Roasted Cauliflower and Lentil Tacos with Creamy Chipotle Sauce
You're going to love this vegetarian lentil tacos recipe. Roasted cauliflower, seasoned lentils and creamy chipotle sauce combine to make a delicious taco!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
Pop quiz! What is a “pulse,” in food terms? Pulses are the edible seeds of legumes, including lentils, chickpeas, dry peas and beans. I’ve been a big fan of pulses ever since I stopped eating meat. All of a sudden, I was craving them and cooking them all the time.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Pulses are packed with protein, fiber and iron. Did you know that one half-cup serving of cooked lentils has twice as many antioxidants as blueberries and twice as much protein as quinoa? Plus, they’re inexpensive and an important drought-resistant crop to many people around the globe. They’re definitely a crave-worthy food, whether you’re a meat eater or not.
I’m writing about pulses today because each year, the United Nations picks a topic of global interest. They named 2016 to be International Year of Pulses because of their significant health, economic and environmental benefits. Gearing up for 2016, the UN asked each country to submit one pulse recipe to represent their country. The USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council reached out to me to develop a recipe to be in the running. How cool is that?!
They are running a Facebook competition to pick the winner. With your help, my recipe could be selected as the National Signature Pulse Recipe for the U.S.! You can help me out by going to the USADPLC Facebook page, and voting for mine by Liking the photo. Please do! You’d make this food geek really happy. (Update: Voting is over, and this recipe won! Thank you tremendously for your support!)
Watch How to Make Roasted Cauliflower and Lentil Tacos
We’ll talk about these tacos when you get back. They’re a little out there, I know. I discovered that golden, roasted cauliflower makes a great taco filling when I was in Austin. It’s a little crispy, a little chewy and totally perfect.
I cooked up some lentils that are seasoned with onions, garlic, tomato paste, cumin and chili powder. Top all that off with a drizzle of spicy, creamy chipotle sauce and some fresh cilantro, and you have one tasty taco. Not to mention, affordable and good for you, too!
Please let me know how these lentil tacos turn out for you in the comments! Looking for more fun taco recipes? I’ve got you covered right here.
Roasted Cauliflower and Lentil Tacos with Creamy Chipotle Sauce
You’re going to love this vegetarian lentil tacos recipe. Roasted cauliflower, seasoned lentils and creamy chipotle sauce combine to make a delicious taco! Recipe yields 8 modestly portioned tacos.
Ingredients
Cauliflower
- 1 large head of cauliflower, sliced into bite-sized florets
- 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Seasoned lentils
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup chopped yellow or white onion
- 2 large garlic cloves, pressed or minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ¾ cup brown lentils, picked over for debris and rinsed
- 2 cups vegetable broth or water
Chipotle sauce
- ⅓ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 to 3 tablespoons adobo sauce (from a can of chipotle peppers) or chipotle hot sauce to taste
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Everything else
- 8 small, round corn tortillas
- ½ cup packed fresh cilantro leaves*
Instructions
- To roast the cauliflower: Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Toss cauliflower florets with enough olive oil to cover them in a light, even layer of oil. Season with salt and pepper and arrange the florets in a single layer on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 30 to 35 minutes, tossing halfway, until the florets are deeply golden on the edges.
- Warm the olive oil in a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Sauté the onion and garlic with a dash of salt for about 5 minutes, until the onions are softened and turning translucent. Add the tomato paste, cumin and chili powder and sauté for another minute, stirring constantly. Add the lentils and the vegetable broth or water. Raise heat and bring the mixture to a gentle simmer. Cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes to 45 minutes, until the lentils are tender and cooked through. Reduce heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer, and add more broth or water if the liquid evaporates before the lentils are done. Once the lentils are done cooking, drain off any excess liquid, then cover and set aside.
- To prepare the chipotle sauce, just whisk together the ingredients and set aside (if you have no choice but to use whole chipotle peppers from the can, use a blender to purée it all).
- Warm tortillas individually in a pan over medium heat. Stack the warm tortillas and cover them with a tea towel if you won’t be serving the tacos immediately.
