14 Iconic Seafood Dishes You Need To Try In Mexico

With over 6,000 miles of coastline spanning the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, Mexico has access to an abundance of fresh seafood. It's a big part of the cuisine in nearly every corner of the country, and each region does it differently. For example, in the northwest, you'll find Baja's crispy fish tacos, while the Yucatán is known for its fish cooked in banana leaves. The Pacific Coast has fiery aguachile and the Gulf Coast is famous for its fish served with vibrant sauces. 

I've lived in Mexico for several years and have tried seafood just about everywhere, from street-side ceviche stands to beachfront restaurants and mariscos restaurants that specialize in fish and shellfish. One thing that never fails to impress me is just how diverse Mexican seafood dishes can be. Some are light and refreshing and others are bold and deeply spiced. You can get seafood in all forms including raw, cured, roasted, smoked, and grilled. Sometimes it's served on its own and other times it comes in tacos, burritos, and even cocktails. If you want to experience Mexico's seafood at its best, these 14 iconic dishes are a great place to start. 

Tikin xic (pronounced "teek-een sheek") is a dish that's hard to find outside the Yucatán Peninsula. But if you happen to be on Isla Mujeres, in Cancún, or anywhere else in Southeast Mexico close to the Caribbean Sea, it's worth seeking this flavorful fish dish out. It dates back to pre-Hispanic times when the ancient Mayans would wrap food in banana leaves and roast it in underground ovens. The name translates to "dry fish," but the cooking technique ensures that the dish is anything but dry.

Tikin xic typically features snapper or grouper. The fish is deboned, butterflied, and drizzled with olive oil and sour orange juice. Then it gets basted in a vibrant red paste that features ingredients like cloves, pepper, cinnamon, bay leaves, oregano, garlic, sweet orange juice, and achiote paste made with bright red annatto seeds. The fish is left to marinate in the paste for at least an hour, then wrapped securely in banana leaves and roasted until cooked through. The banana leaves keep the fish moist and add extra flavor. The result is tender, flaky fish that's citrusy, peppery, and has earthy, smoky notes.

Visit any seafood restaurant in Mexico and there's a good chance you'll find camarones a la diabla on the menu. The name translates to "deviled shrimp" or "shrimp of the devil," which should give you a good indication of the fiery nature of this dish. Many believe it originated in Veracruz, a city on the Gulf of Mexico, although now you can find it all over the country. Recipes vary, but it's essentially shrimp tossed in a spicy tomato-chile sauce.

The sauce is what defines camarones a la diabla. It starts with a mix of dried Mexican chiles like ancho, guajillo, and chiles de arból. The chiles are softened in hot water and puréed with fresh tomatoes, garlic, diced onion, and salt. Some versions incorporate a splash of vinegar or citrus juice for acidity. Once blended, the sauce is simmered to thicken it up and allow the flavors to meld. The shrimp are quickly sautéed before being coated in the sauce. It's typically served with rice, refried beans, or warm tortillas. Sliced avocado is also a nice touch because it provides a cool, creamy side to help balance the heat.

You can't visit Mexico's Pacific Coast without encountering aguachile. This raw fish dish is cool and refreshing, but it also packs some serious heat. It consists of raw shrimp, sliced red onion, and cucumber bathed in lime juice that's spiked with chiles. It's similar to ceviche, but the shrimp isn't left to marinate in the lime juice, so it doesn't end up cured like the seafood in ceviche is. The lime juice is added just before serving, so the shrimp stays crisp, sweet, and tasting like the sea. Aguachile is typically served with tostadas and sometimes avocado.

Aguachile was born in the state of Sinaloa. Originally, ranchers in the mountains would reconstitute dried meat with water and round red chiles called chipitlín, hence the name which combines agua (water) with chile. When the technique made its way down to the coast, the meat was replaced with seafood. Today, you can find numerous varieties of aguachile. The traditional version features fiery chipiltín chiles, but you can also find aguachile made with green serrano chiles and a black version with soy sauce. You can also find aguachiles made with octopus, scallops, and fish.

Huachinango a la Veracruzana is a fish dish that features a vivid medley of flavors. Huachinango means "red snapper" and the Veracruzana part alludes to the fact that this dish comes from Veracruz. The port city played an important role in Mexican history. It was the first city that the Spanish established in Mexico, and it would go on to see massive influxes of foreign arrivals. Their influence can still be seen in the cuisine of Veracruz today, including its famous red snapper dish, which features Mediterranean elements.

There are several ways to make huachinango a la Veracruzana, but it all starts with red snapper — either a whole fish or filets. The fish is usually marinated in lime juice, salt, and pepper, and then seared in a pan. Then it's simmered with a sauce that includes tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, green or black olives, oregano, capers, and chicken stock or water. Some people choose to bake the fish with the sauce instead or grill the fish and top it with the sauce afterward. Whatever way it's cooked, it comes out brightly colored and bursting with sweet, briny, tangy, and umami flavors.

