This low-fat vegan taco meat is like no other you've seen before! It's made of whole foods, but with a texture that is spot on to the traditional taco!
This recipe was originally published on 4/29/18
I love that this vegan taco meat is a healthy option that is not made with processed ingredients. Plus it is packed with protein, uses only 7 ingredients and no oil. The texture is crumbly yet chewy, and is perfect for all things taco!
Healthy Vegan Taco Meat
As much as we love a good black bean filling, there is always that craving for a traditional crunchy "meaty" taco. Most of the options out there for that perfect meaty texture are made of processed ingredients.
Since we eat processed foods sparingly, but we eat tacos on the weekly, we needed another option. So I made one.
This vegan taco meat isn't too wet, so your crunchy tacos stay crunchy, it has that signature crumbly texture, and that perfect chew!
What is vegan taco meat made of?
I wanted this made of only whole foods. No processed stuff. I also wanted it allergy friendly, which means no nuts. Finally, I wanted this to have a short list of ingredients.
I nailed it with 7 amazing whole foods, including the salt (technically you can make it with 6 if you use water instead of broth!). Each one contributes to that spot on meaty texture:
- dried chickpeas- this will not work as well with canned. Reason being, soaking a dried chickpea allows for a slight chew in the texture.
- short grain brown rice- long grain will not work here. The short grain brown rice has that perfect chew to it, which is a huge part of the texture in this vegan taco meat.
- red onion- adds a depth of flavor reminiscent of real crumbled taco meat.
- veggie broth- just enough to cook the onion to that prefect soft consistency and keep this recipe low-fat and oil free. Do not add any more liquid or it will yield a mushier end result. You can use water too if you don't have broth and are too lazy to go to the store.
- seasoning- I use my new favorite homemade taco seasoning (it has an important secret ingredient!), also don't forget to add your salt as my homemade taco seasoning is salt free.
- breadcrumbs- I trialed, and errored, many options to help absorb that last bit of liquid, and breadcrumbs were the stand out winner.
Grain free version of taco meat
If you're looking for something that is grain free (ie no rice), then this option made of walnuts and lentils is perfect.
Vegan Taco Toppings
We love making a taco bar so that everyone can create tacos to their liking. There is nothing worse that whining at dinner when all you want is to enjoy your tacos!
Here are some of our favorite toppings:
- my famous vegan cheese sauce
- guacamole (this loaded guacamole is amazing)
- fresh salsa
- roasted salsa (the one from my cookbook is incredible)
- sour cream
- spicy cream sauce
- lettuce
- tomatoes
- red onion
- green onion
- pickled jalapenos
- fresh jalapenos
- cilantro
- hot sauce
And of course, putting all this goodness in a delicious crunchy taco shell is our favorite taco holder. You can use a soft tortilla too, but that crunch you get with a crispy taco is unreal!
Are corn taco shells vegan?
Like I say with most things, you need to read the ingredients. The best corn tortillas are simple with basic ingredients. Simple corn, lime and some sort of oil. If that's all they have, then they are vegan!
Making Tacos With Vegan Taco Meat
A few steps and you've got easy vegan tacos everyone will love. The taco meat also freezes well so I often double it for future use.
- Make vegan taco meat of choice.
- Build your tacos
It's that easy. I love this vegan taco recipe because everyone can build their own so there is no whining. Our biggest issue is they keep wanting more, and then try and eat ours!
PSA, if you smother your tacos in jalapeños or hot sauce, the kids won't beg like little puppy dogs for a bite of yours. If you're feeling really spicy, try this spicy cilantro sauce. It's delish!
Low-Fat Vegan Taco Meat (Made with Whole Foods)
Ingredients
Taco meat:
- ½ cup dried chickpeas soaked overnight (measure before soaking)
- ¼ cup short grain brown rice (see note)
- ½ cup chopped red onion
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt (see note)
- 5 tablespoons taco seasoning (store bought or homemade)
- ¼ cup veggie broth , low sodium if needed (you can also use water if you don't have broth)
- 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs , gluten free if needed
Tacos:
- 12 crispy taco shells or soft taco sized tortillas (you can also make your own crispy shells)
- Cheese Sauce
- Guacamole
- Fresh Mexican Salsa
- Vegan Sour Cream
- Shredded lettuce
- Chopped tomatoes
- Chopped red onion
- Mild nacho pickled jalapeño slices
- Fresh jalapeño slices
Instructions
- Put the rice in a medium sized pot and fill it with water, make sure you have plenty of water so that when you add the chickpeas it will cover them.
- Partially cover and bring to a boil (about 7-8 minutes, depending on stove top).
- Turn the heat down to medium and cook partially covered an additional 10 minutes (should be about 17-18 minutes total rice cooking time). The texture of the rice should be just beginning to get chewy, not hard but not fully cooked.
