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 fantastic. I have struggled to find a good substitute to use for taco’s. it is so good my meat eaters prefer this. My wife cannot eat onion or garlic anymore so I was put onto an Indian spice mix called Hing which helps balance the flavour of the sauce without the garlic and onion powder. Thank you for posting this it is now our go to taco meat 😊
So happy you enjoyed it Phil! Thanks so much for posting!
Hi Alison, I love this vegan taco meat, I add chopped mushrooms to the mix and as others did I doubled the sauce, awesome flavors, I made half of the recipe and I regret it, but I wont make the same mistake twice. I used lettuce wraps to make a bit lighter and because the weather is warm it helps. Thank you for such a great recipe.
So glad you liked it Gradiela, thanks so much for posting!
I made this with frozen, defrosted and wrung out tofu, pecans, double the sauce and added chili powder. Fried onions and added the tofu/nut mixture to the pan and cooked it on the stove. One less step and it was a home run. No one knew it was vegan. I used lettuce to wrap the meat with dress pick and avocado. Heavenly.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
This was very good. Usually on taco night, I have just the fillings, but last night I thought I’d try your recipe, so that I have ‘my meat’, and it did not disappoint!! My meat eating daughter loved it too!! This will be a regular for me on our taco Tuesdays!
So glad to hear that Deborah, it really does make the perfect addition to taco nights!
Simply AMAZING! Loved this with our tacos last night, even my non vegan friends went back for more and more! Thank you so much for this fab recipe!
Eleonora
Awesome! Thanks so much for the wonderful comment and review Eleonora!
This is by far the best vegetarian meat replacement for tacos! My kids and my mom ate it without knowing there was no meat, it was so delicious and chewy and crunchy. Simply perfection!!! Because I can’t have soy sauce, I replaced it for coco aminos, which are sweet, so I didn’t need the added syrup, but added apple cider vinegar for depth.
Thanks so much for the amazing review Gaby!
Is there any other way to make this work without tofu?
Hi Sherba, yes you could use mushrooms (white button or cremini) in place of the tofu or cauliflower could also work. All the best!
It doesn’t seem like enough sauce?
Hi Nuna, it is for us when we make it, however, others have commented that they preferred to double the sauce.
Obsessed with this. Perfect flavour. I use the sauce on everything! I have been trying to make a really nice lentil stew without chorizo now I am vegan and it’s always a bit disappointing. Today I decided to use this sauce, (I doubled quantities for a big stew) as well as a big plan of sauteed onions, garlic, peppers, all blitzed up for fussy kids…..it is DELICIOUS. Did not even use a stock cube! (also added bayleaf)
Awesome! 🙂
I absolutely love this rendition on tofu, it’s even better when you freeze the tofu first and then it absorbs the spices and sauces even more, I truly love it!!!
This truly is amazing! So much better than any meat I’ve ever eaten. I have made this 3 times now, first time not a success so the following time I did half the amount of nuts/tofu recipe, but doubled the sauce, I chopped the nuts instead of in a processor and used half walnut/half pecans. And when I cooked I used a high sided baking dish as found it caught easier with a low sided dish, after these few tweaks my goodness this is fantastic. Thank you so much 🙂
So glad you loved it, thanks for sharing Julie!
I made this last night for hubby and I- we both loved it – great taste- did add some chili powder though. The tomato paste is a must for a ‘sauce’ – added a bit of water since I skipped the maple syrup (not our thing) – squeezed out the water on the tofu before baking (ie) wrapped in paper towels and gave a firm squeeze- baked nice and toasty brown. I think in a pinch you can use taco seasoning and wet ingredients if spices are short. This is a keeper!
#healthyeating
So happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for the wonderful review.
Best recipe for vegan meat I have tried yet!
Thanks so much Kathi!
Hi there! I want to try this recipe, my only doubt is that you said it is for 6 people, so it makes like 12 tacos? I need to know this to calculate the quantity I need to prepare. thanks!!
It’s enough for 12-16 tacos.
I am obsessed with this recipe. I LOVE IT! The crumble is the perfect combination of textures and flavors. THANK YOU!!!!
Awesome! Thanks so much Ellen!