Most visitors to Mexico quickly become familiar with popular taco styles like al pastor, barbacoa, and carnitas. But if you want something different that strays from the typical combination of meat with tortillas and salsa, give tacos gobernador a try. The dish consists of shrimp that are cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, onions, and chiles. The stew-like shrimp is piled into a tortilla with semi-firm Mexican cheese like asadero or Oaxaca cheese. Then, the whole thing is folded over and cooked on a griddle until the cheese is melted and the outside is crispy.

Legend has it that tacos gobernador was created in the late 1980s or early 1990s at a restaurant called Los Arcos in Mazatlán, Sinaloa. At that time, Sinaloan governor Francisco Labastida Ochoa was in town and planning to visit the restaurant. The chef knew that Ochoa loved shrimp tacos, so the dish was a riff on that. Tacos gobernador was a hit, and it soon spread to other restaurants in Mazatlán and all along the Pacific coast. It's easy to see why people love the dish — it's basically a savory, seafoody, taco-quesadilla mashup.

One of the first fish dishes I tried when I moved to Mexico was pescado zarandeado, and I was instantly smitten. When done right, it features a perfectly grilled fish that's smoky and charred, but also moist, flaky, and imbued with umami flavors. It's very popular in my adopted hometown of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, where it's often served at beachfront restaurants. In my opinion, there's nothing better than enjoying it next to the ocean with your toes in the sand. Pescado zarandeado is also beloved in its birthplace of Nayarit, a state that neighbors Jalisco and is just a short drive from Vallarta.

Pescado means "fish" and zarandeado means "shaken," which likely refers to the practice of constantly flipping the fish over hot coals. It usually features a mild white fish like snapper or bass that's split down the middle with the bones left in. The fish is marinated in a wet rub made with tomatoes, chiles, achiote paste, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce (or salsa inglesa as it's known in Mexico). The fish is placed in a grilling basket and slow-cooked over coals with multiple flips to ensure it cooks evenly on both sides.

Ceviche may have originated in Peru, but it's also popular all over Latin America, and especially so in Mexico. At its most basic, ceviche includes diced pieces of raw fish or shellfish in a tangy citrus-based marinade. The acid in the citrus juice reacts with the proteins in the seafood, causing the meat to firm up and take on an opaque character. Recipes vary considerably with many people adding an array of ingredients to complement the fish. However, the end goal is always a refreshing and flavorful dish that's perfect as a snack or light meal on a hot day.

Mexican ceviche differs from Peruvian ceviche in a number of ways. While both typically include fish, lime juice, chiles, and onions, Mexican-style ceviche also includes ingredients like tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapeños, and cilantro. Sometimes avocado might get thrown into the mix as well. Peruvians often add corn and sweet potato, but those aren't common ceviche ingredients in Mexico. And while Peruvian ceviche almost always includes large chunks of fish, Mexican ceviche can include diced fish, shrimp, or crab, as well as fish that's been finely shredded. Common accompaniments in Mexico include crispy tostadas and hot sauce.

Arroz a la tumbada is another dish from the port city of Veracruz that screams of foreign influences. The name translates to "tumbled rice," which may be a reference to how the ingredients are jumbled together into a one-pot meal. It's a hearty dish of rice and seafood in a spicy tomato sauce that shares characteristics with a number of dishes like thieboudienne and jollof from West Africa, Spanish paella, and jambalaya. But while it may have been inspired by other cuisines, many of the ingredients are distinctly Mexican.

One of the great things about arroz a la tumbada is that there's no hard-set rules for the recipe, so you can find numerous variations. It often includes a variety of seafood including fish, shrimp, calamari, mussels, and clams (or whatever is on hand that day). Many people start by browning rice in a pan or a clay pot called a cazuela, then adding a sauce of puréed tomato, onion, garlic, jalapeño, and fish stock. The seafood goes in last and the dish is covered and simmered or cooked in the oven until everything is tender and the sauce is almost entirely absorbed. 

Even if you've never been to Mexico before, there's a good chance you've tried tacos de pescado (aka fish tacos). The most popular style is Baja fish tacos, which originated in the town of Ensenada in Mexico's Baja California state. During the 1950s and 1960s, many Japanese people immigrated to Ensenada, and the newcomers introduced their culinary traditions like battering and frying fish tempura-style. But as with many Mexican dishes with international roots, the crispy fish took on a distinctly Mexican form.

Baja fish tacos consist of tortillas topped with mild fish like tilapia, mahi-mahi, or angel shark that's coated in an airy batter and deep-fried. Popular toppings include a crunchy cabbage slaw, thinly sliced radishes, crema, salsa, and chipotle mayo. Outside of Baja, you can find a vast array of fish tacos that vary from region to region. Take for example, tikin xic tacos from the Yucatán, tacos gobernador from Sinaloa, and smoked marlin tacos (more about that later) along the Pacific Coast. You can also find tacos featuring grilled fish and shrimp across the country.

