My easy chickpea tacos are the vegan weeknight dinner that dreams are made of! Smoky, saucy chickpeas are piled into warm tortillas for a meal that’s simple, satisfying, and endlessly customizable with your favorite taco toppings. Ready in about 30 minutes!
Making dinner is often the last thing in the world I want to do at the end of a long day. I know, right? I spend all day developing recipes, and yet often when dinnertime rolls around, I draw a blank. That's where having a few easy, pantry staple-centered dinner recipes in my back pocket comes in handy. I'm talking about dishes like lentil soup, Spanish rice and beans, Mediterranean pasta, and now these chickpea tacos.
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These tacos are so easy! The prep work is minimal (dice an onion, mince some garlic), and the filling cooks up in about twenty minutes. And they're delicious!
I like to keep all of the ingredients on hand so I can whip up a batch of these on those days when I have no idea what to make or desire to spend any significant time in the kitchen. And when I'm really short on time, I keep a batch of the filling in the freezer (YES, it's freezer-friendly!). Just thaw, assemble, and bam — an incredibly comforting and hearty vegan dinner at the ready!
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find a list of ingredients in this recipe, with notes and substitutions. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe, including the amount of each ingredient.
- Canned tomato sauce.
- Adobo sauce. You can get this from a can of chipotle peppers, which are available in the international foods aisle at the supermarket.
- Spices. You'll need cumin and paprika.
- Lime juice. Freshly squeezed juice is your best bet for excellent taco flavor!
- Salt & pepper.
- Olive oil. You can substitute with any high-heat oil you have on hand. Corn oil, avocado oil, canola oil and coconut oil will all work!
- Onion.
- Garlic.
- Canned chickpeas. We're using canned chickpeas to make life easy. If you like to cook your chickpeas from scratch, that's fine! You'll need about 3 ½ cups of cooked chickpeas.
- Fresh cilantro. Skip the cilantro if you think it tastes like soap.
- Tortillas or taco shells. I'm using corn tortillas that I've briefly warmed up in a skillet, but you could also use small flour tortillas or premade crispy taco shells.
- Shredded cabbage or lettuce. I'm using red cabbage. Green works too. If you prefer lettuce, go for a crispy variety like Romaine.
- Toppings. The sky is the limit here! My tacos are topped with diced avocado, vegan sour cream (Tofutti brand) and extra cilantro. Other options include hot sauce, cashew cream, pico de gallo, guacamole, vegan queso, vegan shredded cheese, salsa, red onion, and fresh scallions.
Tip: You'll have some extra adobo sauce and chipotle peppers on your hands after making these. Seal them in an airtight container and store them in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze them for up to 3 months. Then use them in another recipe, like this vegan chipotle mac and cheese or this sweet potato black bean chili.
How They're Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Make the sauce. You'll want your sauce to be ready to go when you need it. Simply stir together tomato sauce, adobo sauce, spices, lime juice, and some salt.
Step 2: Cook the garlic and onion. Heat some oil in a skillet and add diced onion. Sweat the onion for a few minutes, then add the garlic and sauté it briefly.
Tip: Make a double, triple or even quadruple batch of sauce. Divide the extra up and freeze it in single batch portions. Then you have even less prep work to do next time you make chickpea tacos.
Step 3: Simmer. Add the chickpeas and sauce to the skillet. Stir it up! Let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens up a bit.
Step 4: Finish the filling. Take the skillet off of heat and stir in some chopped fresh cilantro. Add more salt if you'd like, along with some black pepper to taste. Make any other seasoning adjustments you'd like.
Steps 5 & 6: Assemble and serve. Stuff your chickpea taco filling into tortillas or shells, along with some shredded cabbage or lettuce, and pile on the toppings.
Variations
- Add some heat. Season your taco filling with extra hot sauce or cayenne pepper.
- Add veggies. Add a diced bell pepper with your onion, simmer the filling with some finely chopped broccoli or cauliflower, or stir some baby spinach or thawed frozen corn into the filling during the last two minutes of cooking.
- Chickpea taco salad. Serve the filling over greens instead of in a taco shell. Bonus points: make a crispy tortilla bowl like I do in my restaurant-style vegan taco salad.
- Taco bowls. Serve the filling over a bed of rice, quinoa, or another grain.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, as long as you use corn tortillas.
These tacos have a slight kick, which comes entirely from the adobo sauce. If you prefer mild tacos, leave the adobo sauce out and substitute smoked paprika for sweet paprika. If you like extra spicy tacos, use some extra adobo sauce, add a minced chipotle pepper to the sauce, or add some hot sauce.
Leftover chickpea taco filling will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days, or in the freezer for 3 months.
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
📖 Recipe
Easy Chickpea Tacos
Ingredients
- ¾ cup canned tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons adobo sauce (Notes 1 and 2)
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- ½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 (15 ounce/400 gram) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
- Black pepper, to taste
- 6 corn tortillas (Note 3), warmed in a skillet (Note 4)
- Shredded cabbage or lettuce
- Toppings of choice (Note 5)
Instructions
- Stir the tomato sauce, adobo sauce, cumin, paprika, lime juice and ½ teaspoon of salt together in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Coat the bottom of a medium skillet with the oil and place it over medium heat. Add the onion. Sweat the onion for about 5 minutes, until it becomes soft and translucent, stirring frequently. Stir in the garlic and cook it with the onion for about 1 minute, until very fragrant.
- Stir in the chickpeas and tomato sauce mixture. Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook everything for about 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens up a bit.
- Remove the skillet from heat and stir in the cilantro. Season the filling with more salt if desired, and black pepper to taste. Adjust any other seasonings to taste.
- Place a bit of lettuce or cabbage into the bottom of each tortilla, then fill the tortilla with the chickpea taco filling. Top with toppings of choice.
- Serve.
Notes
-
- You can get adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers, available in the international section of most supermarkets.
- Adjust the amount of adobo sauce to taste. Use more for extra spicy, smoky flavor, less for milder flavor. You can also add a minced chipotle from the can for even more heat.
- Small flour tortillas or hard taco shells can be used if preferred.
- To warm a tortilla, simply place it in a hot skillet (unoiled or oiled for a little crispiness), for a few minutes on each side, until brown spots begin to form.
- Potential toppings include avocado, salsa, guacamole, vegan cheese, vegan sour cream, red onion, scallions and hot sauce.
- This recipe makes enough filling for 6 big, full tacos. You could also get 8 smaller tacos out of it.
- Nutrition information does not include toppings.
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Another wonderful recipe! This was great and so easy to make. I love mexican based dishes and am going to do my best to make all 37 of the Mex recipes you sent out. thanks so much.
Soooooo yummy!! Served up today for lunch with lots of finely chopped cabbage, homemade cashew sour cream, fresh lime and sliced avocado. Making this one for my clients for sure. Too good to keep to myself!!!