Quinoa Taco Meat

This is my go-to meat substitute on most Mexican food nights at my house. I love the texture and the seasoning. I used to use a tofu recipe, but I found myself not feeling well after eating it. This recipe was a game changer for me. It gets the closest to what I miss from my childhood days of eating taco meat. My husband loves it too, and my young kids (4,6, and 8) will eat it without complaint when I add a little to their tacos. Thank you for the recipe!

My kids have been begging for nachos for dinner, and I decided to take a chance on this. Topped the nachos with the quinoa, beans, cheese, guacamole, and vegan sour cream. It was a huge hit with my kids, my sister’s kids, and my picky husband!! Followed the recipe exactly except substituted smoked paprika for the chili powder since the little ones don’t do spicy. Will be making again for tacos!

Great recipe. Even my meat eating husband liked it. :-) winning

We have made this a few times, we LOVE IT! Tonight were putting it on our Vegan Nachos. Thanks for this awesome Recipe!!

Wow! We made these today and even my 13 year old who “hates” quinoa loved it! Thank you so much! FINALLY I found a quinoa recipe both of my kids like!

I’ve been cooking with quinoa for awhile now and this is by far my favorite quinoa dish. I made this for dinner and it was enjoyed by my 14 year old who doesnt like quinoa. Will definitely be adding this to my regular rotation. We added black beans for a little extra filling and made burritos. I’ll probably use a little less chili powder next time to cut down on the spice but other than that it was delicious. Will be making this again!

We had this for dinner last night – fantastic that it’s all pantry ingredients and it was delicious! I used smoked paprika rather than chili powder as I was already using a spicy salsa but otherwise made as listed. I think I’ll make another batch and freeze. thanks!

This is just “wow”. After a couple of not so successful plant based meals recently, I was starting to think I’d lost my touch in the kitchen. Was a bit sceptical about this recipe, I mean, come on, how can it be like ground beef, right? Well I don’t know, but it is amazing! My partner loved it so it’s another one for my small but successful repertoire. I used the tri colour quinoa and it looks great. We had it again the following night over a baked potato 😋
Thank you!

Delicious and filling! Topped with avocado, tomato, cilantro, and hot sauce! Will definitely make again!

I cannot believe how delicious this is! I have always hated quinoa, but I needed to make something for a big taco and burrito dinner I was planning and I stumbled across your recipe. And I’m so glad I did. I have made this several times since then, and it is always a hit. Mine doesn’t come out quite as dark as in your picture (because I use white quinoa), but that doesn’t matter to me – it’s the great flavor that counts. Thanks so much for a great recipe :)

Wonderful recipe. I used a black bean and corn salsa and I think next time I’ll add some extra black beans and corn as well. I used 1/2 chili pepper 1/2 chipotle chili pepper seasoning for the smokiness and it had a great flavor. I love that this made enough to feed two people (who ate way more than then needed to) and I have enough for a couple of lunches too.

I have nothing to add that hasn’t been written over and over! These are the BEST taco fillers. I have tried many and these are tops. Followed exact recipe. Thank you for this!!!

Wow! I’ve had this printed for a while now and man, what was I missing! As a family going plant-based, this was a big hit among all family members. I already had white quinoa in the fridge from a nights dinner early in the week–worked great as a way to use those leftovers! I added more nutritional yeast as we love its cheesy flavor.

Made this for my daughter who eats vegan, she loved it and I did, too. Really good seasonings. Thank you for posting!

IT IS AWESOME!!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!

This is amazing! I did a slight variation- added 4 oz of mushrooms and 1/2 cup of walnuts that had been mixed together in a food processor. I have been trying began taco meat recipes for a while and this tasted the best! Thanks

Loved the recipe! Both my husband and I actually liked it better before we baked it. We’ll simply skip that step in the future. Such a delicious and easy alternative to the traditional beef. Thanks so much for an amazing recipe!

