Quinoa Meat Tacos

Quinoa meat tacos are a great alternative to traditional ground beef tacos. This filling yields a crispy, flavorful filling that goes great on many things. Plus, quinoa is a pretty common pantry staple, so these can be whipped up in no time with minimal ingredients!

Note: This recipe requires cooked quinoa, if you use uncooked quinoa, allow 15-20 minutes extra prep time!

Vegan tacos are a fun challenge for me, and these quinoa meat tacos are amazing! You guys know I love the intersection between healthy and delicious food. It's my never ending quest to create as many recipes as I can with these types of qualities! While there are many failures along the way, these tacos are not one of them. 🙂

Quinoa has many health benefits. First, it's got a complete amino acid profile, so you can rest assured that you won't be missing out on any protein in these tacos. Second, it's gluten free, has anti-inflammatory benefits, and is a great source of fiber, iron, and vitamin b6! Basically you'll be swapping out ground beef for a healthier and most cost effective, everyday pantry item. A win-win-win.

Did I mention my carnivorous boyfriend also likes this recipe? He is my true taste tester, and very honest. If he approves of these bad boys, I know you will love them too!

To Make These Tacos

Start off with cooked quinoa. Cooking it with bouillon (I like chicken or veggie) or broth and salt adds some extra flavor, and we like going to flavortown here at MHC. Then add your salsa and spices to the quinoa, and bake! Add divots to the pan to ensure the extra moisture gets out. Don't forget to flip half way through baking.

When serving, you can add this baked mixture to tacos, lettuce wraps, on top of a salad, inside burritos, or on top of nachos. Be sure to top whatever you chose as your serving vessel with my red salsa, guacamole, and vegan cashew queso recipes to top it all off!

Home Cook Hack:

To meal prep these tacos, either have cooked quinoa in the fridge ready to be mixed with the other ingredients. Or, premake the entire mixture, and simply bake it when your ready to eat! Make the quinoa mixture ahead of time, then simply bake when you intend to eat it!

Note: This recipe requires cooked quinoa, if you use uncooked quinoa, allow 15-20 minutes extra prep time!

Quinoa Meat Tacos

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• Author: Emily Marrs
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 35 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings 1x

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 4 cups cooked quinoa (1 cup uncooked quinoa yields 4 cups cooked)
• 1 ⅓ cup salsa (I use my salsa recipe, store bought works too!)
• 1 ½ tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 ½ tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp oregano
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
• ½-1 tsp kosher salt (to taste)

To Serve

• Red Salsa
• Guacamole
• cashew cheese
• lettuce
• cilantro
• tomato
• onion/green onion

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. If you haven't prepared the quinoa, do so now then continue (1 cup uncooked quinoa yields 4 cups cooked). Once quinoa is cooked, let it rest a few minutes before adding salsa/spices.
   *Now is a good time to prepare homemade salsa/guacamole while quinoa is cooking.
2. Add salsa and spices to quinoa and mix (be gentle if using freshly cooked hot quinoa or you will turn it into a mash).
3. Grease a nonstick cookie sheet, and evenly layer quinoa onto sheet, making sure to add divots into the mixture with your spoon/spatula. See photo. This allows for ventilation while the quinoa cooks, making it cook faster and get crispy.
4. Bake for 12 minutes. Then take the quinoa out, flip it over, re-divot the mixture and rotate the pan.
5. Bake for another 12 minutes. Take quinoa out, flip it over, thoroughly mix the mixture and re-divot.
6. Bake for 10 minutes. At this point, you should have quinoa that is getting crispy. If you want it crispier, then flip, re-divot, and bake for 5 minute increments until quinoa is the texture you prefer.
   * Note: the crispier it gets, the drier it gets, and the more moist topping's you'll want to add to your taco.
7. Once cooked, spoon into your vessel of choice, and top with lettuce, salsa, guacamole, cashew cheese, onion, tomato, and cilantro.

Notes

Lasts in fridge about a week.

You can prepare quinoa mixture ahead of time and simply bake when wanting to serve.