click here to Pin this recipeBreaking news: vegetarian taco meat is a weirdly delicious thing. Like, all plants. In tacos. That really closely resembles ground beef and possibly even tastes better. 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.
The number of types of tacos I’ve made is beyond counting. It would actually be embarrassing. That number is not slowing down anytime soon, pals. 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 really 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.
How to make some mind-blowing Vegetarian Taco Meat:
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? It’s too easy. It should be wrong but it’s so right.
Once that gets all ground up, we’re going to bake it.
You still with me?
Serve It Up with All the Things
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 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.
Ways to Use Vegetarian Taco Meat
- In tacos!
- In bowls!
- In burritos!
- Stuffed in enchiladas.
- Layered in a crunchwrap.
- Eaten straight off the pan.
Check out our video for how to make Vegetarian Taco Meat:
Cauliflower Walnut Vegetarian Taco Meat
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings (about 1/2 cup each) 1x
Description
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
The equipment section above contains affiliate links to products we use and love!
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.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Mexican
Keywords: vegetarian taco meat, cauliflower walnut meat, vegetarian Mexican recipe, vegetarian recipe, taco bowl
View freezer meal version of this recipe here.
You might also like our full freezer meals post.
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One more thing!
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Pinterest
WOW! I wanted this to be good and it so was! We’ve recently stopped eating meat so looking for healthy alternatives and this is is just amazing. So full of flavour, great texture and so much better than any meat. Thank you so much 😃
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So happy to hear you enjoyed this, Julie! 🙂
Do you think I could substitute pepita for the walnuts to make this a little more allergen friendly?
You could try chopped roasted almonds instead as a sub, but we’re not sure if pepitas would work well.
Hi! Looks scrumptious. I’m wondering if this might work as a meat sub in vegetarian sloppy joes? What do you think?
Thanks! 🤓
We haven’t tried that yet to know, but we’d love to hear if you test it out!
I am making this tonight! It smells amazing; however, mine turned into a paste instead of a crumble. I tried pulsing on low speed and it still became paste like very quickly. Any suggestions on how to avoid this next time?
You might have a super powerful food processor. 🚀 We’d suggest just a super quick pulse next time to make things into more of a crumble.
This was SO GOOD and insanely easy!
★★★★★
Yay! Glad you enjoyed this “meat”, Katie!
This recipe is amazing :)! (Didn’t have chipotles so made it without, and cut down on the amount of chilli powder, but it was so delicious…
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed this “meat”, Sarah!
Fantastic!! Highly recommend, I make this all the time. It is so good and I recommend it to everyone. It’s also a favourite of my meat-eating boyfriend.
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed this, Marisa!
What a great recipe for taco meat alternative! It looks like crumbled meat, but tastes better!
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed this, Kris!
Excellent!! I didn’t have any chili powder and it was still fantastic
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed this, Pauline!
How long does this keep in the fridge ?
We’d suggest keeping it in a sealed container for about 4 days or so. It also freezes well!
For those that have made this recipe, if someone didn’t like cauliflower, do you think this recipe would work?
★★★★★
Hmm it might taste a bit different, but you could try the “meat” mixture we have in this recipe instead that doesn’t use cauliflower.
These were so delicious!!!
★★★★★
Having tried your other “meat” recipe (vegetarian chili base) I recalled I’d never left a review for this amazing cauliflower walnut meat, which is sumptuous, filling, and tasty all at once. I made it for a dinner party and got rave reviews.
★★★★★
💯
This is a great recipe!!! Also made all of the accompaniments you suggested and made taco bowls. Totally satiating. Thanks for posting this recipe.
★★★★★
Glad to hear it, Elaine!
How could you turn this mixture into burgers?
We haven’t tried doing that before to know, but you’ll need something to help bind the burgers (like an egg). Let us know if you end up trying it out!
Other than changing the seasoning, how would you use this mixture to make a burger patty?
If I don’t add the chipotle peppers to use it as a regular ground beef, should I add a tablespoon or so of oil so it doesn’t dry out? I made it without the oil and it got a little crumbly, but still life-changing! My meat eating husband loved it! Thank you so much!
★★★★★
You could try adding a bit of oil to see if that helps. Let us know how this goes!
This looks delicious.! I ran out of walnuts, can I make this with another nut? Like pecans or cashews?
I made this with pecan and it was still delicious. Today I ran out of pecans and amde with peanuts , still delicious
Thanks for sharing, Alpa!
We don’t think there’s a great sub for another nut here unfortunately, so you could just leave out the walnuts.
This was DELICIOUS! It was easy, scrumptious & & & my two toddlers absolutely gobbled it up. Thank you for a new go-to recipe! 😊
★★★★★
So happy to hear this, Chelsea!
I just made these for the first time the other day and was blown away! Absolutely delicious! Another hit from your blog that I’ll add to my rotation of go-to recipes that are healthy and delicious. Thank you for coming up with such delicious ways to stay healthy and eat plant-based meals. This was sooo good.
★★★★★
Could you use cauliflower rice instead? How much would you need?
★★★★★
Sure! We’d suggest using 1 16-ounce bag.
Absolutely delicious. Definitely a keeper!
★★★★★
I don’t like too spicy so I roasted cherry tomatoes a red pepper and two unpeeled garlic for one hour on 180 then liguidised them and added to grated walnuts and cauliflower then added a pinch of dried chillie.Then cooked in oven for 30 minutes as directed. I put it all in warm naan bread then added sliced advocado sprinkled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and and side salad of grated beetroot and carrot.
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Hey Lindsay, tried your walnut cauliflower recipe. I am a vegetarian (most of the days) specially when I am cooking.. I loved the substitute “meat”. As an Indian I crave for spicy dishes and yours was too the point yummy and deliciously delightful for my palate. Thank you.
So glad to hear you enjoyed the “meat”, Rashmi!
I can’t handle spicy foods. Would it taste just as good without the chipotles in adobo sauce?
We haven’t tried this without the chipotle peppers yet, but the chipotle peppers lend a good amount of flavor. You could try cutting back on them or just adding some of the sauce from the can to see if that helps instead with the spice level. Let us know how this goes for you, Donna!