Epic Vegetarian Tacos
Truly amazing vegetarian tacos featuring easy-to-make refried beans, quick-pickled onions, and creamy avocado sauce! Even meat lovers go crazy for these tacos.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
Meet my new favorite tacos! These meatless tacos will please even the most adamant carnivores in your life.
This vegetarian taco recipe features refried pinto beans, creamy avocado sauce, quick-pickled onions and fresh garnishes.
If you ask me, every great taco possesses the following qualities: something hearty (beans), something creamy (avocado), something crisp (shredded cabbage), something tangy (pickled onions and feta), and lots of fresh flavors. These tacos have those qualities in spades.
These vegetarian tacos were inspired by an authentic Mexican taqueria in town, Bonito Michoacan. They offer one-dollar tacos on Fridays. I order beans and cheese on mine, then I load them up with my favorite condiments from their epic salsa and pickle bar. You can’t miss me—look for the girl with big hair and drippy-saucy tacos, dancing in her seat.
Taco Tips & Notes
These tacos are fun to make when you have good company in the kitchen. Just assign the individual components (they’re all so simple) and you’ll have dinner ready in no time. I also offered some shortcuts in the recipe notes, if you’re in a hurry.
You could easily take these ingredients and turn them into a burrito or burrito bowl (just add rice) or quesadilla. They’re delicious in any form.
More Taco Recipes to Enjoy
Don’t miss the “Taco Party” menu in my cookbook (page 189). Those tacos are made with refried black beans, roasted mushrooms and poblano peppers, guacamole, and crisp kale slaw. Aren’t tacos the best?
Here are more taco recipes on the blog, too. Please let me know how you like these tacos in the comments! Your comments keep me inspired.
Watch How to Make Vegetarian Tacos
Epic Vegetarian Tacos
Truly amazing vegetarian tacos featuring easy-to-make refried beans, quick-pickled onions, and creamy avocado sauce! Your whole family will love these meatless tacos. Recipe yields 8 hearty tacos (about 4 servings).
Ingredients
Essential components
- Quick-pickled onions
- Creamy avocado dip
- Easy refried beans
- 8 corn tortillas
Recommended garnishes
- Salsa verde
- Shredded green cabbage (for extra crunch)
- Crumbled Cotija or feta cheese
- Chopped fresh cilantro
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- Prepare the onions, avocado dip, and beans as directed, in that order.
- Once they’re ready, warm the tortillas in a large skillet over medium heat in batches, flipping to warm each side. Alternatively, you can warm them directly over a low flame on a gas range. Stack the warmed tortillas on a plate and cover with a tea towel to keep warm.
- To assemble the tacos, spread refried beans down the center of each tortilla. Top with avocado dip and onions (for reference, I used all of the beans and about half of the avocado dip and onions). Finish the tacos with garnishes of your choice, and serve immediately.
- Leftover components are best served separately; reheat the tortillas and beans before serving. Leftover pickled onions and avocado dip are great on quesadillas, nachos or tortilla chips, sandwiches, etc.
Notes
Make it gluten free: Be sure to buy 100% corn/certified gluten-free tortillas.
Make it vegan: Skip the cheese.
Make it quick: You could, theoretically, substitute store-bought refried beans and guacamole for the avocado sauce. Or make the pickled onions and avocado dip in advance, so the tacos come together more quickly.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
What could b better then warmed corn tortillas, pickled onions, homemade refried beans& avocado sauce…I can just picture this cooking with my two teenage grands! Thank you for providing us with more homemade memories!
Right?! You’re so welcome. I love ‘homemade memories!’ :)
Wow, just served them for dinner. “Epic” is a great description. As you said, Kate, the pickled onions complement the other ingredients perfectly! I offered all the condiments you suggested and favorites were shredded cabbage and feta cheese. Gonna make up burritos for lunch tomorrow, with the left-overs (I doubled the recipe, fortunately)
Glad you think so! The pickled onions are a great key here. Thanks for your comment and review, Erik.
Photo posted on Instagram! So delicious!
I will check it out!
