Fire-Roasted Vegetarian Tacos with Avocado

These vegetarian tacos are seasoned with a vibrant blend of spices, then topped with avocado, shredded cabbage, and cilantro on a fire-roasted tortilla.

You can’t beat how cheap they are to make and they’re packed with so much flavor from the sauces and spices. They’re quick to make too once you get the process down, you can crank them out from start to finish in twenty minutes, or in just a few minutes if you keep a bowl of the prepared tofu taco crumbles in the fridge, that’s usually what I do.

What To Use For Tacos Instead Of Meat

If you’ve ever asked yourself “What can I use for tacos instead of meat?” the answer might surprise you. There are a lot of different plant-based meat alternatives that work great for tacos instead of meat. You can use crumbled tofu, shredded jackfruit, cooked lentils, thinly sliced seitan for al pastor-style tacos, roasted chickpeas, or any plant-based alternatives that you enjoy.

For a vegetarian taco that more closely resembles a classic Tex-Mex style taco, I recommend using Impossible or Beyond ground beef seasoned with store-bought or homemade taco seasoning.

How Do I Cook Tofu For Vegetarian Tacos?

If you’re not used to cooking with tofu, tofu is typically sold packaged in water. There are many different techniques for cooking tofu and lengths of time that people recommend to press tofu for different recipes to remove this water. To get as much water as possible out of the block of tofu so you can crumble it and pan-fry it into crunchy seasoned taco crumbles, the tofu should be pressed overnight in the fridge. Tofu can be intimidating and maybe seem complicated at first because there are different types and methods of preparing it, but pressing and cooking with tofu can actually be pretty easy.

There’s a gadget you can buy called a tofu press where you put the tofu inside and it pushes down on the tofu to squeeze out the water. Or, if you don’t want to use a tofu press, you can wrap the tofu in a kitchen towel and place something like a heavy pot or pan on top. I wouldn’t recommend you use a cast iron pan to press the tofu though, as it may cause the pan to rust.

Once your tofu is pressed, you can crumble it with your hands into a bowl and you’re ready to fry it for these delicious fire-roasted sweet sriracha tacos. When you pan-fry it, if possible, use a non-stick pan because tofu has a tendency to stick to pans that aren’t. This recipe uses my homemade taco seasoning recipe, but if you don’t have the ingredients to make it you can substitute it with seasoning from a packet from the store.

How Do You Cook Tortillas On The Stove?

It depends on your stove. For a gas range, turn the flame to medium and place a tortilla directly over the flame using tongs. Once the tortilla is fire-roasted to your liking, flip it and do the same for the other side. If you have an electric stove, heat a non-stick pan or lightly-oiled skillet over medium heat until hot, then place the tortilla in the pan, cooking both sides until nicely heated. If the tortilla sticks to the pan, just let it cook a little longer and it should unstick easily once it cooks a bit more.

How Can I Make These Tacos Vegan?

This recipe is very vegan-friendly. The only non-vegan ingredient should be the sharp cheddar cheese. I say should because corn tortillas are sometimes made using lard, but most times you’ll find that the corn tortillas in the grocery store use vegetable oil. To make these tacos vegan, just swap the sharp cheddar cheese with your favorite vegan cheese substitute, or just leave it out completely. Everything else, including the Herdez Avocado Salsa, is vegan.

At A Minimum, You’ll Need:

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Instructions with photographs