- Once all of your components are ready, you can assemble your tacos! Top each tortilla with the lentil mixture, cauliflower, a drizzle of chipotle sauce and a generous sprinkle of chopped cilantro.
Notes
Make it vegan/dairy free/mayo free: Substitute vegan mayonnaise or, better yet, check out A Couple Cooks’ tahini chipotle sauce! (For what it’s worth, I tried making this sauce with yogurt and it really missed the mark. Mayo is much better.)
Make it gluten free: Be sure to use 100% corn, certified gluten-free tortillas.
Chipotle sauce tip: If you have leftover sauce and peppers, pour the leftovers into a small freezer bag, then squeeze the air out of the bag and flatten out the bag. Store it in the freezer, flat, and you can just pull off as much as you need and defrost it!
*Cilantro note: For those who dislike cilantro, substitute some fresh spring greens instead.
If you love this recipe: Check out my other taco recipes and lentil recipes!
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.
This recipe was created for USDAPLC as part of their National Signature Recipe Contest and I was compensated for my participation. Opinions are my own, always. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who support C+K!
Wow! I learned a new term today! Congrats on being included in such a prestigious contest – I voted for you!
Thank you, Michelle!
I love love love pulses! Such a great source of vegan protein. Really good for the body! These tacos are making my mouth water. You took two of my favourite things – cauliflower and lentils- and turned them into this beautiful dish. Here in India, lentils are an everyday dish in the form of dal. Try it sometime :)
Thanks, Tanya! I love dal! I need some dal recipes on the site, working on that soon!
You got my vote, looks delish!!
Not only do these look amazing, they’re good for you too. LOVE them!
Genius flavor combination here, Kate! I seriously cannot get enough roasted cauliflower, and I bet the addition of the lentils and creamy adobo sauce is fantastic! Pinned. :)
Protein + veggie filled tacos are where it’s aaaaaat!! These look perfect Kate!
Voted for you, good luck :) I am a total sucker for chipotle sauce and lentils, so these tacos sound delightful!
Thank you, Alexa!
omg this looks good
These look so delicious! Voting for you now!
Ooooh, now I want tacos!
Looks delicious!!!
This is such a good idea! So cheap, healthy and actually full of flavour – roasted cauliflower is the best! I definitely need to use ingredients like these more often.
Just voted for ya! And oh my goodness, these are MY kind of tacos! I adore roasted cauliflower and pulses of all kinds, especially lentils. And chipotle sauce… yep, you’ve got me sold!
Thank you, sweet Angela!
Voted for you! All the best!
Thank you, Deepthi!
Looks delicious although never tasted it before. Plan to make this one day. And thanks for the post and good luck.
Made these last night – they were excellent! Even got great reviews from my teenagers. Thanks!!
Hooray, thanks Cindy!
Just voted for your recipe, Kate. I will try it out this weekend. Thanks for introducing a new food term, pulse. I sometimes crave lentils, chickpeas and other seeds and find it interesting that the food high I get from eating them comes from eating pulse – as in life force.
Thank you for this recipe !! I shared it on FB but I can’t find your recipe on the site to like it
:(( if you could post a direct link to that photo of your tacos I will be sure to like it
Hi Lolette, thank you for your support! I’m sorry you had trouble finding the photo. Here it is!
Have you used red lentils in this recipe? Looks amazing. Hope you win!
Hi Janice, I have not, but I bet they would work well. They won’t retain their shape like the brown lentils do, but I think they would be great anyway!
I just made these for dinner – WOW! They were so tasty. I immediately liked the fb photo! Hopefully you win.
Thank you, so much, Nicole!
Yea for 2016 International Year Of The Pulses! I’m rooting for you, Kate.
Did I miss the chickpeas?
Oops! My original concept was to include chickpeas with the lentils, but I liked the tacos without better. Thanks for pointing out my copy and paste error, just fixed it!
These look fantastic! I was just talking to my husband about how incredible lentils are. Cheap, packed with protein, and eaten all over the world. I can’t wait to try these tacos.