I am always looking for great vegetarian tacos and your recipes are without a doubt my favorites! These look so good and I can’t wait to try them. I also completely agree with your list of what makes a great taco. I might add some pepitas to these for even more crunch :)
Please let me know what you think! I’m glad I’m not alone with my taco expectations. :)
Cannot agree more with you about the qualities of every great tacos xD It’s so true!
Right! Thanks for commenting, Natalie.
Never taste a vegetarian tacos before. Definately try this recipe!
Thanks for you for your review.
I love the sound of veggie tacos. I am not a full time veggie, but I do eat an awful lot of veggie meals. I love the sound of the veggie tacos here. Might just be a meal for this week! Its also great if you are at the table with some veggies and some meat eaters, you can have a bowl of chicken/beef etc for the meat eaters and the veggies can still enjoy. There isnt too many meals like that. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, great option! Thanks you for your review.
Truly epic ! Thank you for sharing !
Thanks for the review!
You’re right…these really are epic!
Thanks, Gaby!!
It’s really a very simple recipe and it’s very necessary to try right away. Thank you for sharing that unique and delicious recipe.
You’re welcome! Thank you, Lisa for the review.
Do u make ur own shells for tacos?
Mayb that recipe is coming…
I don’t, but hmm… ideas!
Where do you get your delicious-looking corn tortillas? They look so much tastier than anything I can find in the store. I can’t wait to try this recipe.
These are a mix of corn and flour. They tend to be a little more flexible than just straight corn.
Do you have a recipe for the taco shells? Yours look so good.
Hi Donna, I don’t. But I find warming them in a skillet works well.
I made these for dinner tonight….delicious! My one year old boy couldn’t get enough of the pickled onions. Ha!
That’s too funny! I’m glad they are a hit with the kiddo, Julia. Thanks for the review.
These were great! Everybody in the family chose a slightly different combo of toppings, and everybody enjoyed them massively. I thought the avocado dip was a just little tart, so I might cut back on the lime next time (we devoured it nonetheless). I made our corn tortillas into hardshell tacos by steaming them in the microwave and then baking them draped over the oven rack for 10 minutes or so. Those were a huge hit with the kids — even our two-year-old, who sometimes seems to live on air, ate three big tacos. I couldn’t find pinto beans in the shops (we live in Finland and these things can be iffy) so I mixed black beans and white beans and they still turned out super tasty.
PS – I made these on Cinco de Mayo and didn’t even realize it until halfway through the meal. We had them with watermelon frappes: watermelon, lime, mint, and ice. So good!
Yes, cutting the lime back to your liking would work well. Thanks for sharing, Thera! I’m happy they were a hit with your family. I appreciate the review.
These were pretty good – I’m not sure I’d call them epic. Although I used canned refried beans – are they ten times better when you make the beans yourself?
The refried beans recipe I provided really make these tacos, along with the other ingredients. The bean recipe is so creamy and flavorful!
Noelle– Maybe retry these tacos and follow the recipe? Seems unfair to give 3 stars when you deviated so profoundly.
I didn’t care for this. I didn’t like the creamy avocado dip. Too sour.
Yes, homemade refried per the recipe is very good. I mixed black and pinto beans for mine.
I do not like avocado. What can I use in its place?
You can omit it if you like. Or, you can use a sour cream or the cashew ‘cheese’ from my cookbook. Hummus could work here too.
So great! I made for a large family gathering with your mini peanut butter cups for dessert and it was a huge hit! Thank you cookie and kate!
You’re welcome! What a great combination. Delicious, Erin.
Super yummm! I have made these a few times because they are delish and I crave them haha! Love those beans…
The beans do really make this recipe! Thanks for sharing, Alison.
Absolutely fabulous! My family isn’t vegetarian, but everyone loved these! Thanks!
Love to hear that, Kaitlin! Thanks for sharing.
just made this for my family. My son is not a vegan and he loved this dinner. Thank you again for providing these recipes. Much easier to be vegan with these delicious meals. Three more of your dinners planned for this week.
Thank you
You’re welcome! I appreciate your star review.
This recipe is awesome! I served these with a friend last weekend – she said they were the best refried beans she’s ever had, and I agree. The salsa verde is terrific too. Thanks so much.
Thanks for sharing, Jon!
