, let me say you’re more likely to get sick from a poorly processed tomato or a piece of cooked chicken than you are raw fish. If you choose fresh fish from a good source, the likelihood of illness is almost zero. The Japanese have been eating sushi forever and they’re one of the healthiest countries on the planet.
That said, there is always the possibility of illness and if it’s truly bothersome, you have a couple of options.
Tofu
You could use tofu or another meat substitute instead of fish.
It will be comparatively bland, so I’d add a tablespoon or two of soy sauce to help create more of an umami quality.
If tofu isn’t your thing, you can always just…
Cook the Fish
This is an easy option.
Before mixing it all together, saute the fish cubes in a non-stick pan along with a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil for a minute or two.
Use medium heat and stir regularly to prevent sticking.
You’ll know the fish is cooked when it’s white all the way through. It shouldn’t take more than a minute or two since the fish is cut into small cubes.
Depending on the size of your pan, you might have to do it in batches. You don’t want to overcrowd the pan.
After they’re cooked, add them to a bowl and let them cool a bit.
Then continue to make the ceviche. But reduce the lime juice to 1/4 cup. Otherwise, the fish will get mushy and weird.
Ceviche Leftovers
So, you have some leftover ceviche. What should you do with it?
How about a ceviche omelette?
First, start the egg like you would any omelet. Whisk some eggs together and pour them into a nonstick pan. If you don’t know how to make an omelet, go here. Let Jamie Oliver teach you. He’s also a better cook than me and he’s making England more healthy. The egg portion starts around 2:45.
Once you get the eggs ready, spoon some ceviche into there. Try to drain the lime juice as you spoon it in or else you’ll have a watery omelet.
Top with some goat cheese if that sounds tasty.
Once you get the ceviche onto the eggs, fold over the omelette and let it cook for a minute or two longer until the ceviche has warmed a bit.
Then slide it out onto a plate. Serve with breakfast potatoes, more ceviche, and some of that avocado sauce I mentioned above.
Or do whatever you want with it. It’s an omelette. You could also cover it in salsa and sour cream and I’m sure it would be delicious.
Closing
That’s ceviche.
It’s one of the easiest things I’ve made in a long time. It was also really tasty.
Utah is hot as hell in the summer, so a cold, high-protein, low-fat dish was the perfect choice for a 100F day.
Go try it before fall starts to set in and we all start eating stew in our sweaters.
Ceviche
Ingredients
Ceviche
- 2 pounds tilapia cubed, see note*
- 2 cups grape tomatoes quartered
- 1/2 English cucumber diced
- 1/2 sweet onion minced
- 1/2 cup cilantro finely chopped
- 3/4 cup lime juice
- kosher salt to taste
- fresh black pepper to taste
- avocado (optional) diced, for serving
- extra virgin olive oil (optional)
Omelet
- 4 large eggs whisked
- 2 Tablespoons goat cheese
- 2 Tablespoons avocado sauce
Instructions
Ceviche
- Combine everything into a giant bowl and stir to combine.
- Let it sit for at least 30 minutes so that the fish gets properly cooked by the acidity in the lime. It can sit for up to 1 day.
- Eat as tacos, on top of a salad, or any other way you want.
Ceviche Omelet
- Cook the eggs like you would for any folded omelet. If you're not sure how to do that, follow the link in the post and watch Jamie Oliver do it.
- Put the ceviche on half of the eggs. Try to drain it as much as possible so you avoid a watery omelet. Then add the goat cheese evenly across the top.
- Fold the omelet over and let it cook on low for a couple more minutes until the ceviche is warm.
- Serve with more ceviche, breakfast potatoes, or fruit. Top with avocado sauce or a fruity salsa.