Plant-Based Soft Shell Taco Recipe🌮
These incredibly delicious tacos are gluten free, soy free, dairy free, and vegan! They are a new family favourite and I honestly cannot wait to make these again for dinner next week. All the different elements and taco fillings offer a variety of abundant flavours and textures that truly make each bite so enjoyable. For these tacos I used organic 100% corn soft shell tortillas, and served them with Mexican spiced jackfruit, sautéed mushrooms, guacamole, tomato pico de gallo, mango chilli lime sauce, sweet potato, and a whole lot of colourful veggies, like leafy greens, herbs, radishes, capsicum & red cabbage! I love how colourful they turned out. 🌈
I made these tacos for my family & I, and instead of making each and every individual taco for everyone, I set up all the food on the dining table so that everyone could make their own DIY tacos! It is SO much more fun this way. And also allows everyone to customise their own tacos with their favourite fillings & sauces which is great too.
I believe that the secret to making the perfect taco is to not put too much filling in each shell, otherwise it can be quite a challenge to bite into! (I struggle with this, as I love to overload the tacos… because, there’s just such an abundance of yummy elements to add! It would be rude not to! Lol). But yes I just wanted to mention that the less of everything you have inside the shell, the easier it is to eat :)
The Mexican spiced jackfruit was certainly the #1 favourite amongst my family. Cooked jackfruit with all the spices used to cook it, very much resembles the taste and texture of chicken, or pulled pork even. Which is so cool, especially since it’s literally a tropical fruit that can be consumed and cooked in so many different ways. Have you ever tried jackfruit in a savoury meal? Let me know in the comments!
I’d also love to hear your favourite taco filling from this recipe if you decide to make these.👐🏽
Continue on reading for the recipe.
Ingredients
Mexican Spiced Jackfruit:
1 tsp coconut oil
2 cloves diced garlic
2 tins of organic canned jackfruit
2 tbsp Mexican spice mix
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp coconut aminos sauce
1 tsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp chopped red chilli
Sautéed Mushrooms:
1 tsp coconut oil
2 cloves diced garlic
10 brown button mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp coconut aminos sauce
Guacamole:
2.5 ripe avocados
juice of 1 lime
1 diced garlic clove
1/4 red onion diced
1/2 tsp red chilli chopped
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tbsp chopped chives
Pico De Gallo:
3 ripe tomatoes
1 garlic clove diced
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 red onion diced
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cracked black pepper
2 tsp chopped chives
1 tsp chopped basil, parsley, coriander (or any other herbs you love)
Mango Chilli Lime Sauce:
1 ripe juicy mango
juice of 1 lime
1 garlic clove
1/4 tsp red chilli or jalapeno
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp coriander
Other Taco Fillings:
1 large sweet potato
1 head of cos or romaine lettuce thinly sliced into vertical strips
2 cups of spinach
2 cups chopped coriander
1/4 cabbage thinly sliced into vertical strips
1/4 cup chopped chives
5-7 pink radishes thinly sliced into circles
1 red capsicum sliced into vertical strips
Method
Preparing your corn tortillas:
Warm up your corn taco shells in the oven at 70°C. Keep in the oven until serving.
To make your Mexican Spiced Jackfruit:
In a pan on medium heat, add the coconut oil and the diced garlic and let it simmer for about 2 minutes.
Strain your jackfruit from the cans and chop up the jackfruit into rough pieces.
Add the cut up jackfruit to the pan, along with the Mexican spice mix, sea salt, coconut aminos sauce, maple syrup, and chili. Mix it all together to allow the jackfruit to soak up & absorb all the flavours while stirring to prevent the food from sticking to the pan.
Cook for about 10-15mins, then put the stove on the lowest heat and cover with a lid to keep the jackfruit warm while you prepare the other taco fillings.
To make your Sautéed Mushrooms:
In a pan on medium heat, add the coconut oil and the diced garlic and let it simmer for about 2 minutes.
Wash your mushrooms and cut them into quarters or fifths. Add them into the pan along with the parsley, sea salt, and coconut aminos sauce.
Cook & stir for about 10 minutes, then cover with a lid to keep the mushrooms warm whilst you work on the other taco elements.
To make your Guacamole:
In a medium sized bowl, mash your avocados with a fork.
Add the lime juice, garlic, red onion, red chili, sea salt, coriander, and chives.
With your fork, mix, mash and combine all the ingredients together.
To make your Tomato Pico De Gallo:
Chop up your tomatoes into small-to-medium-sized chunks. Throw them in a bowl and add the lemon juice (I use a lemon squeezer to stop any seeds from falling in!)
Then, add in the garlic, red onion, sea salt, black pepper, chives, and herbs of your choice (I used basil, parsley, and coriander).
Mix all the ingredients together until well combined.
To make your Mango Chilli Lime Sauce:
In a dressing blender or using a handheld stick blender, blend together the mango, lime juice, garlic, chili or jalapeño, cumin powder, sea salt, and coriander. Blend until the mixture is smooth.
Pour your dressing into a small bowl and serve with a spoon to scoop onto your tacos, or, serve the dressing in a dressing cup that everyone can pass around and use.
Preparing other fillings:
Cut your sweet potato into small-to-medium-sized chunks and steam them until you can easily poke a fork through each piece. Serve your sweet potato in a bowl among your other taco fillings.
On a large wooden platter, add your sliced lettuce, sliced purple cabbage, spinach, chopped coriander, chives, thinly sliced radishes, and sliced capsicum.
Serving your taco fillings & corn tortillas:
Instead of pre-making every single taco, I like to let everyone make their own DIY tacos and spread out all the fillings and taco elements on the table for everyone to pick, choose, and create with. It’s SO much more fun this way!
I served everything, the Mexican spiced jackfruit, the sautéed mushrooms, guacamole, tomato pico de gallo, mango chili lime sauce, and steamed sweet potato in their own separate bowls. For all the other veggie fillings & the warmed-up corn tortillas, I served a big wooden platter as seen in the photo below.
Enjoy & thank you for reading!
I hope this blog post inspires you to get in the kitchen and create some colourful taco magic! If you make these tacos I would LOVE to see, please tag me @olivia.harper so I can adore your taco pics💛
Feel free to share this blog post with someone you know who would love this vegan taco recipe or who is trying to get more creative on a plant based, whole food diet🌱
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With love,
Liv x