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Video: How to make Ceviche!
Ceviche Ingredients
- Ocean fish – look for wild red snapper, corvina, sea bass, mahi-mahi, halibut, scallops or shrimp. Tilapia will work in a pinch, but it is typically farmed. I try to stay away from farmed fish, but up to you.
- Limes- use fresh lime juice to cure the fish. FRESH IS BEST. Choose ripe limes– the more tender they are, the more ripe- so give them a good squeeze before buying. Rock-hard limes produce little juice and are overly tart.
- Red onion- Red adds nice color here, but yellow, sweet or white onions all work.
- Tomatoes – I love using cherry or grape tomatoes here for an extra sweet flavor.
- Cucumber – thinned-skinned cucumbers don’t need to be peeled. English, Turkish, Persian, etc.
- Fresh Cilantro- a must! But if you must sub, go with Italian parsley. Lime juice really mitigates the “soapy” flavor for those of you who have that gene. 🙂
- Jalapeno Peppers- and heat and a delicious “freshness.”
- Optional addition: avocado, radishes.
Best Fish for Ceviche
Most wild ocean fish or shrimp or scallops will work perfectly in ceviche. River fish or farmed fish are not recommended. Tilapia tastes OK in ceviche, but it is typically farmed- so up to you; I’ve used it in a pinch.
- sea bass
- red snapper
- halibut
- Wild Pacific rockfish
- Corvina
- dorado
- escolar
- mahi-mahi
- shrimp
- scallops
How to make Ceviche (step-by-step)
Step one:
Slice the onions and place in a bowl. Add the salt and lime juice and let these marinate while you continue- this will help remove the bitterness from the onion.
Step two:
Cut the fish into 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch cubes and toss them with the marinating onions.
Step three:
Add the remaining ingredients- cucumber, tomatoes and cilantro and give a good toss. If adding avocado, wait until serving to add it.
Step Four:
Refrigerate for 45-60 minutes. The longer you let the fish cure in the marinade, the more “cooked” through the ceviche will become. I find 45 minutes is perfect.
Ways to serve Ceviche
- Mini Ceviche Tostados
- Ceviche served in a coconut
- Mini Ceviche appetizer cups or shot glasses
- Ceviche lettuce cups
- Plated as a first course.
Or simply serve Ceviche in a serving bowl with tortilla chips or lettuce cups.
Ceviche FAQS
- What is ceviche? Ceviche is fresh raw fish marinated or “cooked” in lime juice, most often with onion, tomatoes, cilantro and salt. It hails from the coastal regions of Central and South America, popular from Mexico down to Peru and beyond. There are many versions, and depending on where you are, it will take on the local flavors.
- Is Ceviche Safe to eat? Ceviche, if made with fresh fish is absolutely safe to eat. Think sushi! The lime juice cooks the ceviche on the outer edges and the longer it marinates the longer it “cooks”.
- How do you know if the fish is fresh enough to eat raw? It won’t smell fishy. It will smell clean and fresh with have a subtly sweet flavor.
- How long should Ceviche be marinated? Marination time can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the size of the pieces, but roughly 45-60 minutes for 3/4 inch pieces is a good rule of thumb. 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!
- How can you tell if ceviche is cooked long enough? The fish will look opaque on the outside, instead of translucent. If you prefer it cooked through more, you can marinate for 2 hours or more! Longer marinating will tend to make the fish chewier. See what you like best. There is no “right way”. If it tastes too raw for your own tastes, just marinate it longer.
Can Ceviche be made ahead?
Yes! That being said, Ceviche is best made fresh on the day of serving- and is best up to 4 hours before 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 2-3 days after making -it won’t go bad, if kept in a cold refrigerator.
Give it a whirl and let us know how you like it!
More recipes you might like:
- Hearts of Palm Ceviche (Vegan!)
- Aguachile!
- Shrimp Ceviche Verde
- 20 Healthy Fish and Seafood Recipes!
- Poke Bowls
- Peruvian Ceviche
- 35 Fresh and Tasty Mexican Recipes
The Best Ceviche Recipe!
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 45
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: appetizer, salad, main, fish
- Method: marinated
- Cuisine: mexican
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
How to make the Best Ceviche! Ceviche is made with fresh fish (or shrimp) cured with lime juice, then tossed with onions, cilantro, tomato and cucumber. Serve it as an appetizer with tortilla chips or as a light, refreshing summer meal.