- Add the soaked chickpeas and cook an additional 8 minutes.
- Drain and rinse and immediately put the mixture in a food processor. Make sure you have drained it well so there isn’t any residual water in the food processor.
- Add the taco seasoning into the food processor and pulse once or twice to combine. Adding the taco seasoning in right away when the mixture is hot, allows the flavors to meld together well.
- While the rice and beans are boiling, you can cook the onion in a separate pan, or you can wait until they are done cooking and use the same pot to cook the onion in.
- Saute the chopped onion with salt and veggie broth over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes, until it is soft and most of the liquid has evaporated.
- Transfer onion mixture into the food processor.
- Pulse until you get a nice crumble. Add breadcrumbs and pulse 2-3 more times to incorporate.
- Put into a bowl, give it a good mix and allow it to settle in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This helps the flavors and texture fully develop. If you are eating it that day, you can also let it settle on the countertop so that you don’t have to reheat it.
For easy oven baked crispy tacos:
- Fill hard tortilla shells with a little bit of the taco meat, top with 1-2 tablespoons of cheese sauce, if using. Then cover with more taco meat. This helps the cheese sauce stay away from the taco shell so the shell does not become soggy when baking.
- Bake at 350 F (175 C) for 12-15 minutes or until the shells begin to brown.
- Allow to cool 5 minutes, then add your favorite toppings and dig in!
For traditional tacos:
- Bake tacos according to package directions, make your own crispy taco shells or use soft corn tortillas.
- Fill the tortillas with taco meat, top with cheese sauce and any of your other favorite toppings and enjoy!
Notes
- The hardest part about making this recipe is remembering to soak the chickpeas the night before. If you forget, you can easily get away with soaking them for 4 hours in a pinch and be fine. You can also boil them prior to cooking them with the rice.
- This recipe makes about 3 cups taco meat. Nutrition is for the taco meat portion of the recipe only, and accounts for ½ cup. Values will change depending on what tortillas and toppings you use.
- If you plan to make this ahead of time and eat it over the course of a few days, you may need to add a bit more broth so that it doesn't dry up. You can always warm it up with a touch of broth as well.
- Make sure you use short grain brown rice and not long grain. The short grain rice helps gives this a meaty chewy texture.
- Adjust the salt for the ingredients you use. My homemade taco seasoning does not have added salt. I also use low sodium veggie broth.
- The toppings are all optional and just ideas. I highly recommend the cheese sauce recipe paired with this taco meat. I also love topping my tacos with guacamole, shredded lettuce, fresh tomato and red onion and pickled jalapeno slices. Mix and match and create your own favorite loaded taco!
- See post for the lentil/walnut version of taco meat.
- Cook rice and beans
- Make taco seasoning if not buying
- Serve as a taco bowl or as a burrito with grilled seam to close for easy eating.
Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes.
Nutrition
Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate.
Rachel Braxton
I am so happy to have a meatless whole food option! I followed the recipe and it tastes great. It looks like ground chicken and not brown like yours. Should I add more cocoa powder?
veggiesdontbite
Hi Rachel!! I am so happy you love this recipe! I wouldn't worry too much about the color difference, it could be the amount of taco seasoning or the type of cocoa and other spices brands you used, but as long as the flavor is what you like then go with it!
Deborah W.
This is the best recipe for taco 'meat' that I've ever eaten. I became vegetarian the end of November, 2017. I missed tacos so much. I've tried 'meat alternatives' and there's no comparison to this! I LOVE this! Wow, I can't say enough about it and have told everyone about it (even the grocery cashier, ha). The taco seasoning is also SO, so good! Thank you so much for taking the time to develop this recipe. Kudos to you!
Veggiesdontbite
Thank you so much Deborah, I'm so happy you enjoyed the recipe it's one of my favorites!
carolyn
Is it impossible to make this with medium grain white rice?? I couldn't find short grain brown or white rice. It looks delicious by the way!
veggiesdontbite
Hi Carolyn! I wouldn’t suggest if but you can definitely try. The short grain brown rice has a much chewier meaty like texture so the end result is much better. Just be prepared for your texture to not be as meaty if you use white rice and especially medium grain white rice. I’d be very careful how you cook the rice, it will be different than my cooking time so keep checking it. If it’s over cooked it will end up a mushy mess. Good luck!
Emilie
This came out great! Made your cheese sauce to go with it. Just had some leftovers at lunch and people coming through the break room said it smelled great. I'd only brought one tortilla and had extra "meat", so I finished it off by wrapping it in bib lettuce - the meat and a drizzle of cheese sauce. Super yummy! Thanks for such great recipes. I want to try the walnut meat next.
veggiesdontbite
Oh awesome! I am so happy to hear you liked it! Thank you so much!
