This vegan taco meat is made with tofu, walnuts and spices and makes a wonderfully chewy and ‘meaty’ vegan meat substitute.
This vegan taco meat is the best thing ever to go in your tacos! Or on top of your nachos.
It’s chewy and delicious and high in protein and makes a nice big portion so you can either serve a bunch of people for taco night or just eat tacos for days in a row (highly recommended).
It’s also really easy to make! Don’t let all the process photos fool you into thinking it’s more complicated than it is, this is simple.
How To Make Vegan Taco Meat
Full instructions and measurements can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is just a summary of the recipe to go along with the process photos below.
- The base ingredients for this vegan taco meat are tofu and walnuts.
- Add the walnuts to the food processor and process into crumbles.
- Add tofu to a bowl and mash it with a fork.
- Add the walnut crumbles and crumbled tofu to a bowl or dish.
- Add garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, cayenne pepper, nutritional yeast, olive oil, soy sauce, maple syrup and tomato paste to a measuring jug and mix it into a thick sauce.
- Pour the sauce over the crumbled tofu and walnuts and mix it until everything is coated with the sauce.
- Spread it out over a parchment lined baking tray and bake until perfectly dried out and ‘meaty’ in texture.
- And there you have it!
Ingredient Notes
Walnuts – create a really great texture with the tofu. I have not tested this with other nuts but it’s possible that other nuts (pecans and almonds come to mind) could also work.
Tofu – should be extra firm and does not need to be pressed first.
Dark soy sauce – we used a dark soy sauce which is responsible for the great color of this taco meat. Dark soy sauce and tomato paste combine to create a really great color there.
We tried a batch using regular soy sauce and it was delicious but the color was not nearly so rich, so just bear it in mind that you can use any soy sauce but there might be a slight difference in color.
How To Serve Vegan Taco Meat
So of course, it’s wonderful on some vegan tacos.
Serve in tacos with shredded lettuce, salsa, guacamole and some vegan sour cream for a seriously delicious dinner!
But you’ll also love this on your fully loaded vegan nachos. Our recipe for vegan nachos features this vegan taco meat as one of the stars of the show.
This would also make a wonderful addition to other delicious vegan Mexican recipes like our vegan enchiladas, vegan quesadillas and veggie fajitas. It would be great in a vegan burrito or vegan burrito bowl too. It would also be divine sprinkled on a salad or over some vegan chili.
Storing and Freezing
Keep leftovers stored in the fridge and enjoy over the next 4-5 days. You can serve it cold or you can reheat it.
You can also freeze it if you want to. When you’re ready for it, thaw overnight in the fridge and then reheat as usual.
More Vegan Meat Substitutes
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Taco Meat
Ingredients
- 2 cups Walnuts (200g)
- 16 ounces Extra Firm Tofu (450g)
- 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ½ teaspoon Cumin
- ½ teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Oregano
- ¼ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
- 1 Tablespoon Nutritional Yeast
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 2 Tablespoons Dark Soy Sauce or sub tamari for gluten-free
- 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
- 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Add walnuts to the food processor and process into crumbles. Mash the tofu with a fork. Add the crushed walnuts and crumbled tofu to a dish.
- Add the garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, cayenne pepper, nutritional yeast, olive oil, soy sauce, maple syrup and tomato paste to a measuring jug and whisk into a thick sauce.
- Mix the sauce in with the tofu and walnut crumbles and mix in until everything is coated in the sauce.
- Transfer to a parchment lined baking tray and spread out evenly across the tray.
- Bake in the oven for 35 minutes, bring it out at the 15 minute mark and give it a stir and then put it back in.
- Serve in tacos with shredded lettuce, salsa, guacamole and vegan sour cream.
Notes
- If you want this vegan taco meat to be entirely gluten-free then use a gluten-free soy sauce or switch for tamari. If you use a regular (not dark) soy sauce, the color of the taco meat will be much lighter.
- This makes a fairly large portion, enough for 6 people if served with tacos and other fillings.
- Nutritional information is for vegan taco meat only and not anything else you would serve it with.
- This recipe was first published in October 2018.
This is so good!!!!!! Fantastic recipe
Thanks so much Mike!
So impressed and so simple! My non-vegan family devoured it!
Awesome! Thanks Penny!
This was absolutely delicious. I also added some refried beans and salsa to the mixture for our tacos because I like the mixture to hold together better. This is definitely a keeper and a repeat.
Thanks Dawn!
THIS IS SO GOOD! I’ve made it twice now and it will be in a regular rotation for us. The first time, we thought it needed a little more time in the oven, so we did that the second time (total of 10 minutes more) and it was perfect. This last time, I used the left overs (about half the recipe) to make a quick bolognese sauce, with diced tomatoes, chopped mushrooms, onion, and garlic. Served it over pasta and it was amazing. Even though the spices are more Latin-inspired, it was easy to convert this into something more Italian.
Awesome! Thanks so much Nicole!
I’ve been making this for about a year now, as it is one of our favorite meals I’ve served it to non-vegans who have found it delicious and a great surprising substitute for ground beef. I think I’m going to try it in a stuffed green pepper recipe that I haven’t done yet. Great recipe!
Awesome Rob! I think it would be great as the filling for peppers! Thanks for the great review.
12 year old pescatarian says: This was exquisite. Please only ever make this for taco nights. I followed the recipe mostly—I added chili powder because I know the fam likes it.
Ominvore Husband: Oh yeah. That was tasty.
We are HOOKED!
That is awesome Wendy! Thanks so much for posting!
Thank you so much for this recipe!! It is the BEST!!
Thanks so much Ana!
So sorry I forgot to rate if possible put it with my comment. Thank You!
Thank you! 🙂
Hi! Good! Good! Good! I just made it again and I love it even more than the last time. I’ve been thinking how lucky we are to have people like you to share the goodies of vegan life. Have a Great Day! Thank You!
What a great comment, thanks so much Yolande!
Best meat recipe! So simple and tasty! Followed the recipe exactly.
Thanks Ashlee!
Hi! To reheat leftovers from the refrigerator, do you just put the “meat” in the microwave or toss is in a skillet on the stove? What would you recommend?
Hi Latrisha, either of those options would work fine! 🙂
Do you not need to press and drain the tofu first?
Hi Lyn, since we use an extra firm tofu, it’s not required to press it first.
This recipe was super great! I didn’t have any tofu on hand, so I used white button mushrooms and it turned out great!
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
Loved this recipe!! I don’t use oil when I cook so I omitted the oil and it came out great! Super tasty, had the best tacos ever! Thanks for sharing.
This was so so good! Added so much flavor to our vegan burritos and didn’t need to add any salt, which I love. I’m going to try making this without any oil next time. Hopefully it will still brown in the oven. Do you think this would work in an air fryer?
Hi Allison! So glad you enjoyed it. I do think it would work in the air fryer, but I’m not sure how long it would need. 🙂
Thanks, Alison!
Hi Allison! I made some yesterday without oil and it was great. I didn’t make it with oil to compare but without oil was delicious. I had to leave it in the oven for a bit longer than the recipe says and had to mix it a couple times but it came out great anyways.
Awesome, thank you so much!