Ingredients
Ceviche Recipe
- 1/2 a red onion, thinly sliced, with the grain.
- 1– 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, start with 1, add more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3/4 cup fresh lime juice (4-6 limes) freshly squeezed ( try to use ripe limes)
- 1–2 garlic cloves very finely minced (use a garlic press)
- 1 fresh serrano or jalapeño chili pepper seeded and very finely chopped. Start conservatively, more to taste.
- 1 pound fresh fish- sea bass, red snapper, corvina, halibut, dorado, escolar, mahi-mahi, tilapia, or hamachi – diced into 1/2 inch cubes.
- 1/4–1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced or cut in half (or 1 cup diced tomatoes)
- 1 cup diced cucumber
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
- optional: 1 semi-firm Avocado, diced, or make the Avocado Sauce
Serve with tortilla chips, or lettuce cups, or see more options in the post above.
Optional Avocado sauce:
- 2/3 cup Avocado
- 1/3 cup cilantro
- 2/3 cup water- plus more as needed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 garlic clove
- cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Slice the red onion thinly with the grain, and toss in a bowl with salt, pepper and lime juice, coating well.
- Add the fish, garlic and fresh chilies, and gently mix.
- Add the tomatoes, cucumber, cilantro and olive oil, and give a stir and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving (45-60 minutes is ideal). The longer you marinate the firmer and more “cooked” the fish will become.
- Before serving, taste and adjust the salt and heat. Add more salt or chilies if you like. If adding avocado, gently fold it in right before serving- you may need to add a pinch more salt.
- To make the optional Avocado Sauce, blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth, adding a bit more water or oil, if needed to get the blades going.
Notes
To Serve: Serve ceviche in a big bowl with tortilla chips on the side, or as mini tostadas (on a round chip or homemade) or make ceviche tacos or ceviche lettuce cups. Ceviche can also be served in small appetizer cups or shot glasses with a mini fork. Or plate it up with a little Avocado Sauce as a salad course.
To make crispy mini tostadas: lightly spray mini corn tortillas (3-inch tortillas) with olive oil and season generously with salt. Bake in a 300 F oven on a sheet pan until crisp (not chewy, but crisp like a cracker) about 25 -30 minutes, turning halfway through. Let cool completely.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: -includes one diced avocado
- Calories: 149
- Sugar: 3.2 g
- Sodium: 637.1 mg
- Fat: 6.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Fiber: 3.1 g
- Protein: 15.5 g
- Cholesterol: 31 mg
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I made this recipe twice for myself and my best friend. The only thing I would change would be to dice the onion instead of thinly slicing for constancy, everything else is diced. Also even with the onion being thinly slice they overwhelm the dish. Diced onions is the way. Other than that great dish/recipe.
★★★★
Feel free to dice. 🙂
Don’t know who’s responsible for those tiny little videos that pop up on recipe websites like yours but they’re completely worthless. For starters by the time you spot them they’re already halfway thru the recipe. But if you’re lucky enough to catch it from the beginning, they move so fast they’re impossible to absorb anyway. If you were hoping to see the same recipe again so you wait for the ad to finish, guess what it moves on to the next recipe, no second chance. So I’ve come to one conclusion, that these videos are designed for one purpose only, for clickbait. Clickbait for their advertisements. Just trying to save your readers some time:))
Hi Diana- sorry about that. They can be frustrating. To repeat the same video, refresh the page, it should play. I am working on the comment box refreshing before you finish typing, and I hear you, that is truly annoying.
Just a little constructive criticism. Dorado and Mahi Mahi are the same fish. Mahi Mahi, dorado, dolphin fish, dodo… all different names for the same colorful and delicious fish.
Thanks Brett- I didn’t know that!
This recipe is delicious. All of my guests who ate it loved it. I’ll be serving it at a wedding dinner.
★★★★★
Nice Caryn! We love hearing this!
