This is like the freak show or something because vegetarian taco meat is a weirdly delicious thing. This is a miracle of epic proportions.
Do we love tacos or DO WE LOVE TACOS? We – team POY, readers and bloggers and friends and family alike – definitely love tacos. We also love all derivatives of tacos – taco bowls, burritos, burrito bowls, quesadillas, enchiladas, tostadas, nachos, etc., which is good news for the magic of vegetarian taco meat because it goes with everything. All of them. Not one taco relative left behind.
When we went to Austin for my birthday, my love of tacos was revived to the max. I am not even exaggerating when I say that I ate maybe two meals that were not tacos in our whole four days of Austin-ing. Dreams really do come true.
Since coming back, the number of tacos I’ve made is beyond counting. It would actually be embarrassing. That number is not slowing down anytime soon, kids. Being a taco fanatic means I am definitely not going to say no to a beef taco if you offer it to me, but I am also a part-time vegetarian and I love a good meatless alternative. I have no real explanation for this except that I love to eat plants and I find cooking vegetarian recipes to be easier. And more fun. So chipotle-spiced, easy-to-make veg taco meat was born.
Here’s what we have going on in this vegetarian taco meat situation:
- Cauliflower
- Walnuts
- Chipotle Peppers
- a few spices
- salt
Can you handle it?
Once that gets all ground up, we’re going to bake it.
You still with me?
While it’s baking, since you’re going to have about 30 minutes of down time, this is the perfect opportunity to get into a major salsa frenzy and whip up every type of friendly taco buddy that you can think of.
I went with the trifecta pictured here: corn and black bean salsa, pico de gallo, and guacamole because I don’t want to hate my life.
My taco vision quickly got out of control and I opted for a taco bowl – er, maybe burrito bowl, technically, with the rice and everything – instead of a traditional folded-in-a-tortilla fashion. Which is a callback to what I said at the beginning: that this vegetarian taco meat is ready to go with anybody in the taco family.
Only love for this mountain of glory.
What can I even say? My heart is happy. Vegetarian taco meat, please never leave me.
I hope you love tacossss.
Cauliflower Walnut Taco Meat
Prep Time: 5 minutes- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 6 servings (about 1/2 cup each)
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
This vegetarian taco meat is made with cauliflower, walnuts, and chipotle peppers. It’s so easy: just mix and bake. Meatless miracle!
Ingredients
The Vegetarian Taco Meat Basics:
- 3 cups cauliflower florets
- 2 cups whole walnuts
- 2 individual chipotles in adobo sauce
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
Optional Add-Ins:
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic or onion powder
- a pinch of cayenne for more heat
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until the mixture is evenly ground (see picture).
- Transfer to a greased baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through to prevent over-browning.
- Serve in tacos, burritos, quesadillas, bowls, and the like!
Notes
My salsa-making game is pretty loose. I like to just eyeball it and taste and adjust as I go.
Corn Salsa: toss some corn kernels in a pan and saute until roasty-looking. Mix with black beans, jalapeño, salt, lime juice, cilantro.
Pico de Gallo: toss chopped tomatoes with chopped onion, salt, lime juice, and cilantro.
Guacamole: toss mashed avocados with chopped onion, salt, lime juice, and cilantro.
View freezer meal version of this recipe here.
You might also like our full freezer meals post.
Cauliflower, walnuts and spiciness? Sounds fab!
I love a variety of toppings – a different taste in every mouthful.
I’d top with a sprinkling of sharp cheddar too. Ooh I’m drooling now 🙂
Yup, Gotta be sharp cheddar. Canadian sharp cheddar even better. They sure make the best cheese over the border. Trying to do more “meatless’ options to save a few $$$ this summer.
Lovely and vibrant! And the different toppings look soooo fresh! Really great recipe!! So healthy and such a beautiful pop of color!!
Hi! This looks lovely. One question though – what if you don’t have chipotles in adobo sauce? They don’t sell them where I’m at. Thanks! 🙂
any other pepper that would add spiciness would do the trick!
Hi! This looks amazing, but is it still going to be tasty without any spicy pepper? I can’t really eat spicy so should I just leave it out or add something instead?
Thanks!
You should be fine just omitting it!
I am so going to try this recipe! Invited my son who eats vegan to come over next weekend.
For chipotle peppers, I buy them them dried at one of my local Mexican food stores (I live in Arizona). I grind them in an inexpensive coffee grinder and put them in a spice jar. Far less expensive than buying the name brand jar and the flavor is so good! They rehydrate in the cooking liquid.
I love chipotle anything!
Can’t rate until I try!
Just as a heads up—Aldi sells chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in cans, very inexpensive. We keep some on hand.
This was so helpful! I walked right into Aldi here is Spartanburg, SC, and I was skeptical, but there were chipotle peppers in adobo sauce! Thank you!
This looks absolutely delicious! Is there an alternative for the walnuts in this recipe? My fellow eater is allergic.