Thank you! I made this thinking “wow, this better be worth it” and it was! My family literally gave this recipe a round of applause. Great flavor combinations here!
Hooray! I’m glad it gave you the ‘wow’ factor. Thanks for sharing, Alisha!
Kate, these tacos are AMAZING. I feel like you could run a really successful taco truck with your taco recipes. I’ll quit my job and run it for you, lol. We are having them for next week’s dinner too because they’re that good. So many of your recipes are stables in our household. Thank you so much for the meal inspiration and easy go to recipes =)
That’s an idea! Hmmm, food truck and blogging not sure I can do both. :) I love how much you love tacos, too. Thanks for sharing, Cat.
My husband and I are trying to go mostly vegetarian and we have had a hard time finding recipes that we love. This one deserves six stars! I am from New Mexico so I had to find a way to keep tacos in my diet and this will definitely become a staple for us! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful recipes. I am now excited to try more from your blog!
I wish I had a six star option! Thanks for the raving review, Kait.
I made these last week, I am not a vegetarian but trying to eat healthier- I loved these – my husband and I commented that you don’t miss the meat at all because of all the flavor!!
Win! I love it, Ruth. Thanks for sharing.
Epic is the perfect word to describe these tacos! the pickled onions are AH-MAZING! i was a little lasy and just cut up the avocados instead of making it creamy and the tacos were still Epic! I will definitely be making these again soon.
Next time, make the avocado sauce. It’s so worth it! Thanks for sharing you still loved it, Vanessa.
Thank you Kate, this recipe did not take too much time to make and it was so good. The pickled onions were surprisingly good. A lot of times, when I can’t decide what to make for dinner, I turn to your site.
Your recipes are unbelievable! You are so talented thank you for sharing. I am so glad to have found your site. I have tried 5 or 6 of your recipes and none have been less than awesome. I am excited about cooking again, you really got me out of a rut! Thank you and blessings!!
We made these for dinner last night and they were delicious! Each element was so good – the pickled onions and avocado sauce were scrumptious, and my husband declared that we can never again use canned refried beans because yours were so good! He even topped his tacos with some of your simple seedy slaw. Thanks for another taco recipe to add to our meal plans!
I love it, Rebecca!
This recipe was amazing! I used store-bought hard shells for crunch, but I made the pickled onions, avocado dip, and easy refried beans according to the recipe. They were so much fresher and better tasting than anything I’ve ever had out of a jar or a can. They all paired so well together, that I didn’t even want to add anything else to it. These recipes were definitely worth the time, and honestly weren’t too much effort (working mom of 3 here!). I am so glad I found your page and can’t wait to try some more recipes!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for your feedback, Kimberly.
I made this recipe. Having never used avocados, had to google a bit. Really nice recipe, I used canned pinto beans and crispy tacod and Pico for garnish. I wasn’t a fan of the Mexican food i had in restaurants so far but this was yummmm. The variation i want to try next time is a. Use the cabbage garnish and b. Sweeten the pickled onions more.
Thanks for sharing, Rama!
These look fantastic. I am going to make those this week, but wondering if you have a good recipe for corn tortillas as we do not have a good supply in my area. My husband made corn tortillas this weekend with proper tortilla four and they were quite good, but he wanted them to be a little thinner and more flexible. Might be a good one for you to make with a video.
Thank you for the subzero recipes
I don’t sorry!
I just tried these tonight and they were so delicious! The pickled onions against the beans was such an awesome taste contrast!
I’m so glad you loved them! Thanks, Robyn.
Hii,
i have read many of your recepies , and they were amazing …. the best part of ur recepies are they are working for me ….
thanks for sharing such a delicious list with us….
keep posting
cheers……
You’re welcome! I’m glad you are loving them, Neeraj.
Being vegetarian for almost 3 years now I was dearly missing my beloved tacos. Not only were these better than beef tacos, but they were the best tacos I have ever had! (And I have been to Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico)
Thanks for trying them! I’m happy they pass your well traveled tastes :)
Made these for the first time tonight. Soooo good. Well, I did a shortcut with the avocado sauce, and just did smashed avo w/lime juice and salt, but the beans, pickled onions, guac, and feta cheese combo was amazing.