Emilie
Made a really yummy taco salad with this. Used the cheese sauce as dressing, along with some salsa and sour cream. Thanks for all the great recipes!
kristin
this looks amazing! thanks for all the trial and error so we can have delicious tacos ?
veggiesdontbite
You are so welcome! Thank you for being here!
Amanda Hyman
Just made this!! The method was very well described. After a few read thrus, I understood it. I made it pretty well, I think. Might have overcooked it because my stove sucks and has lower power than most.. (shopping for a new one).. so I had to guestimate adding a little more time to the cooking time. It was really very easy though. I made your taco seasoning, too, and added only 2 TBSP to the recipe instead of the suggested 5, and that was plenty of heat and spice for us.
I LOVE the dry crumbly texture, and it's going to go so well on the tacos with the AHmazing cheese sauce. The meat crumbles really do mimic taco meat in the best way I have ever seen. Can't wait to experiment and maybe use this 'meat' for a variety of things! You nailed it again!!!
veggiesdontbite
Thank you so much Amanda!! I am so happy you found this and gave it a try! It is one of my new top favorites. I have many recipes ideas I plan to use it in so stat tuned. I am also working on an Italian version!! Thank you so so much!!
Cassie Thuvan Tran
Oooooh, this formula is so neat! Who knew that soaked chickpeas and brown rice would yield such a hearty texture? I was a bit skeptical from looking at the ingredients, but by the looks of your recipe, the taco meat looks spectacular! I love the way you topped your tacos as well--I'd top mine with TONS of avocados and salsa!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks so much! I really tried for a while to get this just right! And TONS of avos is perfect!
Terri with EatPlant-Based
Wow! I would have never even thought of a rice and chickpea mixture for the 'meat' replacement. Great idea, and I can't wait to try it!
veggiesdontbite
Thank you!! I worked hard to nail this one!
Kristen
Could you use canned garbanzos?
veggiesdontbite
Hi Kristen! You can but the texture won't be as meaty. It creates a softer texture.
Estee Hammer
I just can't have enough about this taco meat. I doubled the recipe and literally made several different meals out if it..tacos, nachos, tostadas, quesadillas and taco salad. My guys really loved it too!! Huge hit here.
veggiesdontbite
Thank you so much Estee!! I am so happy you guys love it as much as we do!! It made my day!
The Vegan 8
I LOVE these tacos girl and can't wait to try it! I'm in 100% agreement on the chickpeas and rice meaty texture too, that is actually what I use in my Teriyaki burger in my cookbook, haha! So, I KNOW I will love this texture. Estee made these and they looked so yummy. Can't wait to try them!!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks so much girl!! This is such a great texture for meaty like crumbles that aren't super wet. I have so many meaty fillings, and love them all, but this is the first one I created to be a drier crumble for tacos so they don't get soggy!! We always have it on hand! I can't wait to try your burger....drooling now!!
Whitney
This was really a great recipe! It's amazing the texture you get with the rice and chickpeas. I've done cauliflower and lentil taco filling, eggplant, seitan, you name it, but this is the best I've found so far. I followed your recipe exactly and my family loved it!
veggiesdontbite
I'm so happy you loved it as much as we do!! I too have done SO many varieties and I was hell bent on creating one perfect for tacos and nailing the texture down. It took a lot of trial and error! Thanks so much for your awesome review.
Pam Campbell
Made this last night for dinner, and my vegan reluctant husband loved it! The taco "meat" mixed with your cheese sauce was absolutely perfect! Will have leftovers in a salad for lunch today. Your recipes always amaze me... Thank you!!!!
veggiesdontbite
Oh wow! Thank you so much Pam! I am thrilled to hear you guys loved it!
JD
We call this, Healthy Taco Bell night. It’s delicious!!
Amanda Hyman
OH this is exciting!! Brandi turned me onto the meatiness of rice in a soup recipe of hers, and I LOVE all things chickpea. I have tried walnut lentil taco meat and liked it but nuts can get expensive and I like variety! CAN NOT wait to try this. Mexican is an every week affair here in our house. A new go-to will be grand!!
Jill
Can I use can chickpeas for this recipe? If so how much would I need? Looks delicious!!!!
veggiesdontbite
Hi Jill! Thanks so much, it has been a lot of trial and error to nail this texture but we all are in love with it! I talk in the post about why I use dried chickpeas here instead of canned. Soaked dried chickpeas give the end result a nice chew. Unfortunately you will not get the same end result if you use canned as they are softer. You can most certainly try however just know it will not be the same. Since I measure my chickpeas dry, I am not sure exactly how many you'd need if you tried canned but I would guess around 1 cup of canned?