11 Best Vegetarian Tacos

Looking for a fun dinner? Make vegetarian tacos! Read on to find some of my favorite veggie taco recipes, as well as a guide to making your own.

Vegetarian Tacos

When I’m in the mood for a fun dinner, I make vegetarian tacos. Jack mixes up margaritas, I set out a taco bar for two, and we each fill our tortillas just the way we like them. The process is quick and easy, and at the end, we get to dig in to flavorful veggie tacos. To me, it’s a pretty perfect night.

In case you’re looking for a fun way to change up your dinner routine, I’m sharing 11 of my favorite vegetarian taco recipes below. They’d be perfect for Cinco de Mayo this week, but honestly, we make them all year-round! If you don’t have the exact ingredients to a recipe on hand, swap in what you do have, or check out the bottom of this post. There, you’ll find my guide on how to make vegetarian tacos without a recipe. One of the best things about taco night is that it feels creative, so mix and match what’s in your kitchen to make veggie tacos you love.

Roasted Veggie Tacos

Avocado Sweet Potato Tacos

Avocado Sweet Potato Tacos
Readers LOVE these tacos, and I do too! Black beans and chili-spiced roasted sweet potatoes make them nice and hearty, a creamy avocado yogurt sauce fills them with zesty flavor, and pickled red onions add a sweet and tangy finishing touch.

Vegetarian Tacos with Avocado-Tomatillo Sauce (recipe below)
The most important part of this recipe is the bright, creamy avocado-tomatillo sauce. Beyond that, make it your own! Swap your favorite roasted veggies for the bell pepper, summer squash, and eggplant, or use pinto beans instead of black. It’s a fun, flexible taco template for whatever you have on hand.

Breaded and Baked Artichoke “Fish” Tacos,
page 155 of Love and Lemons Every Day
My vegetarian riff on a classic fish taco, these guys feature crispy, smoky breaded artichoke hearts, briny Greek yogurt tartar sauce, and a zesty cabbage slaw. If you want to change up the filling, swap butternut squash, cauliflower, or oyster mushrooms for the artichokes!

Roasted Cauliflower Tacos with Chipotle Cream
page 99 of The Love and Lemons Cookbook
So many of you have made and loved these tacos! Filled with smoky chipotle-roasted cauliflower, avocado, and a tangy chipotle yogurt sauce, they’re super simple and super flavorful, too.

Autumn Veggie Tacos

Crispy Butternut Squash and Poblano Tacos
This recipe has three key components: crunchy cubes of breaded and baked butternut squash, a creamy roasted poblano sauce, and a crispy cabbage slaw. Wrap them all up inside a tortilla, and you won’t be able to get enough!

Fruity Vegetarian Tacos

Vegan Tacos

Jerk-Spiced Jackfruit Vegan Tacos
If you’ve never cooked with jackfruit, you won’t believe how meaty this taco filling is! Thanks to a homemade jerk seasoning blend, the jackfruit tastes pretty spicy on its own. Add a scoop of refreshing mango-avocado salsa to tame the heat!

Mango, Avocado, and Black Bean Tacos

Spicy Mango Black Bean Avocado Tacos
They’re sweet, they’re spicy, and they’re so darn simple. What more could you want on a weeknight?

Grilled Veggie Tacos

Grilled Corn Vegetarian Tacos

Grilled Corn Tacos
If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on peak-season sweet corn, make this recipe ASAP. Along with grilled green beans, cherry tomatoes, and tangy feta cheese, the crisp, charred corn makes a taco filling so good that I could eat it on its own – no tortillas necessary!

Portobello Mushroom Tacos

Portobello Mushroom Tacos with Jalapeño Sauce
These veggie tacos are all about the sauce! Made with cashews, jalapeño, cucumber, and chives, it’s a creamy, cool vegan riff on ranch dressing. Save any leftovers for salads, bowls, or more tacos the next day!

