Tofu tacos are loaded with black beans, corn, bell peppers, onions, and garlic. Pile seasoned tofu into warmed corn tortillas with a dollop of guacamole and pinch of cilantro for a delicious meal.
If you’re feeling extra spicy, add a couple of jalapeño pepper slices and/or your favorite hot sauce. Vegan & gluten-free.
Tofu tacos are a tasty and inexpensive weeknight dinner or hearty brunch.
Flavor-packed tofu is loaded with spices, onions, garlic, and bell peppers. They’re cradled in warm corn tortillas with a generous dollop of guacamole.
It’s the kind of mouthwatering meal that’s sure to satisfy. Plus, they’re ready to eat in just 25 minutes!
At breakfast, they’re amazing alongside roasted potatoes and veggie sausages. At lunch or dinner, serve them with chips and salsa, refried beans, or Spanish-style rice.
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you will need to make this recipe.
Oil: I use avocado oil, but any neutral-flavored cooking oil will work.
Tofu: Look for vacuum-packed super firm tofu, as opposed to the kind that’s packaged in water. Trader Joe’s and Wildwood both have vacuum packed tofu. (It’s one of my favorite vegan Trader Joe’s products.)
Produce: Bell peppers, onion, garlic, corn (fresh or frozen), spinach, and cilantro.
Black beans: One drained & rinsed 15-ounce can or 1.5 cups of cooked beans.
Seasonings: Dried coriander, cumin, paprika, ancho chili powder, salt, kala namak (black salt), and nutritional yeast flakes.
Ancho chili powder is different from standard chili powder. It includes just one ingredient – dried ancho chilies.
Kala namak is a sulfurous salt that adds an eggy flavor to tofu. When you buy it in bags, it looks pink. But don’t confuse it with Hawaiian pink salt. Those are two different things.
Corn tortillas: Be sure to warm the corn tortillas in a dry skillet or microwave before using for best pliability.
Guacamole: Tacos are always better with guac! Make a batch of homemade guacamole or pick up a container of store-bought.
Step by step instructions
Here’s how to make this recipe at a glance. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.
Brown tofu in a skillet with oil.
Once the tofu is brown all over, move it to one side of the skillet. In the empty section, put a drizzle of oil. Then sauté onions, bell pepper, and garlic until softened and fragrant.
Add black beans, fresh or frozen corn, and spices. Fully incorporate them with the tofu.
Put a couple big handfuls of spinach into the scramble, and quickly mix everything together. The spinach will wilt almost immediately.
Spoon the tofu mixture into warmed tortillas. Top with guacamole and a pinch of cilantro.
(If you have leftover corn tortillas, use them in vegan tortilla soup!)
For an extra spicy kick, add a few dashes of hot sauce to your tacos. A few pickled jalapeño slices and/or salsa also would not go amiss.
How to warm tortillas
It’s important to warm soft corn tortillas before using them as taco shells. Otherwise, they are prone to breaking. Warm tortillas are a lot more pliable.
When it comes to warming corn tortillas you have a couple options:
- Recommended: Warm each tortilla in a dry skillet for a minute or so on each side.
- Or put the tortillas in a stack on a plate and microwave them for 30 to 60 seconds, stopping once to flip the stack halfway through.
Make it your own
You can make these tofu tacos your own by varying the ingredients.
Instead of vacuum-packed tofu, use water-packed. The vacuum packed tofu is a little drier, which helps it to brown nicely without needing to be pressed first. But if you only have water-packed tofu, that will work too.
Just drain water-packed tofu from the packaging, give it a quick squeeze with your hands, and then continue as follows. Your tofu may not brown quite as much, and it will be a little softer. However, it will still taste good!
Replace canned black beans with homemade. Simply use 1.5 cups of beans made from scratch. You can also replace the black beans with pinto beans.
Vary the produce. Add diced jalapenos or chopped zucchini to the mixture when sauteing onions and garlic. Instead of spinach, use kale.
Replace ancho chili powder with a chili powder blend. Be aware that chili powder blends include varying amounts of cayenne. You may want to add more or less, depending on your proclivities for spicy heat.
