Easy Vegan Taco Meat Recipe (2024)

Thisvegan taco meat recipe is perfect to serve with your favorite Mexican dishes, like tacos, salads, burritos, and more. You’ll love how this vegan taco filling is generously seasoned with Mexican spices and made even more flavorful with black beans and corn.

I’ve loved tacos since I was a kid. I mean, who couldn’t say that? Even the pickiest of eaters love tacos! So, recently I’ve made it a goal to turn the perfect taco meat vegan. I think of it as Breaking Bad in reverse.

Maybe you won’t hear this often, but one of the reasons I love being vegan is it’s so much easier. I mean, gah, who wants to work with raw meat! And the pressure of cooking it just right and disposing of all the grease. It’s too much!

How to Make Vegan Taco Meat

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and stir to coat the onions in the oil. Cook for approximately 5 minues, until the onions are mostly tender.
2. Add the veggie crumbles. (See note) Use a spatula to break the crumbles into smaller bits. Add the taco seasoning, black beans, and corn. Cook until heated through.

Next, let’s go over the step-by-step instructions on how to cook these ingredients together.

Step One: Cook the Onion

Add a little olive oil to a skillet and once it’s heated, add the chopped onions. Cook these for a few minutes until the onions are good and tender.

Step Two: Add the Veggie Crumbles

These days adding veggie crumbles is not some standard thing. There are several types of veggie crumbles, and they all cook a little differently.

• Veggie Crumbles — Products like Gardein crumbles or Beyond Meat crumbles are pretty self-contained. You can add them to the skillet and heat them up and they’re ready to go. Use a spatula to break them into smaller pieces as they cook.
• Plant-Based Meats — Products like Pure Farmland or Impossible Meats cook “a little” more like regular meat in that they will release juices as they cook. Add it to a skillet and use a spatula to break it down into bite-size pieces. You’ll want to follow the package instructions to make sure you’ve cooked it until it’s sufficiently browned.

Step Three: Add Spices, Black Beans, and Corn

I like a generous amount of spices in my vegan taco meat, so I added 1/3 cup. If that’s too much for you or your family, start with 1/4 cup. You can always add more if you need to.

Then add the black beans and the corn and stir it all together so it’s all coated in the spices.

Voila! You’ve got yourself a big skillet full of tasty vegan taco meat!

Plant-Based Substitutes

What if you’re not into these commercial vegan meats. That’s ok. You can make quinoa taco meat by cooking up a batch of quinoa and using it instead. Just follow the recipe below and substitute it with 2 cups of cooked quinoa. You’ll be surprised at how good it tastes.

In fact, you can use a whole host of substitutes to make plant-based tacos, including cauliflower rice (which makes a low-carb option). Here’s my post on plant-based sausage crumbles. You can add taco seasonings to any of those plant-based options.

Low Carb Vegan Taco Meat

If you’re watching your carbs, you can make this into a lower-carb recipe by eliminating the corn. Also, make sure to use taco seasoning that’s made without sugar. Most veggie crumbles are low in carbs, but you can check the packaging. Or you can substitute 2 cups of cauliflower rice for the veggie crumbles.

Vegan Taco Ideas

Here are some of the best vegan tacos toppings!

• This sofritas is a great copycat recipe that tastes amazing and is so easy to make
• I love adding this fresh corn salsa to my Mexican dishes
• Everyone loves my vegan guacamole and it’s the best taco topping ever
• Make this fresh black bean dip and use it as a base in your tacos
• This vegan queso is perfect drizzled over the top!

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This post was originally published in 2020 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2021.