Protein-Packed Vegetarian Tacos

Quinoa Tacos with Quick Pickled Onions
page 183 of The Love and Lemons Cookbook
If you’re craving vegetarian tacos that are packed with plant-based protein, these quinoa and black bean tacos are the ones for you! Often, onions play a supporting role in my cooking, but they really make this recipe. I sauté the quinoa with yellow onion to amp up its flavor and assemble the tacos with a pop of pickled red onions on top.

Breakfast Veggie Tacos

Healthy Breakfast Tacos
We all love tacos for dinner, but if living in Austin taught me anything, it’s that they’re great for breakfast, too! I load up corn tortillas with soft scrambled eggs, creamy avocado, a scoop of salsa or pico de gallo, and as many green veggies as can fit.

Corn tortillas

Build Your Own Vegetarian Tacos!

I hope you love all of these vegetarian taco recipes, but I also encourage you to try making your own veggie tacos. As long as you have tortillas on hand, you can mix and match almost any ingredients into something delicious! Use these categories as building blocks to create veggie tacos with an interesting mix of flavors and textures:

1. Tortillas – I like to make soft tacos, so I start with corn tortillas, flour tortillas, or a corn and flour blend. If I’m lucky, I have a batch of freshly-cooked homemade tortillas on hand! Always char your tortillas on the stove or warm them in the oven before you fill them.

2. A base – Choose roasted or grilled veggies, a protein, or a grain. Some of my favorites include baked tofu, cooked black beans, cilantro lime rice or quinoa, or the veggie taco “meat” from this taco salad recipe. No matter what you pick, make sure to season it! Chili powder and/or cumin, salt, lime juice, and olive oil are a great place to start.

3. A sauce: No good vegetarian tacos are complete without a yummy sauce! Here are a few of my favorites:

4. Flavorful extras: Pick garnishes that will contrast with your taco filling – something creamy, something fresh, something tangy, or something for crunch. My go-tos include sliced avocado, shredded cabbage, cilantro, crumbed Cotija or feta cheese, pickled jalapeños, pickled red onions, scallions, and cashew sour cream.

Serve your tacos with lime wedges for squeezing, pour a margarita or paloma, and enjoy!

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Vegetarian Tacos with Avocado Sauce

rate this recipe:
5 from 22 votes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Serves 2 to 3
These easy vegetarian tacos are filled with black beans, roasted vegetables, and a delicious creamy avocado tomatillo sauce. Feel free to use any roasted vegetables you like here. Sweet potatoes, winter squash, poblano peppers, and/or roasted onions would all be great.

Ingredients

  • 1 small Japanese eggplant, chopped into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 cup chopped summer squash
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
  • extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
  • 6 tortillas
  • 1 cup cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 avocados, diced
  • chopped cilantro
  • 1 serrano pepper, sliced, optional
  • crumbled cotija cheese, optional
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Avocado Tomatillo Sauce

  • 1/3 cup tomatillo salsa
  • 1/4 cup pepitas
  • 1/2 avocado
  • handful of spinach
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • lime juice, to taste
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the chopped eggplant, squash, red pepper and tomatoes onto the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and pinches of salt and pepper and roast until golden brown around the edges 25-30 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, make the sauce. In a food processor, blend together the tomatillo salsa, pepitas, avocado, spinach, olive oil, lime juice and pinches of salt and pepper, to taste. Chill until ready to use.
  • Assemble the tacos with the black beans, roasted vegetables, diced avocado, cilantro, serrano, and cotija, if using, and generous scoops of sauce. Serve with extra sauce on the side.

Notes

Store extra sauce in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.

 

39 comments

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  1. Shubha
    09.24.2015

    We had this for dinner last night and loved this recipe! The sauce in particular – the avocado gives it a great creaminess without feeling heavy!

