There really haven’t been that many times where I’ve gotten the sense of FOMO from my plant based eating habits. That is until the arrival of the Birria Taco trend. That’s when a huge case of jealousy started to blossom. Social media became flooded with images, all of a sudden eateries that never served these tacos added them to the menu & of course my boyfriend talked about them incessantly. It became painfully obvious I was going to have to figure out a way to make this tasty goodness vegan & I was going to need to do so quickly.
Now Birria Tacos are not new. Far from it. Originating in the 16th century, in the town of Cocula in the Mexican state of Jalisco, this dish was born purely out of hardship. A widespread famine was occurring in the region, leaving many of the standard crops devastated. One of the culprits of this crop devastation was the goats that had been introduced during the Spanish Conquest. They were destroying the crops & as a result they themselves became an (unfortunate) option to alter the famine. Thus began the slow-cooked, heavily seasoned stewing method, as they were not used to dealing with this type of meat. As with the creation of so many food dishes it moved its way from kitchen to kitchen, adding spices & ingredients along the way.
So how do we turn what is very much a non-vegan meal vegan? It’s actually pretty easy. First, we need to substitute our main ingredient. In this case I chose jackfruit. It is a great option to replicate a shredded meat. Mushrooms would also work great. King Oyster Mushrooms are my favorite for that shredded texture, but are hard to come by in my area. Another option, banana peel. Yep, you can eat them & they work great in this recipe.
The second thing we need to do is make a dynamic sauce. But if you are anything like me sometimes the hunger takes over before you can develop a long, slow-cooked sauce. I really wanted this recipe to be something you could make in under 30 minutes, which let’s be real is the complete opposite of long & slow. This meant having to shift away from dried chilis with 15 spices & a slow simmer to readily available & quickly blended. The great thing is you can always tweak this sauce each time. Maybe you add a little more of one seasoning this time, a little less the next. As always, you are the chef so have fun with it!
Love a super flavorful meal? Here are some others to get those taste buds firing…
Chipotle Roasted Hasselback Butternut Squash
Birria Tacos
Ingredients
- 10 corn tortillas mini, street-style size
- 2 cans jackfruit drained & rinsed well
- 1 tsp vegetable or avocado oil
- 1/2 – 1 cup vegan mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/4 cup finely diced onion optional
- 1 handful fresh cilantro optional
- 1 lime optional garnish
Birria Taco Sauce
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups vegetable stock preferably unsalted
- 7.5 oz can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp vegetable or avocado oil
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Drain the brine from the canned jackfruit & rinse really well. Take the chunks of jackfruit & using your hands get in there & pull the pieces a part shredding while removing the seed pods that my still be in there. Pat the shredded jackfruit to remove some of the excess moisture.
- In a cast-iron skillet, heat up the oil over medium heat. Add the jackfruit & cook until it starts to crisp up & get those good crunchy bits, about 7-8 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce. To a blender or food processor add all the ingredients & blend until a smooth liquid has formed. You may want to stream in more vegetable broth depending on the desired consistency you prefer for your dipping sauce.Taste the sauce. This is where you can add a little salt, pepper or additional garlic powder as you see fit.Transfer 1/3 of the sauce to a vessel that will allow you to submerge a tortilla. I just used a salad plate with a bit of a lip around the edge.Reserve another 1/3 for a final dipping sauce when eating.
- Take remaining 1/3 of the sauce & add it to the jackfruit. Lower the heat & let the jackfruit simmer in the sauce for about 5 or so minutes. Transfer the jackfruit to another container & set aside.
- Chop the onion & cilantro if using.
- Time to make the tacos. It requires a bit of an assembly line.Use that same cast-iron skillet over medium low heat. First take a tortilla & submerge it in the sauce to coat both sides. Place the tortilla in the skillet, laying flat. On half of the tortilla add some cheese, then some of the jackfruit & some onion. Cook for 1-2 minutes then fold the uncovered part of the taco over. Cook for another minute, flip cook for another minute & remove. Repeat this step with all the tacos until they are crispy & melted inside. My skillet allows for 4 tacos at a time, this may vary based on your skillet size.
- Serve the tacos with a garnish of onions & cilantro & that remaining dipping sauce. Dip your taco in the sauce prior to each bite for added deliciousness.
