How to make Ceviche!| 30 Second-Video
How long to Marinate Ceviche?
- Marinating the fish in the lime juice is what actually “cooks” the fish. You can marinate for short periods or longer periods, depending on how much you like your fish cooked. Â This marination time can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Â 45 minutes is a good rule of thumb, especially if just starting out.
- Remember when using a good quality, fresh, wild fish, it is not imperative that the fish is cooked all the way through, a little rawness is actually really quite good! Think sushi!
- I personally like it when the fish looks opaque on the outside ( “cooked” from the lime juice) but has a bit of rawness in the middle. Â This is usually about 30-45 minutes of marinating. See what you like best. There is no “right way”. Â If it tastes too raw for your own tastes, just marinate it longer.
How to serve Ceviche:
- There are so many ways to serve ceviche! Â In our catering business, we often made mini ceviche tostadas, ceviche tacos, or ceviche lettuce cups as a delicious healthy appetizer. Or we simply placed some ceviche in a small appetizer cup or shot glass with a mini fork- perfect for passing.
Or simply serve Ceviche in a shallow serving bowl with good tortilla chips like we do at home when we’re not catering. Simple, easy, refreshing….. and ohhhhhh so delicious!
Ceviche is best made fresh, the day of serving- but I do save the leftovers for the next day. The fish will continue to cook in the lime juice, so the texture will change but the flavors are still great. I’ve been known to eat Ceviche two days after making – if kept in a cold refrigerator.
Give it a whirl and let us know how you like it!
And just a heads up….if you like this ceviche, you will love this PERUVIAN CEVICHE RECIPE and these delicious POKE BOWLS!!!
RELATED: 20 Healthy Fish and Seafood Recipes!Â
PrintCeviche!
A simple delicious Ceviche recipe with fresh fish, cucumber, tomatoes chilies, lime, cilantro, and optional avocado.
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: appetizer, salad, main, fish
- Method: marinated
- Cuisine: mexican
Ingredients
- ½ a red onion, very thinly sliced
- 1 pound fresh fish- sea bass, red snapper, corvina, dorado, escolar, mahi-mahi, tilapia, or hamachi – diced into 1/2 inch cubes.
- 2–3 garlic cloves very finely minced ( use a garlic press)
- 1– 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt, start with 1, add more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼–½  cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 1 fresh serrano or jalapeño chili pepper seeded and very finely chopped. Start conservatively, more to taste.
- ¾ cup fresh lime juice ( 4–6 limes) freshly squeezed ( try to use ripe limes)
- 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in half  ( or 1 cup diced tomatoes)
- 1 cup diced cucumber
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
- 1 semi-firm Avocado, diced, as garnish, optional
Instructions
- Slice the red onion very thinly and salt generously and let stand 15 minutes until it begins to release its liquid (this will remove the bitterness). Rinse well, squeeze dry.
- Place fish, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, fresh chilies, and lime juice in a shallow serving bowl, gently mix, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving. The longer you marinate the firmer and more “cooked” the fish will become.
- Before serving, gently toss in the fresh cilantro, cucumber and tomato and a drizzle of olive oil, gently mix.
- Taste for salt and add more if necessary. If adding avocado, gently fold it in at the end, after everything is mixed, making sure to use one that is not too soft.
- Make the optional Avocado Sauce ( see notes)
Notes
To Serve: Serve ceviche in a big bowl with chips on the side,  or as mini tostadas (on a round chip or homemade) or make ceviche tacos or ceviche lettuce cups.
Serve ceviche in small appetizer cups or shot glasses with a mini fork.
To make crispy mini tostadas: lightlyspray mini corn tortillas ( 3 inch tortillas) with olive oil and season generoulsy with salt. Bake in a 300 F oven on a sheet pan until crisp (not chewy, but crisp like a cracker) Â about 25 -30 minutes, turning halfway through. Â Let cool completely.
Or plate it up with a little Avocado Sauce as a salad course.
Optional Avocado sauce:
- ⅔ cup  Avocado
- â…“ cup cilantro
- 2/3 cup water- plus more as needed
- 1 T olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tsp coriander
- â…› C lime juice
- 2 garlic cloves
- cracked pepper
To make Avocado Sauce, blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth, adding a bit more water if needed to get the blades going.
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Just made this. And wow! So good! … No one in my household enjoys seafood, which means it’s all mine mine mine!
★★★★★
Enjoy!!!
Do I use the fish raw or do I need to cook it first? Thank you, I’m excited to try this but want to make sure I do it correctly
Yes! Use raw fish. The Lime juice is what “cooks” the fish.
If I wanted to add shrimp how and when would i do that?
If you mean raw shrimp,add it with the fish. 🙂 If cooked you could toss in a few minutes before serving.
Everyone in the family loved it! It’s so easy to make (but please don’t tell my wife). My only modification is to drain the lime juice before mixing through.
★★★★★
Can I use frozen mahi mahi from costco? Is it ok to defrost it in the fridge then continue with the recipe? Or do i have to buy it fresh from the docks or something ?😂 also can I marinate it in the morning and have it for dinner or should i marinate it 45 minutes before eating, as I like that sushi texture as well. Thank you
I’ve used the fresh Mahi Mahi at Costo, then frozen the rest. I’m sure the frozen would probably work OK too…just haven’t tried it.
Such a simple delicious recipe. Thanks, always turns out. One of these days I’ll attempt the coconut. 🙂
★★★★★
Would using salmon fish be okay.
You know- I’ve never tried it with Salmon! I think it would be OK though??
I added radishes!
★★★★★
YUM!!!!!
I love your attention to detail here! I didn’t know about salt drawing out the bitterness of onion! I LOVE this–thank you!
I hate recipes that give you a life long history of every damn ingredient. Just show the recipe already. Sorry i even tried.
There is a skip to the recipe button at the top.
Yummy
★★★★★
I have my son’s birthday this weekend and i am going to make this with a few ingredients added to it.
I would prefer foods with strong aroma and taste mostly on appetizers.
Once I have added a pinch of turmeric and sumaq to the mix along with premium saffron from http://www.sevensaffron.com and i realy liked the overal taste so i am going to make this again 🙂
★★★★★
Hi, can I make this a day before my party ? And can I use shrimp instead of fish ?
Yes, to both! Add the cilantro and avocado right before serving.
Both my husband and I loved it. Great recipe!
★★★★★
Thanks, glad you enjoyed this!
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hahaha. really?
Guacamole with fish 🙂
This is guacamole with fish 🙂
the dish was exquisite. i loved the touch of salt added to the mixture.
★★★★★
Great to hear Nell!
Leave it up to a white person to teach us how to make ceviche.
Actually, I’m kinda light brown. To be exact. 🙂
I love this recipe. Simple to follow and the results were outstanding–delicious and pretty.I have enough left over for a couple of days, too. My partner loves ceviche the next day.
★★★★★
I do too! So tasty!
verry nice
★★★★★
What If I wanted to use this for a 3 day meal prep plan? Would the fish and quality be ok on day 3? Or would you not advise this recipe for meal prep? It looks delicious btw!
Day 2 for sure. Day 3, possibly, depending on quality and how fresh your fish.