Quinoa Taco Meat

My wife and I loved this. We used it for taco salad the first night and had enough left over for nachos the next. It’s a keeper!

I make these all the time. So delicious. I would love if you made an app with all your recipes! :)

This was delicious. I added 2 cans of pinto beans. My vegan and non vegans friends loved it.

I made this recipe just as written and it came out perfectly! I almost skipped the oven part because I thought that sounded like so much more work but I am glad I didn’t skip it because I really think it “made” the “meat”! After baking, I mixed in a can of black beans and served it on taco salad and my meat eating partner loved it! This is definitely going to be a go-to recipe for me! Thanks!

I loved this and so did my kids and husband! It is a perfect substitution for our vegan taco night. I did modify it so that it took a bit less time to prepare. I used a taco seasoning packet in lieu of the spices listed. Also, I cooked the quinoa in a large sauté pan then added the oil and browned it on the stove top instead of baking it. It tuned out beautifully! I’m so glad to have a vegan recipe that my whole family will eat!! Thank you :)

This is the only type of taco “meat” my kids will eat on Taco Tuesday! They get so excited for it and ask for it on days when it isn’t Tuesday, haha. My whole family likes it more than the veggie crumbles, turkey or beef. This will always be in my recipe box. Thank you so much for creating such an awesome recipe!

Wow! This was SO good. My husband ate the most of it and said it was his favorite quinoa he has ever eaten. I didn’t even have chili powder and it was still great. I put it in the oven. Turned it off at the half way mark so I could take a quick evening family bike ride and when we got back it was perfect. Thanks for another great recipe!!

This recipe has quickly become a staple in my house! I’ve made it probably 5 times since a coworker sent it to me a couple months ago. I’ve experimented making it with different types of salsa and it always comes out amazing. Can’t recommend this enough!

Delicious texture, slightly crunchy and crumbly. Mildly spicy and delicious in a taco-style salad. Great meal-prep option!

Photos of my recreations on IG @veggieandvice.

I asked for a little direction but it’s a popular site so no help. Have a tomato allergy and made it without salsa. Cake out tasting like baked quinoa with cumin. Was a complete waste of time. I’m heart broken

I absolutely love this and have shared it with many friends! It shows up on the plate (or bowl) regularly!!

Thank you I’ve never utilized quinoa in that way. Added a little cauliflower and sweet potato and I know have tacos back on my menu!!! Thank you!!

This was incredible! I didn’t realize how much I missed the taste of taco meat (since becoming a vegetarian) until I tried this recipe. SO GOOD. Will definitely make again.

These are so frighteningly similar to taco meat. How? It’s incredible. I used red quinoa, so the resemblance was truly uncanny. We made this in advance and brought it with us car camping. Made a perfect campfire meal!

I’m new to this Plant-based Way of Eating. This was excellent! I loved it. When eating my Taco salad, I mixed the “meat” with black beans, already seasoned with jalapenos & lime. Delicious.

This has entered my regular recipe rotation. I have made it without the broth to lower sodium content. I have also used many different salsas with good results. It is a fast, versatile ingredient. Most recently, used as a pizza topping.

Wow! This is soooo good! I love it and even my carnivore husband prefers it to hamburger. I’ll definitely be making this over and over again :)

Such a yummy recipe! I used black quinoa and it looked just like ground beef and was super flavorful. I used the max time for cooking and baking and it came out perfect. Easy, simple, healthy, delicious!

Yummy! Definitely going to make this again, would be great for a weekly meal prep option! Easy and flavorful, had it on charred mini corn tortillas with avocado and a quick pico salsa. Scooped some up with plantain chips too! I’ll put it on a salad tomorrow for lunch with fresh tomatoes and mango 😋

This is the taco recipe I have been looking for!! I think I have made them all, but this is it! Thank you so much! It’s delicious! I will make it over and over. 👍

I love this recipe! Well, I’m pretty sure I love every recipe of yours that I’ve tried so far, but this one I make frequently. It’s the only way I can get my husband to eat quinoa and actually like it ;) Instead of the salsa, I usually just add diced onions, tomatoes, garlic and a squeeze of lime. The quinoa I’ve made with chicken stock or just water, but today I finally made it with your homemade vegetable stock, so good! Thank you so much for this recipe!

These are a total staple in our house. Been making it forever now and figured I should go back and rate it so others know how stinkin good it is!!!

10/10! You made a quinoa lover out of me with this recipe.

Followed this receipt to a ‘t’ and it turned out so fabulous. I had it in a vegan taco salad bowl and used leftovers to make nachos. YUM! Will be making this over and over and ditching the imitation plant based meats any time I make Mexican at home. Thank you and keep these beautiful creations coming. :)

I made this recipe following directions as written. Absolutely fabulous! Even the meat eaters in the house said it is a recipe to keep. It’s never easy trying to satisfy everyone but this recipe had the right blend of texture and flavors to make everyone happy. Thank you for he great recipe!

First time I’ve made this and as I slowly make my way to a plant based diet, this was just perfect., who knew quinoa could be so tasty?Will definitely make again maybe adding walnuts for extra protein.

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