This is the best vegan tacos recipe! They’re flavor-packed and filling, made with ground walnut meat, classic Tex-Mex spices, and a little brown sugar. Serve with your favorite tortillas, creamy guacamole, and tangy salsa.

Three vegan tacos on a platter.

This is another vegan tacos recipe that I think you’ll love! My vegan mushroom fajita tacos and black bean tacos are already a hit. But I wanted to share the best vegan tacos that mimic ground taco meat, similar to how jackfruit tacos mimic pulled chicken. Ground walnut meat is crumbly, juicy, and tender, and it’s so easy to season with your favorite flavors. I usually like mine a little spicy with paprika and chipotle powder.

Corn (or flour) tortillas are crisped up in a pan, piled high with walnut taco meat, and then topped with pickled onions, creamy guacamole, and homemade salsa in this easy vegan tacos recipe. Yum!

What Makes These Vegan Tacos So Good?

  • Ready in 30 minutes. You’ll need to soak the walnuts, but this is easy to do ahead of time. Afterward, these tacos take no more than 20-30 minutes to prepare. It’s quick and delicious, my formula for a weeknight meal!
  • Flexible recipe. Play around with the seasonings, add veggies, and spice up your tacos with jalapeños, extra chili powder, or cayenne.
  • Family-friendly. I love serving my tacos with toppings like pickled onions, diced tomatoes, avocado slices, and more, and letting everyone build their own tacos.
Assembled vegan taco on a cutting board surrounded by overlayed text with ingredients.

Notes on Ingredients

Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make the best vegan tacos ever. You’ll find the full ingredients list and recipe instructions in the printable recipe card below.

  • Soaked Walnuts – You’ll need to boil the walnuts in water for 30 minutes, or soak them overnight so they soften. Afterward, drain them.
  • Oil – Whatever cooking oil you like is fine. I generally use olive oil.
  • Seasoning – Combine onion powder, garlic powder, chipotle powder or chili powder, paprika, cumin, sea salt, and ground black pepper. Alternatively, you can use a ready-made taco seasoning or fajita seasoning.
  • Soy Sauce – You can use low-sodium soy sauce or regular, whichever you prefer. Swap soy sauce with coconut aminos or tamari as needed.
  • Brown Sugar – Coconut sugar, cane sugar, or any other kind of sugar will work as substitutes. The sweetness of the sugar balances the savory, umami flavors.
  • Add-Ons – Add salsa, pico de gallo, or guacamole to your tacos (all of which can be homemade or store-bought). Lime crema, vegan sour cream, spicy mayo, or your sauce of choice, plus the juice of a lime, are also good additions.
  • Pickled Onions – I love to make my own pickled onions because it’s so quick and easy!
Vegan tacos with guacamole and pickled onions.

How to Make Vegan Taco Meat

Here’s how the walnut taco meat comes together in a few quick steps.

Walnuts with water in a bowl.
Soak the walnuts.
Blended walnut meat in a food processor.
Blend the walnut meat mixture.
  • Prepare the walnuts. First, boil the raw walnuts for 30 minutes, or soak them overnight, then drain them completely.
  • Blend the walnut meat. In a food processor, add the drained walnuts, oil, a splash of water, and spices. Season with salt and pepper, then pulse until the mixture resembles a mince. (Depending on the saltiness, you may want to add the teaspoon of brown sugar to balance it out and tie in all the flavors.)
  • Cook. In a pan over medium heat, add the walnut meat mixture. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until fully heated through. The walnut meat will be juicy and slightly crispy in some parts. Remove from heat, and assemble your tacos!

How to Assemble Vegan Tacos

Not only are these vegan tacos quick to make, they’re fun to assemble and perfect for your next taco night. First, you’ll toast the tortillas. Then, I’ll show you how I fix up these vegan tacos with my favorite toppings. Feel free to make them your own!

Fried tortilla in a skillet.
  • Heat the oil. Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat (if possible, brush with a pastry brush).
  • Toast the Tortilla. Next, place a taco shell in the skillet. Heat until golden brown spots appear, and they are slightly puffy for a few seconds. Then, flip and cook the other side. Set on a plate to assemble.
A tortilla on a cutting board.
Lay out the tortillas.
Tortilla with ground walnut meat on it.
Add the taco meat.
  • Build the tacos. To assemble the tacos, spoon about ¼ cup of walnut meat onto each 6” inch tortilla.
Pickled onions being placed on top of walnut meat.
Add pickled onions.
Pickled onions on a vegan taco.
Finish with more toppings.
  • Add toppings. Then add some pickled onions, pico de gallo, a dollop of guacamole/a dollop of lime crema, and some parsley or cilantro on top. Serve with lime and enjoy!

Tips for the Best Vegan Tacos

  • Don’t over-Process the meat. If you blend the walnut meat for too long, it could turn into a paste. You want it to be nice and crumbly with regard to texture.
  • Don’t vary the seasonings too much. Yes, these tacos are customizable. But, you want to keep the base flavors pretty similar to what is in this recipe. Otherwise, you may end up with a seasoning that is too overpowering.
  • You don’t have to make everything from scratch. Don’t feel like you have to make the guac and salsa from scratch – it’ll taste great if you do, but you can also buy them and be just as satisfied!
  • Walnut meat substitution. If you don’t have walnut meat, you could easily use a veggie burger, crumble it, and add the seasonings to it. I do highly recommend the walnut meat, though, because it tastes incredible!
Vegan tacos with cilantro as a garnish.

