Welcome to another EASY, nourishing, flavorful plant-based meal (we know you love them!). This EPIC bowl combines limey, salty, spicy smashed chickpeas with fluffy quinoa, caramelized roasted veggies, and an aji verde sauce so good you’ll want to lick the blender!
Ready in just 30 minutes, this nourishing meal is our new weeknight go-to and soon to be yours, too. Let’s get cooking!
How to Make Chickpea “Taco” Bowls
These vegan taco bowls get their name thanks to the smashed chickpea taco “meat” made by mashing chickpeas with olive oil, lime juice, aji amarillo paste (or sriracha), salt, and dried herbs and spices. They’re smoky + spicy + limey + SO versatile!
Once in the oven, they cook long enough to crisp around the edges while still remaining moist and “meaty.”
Then it’s on to the fajita-style veggies! Sliced bell peppers and onions get tossed with olive oil, salt, and garlic powder and bake at the same time as the chickpeas.
While they’re doing their thing in the oven, there’s time to prepare a batch of quinoa (in the Instant Pot is our preferred method!) and the vibrant aji verde sauce. Assemble into bowls, drizzle that sauce, and it’s mealtime!
We hope you LOVE these taco bowls! They’re:
Vibrant
Spicy
Savory
Satisfying
Nourishing
& SO delicious!
Enjoy them for an easy weeknight meal, or meal prep to enjoy throughout the week. They’d also be fun for a Friday night dinner party served with Chili Lime Mango Margaritas or Easy Vegan Flan (No-Bake!).
More Nourishing Plant-Based Bowls
- Smoky Black Bean & Quinoa Chili Bowl
- Black Bean Plantain Vegan Bowl
- Garlic & Herb Sweet Potato Nourish Bowl (30 Minutes!)
- Vegan Sushi Bowls with Ginger Marinated Tofu
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo @minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
30-Minute Smashed Chickpea Taco Bowls
Ingredients
SMASHED CHICKPEA TACO “MEAT”
- 2 (15-oz.) cans chickpeas, drained, rinsed and well dried
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- 1 Tbsp aji amarillo paste (or sriracha)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2-3/4 tsp sea salt
VEGGIES
- 2 medium bell peppers, seeds and stems removed, sliced lengthwise (we used green and red)
- 1 large onion (red or yellow), peeled and sliced lengthwise
- 1 ½ Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
QUINOA
- 1 cup dry quinoa (cooked on the stovetop or in the Instant Pot)
FOR SERVING
- Aji Verde Sauce
- Fresh cilantro (optional)
Instructions
- CHICKPEAS: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (218 C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, toss the chickpeas with olive oil, lime juice, aji amarillo paste (or sriracha), cumin, garlic powder, paprika, oregano, and salt until evenly coated. Mash with a fork until well broken down and cohesive.
- Transfer to one of the parchment-lined baking sheets and spread into an even layer with some spaces between the groupings to encourage crisping.
- VEGGIES: On the other baking sheet, add the sliced bell peppers and onions. Toss with olive oil, salt, and garlic powder. Spread evenly over the pan. Roast the chickpeas and vegetables for 20-25 minutes until crispy, stirring/flipping halfway through.
- QUINOA: Meanwhile, prepare your quinoa on the stovetop or in the Instant Pot. 1 cup dry quinoa yields ~3 cups cooked.
- SAUCE: Make your aji verde sauce.
- Serve the vegetables and chickpeas over quinoa and top with aji verde sauce. Sprinkle with optional cilantro and serve.
- Leftovers can be stored separately in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. The quinoa and chickpea taco “meat” can be stored in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Monica says
We love this recipe! The aji verde sauce is delicious. We doubled the sauce for more kick, doubled the veggies because we love them, and the second time we made this we left the chickpeas more intact and less smashed, because we enjoyed more of a mix in the texture and it was less work. I prefer to make the chickpeas and veggies in the air fryer to achieve more of a crispy fajita style roast on the veggies. Thank you for another delicious recipe :)
Amazing! Thank you for sharing, Monica! xo
h says
could you make this on a stovetop ? I dont have an oven rn
You could definitely make it on the stove! We suggest sautéing each component until they look similar to the pictures!
Jen V says
Like other reviewers, this took me more like an hour instead of 30 minutes. It’s a lot of prep and the vegetables needed longer than 20 minutes in the oven. Overall, it was flavorful, but I just felt like it was missing something. I like the suggestions of others to add fresh tomatoes, that may have helped.
Thanks for the honest feedback, Jen. Sorry it wasn’t a winner for you!
Bianca says
The smashed chickpeas came out super dry, any advice to keep it more moist?
Hi Bianca, sorry that happened! Did you make any adjustments, such as to the amount of oil? If not, baking for less time should help!
Emily says
simple but very delicious! Also makes really great leftovers.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Emily! Thank you for the lovely review! xo
Kelly Bairos says
We’re not cilantro fans but the rest of the recipe sounds delicious. Is there another sauce you can recommend using?
Hi Kelly! You can try our creamy cashew jalapeño sauce on it!
Kelly Bairos says
Thank you!
Kenzie says
I love so many recipes on this blog, but this one was just okay. The sauce was delicious, but I don’t think there was enough texture difference between the quinoa and the mashed up, roasted chick peas.
I think the idea of chickpea taco meat is a really good one and a good replacement for tofu taco meat I sometimes make, but I don’t know if we’ll do the bowl again.
Thanks for the recipes though!
Thanks for sharing, Kenzie!
Kris Kent says
This is such a flavorful recipe! I enjoyed the other comments on what they added. Thanks so much!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Kris! Thanks so much for sharing!