My son actually sent this recipe to me because I am vegetarian. Since then I can’t get enough of the recipes from this site. I make this dish all the time. It is spectacular! It also freezes really well. Making it later today!

This recipe is amazing! I definitely won’t miss ground beef tacos thanks to this recipe. I did have to bake it longer to get it crumbly enough, but that may just be my oven.

Hi! We really liked this a lot, though I did change it up a bit. I forgot to add the salsa, and I left it in the oven after I turned it off, since we weren’t quite ready to eat. It didn’t burn at all, but was quite nice and crispy.
My mom taught me to make taco filling by mixing the seasoned ground meat with refried beans, she said she learned to do this from a Mexican family while living near the border as a child. So, fearing the crispy quinoa would spill all over the place, I mixed it with a can of fat free refried beans. Wow, was that ever yummy! You can add water as needed to reheat this mixture. It tastes just like the ground meat/beans taco mixture I used to make for many years. We’ve tried all kinds of taco fillings since going WFPB, but this is by far the best, and will be my go-to from now on. Husband loved it, and he’s not a quinoa fan. Daughter approved also, said its better than the than the mixture she made with Gardein soy crumbles recently. Thanks you for a great recipe. Now to try your stuffed peppers!

OMG! This was absolutely delicious! I followed the recipe exactly as listed, except I used Garden Fresh salsa, with total bake time of 30 minutes. Whole family loved it! Definitely back to Taco Tuesday in our household!! Thank you for sharing!!

This recipe is unbelievable! This has become a staple in our house. Even my meat-loving husband prefers this to regular ground beef tacos. We always double the recipe so we can use it for salads later in the week. We usually make an avocado creme to add along with some feta for our tacos. AMAZING!

Where have you been all my life, quinoa taco filling? The recipe is easy enough that even a hit-or-miss cook like myself could pull it off. I made this tonight AND LOVED IT. My whole family loved it, including our carnivorous five-year-old.
Ground turkey who?

So much better than any of the latest meat substitutes! Loved it; added refried beans and made a delicious burrito on a low carb wrap! The seasonings were perfect!

This recipe was amazing! My whole family loved it! I did leave out the salt and added some black beans after baking! This will be my go to for tacos from now on!!❤️

Yum! Healthy and delicious even just by itself. I used tomato paste instead of salsa and didn’t have any yeast but it tastes crunchy and amazing. Thanks for the idea :-)

Aside from being way too salty this was very good, perhaps I should have used salt free broth. I ended up adding another 1 cup of cooked quinoa to the mix prior to baking it and it was still a too salty. I tried it on top of nachos which I enjoyed even with all the salt. I am hoping my kids will like it too… the jury is still out as my newly vegetarian daughter went to bed early tonight.

Tasted great! Very easy too! Will definitely make again.

Fantastic recipe! My Mexican food loving husband and my toddler both asked for more! Subed the salsa for fresh tomato and onion with a little garlic the way my abuelos makes it with ground beef and it was perfect.

This recipe will now be our go to recipe for tacos and taco salads! My family loved it! I added tri-beans to the mix and omitted the yeast and it was delish!

I made a couple of small substitutions; beef broth instead of vegetable broth and parmesan cheese in place of the yeast. This was delicious in burritos and we’ll find lots of ways to use the leftovers! Great recipe, thank you.

Vegetarian and Carnivore approved!!!

NO SODIUM VERSION
1.I made this with a few changes…used my own veggie broth from fresh veggies no salt
2.Used my own taco seasoning with no salt
3.canned tomatoes and added basil oregano, pinches
PROCESS IS GENIUS…THANK YOU!?

We have been phasing out meat for a more plant-based lifestyle. We struggled to find a good substitute for ground turkey tacos- until we found this recipe! Amazing! My three young boys were wary at first but before I knew it, they had devoured first and second helpings.
I’ve also used this on salads and nachos (on the menu tonight!). Very versatile. And it makes me feel good to serve my family healthy food that tastes great. Thank you for sharing!

