📍 Veracruz

Huachinango a la veracruzana (Veracruz-style red snapper)

Name: Huachinango a la veracruzana (Veracruz-style red snapper)
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 whole red snapper or in fillets; 6 ripe tomatoes; Olives and capers; Pickled guero chiles; Onion, garlic, and bay leaf; Lime juice, parsley, and olive oil

· Lunch

Fillet or whole fish in a tomato sauce with olives, capers, and guero chiles.

Editorial content by WorldBites · 2026-10-04 · Contact

⏱ 55 min🍽 4 servings📊 Intermediate🏷 Commonly associated🌱 Gluten-free🌱 Dairy-free

Preparation: 25 min
Cooking: 30 min
Waiting and resting: 0 min

History

A flagship dish of the port of Veracruz, born of the blend of Indigenous and Spanish cooking. The sauce combines tomato with olives, capers, and Mediterranean herbs.

Ingredients

Adjust quantitiesServings

Only numeric quantities at the start of an ingredient are adjusted. Descriptive quantities, seasoning to taste and timings remain unchanged; check them when changing servings.

Preparation

1
Marinate the fish with lime and salt.
2
Saute onion and garlic in olive oil.
3
Add the chopped tomato and cook until it forms a sauce.
4
Stir in olives, capers, guero chiles, and bay leaf.
5
Cook the fish in the sauce until it is firm.
6
Sprinkle with parsley and serve hot.

Cooking tips

Taste after adding capers and olives because they supply plenty of salt.

Technique and preparation

What to check during preparation

Reduce tomato first until the sauce clings to the fish. Drain olives and capers and taste before adding salt. With a whole fish, check the thickest flesh; fillets need less time and should sit in one layer. Keep a gentle simmer to avoid breaking them and do not stir directly through the flesh. Serve as soon as the fish is cooked rather than continuing to boil it.