Don’t want an eggy flavor? Omit the kala namak (black salt) or replace it with table salt.
Don’t want a cheesy flavor? Omit the nutritional yeast.
Replace corn tortillas with flour tortillas or crunchy hard shells.
Replace the guacamole. Use sliced avocado, vegan sour cream, or shredded non-dairy cheese.
Add tang and/or spice to your finished tacos. Add pickled jalapenos or pickled red onions.
Serving ideas
These flavorful tacos are great for lunch, dinner, or even breakfast! Depending on the time of day when you’re serving them, vary the side dishes.
Serve the tacos with any of the following:
- Oven-roasted breakfast potatoes or air fryer breakfast potatoes
- Browned breakfast sausage (Field Roast, Gardein, Beyond, Impossible, and Trader Joe’s all make good breakfast sausage options.)
- Refried pinto beans
- Chips and pineapple salsa
Storage instructions
Store leftover tofu mixture in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will keep for 3 or 4 days.
Reheat in the microwave or in a skillet.
Freezing tofu changes its texture. So I don’t recommend freezing leftovers.
If you try this recipe and love it, let me know! Leave a comment and ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the comment section below. It truly makes my day and is such a help!
📖 Recipe
Tofu tacos with black beans
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon avocado oil divided (or other neutral-flavored cooking oil)
- 16 ounces super firm tofu in vacuum packaging*
- ½ cup chopped bell pepper yellow, red, or orange
- ½ cup chopped onion yellow
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans drained and rinsed
- ½ cup corn fresh or frozen
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
- Pinch of salt
- 2 big handfuls baby spinach
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes Optional
- ½ teaspoon kala namak Optional
- 14 corn tortillas warmed
- 1 batch guacamole
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Bring a large non-stick skillet to a medium heat with ½ teaspoon oil.
- Crumble tofu into skillet in an even layer in small to medium sized pieces. (If the skillet is overcrowded the tofu won’t brown as nicely. So make sure your skillet is large enough, or cook in batches, if necessary.) Don’t move the tofu for several minutes, so that it can brown. If you move it too much, it won’t have a chance to get nice and toasty. Once it has some even browning, stir the tofu. Then don’t move it for a few more minutes, so that it can brown some more.
- Once the tofu has some nice browning on it, move it to one side of the skillet. Put the remaining ½ teaspoon oil on the empty part of the skillet. Then saute bell pepper, onion, and garlic in that area for a two or three minutes, until softened and fragrant.
- Incorporate the bell pepper, onion, and garlic with the tofu. Add black beans, corn, coriander, cumin, paprika, ancho chili powder, and salt to the skillet. Fully incorporate them and cook for a few minutes, until the beans and corn are warm. (If the seasonings aren’t incorporating well enough, add a small splash of water, if needed.)
- Stir two big handfuls of spinach into the scramble. The spinach will wilt almost immediately.
- If you like a cheesy and/or eggy taste to your scramble, add nutritional yeast flakes and kala namak to the scramble and fully combine them. If you don’t like the taste of nutritional yeast and/or kala namak, simply leave them out.
- Taste for salt and add more, if needed.
- Spoon tofu scramble into warmed tortillas. Top each taco with a spoonful of guacamole and pinch of cilantro. Serve with any optional toppings like hot sauce, jalapenos, or salsa, if desired.
Shell
I love making these breakfast tacos on the weekend (and for dinner, too!). Love these photos, too!
Cadry Nelson
Excellent! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipe (and photos)!
Kathy Hester
We are all for Breakfast for Dinner. Very good looking photos. Shows off the color of the food very well.
Cadry
Why is breakfast for dinner so much fun? As much as I love breakfast, breakfast for dinner feels like even more of a treat. Thanks for the kind words, Kathy!
Dianne
Saturdays ARE the best day of the week, and breakfast tacos make them even better! I want these for brinner, too!
Cadry
Yay! Brinner all around!
Becky Striepe
Cadry! These look so delicious, and the photos are gorgeous! You’ve got me craving breakfast for dinner today.
Cadry
Thanks, Becky! Breakfast for dinner always feels like a special treat.