I finally found a winner. This was delicious. I’m done looking for taco replacement recipes because this is it!!! Thank You!!!! The only thing I did differently was follow the instructions on the Lundberg’s Quinoa packet to cook the quinoa. I did use broth and toast the quinoa as you suggested. I can’t thank you enough.

This was soooo good. I made a double batch with a can of fire-roasted tomatoes instead of salsa, and some taco mix from our farmers market. Everyone loved them on tacos and we can’t wait to use it on nachos!

I make this mostly for tacos tuesdays but I have been using it to create other food dishes. It is so delicious and healthy! Thanks for this recipe I share it with every vegetarian I come across!

This is one of my favorite Minimalist Baker recipes! I made a large batch of this and prepped tacos then added black beans to the leftovers to make stuffed red peppers. So good! I love this ground meat substitute! I’m curious to explore using it for a copycat PF changs lettuce wraps recipe with a soy sauce substitute made with coconut aminos where I usually use ground chicken.

Yesterday I hosted a ‘Healthy Eating’ workshop and this Quinoa Taco Meat was a hit!! I did use the pressure cooker to cook the quinoa. I forgot to get a picture of the prepared vegan taco meat but wanted to share it vanished and everyone commented on how good this was. Thank you for a great recipe! Adding to my list of FAVs to share with clients :)

I followed the instructions step for step and this turned out delicious. Perfect way to get the usually bland quinoa more flavorful and the crispy-ness? Yum! I served as the based of a burrito bowl and it was very filling with beans and veggies. Thank you MB!

Five stars is not enough. These tacos are live changing and the perfect alternative to any animal protein. :)

loved this added jalapeño peppers with diced mushrooms! +avocado delishhhhh

This recipe is delicious! I’ve made it a couple times now. I alter it just a little by chopping up an onion to add to the mix for the oven. Instead of salsa, I chop up a fresh pepper and/or add some chopped tomatoes. This time I did half a can of Trader Joe chopped tomatoes. Near the end of the oven time, I mix in some freshly chopped garlic. I also like to top with black beans, chopped cilantro and lime juice. Thanks for the recipe!

I was VERY skeptical and had low hopes for these. I thought they would be too carb. heavy and not as flavorful as meat. I was wrong; they were great!

I used verde salsa and put guacamole on the tacos. These are definitely going into the dinner rotation.

I had great expectations and wasn’t disappointed! Even my husband loved it. Thanks for the great recipe!

This was outstanding! We had it on whole wheat pita bread with guacamole, shredded cabbage, diced tomatoes, and black and green diced olives. And some cucumber salad. Hearty, delicious, umami!!!
My husband said it’s the best dinner we’ve had since we started our plant based diet a month ago. Many thanks!

I’m going to start out by saying my expectations were low…however, this was freakin’ fantastic!! Will totally make again!!

I made it tonight and it tasted delicious!

I’m a meat eater trying to reduce my consumption or by some miracle completely get rid of using meat in my meals. I love tacos/Mexican food and beef is obviously a usual staple and I’m picky about the texture and flavor that it gives. This recipe is better than I thought it would be!! The veggie broth had me doubting because it contained carrot juice and that’s usually a turn off for flavor. Not saying I don’t like carrots but not typical in most of my Mexican dishes and tends to intrude it’s flavor when not desired but by the time I was done, well I couldn’t tell and tasted delicious. If you’re a typical meat eater looking for a veggie substitute for Mexican entree’s, this definitely will work! Awesome recipe!!

Have been looking for good plant-based recipes and this checks all the boxes. Good source of protein, easy to make with items on hand and tastes great!

Outstanding hit with my family last night for dinner! Everyone loved it and it made enough to still have lunch for today. Spices were spot on and I loved the roasting/crunchiness it gave to the quinoa. Great texture and tasted awesome. Thank you for sharing and I’ve added your link to two facebook vegan groups for sharing.

