Chipoltle Mahi-Mahi with pineapple salsa, avocado salsa, and cilantro jalapeno slaw will be on my plate all summer long. This dish is delicious, healthy, and so fresh. Chipotle Mahi-Mahi is spicy and hot, but the coleslaw and avocado salsa is cooling and refreshing. What makes this meal so special is that it’s entirely from scratch. From the dry rub for the fish to the coleslaw everything can be made at home.
Salsas, Slaw & Substitutions:
What I love about this meal is all of the flavors and textures that the side dishes bring to the table. However, if you want to make this meal simpler, one of the salsas can be cut out. For the salsas, many of the ingredients used are the same. If you want a quick time-saving trick, add the red onion and the cilantro to a food processor and pulse a few times until they are finely diced. You can then add half the mixture to each salsa.
Substitutions:
If you can’t find Mahi-Mahi I would recommend using either salmon or arctic char as a replacement. This dry rub is also delicious on chicken for the fish haters out there.
Pineapple Salsa:
Pineapple salsa is just a combination of cubed pineapple, red bell pepper, Fresno pepper, red onion, cilantro, and a little lime juice. For a less spicy salsa, leave out the Fresno pepper.
Avocado Salsa:
Yes, this is basically just less-mushed guacamole, but it’s delicious. Rather than scooping out the flesh from the avocado shell, gently peel the shell off of the avocado and then cut it into cubes. This avocado is mixed with red onion, cilantro, jalapeno, and lime juice. If you don’t like spicy, the jalapeno can be left out.
Jalapeno Cilantro Slaw
This is one of my favorite side dishes. It goes with so many different recipes, and it’s a great leftover. If you don’t like spicy, you can leave out the jalapenos. You can find the full recipe linked here.
Chipotle Mahi-Mahi
I like to make the dry rub for this recipe from scratch. I know that there are other Chipotle-style pre-made dry rubs that can be purchased so feel free to buy one of those to simplify this recipe. The dry rub recipe may have some leftovers depending on how much fish you are using. I used only two pieces of Mahi-Mahi and ended up having enough dry rub for four pieces total. I saved the leftovers in a glass container and stored them in my spice cabinet. If you are looking to make this yourself, you’re going to need a good quality Chipotle pepper powder. I like to use this one. The Mahi Mahi can be either cooked in a cast iron or skillet or grilled.
For grilling the instructions will be a bit different. Start by dry rubbing the fish. Right before putting the fish on the grill, use a pastry brush to rub avocado oil over the fish so that it doesn’t stick to the grill.
Grilled Chipotle Mahi Mahi with Pineapple Salsa
Ingredients
- 1-2 lbs Mahi Mahi (about 2-4 filets)
- 2 tbsp avocado or olive oil
Dry Rub
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp chipotle pepper powder
- 1 tsp garlic salt/garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried onion
- 4 tsp coconut sugar (sub brown sugar)
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne (optional)
- salt to taste
Pineapple Salsa
- 1/2 of a pineapple - diced
- 1 Fresno pepper - thinly sliced (optional)
- 1/2 red bell pepper - diced
- 1 tbsp finely chopped red onion
- 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
- juice of 1 lime
Avocado Salsa
- 2 avocados - diced
- 2 tbsp finely chopped red onion
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 small jalapeno - diced
- juice of 1 lime
- sea salt to taste
Instructions
- Mix all dry rub ingredients together and rub onto Mahi. You may have some leftover depending on how much Mahi you use. Let the Mahi sit with the dry rub on for 10-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the pineapple salsa in a bowl and stir well. Set aside.
- In another bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the avocado salsa and stir well. Set aside.
- Preheat 2 tbsp of avocado oil in a cast-iron skillet. Alternatively, this can be made on the grill. Use a pastry brush to brush the avocado oil onto the fish filets and preheat the grill.
- Place the Mahi on the desired cooking surface and cook for about 5 minutes per side until it has started to blacken. Flip the Mahi and cook another 5 minutes. The Mahi is done when the internal temperature reaches 135 degrees.