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These Jackfruit Tacos are smoky and savory, and vegan taco perfection. It needs just 1 Bowl! The jackfruit is coated in a flavorful marinade, then baked in the oven until perfectly meaty! Then topped with my cheese sauce and salsa for a delicious lunch or snack.
These Jackfruit Tacos are vegan taco perfection! Jackfruit is perfect for recreating that chewy satisfying shredded meat texture. Coated in a flavorful marinade along with taco meat spices, then baked in the oven until perfectly meaty it makes for the best vegan taco meat! Everyone will enjoy these, trust me.
Jackfruit can be a hit or miss for many. One reason is that people often get the sweet ripe Jackfruit and that obviously does not work in savory dishes. Get the young green jackfruit can in water or brine. Second reason is the aftertaste of brine in the jackfruit. For that we squeeze out all the brine and then use the jackfruit. I love the jackfruit texture when it’s baked. Baking also bakes out any remaining briny flavor. So try these jackfruit tacos with your favorite spice blends and let me know in the comments how it turned out!
As for the rest of the toppings, you can keep things super simple and just add shredded lettuce and some salsa, or take these to the next level with a generous drizzle of vegan queso or my potato carrot cheese sauce, or vegan mozzarella cream .
These tacos are the perfect meal to serve for a casual dinner party amongst friends. You can also make the taco meat part of your vegan meal prep routine.
Just double the recipe and use the taco meat as a topping for bowls, and salads, or as a filling for sandwiches, burritos, and wraps.
More Vegan Taco Recipes:
- Tikka Masala Birria Tacos
- Blackened Tofu Tacos
- Chickpea Cauliflower Tacos
- Cauliflower Bean Taco Meat Enchiladas with homemade Enchilada Sauce
Easy Jackfruit Tacos
Ingredients
For the jackfruit taco filling:
- 1 20oz can Jackfruit, drained
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp ketchup or tomato paste
- 2 tsp oil
- 2 tbsp chili powder blend , Or use taco spice or Cajun spice or other spice blends of choice
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- zest of a lime
- 1/2 tsp salt, use less or more depending if your chili powder is already salted
Topping:
- 2 tbsp more hemp seeds
- 1 cup Salsa of choice
- Cheese – use my vegan cheese sauce, vegan mozzarella sauce, or my 10-minute vegan queso) linked in steps
- lettuce, black pepper
- tortillas as needed
Instructions
- Wash and drain the jackfruit really well and place it in a paper towel.
- Place the paper towel in a kitchen towel.
- Fold the kitchen towel all over the jackfruit then squeeze really well until you remove all the excess, brine, and moisture from the jackfruit. This would have shredded the jackfruit significantly.
- You can shred the remaining jackfruit with your hand or you can use a fork or just chop it up with a knife. Add this to a bowl, add the onion, bell pepper.
- Option 1. Add the ketchup and oil first and toss really well then add the rest of the dry ingredients and toss well to coat.Option 2: mix the ketchup oil and the spices to make a marinade and mix that into the jackfruit bowl.
- Spread the jackfruit mixture evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (205 degrees Celsius) for 15 minutes then mix it all around and spread the inner jackfruit towards the outer part of the baking sheet and continue to bake for another 5 to 15 minutes depending on how crispy you want the filling to be.
- Then remove the filling from the oven. Prep your tortillas by heating them in the microwave or the stovetop.
- Then add lettuce, some of the jackfruit filling, cheese sauce, hemp seeds, salsa, and black pepper. and serve . Use my vegan cheese sauce, or vegan mozzarella sauce or my 10 min vegan queso or vegan sour cream of choice
Video
Notes
- Add more Protein: Add a layer of refried beans to the tacos or add some spiced beans to the tacos. Or double the marinade, use half with crumbled up 7 oz tofu. Bake that as well until somewhat crisp and add a mix of jackfruit and tofu for filling,
- You do not need to discard the seeds or the tip stems. They are all edible unless they are very hard and you cannot press them. Remove those but the softer seeds are still edible so shred them up.