EXCELLENT! I love to cook, and as I turn to more plant based options I find a lot of vegan recipes are tasteless! I can’t go there!
So glad to stumble on your website– I loved this recipe and served it over brown rice with quacamole, bean salad, and cole slaw (also from your site!)
Thanks for a yummy and healthy dinner!

Absolutely delicious recipe!! Only recently taken the plunge to go vegan and this is a definite keeper. The recipe makes a ton of “quinoa meat” so I have plenty of leftovers. Even my meat loving family members liked this. Have been searching through your blog and pinned a bunch. Buying your cook book on Amazon now :) keep the vegan recipes coming

Everyone in the house loved this! Mom! It’s the best plant based meal you’ve cooked yet!

This is the closet thing to real beef tacos I have found; texture is a huge hit for me. This is my favorite recipe for vegetarian tacos and I don’t feel deprived or left out when it’s taco night. Thanks!

This was absolutely delicious I have been trying to find good meat replacements as a allergen free and gf and vegan and this was amazing I will be making this so much thank you for the recipe. Thank you

This was so yummy! Had a dinner for some of my meat eating family and wanted to make something vegan and delicious for both adults and kids. Had never made this before that night, and as always you did not disappoint! Everyone loved it. Thank you so much for this easy and delicious recipe that will be a part of our family for years to come!

This was super easy to make and delicious!

This was so good! I never leave recipe feedback but this just excellent! So tasty. Thank you!

One of my favorite vegan recipes that the entire family (including two picky kids) will eat. Great for tacos or nachos. I make a double batch and freeze the rest for a quick easy family or individual meal. Really nice tenure and great flavor.

We skipped the oil, but it still came out great. Loved it and will definitely be making it again!

It was so good , even before cooking it in the oven I could eat it by the spoon ^.^

Loved it. Used it for the ‘meat’ in The Mob Kitchen Ultimate Meatless Nacho recipe.

This was so much better than I imagined! Totally now on my list of favourite taco recipes. We made our own salsa instead of the store bought.

Loved the spice mixture in this recipe! I needed to “speed up” the cook time on the night I made it, so I used some leftover, precooked quinoa I had in the fridge and added all the other spice ingredients. Instead of baking it, I carefully toasted the quinoa under the broiler (gotta watch it closely!). By doing this, I cut the prep time down to just a few minutes. Will definitely be making this again! Next time I think I will try adding some spicy slaw on top of the tacos to add some extra crunch.

Really good recipe!
Kids approved and fed me, my wife and 3 small kids 10 and under.
Will do again!
Any suggestion for more protein add ons?

I’ve made this quite a few times now and it’s always delicious. This is going into my regular rotation. Thank you so much for posting this recipe. It’s the best ground beef replacement I’ve ever had.

I’m Greek so I’m eating vegan a lot during the year. This was a huge hit even with the members of my family that don’t fast. My non-vegan son has asked for the recipe twice for his co-workers. I do like hitting this with more spice such as Aleppo pepper or dried jalapeño; even some crunchy chili.

I’m not much of a cook and my 12 year old often tells me my vegetarian food smells awful. I made this for dinner tonight and when I brought over a fork-full for my daughter to smell, she immediately wanted a bite! She had two stuffed tortilla shells with the quinoa “meat”.

I made this and am in love with the flavors. I air fried 2 corn tortillas and made tostadas. I added salsa and my boyfriend said it was one of the best things I’ve made. I froze the leftovers and they reheated well with extra salsa!

I added some green, orange, yellow peppers when cooking the quinoa.

Great recipe, will make again!

I make this often and can’t believe I forgot to leave a review! This is so tasty and so simple. It’s also really easy to make side by side if you’re preparing meat for a partner or something. He can have his meat tacos, I can have my vegan, and we’re not fighting for room on the stovetop. Perfect!

This was simple, easy, and had everything in the pantry but the taste was amazing. This is a keeper and will be making it weekly! Thank you!!

