When I first started eating a vegan diet, I loved making Mexican food, or going out for it because it was one of the cuisines to find vegan options in, and as more traditional dishes are based around corn tortillas, that didn’t have to change when I became gluten intolerant. Today’s cauliflower tacos recipe is so simple to make – they’re easy, quick and make the most delicious lunch.
In a recipe you’re yet to see this month, I made a smoky ‘cheese’ alternative. It isn’t a vegan cheese but more of a thicker cashew cheese sauce that thickens further when baked, almost like a melted cheese. And that’s what I’ve used in this recipe to help bind these tacos together and keep them in shape as they bake.
I’ve mentioned before that I love cooking with cauliflower as it’s a sponge for flavour, and this recipe is no exception. The cauliflower cooks beautifully and absorbs each of the smoky flavours perfectly while filling the tacos to the ideal shape to be baked. But, it’s very easy to overfill a corn tortilla, especially if you’re used to wheat tortillas. Be careful not to overfill them, otherwise they’ll pop open as they bake.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
I’m not suggesting for one minute that a single taco is a serving, but I’m going to list the nutritional information per taco so you can calculate your own serving sizes.
Each taco contains 3.6g of fibre and 5g of protein. In terms of vitamins, each taco contains an impressive 70% of your daily B1, 60% of your daily B2 and B6, 50% of your daily vitamin C and a third of your daily B3.
SUBSTITUTIONS
The ingredients list for this one is quite minimal so there isn’t a lot to potentially substitute, but if you don’t want to make the cashew sauce or don’t have the time, you can substitute the cashews and nutritional yeast for a smoked vegan cheese (or regular cheese if you’re not vegan/ dairy free).
Shop Smoky Nutritional Yeast:
- Bosh
- Wicked Kitchen
HOW TO STORE AND REHEAT
These are best served fresh and if possible, I’d highly recommend eating them as soon as possible after making them, but if you do need to reheat them, heat your oven to roughly 180-190c, wrap your tacos in foil and reheat them for around 10 minutes. The foil is important to stop them getting too dry and prevents the tortillas from burning, don’t skip the foil!
Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days before reheating.
CAULIFLOWER TACOS RECIPE
Easy vegan cauliflower tacos recipe with less than 10 ingredients, a perfect vegan lunch or quick dinner.
This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, soy free and vegan. It does contain nuts.
Cauliflower Tacos Recipe
Easy vegan cauliflower tacos recipe with less than 10 ingredients, a perfect vegan lunch or quick dinner.
Course Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine Mexican
Keyword Cauliflower Tacos
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 10 Tacos
Calories 126 kcal
Ingredients
- ½ cup cashews soaked for at least 4 hours
- 2 tbsp smoked nutritional yeast
- ⅓ cup water
- 10 corn tortillas
- 1 tbsp oil plus extra for rubbing
- 1 medium-large cauliflower
- 1 medium onion red or brown, diced
- 400 g enchilada sauce
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- Pinch of chilli powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 230°c.
- Heat the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan over high heat. Add the cauliflower and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower is charring, about 5 minutes. Add the enchilada sauce and spices. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- While the sauce is thickening, blend together the cashews, nutritional yeast and water until smooth. You should end up with something a similar texture to an extremely thick cheese sauce.
- Warm the tortillas for 30 seconds to 1 minute in the microwave, until pliable. On a baking sheet, rub the tortillas with olive oil. Lay each flat and then layer evenly with cashew mix and cauliflower. Fold the other half of the tortilla over the filling, gently pushing to adhere. Transfer to the oven and bake for 5-8 minutes, then flip and cook another 5 minutes more, or until the ‘cheese’ has thickened and the tortillas are crisp. Spray lightly with some fry spray if the edges aren’t crisping up enough at the point you turn them over.