Christine Whittington says
Wow! Full of amazing, distinctive flavors! The bowls looked a little naked after I put everything together, so I added halved cherry tomatoes and sliced avocado. Even better! Kitchen is a mess, though. I don’t believe the “30 minutes,” but that time factor rarely works for me. I did also cook the chickpeas, so there was that. Better yet, there are leftovers. This dish is truly epic, as per the description. The Aji Verde sauce is delicious (for cilantro lovers, like me) and I can see using it on lots of things. I used my small blender–the one I use for smoothies–for the sauce. I did not have aji amarillo paste, so subbed Sriracha in the chickpeas and Sriracha + 1/2 large jalapeno in the Aji Verde sauce. The fact that they have “Taco” in the name makes me think they could be topped with a few tortilla chips. Minimalist Baker is quickly becoming one of my favorite food blogs.
Great idea, Christine! Thank you so much for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications! xo
Christine Whittington says
Thanks for the thanks! BTW, aji amarillo paste is available lots of places online so it is already on the way here.
Yay!
Ashley says
This was great! It surprised me how good the chickpea taco meat was. Excellent. Thank you so much!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Ashley. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo
Kate says
This was great, though I had more of a chickpea crumble – it would not clump! I also forgot to get cilantro, so I tried substituting kale. Still great.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Kate! We’re so glad you enjoyed it! If you didn’t already, perhaps try mashing the chickpeas more and adding them to the baking sheet so they’re touching. Hope that helps for next time!
Tammy says
While this was really delicious, it definitely took more than 30 minutes to come together! This is my BIGGEST pet peeve with recipes. There is NO way, between the time to prep (especially smashing the chick peas) and cook that this takes 30 minutes. This isn’t even including making the aji verde sauce. Please consider adjusting the time.
Thank you for the feedback, Tammy! We’re glad you found it to be delicious! We found it took about 10 minutes to smash the chickpeas, chop the veggies, get everything in the oven, and then about 20 in the oven. The quinoa and sauce can then be made while those are in the oven. Could you help us with which part(s) you found took longer? We don’t typically include time to get out ingredients since that’s so variable person to person and how well a kitchen is organized, but we wonder if maybe that could account for the difference?
Tammy says
Thanks for the response. No, I really don’t believe it was getting out the ingredients. I found it took a bit to dry the chick peas thoroughly, longer to smash them (I feel the biggest part to get them really smashed up), and cooking them, as well as roasting the veggies (both took quite a bit longer than the stated cook time and I didn’t have large cuts of veggies). The quinoa definitely was not the issue at all. I got that going when I started prepping the veggies.
Time stated from start to finish, when not accurate, is a huge pet peeve of mine when following recipes. I felt that prep and cook time time was understated with this recipe. I am not a novice cook so I *do* know my way around the kitchen as well as quite a few tips and tricks.
I’ve made other recipes from your site without issue. I subscribe to your newsletter and follow you on Facebook and Instagram. I love the recipes…all are delicious. However, I felt the need to bring this one up as far as it being “30 minutes”.
Thank you for the additional clarification, Tammy!
Christine Whittington says
Same here, with taking longer. I think it is just me being slow, because I always take me longer than recipes say it should. It probably took me 10 minutes just to mash the chickpeas, another 10 to add all of the ingredients to them, another 10 to slice the pepper and onions. Next time I will pulse them in the food processor. I did cook the chickpeas in my Instant Pot, which I have to do because I live at 10,142′ altitude. Also, the quinoa took longer for the same altitude reason.
I like to prep all of my chopped and sliced ingredients and spices beforehand, but didn’t do it this time–that could have affected the time because I was having to find stuff. Where is the lime squeezer? Where is the Srirachi hiding in the fridge? Oh, need to peel the garlic. I did make the aji verde sauce while the chickpeas and veggies were roasting. I decided I wanted to add avocado and halved cherry tomatoes after the face, so that was a few more minutes.
So, it would probably have taken a normal person on a normal day 30 minutes, but not me this time and, again, that’s just me.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Christine! Thank you for sharing your experience. xo
Laura D says
This was really yummy. I prepped the sauce, veggies and chickpeas the day before, so it was quick to roast and cook the quinoa the next day for dinner. The aji paste is pretty spicy, so I split the chickpea mix and sauce in half and only added it to one half so my kids could eat the non spicy half. I also only added half the aji paste to the sauce. I added some chopped avocado to the bowl too. Thank you!
Amazing! Love your modifications! Thank you for sharing, Laura!
Susan says
The flavour combo was nice but I found the chickpeas too dry. Next time I will prep them on the stove top – I don’t need them crispy. I found the aji amarillo paste and doubled the amount for more of a kick. Sadly my family is the “cilantro tastes like soap” so I used parsley, an okay substitute but the cilantro was missed by the cook! We topped the bowls with some fresh chopped tomatoes and green onions. With a few tweaks we will enjoy them again.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Susan! Another option if you’d prefer the chickpeas to be more moist would be to bake for a shorter amount of time.
Claudia "the amateur vegan chef" says
Wow!!! I made this for my daughter & son-in-law. Oh so easy & totally delicious. They aded some roasted brussels sprouts & sautéed spinach to green it up. Thank you, Dana xoxo
We’re so glad you and your family enjoyed it, Claudia! Thanks so much for the lovely review. xo
Jen says
So delicious! I did mine with Broccoli and spinach as I am not a pepper fan. Sauce made the dish! Will def go into the rotation.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Jen! Thanks so much for sharing. xo
Christan Moy says
Looks good! At what point do you smash the chickpeas and what do you suggest is the best way to do so?
Hi Christan! You mash the chickpeas in step two. We find a for works well here!