I made this tonight and not only was it super easy to make, it was delicious! The combination of spices give it the perfect flavour.

Can’t really say this is my favorite quinoa taco meat since it’s the only one I’ve ever made. But it’s so delicious I just read others and go back to my old standby…this one. I cooked brown rice in my rice cooker while I made the taco meat. Crumbled taco shells on the bottom, brown rice, black beans, taco meat and salsa wrap up a great meal. Love it!

Easy to make and so tasty! My meat loving husband really loved it too. I’m a huge taco lover, I will be making this again and again. I think I may add cauliflower into the mix too before putting it all into the oven. Thanks for your great, healthy, flavorful recipes!

Love this. Simple, easy and delicious. Recently changed from vegetarian to vegan. I have eaten this different ways but my favorite is over a sweet potato with black beans, arugula, salsa and avocado. With the avocado eaten during the meal I leave out the oil in the recipe as well.

I made this recipe looking for a healthier alternative and wanted a recipe that was easy to make and delicious! I followed this recipe for the most part except substituted the 3/4 water for more vegetable broth. This meatless taco meat is AMAZING! And it’s super easy to make. Thank you for the recipe. I’ll keep this one in my collection.

This is SO delicious. We eat it in tacos, burritos, bowls, on nachos, and with spoons straight off the pan. My young kids love it!

Ingenious and delicious!!! ????

I just made this today and I must admit, I was a little unsure at the start, but it’s really tasty. I love the texture that the quinoa brings to the party and I ended up making about 2/3 of the quinoa with a spicy salsa and the rest with a mild and found it easy to divide and bake on two sheets at the same time. They both came out great. We’re looking forward to tacos tonight. Now I have another option besides lentils or perhaps I’ll try lentils and this quinoa filling mixed together to really go wild! Thank you for sharing this gem of a recipe.

I love this recipe! I’ve made it twice now, and the flavors and textures are amazing. I put it in soft taco shells with black beans, vegan shredded cheese, salsa, and avocado slices.

A huge hit!! The FIRST time I’ve made a meat sub for tacos that the kids didn’t complain about! They actually asked for more and ate all the crumbles out of the bowl. Try this recipe it’s amazing and the crunchy shell was a great recommendation!

My favorite taco replacement “meat.” Easy and so good! I have found that this works better for me when I used previously-cooked quinoa (like the day before, or earlier in the week). It made it dry out a bit more in the oven, and I preferred that texture over using freshly cooked quinoa.

Wow! I made this for dinner last night and it was as so delicious that I’m already looking forward to having it for lunch today! It’s an extremely easy to follow recipe and my only alterations were adding a little smoked paprika and a little coriander to the spice mix. Oh, I forgot to add the oil as well but it turned out crispy and amazing even without it. Make this, people—you’ll be glad you did!

I tried this as written & it was OK. Basically all you taste are the spices and salsa. And not much texture except the taco shell and fresh veggies. Then I made it using barley, it was much better. The filing was chewy and the grains from near the edge of the pan got crunchy, a much better mouth feel.

I’m not a vegetarian but was searching for an alternative hard shell taco filling while my family ate the usual ground turkey and this recipe did not disappoint!

The only change was omitting the stock in favor of water I had used to soak dried New Mexico chilies (I freeze it after straining).

I have been eating the remaining portions warmed on salad and it’s just great.

Thank you for sharing!

Made the recipe with some modifications to the spices as I like it spicy. Loved the way it turned out. And it’s so tempting, I keep sampling it with other meal options like an omelet filling along with some dairy free cheese. Definitely will be making this again!!!

simple and tastes good. i didn’t add nutritional yeast, still turned out great

I made this for a non-vegan crowd for the 4th of July and it was a hit! Most of them even said it was better than ground beef. Thanks for such a great recipe!

This was SO GOOD! I am not vegan, but I like to try to eat as plant based as possible- and this was ridiculously tasty! The biggest problem is not pigging out on this!!