Sit on any beach in Puerto Vallarta and it won't be long before you're approached by a vendor carrying a handful of charcoal-grilled shrimp on long skewers. They're known as camarones embarazados and they originated in the port city, then spread up the Bay of Banderas into Nayarit and beyond. The name translates to "pregnant shrimp," but that's not necessarily what they are. The name comes from the terms "en vara" and "asado," which mean "on a stick" and "roasted" respectively. Say them together fast and it sounds like "embarazado," hence the wordplay name.

Camarones embarazados feature whole shrimp that are threaded on wooden skewers. What sets them apart from regular old grilled shrimp though is the adobo sauce they're basted in. It usually features a blend of tomatoes, chiles de arbol, guajillo chiles, onion, garlic, and spices like cumin and oregano. Some vendors also add chocolate to give it extra depth. The sauce-coated shrimp are grilled over charcoal (usually rustic grills set up on the sand under umbrellas) and then served on the skewer with lime wedges. What you get is a tasty snack that's smoky and slightly spicy with crunchy shells and tender, sweet meat.

Unsurprisingly, most of Mexico's seafood dishes come from coastal regions. However, the country is also home to plenty of lakes that have given rise to some delicious dishes. One of those is caldo michi, a fish and vegetable soup. The dish is popular in the state of Jalisco, which is home to Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest lake. Caldo michi is also well-known in Michoacán around the Lake Pátzcuaro area. Although no one knows which state it actually originated in, caldo michi was likely created by fishermen putting together a hearty meal with whatever was on hand.

Caldo michi translates to "fish soup" and it often consists of freshwater fish like catfish or carp, although some people use ocean fish like tilapia or grouper. The fish is simmered in a broth with various vegetables like onions, carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, and chayote (a pear-shaped squash). Many recipes also call for jalapeños to give the soup a kick of heat. Garnishes can include cilantro, and lime wedges are often served on the side. It's a warming dish that's filling and packed with protein and nutrients.

Marlin ahumado or smoked marlin, is a staple along Mexico's Pacific coast, particularly in states like Jalisco, Nayarit, Sinaloa, and Baja California. Considering that marlin can grow up to 14 feet long and weigh up to 2,000 pounds, it makes sense that people along the coast would come up with a method to preserve all that meat. It's typically seasoned with salt then smoked low and slow over mesquite wood until it's firm, but juicy and infused with smoky flavors. It can be eaten on its own or in a myriad of dishes.

One of the most popular ways to eat smoked marlin in Mexico is, of course, in tacos. The meat can be eaten on its own in a corn tortilla or sautéed with onions, tomatoes, and chiles and then piled onto the tortilla. The smoked fish also works great on a tostada or mixed into a dip and eaten with tortilla chips. One of my favorite ways to eat it is in burritos from Puerto Vallarta's Tacón de Marlin. This famous smoked marlin spot serves gargantuan griddled burritos stuffed with grilled smoked marlin meat, onions, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, homemade ketchup, and mayo. 

What do you turn to when you're in dire need of a hangover helper? For many Mexicans, the answer is vuelve a la vida. The name translates to "return to life" and it's essentially a seafood cocktail. Don't expect a few sad shrimp lining a glass filled with generic shrimp cocktail sauce though. Vuelve a la vida can be a meal in itself. It typically features a mix of shrimp, octopus, oysters, and other shellfish, all tossed in a tangy, tomato-based sauce made with lime juice, hot sauce, jalapeños, and fresh herbs. It's a bold, refreshing dish that many swear by after a big night out.

Vuelve a la vida is popular anywhere in Mexico that fresh seafood is abundant. It's typically served chilled in a tall glass or bowl, accompanied by slices of avocado and saltine crackers or tostadas to scoop up the seafood and soak up the sauce. Many locals swear by its hangover-curing properties thanks to its mix of protein, citrus, and spice, which help to revive the senses. Some versions even include a splash of Clamato juice or orange soda for extra complexity.

Mixmole de pescado is a dish that's not widely known in many parts of Mexico, but it deserves a mention for its deep roots in pre-Hispanic cuisine. Long before the Spanish arrived in Tenochtitlan (the city that would eventually become Mexico City), various groups were thriving in the area thanks to several lakes that offered an abundance of food. Mixmole is a dish that has survived from that time and consists of fish simmered in a rich, stew-like sauce made from native ingredients like dried chilies, tomatillos, and herbs.

Historically, mixmole wasn't just fish. Indigenous communities used whatever the lakes provided, including frogs, salamanders, and other aquatic creatures. Today though, it's typically made with fish that's fried and finished in a sauce that features a blend of tomatillos, chiles, masa (corn flour dough), epazote (a pungent herb), nopales (cactus paddles), and quntinoles (amaranth greens). The fish turns out flaky and moist fish and the vibrant green sauce boasts bold, earthy flavors. If you're looking to track this dish down, the town of San Andrés Mixquic outside of Mexico City is a good place to start.