I have never tried any other nuts! But I’m sure there’s a way. 🙂 Let us know what you end up trying!
I tried these last night and my meat-loving family all loved it (including 2 picky 6-yr olds)! And I didn’t have walnuts, so I subbed 1/2 pecans and 1/2 smoked almonds for the walnuts and it turned out fantastic! We made lettuce wraps out of the filling (with salsa, quinoa, black beans, and guac). So good! Will definitely be making this recipe again and again! Thanks, Lindsay! Your recipes help to balance out all the BBQ we make at home 😉
I made this with the few walnuts I had on hand and subbed in roasted, no salt pistachios for the balance. It was yummy!!!!
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That sounds yummy, I love pistachios!
Yum, yum, yum! Totally making this! I’m not vegetarian but I’m completely here for the Meatless Monday tradition. Thanks for the inspo, Lindsay! xx
Taco salad is my husband’s most favorite meal ever… I’m totally making this for him and seeing if he notices it’s meatless 🙂 Pinned!!
These look delicious. Have you ever tried freezing it?
Thank you for all the wonderful recipes. Your masala sauce and vegetarian meatballs are requested weekly by my vegetarian teenage daughter. I love that I can keep the paste and meatballs in the freezer and quickly make them for her. Hoping she’ll like this too!
I’m so glad to hear that. Thank you Kris! And I haven’t frozen it yet but I plan to. Seems extremely freez-able to me!
i have been dying to try this ever since you posted the video on IG last week (even have the recipe from your post screen capped!). tacos 4 lyfe!!!!
yay! hope you like it Jess!
Ah-Maz-Ing. YUM!!! I love the vegetarian taco meat idea 🙂
This sounds delicious. My favorite vegetarian tacos are simply ….Madras Lentils. Sometimes I cheat and add a little ground beef. My family loves them and they are easy.
And the good news is that there is not any of that fake veggie textured whatever that tastes funny. This is such a great idea!
Agreed! Not a huge fan of whatever that is.
I can’t even articulate how excited I am to try this! I’ve been trying to embrace a more plant-based diet lately, for increase fiber, antioxidants, etc. etc. But I’m always running out of high-protein ideas! This is perfect, thank you 🙂
The combo of flavors in this veggie meat sounds so yummy. I have a supreme taco lover in the family who no longer eats them since going veggie. Won’t she be surprised! Thanks, Lindsay!
yay! bring those tacos back into her life!
Impressive! It even LOOKS like meat! Going to share this with my gluten-free sister…
I’m all ready to try this! I have done just a walnut version but the cauliflower addition is perfection. So glad you liked our favorite Texas town!
aww, yes! we loved it.
I’m also wondering if there is a substitute for the walnuts….pecans maybe?? I get terrible canker sores when I eat walnuts but I’d like to try this recipe!
I saw this on your instagram and I already made it for my family over the weekend. It was a hit! They were skeptical at first, but everyone happily ate it. I bought some more cauliflower this morning so I can make another batch to have in the fridge this week. Yum!
★★★★★
wohooo! glad to hear that! I ate it all weekend too 😛
There is no such thing as Taco Tuesday in our house because every day is taco day! I love using cauliflower and nuts, or lentils, to make a meaty filling for our tacos, burritos, taco salads, or whatever spicy concoction strikes my mood. This sounds and looks delicious, Lindsay! I need to get to Austin soon, it totally sounds like my kind of place.
Yes! I love the idea of a walnut-lentil or maybe even cauliflower-lentil variation of this.
THis looks awesome! Can’t wait to try it! I love veggie burrito bowls but this “taco meat” sounds delish!! Plus I love an excuse to use my food processor!
http://Www.themilestraveled.com
Very clever! I could happily eat a bowl of that without craving meat (:
You never cease to amaze me linz! sharing! 😉 YUM!
It looks amazing!!!!! I’m crazy about this kind of food and it’s vegetarian, so excited to try it, thank you.
As soon as this recipe hit my inbox, I was off to the store to get the ingredients. This was SO EASY to make and it came together really fast! My ever-skeptical-of-vegan-food mother rolled her eyes when she saw the recipe, scoffing “I don’t see how that could possibly taste good”. When it was all done I was able to persuade her to try “just a bite” and WOW! Both of us were plowing through the meatless delight faster than Grant took Richmond (as my Grammy says). Such a brilliant, easy and delicious recipe. THANK YOU for sharing this. I can’t wait to feed everyone I know with this, I’m practically giddy!
(I made it with all the optional add-ins and it was scrumptious)
★★★★★
That’s awesome! Glad you all enjoyed it!
Ammmaaaazzzeee!!!! OMG. Your photography just seriously makes me fall over in my chair, along with these recipes! I’m gluten free and LOVE being able to find hearty gluten free meals for big strong non gluten free hubby and I am SOOOO making this!!!! Love!
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Hope you enjoy it, Jen!
So so so appreciative of these meatless and vegan-friendly recipes! Deeeefinitely going to have to give this one a try 😀
Hope you enjoy it! 🙂