I followed the directions exactly and it was delicious! Definitely one of the best plant-based recipes I’ve tried. I ate it for 3 meals in 2 days! Next time, I will try it without the oil since I’m trying to avoid added fat. Thanks for a great recipe!

This quinoa is absolutely FANTASTIC. I just finished it for lunch and it will be added to my regular rotation. I used pre cooked quinoa from last night, and broiled it for about 15 minutes (mixed with the listed ingredients) until it browned.

10/10!!!

So so delicious. I served with home made tacos, onion, tomato, avocado and sunflower seed dressing..

I just made this for dinner tonight. It was delicious! My husband and kids liked it too and we all agreed we can use this recipe in a number of ways. (I am going to eat the leftovers tomorrow for lunch.) We used corn tortillas and we also piled on black beans, tomatoes and more salsa. I forgot to cut up the avocado I planned to use, but I will remember when we use this in a bowl.
Thanks!

Absolutely delicious! So quick and easy to make and a crowd pleaser! I made black beans with sauteed sweet onion, garlic, and cumin to top it and it was the perfect balance both in taste and texture.

This was really simple to make and so delicious I was tempted to just eat all of the quinoa straight from the pan…it was super tasty in the tacos and everyone – kids included – had multiple helpings. This is definitely going to be my new go to for tacos but I think it would be a really versatile option for any meal with ground beef or turkey using applicable spices!

This worked extremely well in a taco, but I also modified it with other flavors to substitute the meat in a bolognese sauce. So versatile!

This has become our go-to Taco Tuesday recipe!! My husband is a vegetarian, so I was constantly struggling to find something that could feed us all instead of two separate recipes for me and the kids and then him. I stumbled across this and now my 11-year-old son asks me to make it! Delish!

I LOVE this recipe! I normally increase the spices all significantly and then use it as a base for mojo-marinated black beans with diced avocado for creaminess and a salad on the side for crunch. Reheats very well (even in the microwave) and is super yummy!

Made this last night, and loved it!! Think I may have cooked the quinoa a bit long but it still tasted yummy?

Just made this and used it as filling for homemade crunchwraps and it was GREAT! Thank you!

Absolutely Amazing recipe. Was inspired to make this one to help convert our family to a healthier plan based diet. I decided to go with one of our family staples and tacos was it. This was a huge step in the right direction. He is super used to eating beef tacos and actually ate these and enjoyed them. What’s more impressive is that the former non-cook in the house, came thru with a dinner that scored! You helped me make that happen with that easy to follow and one point recipe.

Absolutely delicious!! The whole family loved these tacos!!

These were so good! Thank you for a wonderful recipe!!

This was amazing! I followed recipe and added in a tsp if smokey paprika! Made a taco salad with this for my lunch. Definitely will share with my friends and family! Thank you!

I was so surprised at how good the quinoa came out! This is such a great recipe and honestly, a lifesaver for a TexMex lover who’s trying to cut meat out of her diet!

Loved it! Just made these for dinner while the meat eaters in my family were having beef, but they even had some. Our 2-year-old really enjoyed it as well.
The veggie broth I had was garden vegetable. I was out of nutritional yeast, but I replaced it with marmite.
I had mine on soft tortillas and topped them with arugula, mango, tomato, and avocado. A nice light and fresh addition to the flavor of the quinoa. This may be my go-to vegan taco recipe :D

I thought I had the best recipe for vegan tacos until I tried this!! Outstanding! I used red quinoa and recipe as directed, toasted a corn tortilla, smashed avocado and topped with red cabbage/shredded carrot dressed with lime/olive oil/honey dressing etc. So good! the quinoa is a 10!!

Wow! Incredible recipe. I love quinoa….I eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, anytime really. But I never thought to use it as a Taco meat filling!

I am an vegetarian Ironman triathlete, training for 140.6 mile races, so I am always looking for ways to boost my nutritional intake. Sometimes I want Tacos but most restaurants offer oily versions filled with ether veggies which are cooked to death or beans which are possibly loaded with ‘lard’ or other fats to make them taste good.