    • jeanine
      09.24.2015

      I’m so glad! I’ve been pretty obsessed with that sauce lately, I’m so happy you enjoyed it 🙂

  2. Maria from theclassifiedchic.com
    09.23.2015

    5 stars
    These look FABULOUS! And, thank you for making notes on how to make them gluten free. While I’m not on a completely gluten free diet, I do try to avoid gluten when ever possible to help with some health issues. I can’t wait to try them. Thank you!

    xo, Maria
    http://theclassifiedchic.com/

    • jeanine
      09.23.2015

      no problem! Just make sure the corn tortillas you get are gluten free and you’re good to go 🙂

  3. I don’t think anyone is complaining about the bounty of taco recipes 😉 You always come up with such creative ideas, and as a vegan I love coming here for inspiration 😀

    • jeanine
      09.23.2015

      aw, thanks Sarah!

  4. Allyson from consideringtheradish.wordpress.com
    09.21.2015

    I’m sure these would have been fantastic as enchiladas. But if they had been enchiladas I would have missed out on seeing all those beautiful vegetables because they would have been covered in sauce. Sufficient to say, there’s no such thing as too many tacos.

  5. Beautiful presentation! Looks delicious. Love all of the flavors and ingredients you are using. My husband would love this recipe, and so would I. We are making tacos tomorrow night for dinner… I may rethink my recipe! This looks amazing. xo

  6. THIS is what I’ve been looking for! I’ve been wanting a recipe for delicious vegetarian tacos! I have definitely found it! Looks amazing! Beautiful photography as well! Thank you for sharing! 🙂

  7. Kristina from ohthegoodies.com
    09.21.2015

    I loooove this. The sauce sounds delicious, I only had tomatillos once in my life, but I loved them. If only I could get them here, then this would surely materialize in my kitchen.

  8. Krys from hungryrants.com.au
    09.19.2015

    These tacos look so delicious – I’m yet to track down tomatillos but I am on the case!

  9. I just discovered tomatillos and I am IN LOVE! They are everything that you described: bright and fresh and delicious! I made them into salsa and had homemade pita chips alongside. So good! I was thinking of roasting them next time…your reticence to cook them for the enchiladas made me think twice about my idea. I am interested to see how roasting affects the flavor. I’ll let you know if it turns out good. Here’s to tomatillo love!

    • jeanine
      09.20.2015

      Hi Kathryn – yep, they’re amazing! Roasting tomatillos is delicious (brings out all of the flavor) – I just didn’t want to cook my sauce here after I blended it with the avocado…

  10. Agne
    09.19.2015

    I’m so glad I found this blog with full of amazing recipes. 🙂 after being pregnant two years in a row i became a bit bigger (hahaha) so now trying to find the best recipes that are good for me. Will definitely try this. Thank You!

  11. Diane
    09.19.2015

    You can never post too many taco recipes for me. Especially healthy ones. Thanks and keep them coming….Diane

  12. Lissy from lissyslife.com
    09.19.2015

    Wow these look absolutely divine! I love finding new veggie recipes, so I’ll definitely have to give these a try.

  13. Lucy from justourpassports.com
    09.19.2015

    Your food photos are truely amazing. You should enter them into photo contests, you would totally win. I love tacos and I love every blog post you put up but we have been in Asia for 5 months without a kitchen so I mostly skip looking at them because all i feel is jealously, unrealistic deep jealously! I made a taco recipe of yours before we left and it was devine. I can’t wait to get back to the states and have access to an oven! Thank you for all of your food inspiration!

  14. 5 stars
    Shared this on my Facebook page today – because these tacos look ahhhhh-mazing! You can never have enough taco recipes, I say share as many as you want 😛

  15. Lu Ann from theteacupoflife.com
    09.18.2015

    Wow! These look absolutely delicious. I think I’m going to have to give this recipe a try this weekend. Thanks so much for another sure to be tasty creation 🙂

  16. looks amazing and fresh and like you’d feel fantastic after eating this

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.