Taco Toppings

When it comes to taco toppings, it’s hard to go wrong, and it’s hard to run out of ideas! There are so many fixings that will make your tacos taste next-level delicious:

  • More veggies. Add some diced tomatoes, sliced avocado, corn kernels, lettuce, sliced jalapeños, and diced onions instead of pickled onions, if you prefer.
  • Condiment toppings. Salsa, pico de gallo (borrowed from my breakfast tacos), spicy mayo, guacamole, and even hot sauce are all welcome additions to these tacos.
  • Garnishes. Chopped parsley or cilantro is a great way to finish off your taco.
Ground walnut tacos with toppings.

Serving Suggestions

Need some ideas on what goes with homemade vegan tacos? I’ve got you covered! Here are some of my go-to simple side dishes for taco night.

  • Beans. A side of black beans or a serving of vegan refried beans could go perfectly with these vegan tacos.
  • Corn. You can also serve corn on the side of your tacos, instead of in them. Grilled Mexican street corn is a great summer side dish option if that sounds appealing to you!
  • Salad. If you’re looking for a light side dish, make yourself a nice leafy green salad to go with your tacos.
An orange, a green, and a white tortilla with walnut meat.

How to Store and Reheat Leftovers

  • Refrigerate. If you have leftover walnut meat, save it in an airtight container and refrigerate it for 3-4 days. I don’t recommend frying tortillas and then trying to save them, because they’re best when made fresh. You can save any homemade guacamole/pico de gallo in the fridge, though.
  • Reheat. When you want to reheat the walnut meat, add it and a little bit of oil to a pan on the stovetop over medium heat, and then cook until it’s juicy and tender again. After that, fry up a couple more tortillas, and get to building!

More Vegan Tex-Mex Recipes

Save This Recipe Form

Want to save this recipe?

Enter your email below & I’ll send it straight to your inbox. Plus you’ll get new recipes from me every week!

Overhead view of three assembled vegan tacos with walnut meat surrounded by taco toppings.

The Best Vegan Tacos

Servings: 4 people
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
My vegan tacos recipe is flavor-packed and so filling! Made with ground walnut meat seasoned with classic Tex-Mex spices, these tacos are wonderful topped with creamy guacamole and tangy salsa on taco night.
5 (from 2 ratings)
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Leave a Review

Ingredients

For the Walnut Meat

  • 2 cups raw walnuts, soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes, or overnight, then drained
  • 1 ½ tbsp oil
  • 4 tbsp water
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • ½ tsp chipotle powder, or chili powder
  • ½ tsp paprika
  • ½ tsp cumin
  • ¼ tsp sea salt
  • ¼ tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp brown sugar, or coconut sugar or cane sugar or any kind of sugar

For the Tacos

  • 1 cup salsa, or pico de gallo, homemade or store-bought
  • 1 cup guacamole, homemade or store-bought
  • pickled onions
  • ½ cup lime crema, or vegan sour cream or spicy mayo or your sauce of choice, plus the juice of a lime

Instructions 

For the Walnut Meat

  • Soak the raw walnuts in boiling water for 30 minutes, or overnight, then drain them completely.
  • In a food processor, add the drained walnuts, oil, water, onion powder, garlic powder, soy sauce, chipotle powder, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, sea salt, and ground black pepper, and pulse about 10 to 20 times until it is ground down into a kind of mince. Depending on the level of saltiness, you may want to add the teaspoon of brown sugar to balance it all out and tie in all the flavors .
  • In a pan over medium heat, add the walnut meat mixture. Stir for about 5 minutes, turning frequently, until fully heated through, juicy and slightly crispy in some parts.
  • Remove from heat and use for your tacos!

For Taco Assembly

  • Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat (if possible, brush with a pastry brush).
  • Place a taco shell in the heat until golden brown spots appear and they are slightly puffy for a few seconds, then flip and cook the same way. Set on a plate to assemble.
  • Assemble tacos by spooning on about ¼ cup of walnut meat per 6” inch tortilla, some pickled onions, pico de gallo, a dollop of guacamole/a dollop of lime crema, them some parsley or cilantro on top. Serve with lime and enjoy!

Notes

  • Don’t vary the ingredients too much. Yes, tacos are customizable, but you want to keep the base flavors pretty similar to what is in this recipe. Otherwise you might end up with a seasoning that is too overpowering.
  • Not everything has to be homemade. Don’t feel like you have to make the guac and salsa from scratch – it’ll taste incredible if you do, but you can also buy them, and still have delicious tacos!
  • Substitution: If you don’t have walnut meat, you could easily use a veggie burger, crumble it, and add the seasonings to it. I do highly recommend the walnut meat, though, because it tastes incredible!
Calories: 604kcal, Carbohydrates: 27g, Protein: 13g, Fat: 54g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 33g, Monounsaturated Fat: 12g, Trans Fat: 1g, Sodium: 1258mg, Potassium: 676mg, Fiber: 8g, Sugar: 7g, Vitamin A: 580IU, Vitamin C: 6mg, Calcium: 91mg, Iron: 3mg

Disclaimer: Although jessicainthekitchen.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. Jessicainthekitchen.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.

Cuisine: Mexican
Course: Dinner
Author: Jessica Hylton