This hit the spot! I made a huge batch and will use it for a base for eggs after a long bike/run or lunch/dinner as nacho, taco filling.

I was almost not going to make it because I thought it might not ‘deliver’ the flavor i wanted. Wow…I was wrong….the recipe imparts the right flavor with a great mouth feel for extra satisfaction.

This won’t be the last recipe I make from your site.

Thank you for giving me the nutrients to power through my workouts!

Amazingly delicious

These are THE BEST tacos I have had since becoming plant-based. And I have tried many versions. And liked many versions, but these I LOVE!! And everyone in my family (even the picky child who won’t touch anything he doesn’t know he likes) loves it too. We’ve been making this on taco Tuesdays for a month or so now.. can’t get enough! I omit the nutritional yeast and oil and it works out great – super crunchy and delicious!

I made this for our Christmas Eve taco night. We had vegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters and EVERYBODY loved this. It was a huge hit! Best of all, it’s so super easy to make. I am making it again this week for a work taco party.

This was delicious! Topped with sour cream, cheese, guacamole, and lettuce. Slowly trying to transition my kitchen into a vegan kitchen. These recipes are making the process pretty smooth! Haven’t been disappointed yet.

This is only the second dinner I’ve made that the wife and all three picky eater kids raved about (there is always one holdout who says they don’t like it or that it’s “ok”). My youngest ate enough her stomach hurt. I made a double batch, expecting to have leftovers for several days worth of lunches at work, but there is probably only one (scant) serving left less than 24 hours later. I have high blood pressure so the only change I made was to omit the salt, and obviously the family didn’t miss it!

Wowza!!! Seriously the BEST recipe I have made in a long time! My husband loves it, too! We are adding this to our weekly dinner rotation. Thank you so much for sharing!!

I grew up eating old school tacos at home. I don’t like vegan foods that try to be something they’re not, but this has won my heart. My vegan boyfriend LOVED it. My meat eating daughter also flipped for it.

This recipe is fantastic and so genius! I would’ve never thought to do this, so thank you for bringing this delight into my life! We do taco nights often, usually beans, spinach, and avocado, and turkey for hubby and kids, and just without meat for myself. I do load up on beans and avocado, but having this quinoa “meat” on my vegetarian portion truly completes the meal for me in a way I never knew I needed! Made this for the first time last week, and in the process of making it again right now. It never got crunchy for me, but I have a wonky oven and used my usual 2:1 liquid ration for cooking quinoa last time. I adjusted liquids per your recipe tonight and will attempt a different baking method (direct on metal sheet pan vs. parchment last time) and see if it makes a difference. Honestly the spice combo is so great, the texture didn’t bother me the first time. Just want to try it as intended to see how much more amazing it might be :)

FYI, I had plenty leftover last time, and found plenty of uses! Throw in scrambled eggs; throw in salad; throw in enchiladas; eat straight out of bowl!

Thanks again! I realize this recipe is old but wanted to let you know you’ve changed my life … at least on taco night :)

We made this last night and it was so good! The whole family loved it on tacos, this we’ll be our new go to.We love all the recipes we’ve tried so far!

This turned out way better than I anticipated. Extremely flavorful and so tasty! This is one of the best meatless taco recipes I’ve ever made. Highly recommend!

The whole family loves it! Even the middle kid who doesn’t eat anything. That’s a huge compliment for this recipe! Love from the Netherlands

Amazing!! I made it for my family and added it to tacos with wedges of home grown tomatoes and cucumber and topped with vegan cheese. I substituted the chilli powder to smoked sweet Hungarian paprika and it gave it a huge hit of beautiful smokiness. Also great for kids lunchboxes.. well if they last that long that it is !! Keep the sensational recipes coming!! Thank you we all really enjoyed this!

I just made this but in my cast iron skillet. Delicious!! Thank you!!