- If you don’t have jackfruit, you can also make this with soy curls; Rehydrate 5-6 oz soy curls: put them in broth for 10 to 15 minutes. Then drain the soy curls and shred them with a fork or knife. Then add to a bowl and proceed as instructed. The soy curls will get cooked a bit faster than jackfruit in the oven so keep an eye on them.
You want them to get somewhat crispy but not overly chew - Calories don’t include tortillas or toppings
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients:
- for this recipe we need canned unsweetened Jackfruit (young green jackfruit, not ripe), drained
- veggies: I like a typical fajitas blend – so sliced red onion and red bell pepper
- spices: chili powder, ground cumin, paprika, garlic powder and lime zest
- ketchup or tomato paste and oil are added to get a bbq-sauce-like marinade
- for the toppings, I like a mix of hemp seeds, Salsa, lettuce and vegan queso – you can use my vegan cheese sauce, or vegan mozzarella sauce,
- use your favorite tortilla brand, glutenfree if needed
Tips:
- You do not need to discard the seeds or the tip stems. They are all edible unless they are very hard and you cannot press them. Remove the hard ones, but the softer seeds are still edible so shred them up.
- If you don’t have jackfruit, you can also make this with soy curls; Rehydrate 5-6 oz soy curls: put them in broth for 10 to 15 minutes. Then drain the soy curls and shred them with a fork or knife. Then add to a bowl and proceed as instructed.
- The soy curls will get cooked a bit faster than jackfruit in the oven so keep an eye on them. You want them to get somewhat crispy but not overly chewy.
How to make Vegan Jackfruit Tacos
Wash and drain the jackfruit really well and place it in a paper towel. Place the paper towel in a kitchen towel.
Fold the kitchen towel all over the jackfruit then squeeze really well until you remove all the excess, brine, and moisture from the jackfruit. This would have shredded the jackfruit significantly.
You can shred the remaining jackfruit with your hand or you can use a fork or just chop it up with a knife.
Add this to a bowl, add the onion, bell pepper.
Option 1 Add the ketchup and oil first and toss really well then add the rest of the dry ingredients and toss well to coat.
option 2 premix the spices and ketchup and add that to the bowl and toss well.)
Spread the jackfruit mixture evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (205 degrees Celsius) for 15 minutes then mix it all around and spread the inner jackfruit towards the outer part of the baking sheet and continue to bake for another 5 to 15 minutes depending on how crispy you want the filling to be. Then remove the filling from the oven.
Prep your tortillas by heating them in the microwave or the stovetop.
Then add lettuce, some of jackfruit filling, cheese sauce, hemp seeds, salsa, and black pepper and serve .
Frequently asked questions
How do I store these tacos
Store the jackfruit filling separately in the fridge for upto 3 days. Reheat in a skillet or microwave and use it in tacos, wraps and bowls
What can I use instead of jackfruit?
Use seitan or shredded tofu or shredded soycurls. For seitan and tofu, follow the recipe as is. For soycurls: Rehydrate 5-6 oz soy curls: put them in broth for 10 to 15 minutes. Then drain the soy curls and shred them with a fork or knife. Then add to a bowl and proceed as the recipe. The soy curls will get cooked a bit faster than jackfruit in the oven so keep an eye on them. You want them to get somewhat crispy but not chewy.
How can I add more protein to these tacos?
Add a layer of refried beans to the tacos or add some beans to the filling
Are these jackfruit tacos allergy friendly?
These are Soyfree and nutfree if you use toppings that are Soyfree and nutfree. Use Glutenfree tortillas for gluten-free.
Hi. Looking forward to cooking this! Any suggestions on how to add more protein? Thank you 🙂
Add a layer of refried beans or any beans or tofu tossed in chili powder, salt, garlic and cooked for a few mins.
I love the tips to make the jackfruit! My earlier attempts had been lackluster, but this jackfruit was so good!
Yay