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Vegetarian Chipotle Cauliflower Tacos

Cauliflower + walnuts + chipotle = the most delicious vegan taco filling, in these Vegetarian Chipotle Cauliflower Tacos!

So this weekend I was looking at a fresh head of cauliflower and pondering what to make with it, when I ran across the fascinating idea of turning cauliflower + walnuts into vegan taco meat. Believe it or not, these Vegetarian Chipotle Cauliflower Tacos are completely vegetarian — or even vegan, if you don’t choose to top yours with cheese.

The taco “meat” itself is also low carb + gluten free, so MashupDad enjoyed a bunch of it on a big low carb wrap with cheese, salsa, avocado, and sour cream.

vegetarian taco meat

Isn’t this interesting? I clearly had to try it out for myself, so mashed up a couple of recipes from Brand New Vegan and Pinch of Yum and messed with the seasonings a bit in order to match our tastes over here. Behold: Chipotle. Cauliflower. Tacos!

I don’t usually post vegetarian recipes on Sunday, but let’s shake things up a bit and combine this Meatless Monday recipe with this week’s Sunday’s Scratchups: Your weekly recipe from scratch around grocery sales and affordable ingredients.

Vegetarian Chipotle Cauliflower Tacos

Ingredients

1 small head cauliflower florets (or 3/4 of a large one)
1 cup shelled walnuts (I used chopped)
4 oz fresh mushrooms, roughly chopped
Juice of one small lime
4 garlic cloves (or 2 tsp minced garlic)
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
Sea salt, to taste
3 chipotles in adobo
1 Tbsp adobo sauce

Directions

Add cauliflower florets to your food processor and pulse until evenly ground into a taco-meat-like consistency, then remove cauliflower to a large bowl. (Be careful not to over-process or puree!)

Add all other ingredients to food processor, and pulse until they are a similar taco-meat-like consistency. Then, add the mushroom/walnut mixture to the bowl with your cauliflower and stir to combine.

Spread combined cauliflower mixture on a greased baking sheet and bake it at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

Stir, and serve with your usual favorite taco fixings!

Note: If you have a tree nut allergy in your house, just leave out the walnuts and use a larger head of cauliflower: It might change the texture a bit, but the results should still be darn tasty.

Vegetarian chipotle cauliflower tacos are so interesting!

Vegetarian chipotle cauliflower tacos

Chipotles in adobo truly are a wonder ingredient, and go a long way towards giving this Chipotle Cauliflower Tacos recipe its authentic taco flavor. Is a vegetarian tacos recipe going to fool the carnivore in your life? No, of course not — but that doesn’t mean he won’t like cauliflower tacos on their own merits! Chipotle Cauliflower Tacos have the look and flavor of taco meat, and offer a great whole foods, plant-based alternative for your Meatless Mondays.

cauliflower tacos

So, here’s how these chipotle cauliflower tacos played out here: MashupDad said the flavor was right on but thought the walnuts made the texture slightly too crunchy, while I actually thought that the walnuts gave the flavor more oomph and prevented the tacos from being too mushy. Mr. 10 loved everything about these — and already has dibs on the leftovers tonight — while High School Guy wouldn’t even try it after learning that the recipe uses mushrooms.

Let me know what you think if you decide to give these cauliflower tacos a try, too, and browse more Meatless Monday recipes here.

Vegetarian Chipotle Cauliflower Tacos, printable recipe

Chipotle Cauliflower Tacos

These Chipotle Cauliflower Tacos are completely vegetarian — or even vegan, if you don’t choose to top with cheese. The taco “meat” itself is low carb + gluten free.
Course dinner
Cuisine tacos
Keyword cauliflower, cauliflower tacos, meatless monday, tacos, vegetarian, vegetarian tacos, walnuts
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 1 small head cauliflower florets or 3/4 of a large one
  • 1 cup shelled walnuts I used chopped
  • 4 oz fresh mushrooms, roughly chopped
  • Juice of one small lime
  • 4 garlic cloves or 2 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 Tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • Sea salt, to taste
  • 3 chipotles in adobo
  • 1 Tbsp adobo sauce

Instructions

  • Add cauliflower florets to your food processor and pulse until evenly ground into a taco-meat-like consistency, then remove cauliflower to a large bowl. (Be careful not to over-process or puree!)
  • Add all other ingredients to food processor, and pulse until they are a similar taco-meat-like consistency.
  • Then, add the mushroom/walnut mixture to the bowl with your cauliflower and stir to combine.
  • Spread combined cauliflower mixture on a greased baking sheet and bake it at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
  • Stir, and serve with your usual favorite taco fixings!

Notes

If you have a tree nut allergy in your house, just leave out the walnuts and use a larger head of cauliflower: It might change the texture a bit, but the results should still be darn tasty.

Recipes in the real world

weekly ALDI meal plans from Mashup Mom -- six complete dinners for four, $60 out the door! MashupMom.com, every Wednesday.

Be sure not to miss the free ALDI meal plans, which show you how to use these easy family recipes to meal plan affordably and realistically for your family. Or, find more recipe ideas with the Recipe Search!

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