This is an amazing recipe. Almost strange how perfect it is as a ground meat taco substitute. All I can say is THANK YOU!!

This is the second time that I’ve made this recipe. It’s amazing! So robust and flavorful, friends that aren’t even vegan enjoyed it. It’s definitely in my rotation of meals. Thanks so much for your awesome recipes!

I’m Hispanic and cook Spanish food all the time. This was easy to make and tastes amazing!!

OMG this was soooo good! After reading more of the reviews and directions this morning, I was looking forward to this all day, and it did not disappoint! I served it in taco shells with lettuce, tomato, shredded cheese and some mild Valentina taco sauce and it reminded me of Taco Bell! My 2 year old even enjoyed it (he will barely touch beef or turkey taco meat)!
Btw, I used Arriba medium fire roasted red salsa for the recipe

These were great! My 9-year-old ate 4 full tacos and my 7-year old picky eater had two. Thanks for a recipe where vegans and meat eaters can happily meet.

I love so many of your recipes but this is one of my favorites! It’s so so good on top of corn chips with refried beans and your roasted jalapeño queso. I’m transitioning my husband and two young boys to a vegan diet and I’m not missing meat or dairy at all thanks to your recipes.

I just ate the best tacos I’ve ever had! Thank you!

We made this and tossed in about a cup of purple cauliflower cut to the size of ground beef crumbles to the quinoa before baking and substituted 1/4 cup prepared taco seasoning for all the dry seasoning. We like spicy so will increase the spice next time. This is a keeper. Thanks

I made this tonight and it was delicious. I added some sautéed shallot, peppers, mushrooms and some black beans and some vegan cheese. Unfortunately didn’t have a ripe avocado or I would have added that too. I will next time

Thank you for the recipe! The seasonings were perfect. The whole family enjoyed it so much. Who would have thought meatless tacos could taste this good. My husband, who never tries or likes anything healthy, LOVED these tacos!

I used to use tofu to make tacos with but I much prefer this recipe and make it all the time! A fantastic alternative, and my (meat eating) boyfriend also loves it! Thanks Dana!

Thank you for this! We stopped eating meat in March (I’m nudging us in a more vegan direction now) and the transition has been tough for my kids! My 5yo loved this recipe!!! She ate it right up in a flour tortilla!
Your site has been an amazing find for me. Thanks again for putting up all these amazing simple recipes!!!

I made this for dinner tonight. Hubby was skeptical, but he at it with no complaints! If he could’ve found a fault, he would have! So this is a home run in my book :) Hubs proceeded to google “quinoa” during dinner and recited all the health benefits of this ancient grain. DD13 thought it was great and wants to see it again. Definitely adding this recipe to my rotation. Thank you for the great idea.

I made this and am obsessed! Sooo much better than ground turkey tacos! Also, it froze and reheated SO good!!!

I made this tonight and it was delicious! Great texture and tasted just like taco meat. Thanks for the recipe!

We have made this sooo many times and it’s always a hit! It is my go-to recipe for a taco meat substitute. The texture is unbeatable.

It was delicious and very easy to make!! Even my super picky children requested seconds. The only change I made was using 1 1/2 cups liquid instead of the 1 3/4.

Love it!

I made this tonight because I was really craving Taco Bell and their vegetarian options just aren’t doing it for me because it’s the spices in thei questionable beef that I miss lol so I gave this recipe a go and I think the saving grace were the toppings (cheese, sour cream, pinto beans, lettuce, tomato). The quinoa tasted more like a Spanish rice for some reason but i think it’s because of salsa that I used. Wasn’t what I was envisioning in respects to flavor and texture but it worked and was filling!

I have made this. Overall, very good. Will decrease spices next time way too much for me. Perfect replacement for meat in tacos and nachos with vegan cheese, beans and guacamole. Wil make over and over. Enjoy.

Your recipes are always so on point I never second guess them. My go to for vegan dishes.