I can’t wait to make this for dinner tomorrow! It looks amazing and I’ve been mad about cauliflower lately. I love roasting them with some nutritional yeast.
This is such a creative and delicious looking taco recipe!
I made these for dinner tonight and they were delicious! I made two changes- I used sour cream instead of mayo in the sauce and I added the cilantro to the lentils instead of using as a topping. Thanks for another great dinner!
Great ideas! Thank you, April!
These tacos look awesome. I want to pluck them off my screen and stuff them in my mouth. Liked your photo on FB; I hope you win the contest.
Made these tonight and they were just delicious! I forgot to buy tomato paste at the store, but used three tablespoons of tomato puree (I did a little extra to make up for what I figured would have been the more assertive flavor of the paste) and the lentils came out just fine anyway. Definitely a keeper!
Thank you, Jane! So glad you enjoyed the tacos!
DANG–these are pretty amazing! Quite possibly the best veg taco I’ve had. I am glad I doubled everything for lunches tomorrow! Delicious, and thanks for an easy way to make a great-tasting sauce. I think I’m going to try the chipotle next time with greek yogurt.
Hooray, thank you Linsey!
I made these tonight and my husband and I loved them. We live in a small town in the mid-west and can’t find chipotle peppers, so I added a couple of tablespoons of sriracha to the “just mayo”. We have plenty left over for breakfast. We voted for you on the USDA site and will post a picture on Instagram. Thank you
Mary, thank you so much! So glad you both enjoyed the tacos.
These tacos are amazing. Thank you for the great recipe. I voted for you, good luck!
Thank you, LuAnn!
Kate these are gorgeous looking! When I turned vegetarian I became a lifelong friend of pulses too! What a beautiful food for the earth to provide to us to nourish our bodies – and they make great tacos! I can’t wait to try this roasted cauliflower version and that chipotle sauce! You definitely have my vote :)
Made this for dinner on Saturday -enjoyed by all! I did not have to drain the (green) lentils and the leftovers will be used for vegetable bowls this week.
Glad to hear it, Angela! Thank you for letting me know. I bet your vegetable bowls were tasty!
Yum! I love lentils! They actually kept me afloat during my “livebelowtheline” challenge this year. I have a bunch left and this is a great recipe to use them in! Good luck with the contest!
What a coincidence – I have the two main ingredients in my fridge! Lucky for me, my lentils are already cooked.
ALL of those contest recipes look amazing! I will say, though, I voted for yours :) I discovered lentil tacos myself a while ago but I’m pumped to try them with your sauce recipe. Yum!
I voted for you on facebook through my husband account. Go Kate!!!
Thank you for your vote, Cecilia!
And I made those tacos tonight, it was fantastic although I have to admit that I cheated and bought the chipotle sauce from the store;) My husband who is a meat lover really loved them as well!
Thanks, Cecilia! Glad you two enjoyed the tacos. I’m all for shortcuts!
These sound gorgeous!!! Yay for the year of the pulses too – they’ve been underrated by so many people for so long! Definitely a sustainable and delicious form of protein. Love the idea of the creamy chipotle sauce… mmm :) xx
these tacos look amazing! just added them to my menu plan for next week! good luck in the contest – i voted for ya =)
Thanks, Kelly! I appreciate it! Hope you love the tacos.
We made the cauliflower and lentil tacos this weekend and loved them. My husbands only request was to have more cauliflower available! Really tasty!
Awesome! Thanks, Kay!
These were fabulous! My kids loved them too. Used shredded cabbage and guac. Glad I doubled the recipe for leftovers.
Hooray! Thank you for letting me know!
Any vegetarian that DOESN’T eat pulses is just crazy…they are so good! I love the earthy flavor of lentils, and their great texture. So perfect in these tacos!
I made this tonight for Cinco de Mayo. Very tasty! I added cayenne red pepper to the lentils for an extra kick and used sour cream instead of mayo in the chipotle sauce. Thank you for the great recipe.
Awesome! Thanks, Denise!
I was SO pleasantly surprised at how amazing this was. I loved the spice from the sauce and the lentils (I used green lentils, they had a great bite to them), everything paired very nicely together. I will definitely be making this again!