Ohlala what can I say, just as Sylvia says it can be dressed up in little Chrystal glasses and served as culinary appetizers or down in a bowl w/ nachos & beers… i tend to make this receipt with Mahi mahi as it’s the most consistent white fish available in taste and texture here in Colorado… I use frozen fish for everything we eat & serve raw or undercooked as I have learned from my fishmonger back in Culinary paradise Madrid, Spain (where I used to live), that frozen is actually the safest to eat raw nowadays as subzero temperature freezing process kills the common Anisakiasis parasite… our authentic fishmonger in Madrid refused to sell me fresh if it was for sushi & sashimi… not sure what acid does in the killing parasites process … here I no longer have such a knowledgeable fishmonger and I’ve learned that here in the US a lot so called “fresh” from meats, fish to pizza dough & breads even at the wholefood type of store comes from frozen (my “fresh” challa bread at wholefoods was last frozen solid 🥲)… so all is better just bought frozen and then thawed at home before use instead of refreezing so called thawed “fresh”. Even in the Netherlands where I am from and we have a huge fish eating culture and industry a lot of “fresh” fish gets caught deep at sea and frozen on the ships straight away…. We have been eating lots of raw from frozen fish for years and never (knock on wood) encountered problems. Ceviches are a summer go to and I bring frozen fish in a cooler home on hot days. Thawing fish also cuts into beautiful perfect cubes! As we used to learn in classic french cooking slightly freeze beef before trying to cut the thinnest carpaccio type of slices… enjoy this is a fabulous recipe!
Glad you are enjoying this one!
Elzeline-Thanks for taking the time to share all your good info, I know it wasn’t easy since this website refreshes itself fairly often deleting our comment before we have a chance to finish haha Apparently all our grocery stores in Texas thaw out their homemade breads too since we’ve never seen them in the freezer sections. I would much prefer to buy them frozen also. Same with our fish. It’s typical for grocers to thaw out all the wild-caught fish before placing them under the glass counter. And lately our stores have been getting shipments of true fresh fish that have never gone thru the flash-freezing process increasing our chances for all sorts of problems that can happen along the way before they arrive. Plus we’re more likely to find live parasites in our fresh fish when they would’ve otherwise been killed during the flash-freezing process. To those interested: live parasites are in ALL fish, both farm-raised and wild-caught altho farm-raised usually has more.
this is a nice recipe. I used frozen mahi and some scallops and one thing I like about this is the crunch of the veggies. It is delicious, you should try it !!
★★★★★
Thanks and glad you gave this a go!
We used fresh halibut. It was easy to make and delicious.
★★★★★
Great to hear Julia!
You used raw scallops in addition to fish and both were cooked well?
Hi Jesse, I have done this as well and it turned out great!
I will have to present all my food from now on the way you’ve photographed the ceviche here! This has so much wow factor! It also makes such a beautiful presentation served atop shredded lettuce or Napa cabbage in chili-rimmed margarita glasses (with a few tortilla chips as garnish of course!). Your avocado sauce seems like a great addition!
Yes, lots of options here for a fun presentation. 😉
Thank you for this recipe! I’ve always loved ceviche in restaurants but it has seemed too exotic to make at home. But your recipe is easy and thinking about it like sushi helps too! I’ve never thought of it that way. I used fresh red snapper while visiting the beach in NC. Soooo good!
★★★★★
Perfect Jenny!
Delicious!!!!
Spot on with just the right ingredients! Incredibly simple but absolutely delightful. Avocado on top of the ceviche also elevates further. Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
Thanks so much Tyler! Glad you enjoyed this!
My first attempt and I also used raw shrimp. Turned out delicious. Definitely have to salt and pepper to taste but perfect overall!
★★★★★
Great to hear!
First time making ceviche and it turned out amazing! I used fresh raw shrimp and it turned out perfectly delicious!
★★★★★
So happy you enjoyed this Ashley!
First time making ceviche and it turned out amazing!! I used fresh raw shrimp. Came out perfectly delicious!
Yay Ashely! Good for you and we love this with shrimp!
Just fantastic!!!! I’ve been wanting to make ceviche forever and this couldn’t be easier or better tasting. So dang good!
★★★★★
Glad you gave this a go Lydia!
Definitely a keeper 😋🥰 Delicious, made tonigh (with shrimp & red snapper) had mines over mofongo (plaintains). Embarrassed to say I ate more than my portion and look forward to tomorrow’s left overs 👍🏽👍🏽
Haha! Love it Brenda! Happy you enjoyed it!