Thank you, Janice!
Made these tonight and they were delicious. I was skeptical my kids would like them but everyone was impressed and ate several tacos; they even liked the pickled onions. I highly recommend topping with cabbage and feta-those made them shine!
I agree with the topping (of course :) )! Thanks for your review, Mia.
Dear Kate,
My wife and I just recently moved our family into a new home that has, for the first time in our lives, an amazing, spacious kitchen. I promised myself to start making epic, healthy, homemade meals for summer with a vegetarian/vegan slant. My first recipe was your “Epic Vegetarian Tacos,” which I lovingly spent all day putting together. OMG, these are fantastic! The quick-pickled onions, creamy avocado, and refried beans–ALL–were a huge hit. I cannot wait to explore more of your healthy, awesome recipes. Thank you for the time you’ve taken to put together and share these!
Having a great kitchen helps in the over all experience, that’s for sure! Thanks for sharing. I’m so glad you loved these.
Oh. My. Days. These tacos seriously are epic. I made them last night with the refried beans, avo dip, pickled onions, cheese, crispy lettuce and added a bit of chipotle mayo. They were to die for and those pickled onions were delicious. It was so fun making each element and assembling it all felt like I was creating a work of art. I haven’t stopped thinking about them all day! Can’t wait to make these again. Huge thumbs up from husband too – he said they tasted restaurant quality!
Hooray! I’m happy you think they standup to their name. Thank you, Alana!
Yes, I was asked to bring a vegetarian dish to a family gathering and I chose these tacos. They were a huge hit, everyone wanted the recipe. I did sub beer for the water in the refried beans and added some celery.
Thank you for sharing, Richard!
This recipe was delicious and easy to make. It took a bit longer to make than I thought but man, it was worth it. Will definitely make this again and again!
Wonderful, Linda! Thank you for your review.
Kate, these truly were epic. My husband and I enjoyed them so much. I was running too late with cooking to serve them to the kids, but I definitely will. I made the pickled onions, the avocado dip and the shredded cabbage to go along with the beans, and I served all in corn tortillas that I crisped up on an upside down muffin tin covered in cooking spray. I also added a bit of shredded cheese. Delicious!!!
That’s great! I’m happy they were a hit. Thanks for your review.
Best.tacos.ever!! I took a couple shortcuts, but seriously, so so delish!! One of the best things I’ve ever made!! Thank you!
I love hearing that! Thank you, Kelly!
I made a huge dinner party for lots of friends with mostly “Cookie and Kate” recipes. This one, Roasted Sweet potato, Refried Black Bean, Refried pinto beans, Corn Salad, Seedy Slaw Salad, Guacamole, Salsa Rojo, Salsa, Verde, Pickled Onions and Radishes, Cashew Sour Cream And Roasted Mexican Cauliflower.
I love this recipe! And everyone vegetarians and vegans alike loved the meal!!!
Thanks for sharing, Colleen!
i made these tonite for the first time and they were SO good! Made the homemade refried beans (SO easy!) and the pickled onions, which added the most flavor to the tacos! My husband is NOT a fan of anything vegetarian, but he LOVED these tacos and can’t wait to eat them again :O Instead of the avocado dip, I simply bought a container of “avocado salsa” (at Sprouts) which is VERY good, but next time I want to make the dip. The only other topping we added was a tangy slaw, simply shredded green cabbage and chopped cilantro mixed with a bit of EVOO and juice from half a lime, salt & pepper. Make about 3-4 hrs before making the tacos. VERY good and VERY fresh tacos!! DEFINITELY a 5-star recipe :)
Winning! I love it, Karen. Thanks so much for your review.
These were absolutely delicious! Loved the pickled red onions and the homemade “refried” beans, which were the bomb dot com! I was just wondering if you had the nutritional information about this meal? I am new to becoming a vegetarian and if all the meals are this delicious, I should have no problem what-so-ever!
Good stuff, thanks for the help ,all our kidswent through a vegetarian phase, working on the last one now, doesn’t like to try new stuff wish us luck
Thank you for your review, Matt!
Your recipes never disappoint They are always full if flavor.
I’m so happy you think so, Ida! I appreciate your review.
epic tacos by epic games