Thank you, Zell! So glad you enjoyed the tacos!
Here I was just singing your praises while having your curried cauliflower soup—and now you do more wonders with roasted cauliflower. Definitely having this next week. Even bought Eziekel tostada wrappers for it.
Voted for you—the least I could do with all the good eating you’ve given us.
Thank you, Ellen! Hope you love the tacos. I really appreciate your support!
Made these today. My taste buds are still singing! A woman tonight at my tai chi class, incredulous that I am a vegan (“So you can’t eat anything?” Uh—I eat lots of stuff!) changed her tune when I told her about the tacos that I made for lunch. She admitted they sounded really good. Then she asked if I bought the cauliflower and lentils already made. Is it so incredible that some of us like to cook and find it a mindful, healthful, creative activity? Then again, she doesn’t know about sites like yours that would so greatly expand her eating options (and health).
This was simple to make and provided such a depth and richness of flavors (not to mention the nutrition of lentils and cauliflower). Made the recipe as is, except for using vegan homemade mayo from silken tofu and for not using corn tortillas. Used Eziekel sprouted grain tostada wrappers–have you had them? Maybe not as authentic as corn tortillas, but very nutritious.
I love spicy foods but find a lot of blog/cookbook authors are wimpy with heat. You obviously share the high tolerance—I couldn’t have had this any hotter.
Thanks for yet another terrific recipe. (And for the photos of Cookie—I so enjoy her coloring, as well as her happy vibe—love the recent photo with the rhubarb cake where it looks like she is standing with joyful anticipation, begging for a piece. She must be such a great companion.)
Hi Ellen! Your classmate is missing out on some fantastic plant-based meals, so that bums me out! I spent the weekend at a retreat learning all about the latest research and benefits of plant proteins and so forth. So glad you enjoyed these tacos! I’ll keep an eye out for those tostada wrappers. I always say, the spicier the better, and try to provide a range of spice so everyone can find their match! I’m always at the top of the spectrum myself. ;) Cookie says hello. She is my best friend and beloved little clown dog.
Kate, all I can say is WOWZA! Ok, going to add a little more ;) My son and husband loved, loved, loved this as did I. I’m vegan so I made the chipotle sauce with a good quality vegan mayo. I didn’t have any cilantro but I did have a small bunch of fresh kale so I shredded that up in my processor and we topped off our soft tacos with that. There is no way I can wait longer than a week to make this again. THANK YOU!! You make me into a good cook LOL. My husband told my son this evening, as we’re stuffing our faces with your recipe, that he (my son) should be thankful that mommy finds and cooks different, delicious meals each night ;) Oh, Friday night, I’m making myself the brussels sprout pizza sans cheese :) Will let you know how it turns out!
Thanks again, Kate!
Thank you, Trish! So glad you all enjoyed the tacos. Sounds like you have a pretty sweet family. Do let me know about the pizza! :)
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Thank you so much for all the delicious recipes. I’ve been visiting the site and making your meals for quite sometime and you have made me a culinary hero! Your recipes have helped to tip the scales towards a mostly vegetarian diet that is more tasty than I could have ever imagined. Thanks for creating this bright spot on the web! For some reason though, the “Rate this recipe” would only let me make it 3stars
B.J., thank you! Your comment made my day. :)
Oh my gosh. SO GOOD! I made this two nights ago, had leftovers last night, and just might make it again tonight. Can I give it 10 stars?
ps I voted for you before I even tried it ;)
I think my husband and I talked with our mouths full thoughout dinner, every bite saying “oh my god this is so good.” I have not yet embraced the lentil in my life but this recipe made me a believer.
A little crumbled feta on top didn’t hurt these tacos.
Yessss! Victory! :) Thank you, Anne.
These tacos are outstanding!!!!! Kate, you should have heard us while eating these. It went like this: “mmm… these are delicious——— mmmmmmm these are soooo good——- mmm… I love these!” :D Thanks for posting such an amazing recipe!
Hooray! Thank you!