As the warm weather approaches, I crave cold dishes accompanied by chilled cocktails. One of my favorite chilled dishes is an authentic Mexican ceviche recipe.
Ceviche is easy to make, but does require time and patience. Preparation will take approximately 30 minutes to one hour. This Mexican ceviche recipe will also need to marinate in lime juice and chill in the fridge for 4 hours. Following are the ingredients, tools, and directions for the recipe. Note, this recipe is highly addictive, perfect for sharing, great for parties, and is knock your socks off delicious!
My fish of choice for this recipe is Sea Bass. If that is not available, Tilapia also works great. We recently made a ceviche using Catfish and it was surprisingly delicious. I found that the texture of Catfish is more delicate than that of Sea Bass and Tilapia. Lime juice breaks down the muscle of raw fish. Consequently, if Catfish is cut too small for this recipe, it may result in a mushy ceviche. If you are making this recipe for the first time, I recommend Sea Bass and Tilapia over Catfish.
Let’s get to the recipe!
Authentic Mexican Ceviche Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Sea Bass or Tilapia
- ½ lb large shrimp
- 15 - 20 limes
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- ½ medium onion
- 1 c jalapeño juice from Green Pickled Sliced Jalapeño Peppers
- 1 medium tomato
- ½ cilantro bunch
- 1 medium cucumber optional
- ¼ c of Green Pickled Sliced Jalapeño Peppers optional
- Saltine crackers optional
- Guerrero Tostadas Caseras optional
- Valentina Salsa Picante optional
Instructions
- Using your cutting board and sharp knife, take one fillet and slice vertically into ¼ inches. Once the entire fillet is sliced, slice the fillet horizontally to achieve ¼ inch bites. Add chopped fish into the large 4 liter bowl. Repeat this process with your remaining fillets. ¼ inch bites are the perfect size for this recipe. Anything smaller than ¼ inch bites will result in a mushy ceviche.
- Peel and devein ½ pound of large shrimp. Cut shrimp vertically and horizontally to achieve ¼ inch bites. Add ¼ inch chopped shrimp into the large 4 liter bowl.
- Halve 15 limes and juice them into the large 4 liter bowl that is holding the fish and shrimp. After juicing 15 limes, if the juice has not completely covered the fish and shrimp, juice an additional 5 limes.
- Add 1 tablespoon of kosher salt into the fish, shrimp and lime juice. Mix thoroughly using a wooden spoon.
- After stirring in the kosher salt, cover the large bowl with its lid. Refrigerate ceviche for 4 hours.
- Using a clean cutting board and clean knife, finely chop ½ medium onion. Add the chopped onions into a small 500-800 ml bowl. Add 1 cup of jalapeño juice from the Green Pickled Sliced Jalapeño Peppers into the bowl of chopped onions. This is the secret sauce that will provide a special kick to your ceviche. Once you have added the jalapeño juice to the chopped onions, cover the small bowl with its lid. Refrigerate the onion and jalapeño juice for 4 hours.
- After both items have chilled in the fridge and marinated in their juices for 4 hours, add the chopped onion and the jalapeño juice to the fish and shrimp.
- Chop one medium tomato into ¼ inch pieces and add to the ceviche.
- Finely chop both the leaves and stalks of ½ a cilantro bunch and add to the ceviche.
- The following steps are optional, but I highly recommend adding both the medium cucumber and Green Pickled Sliced Jalapeño Peppers. Peel the cucumber and cut it in half. Using a spoon, scoop the seeds from the middle of the cucumber and discard. Cucumber seeds contain excess water and will distort the taste of the ceviche, so removing the seeds is important. Once the cucumber has been deseeded, chop the cucumber into ¼ inch pieces and add to the ceviche.
- Measure ¼ cup of Green Pickled Sliced Jalapeño Peppers. La Costeña brand is my preferred choice of Green Pickled Sliced Jalapeño Peppers. In addition to using the Jalapeño Peppers, I also used the carrots and onions that accompany the pickled peppers. Use only ¼ cup medley of Jalapeño Peppers, carrots, and onions. Finely chop all items and add to your ceviche.
- Stir all ingredients with a wooden spoon and serve with saltine crackers, Guerrero Tostadas Caseras, and Valentina Salsa Picante. If you do not plan to eat the ceviche immediately, refrigerate.
- The hardest step in this recipe is waiting the 4 hours to have the lime juice marinate the fish and shrimp. The Mexican ceviche recipe will yield approximately 8-10 cups of ceviche. This amount is perfect to share with a group of 4-6 persons. If you manage to have any leftovers, the ceviche will keep well in the fridge for up to two days. The recipe is also perfect to prepare in advance for dinner parties.
Tools used for this Mexican Ceviche Recipe:
1 large 4 liter bowl with a lid
1 small 500-800 ml bowl with a lid
If you follow me on Instagram, I have videos and snapshots of the ceviche recipe in progress under my Instagram Story Highlights named In The Kitchen With Cece. If you have any questions about this Mexican ceviche recipe, send me a direct message on Instagram and I will be glad to answer any question.
I hope you enjoy this Mexican ceviche recipe as much as I do. It’s truly fantastic and pairs well with a chilled margarita or ice-cold beer.
Thanks for sharing my ceviche recipe!