Get ready for a super easy, super delicious meatless meal that even the kids will love. These veggie tofu tacos are a weekly thing in our house. Taco Tuesday anyone? My kids absolutely love taco night and I love it too, because of all my kids’ favorite meals—mac n’ cheese, pizza—this is definitely one of the healthiest. While these tacos are far from authentic, they are magically delicious. Toasty corn tortillas loaded with tofu taco meat, refried beans, sautéed eggplant and bell peppers, topped with your favorite salsa. An easy-peasy weeknight dinner.

Make It A Taco Party

Tacos are my absolute favorite meal to serve when hosting. Why? Because they work well across all diets. Corn tortillas are gluten-free, check. Skipping the cheese equals dairy-free. Beans and tofu, there you go, protein lovers. Picky kids, you go ahead and put whatever you want on that tortilla. I find that assembly line meals like tacos are great for parties, because everyone can make it just how they like it. Dislike peppers? Skip them. Find eggplant bitter? Skip it! Want just beans and tortillas, go for it. The sense of control that filling your own plate provides saves a lot of headache and makes for happy eaters. Everyone can find something they like on a taco bar.

Tofu Taco Meat

Or should I say meatless taco meat? Making tofu taco meat is really easy, my kids both know how to make it on their own. I think they find it satisfying and fun to squish the tofu. The tofu taco meat does take the longest to cook of all the ingredients for these tacos, so I try to get it started first. Not to worry, by long I mean it takes a total of 15 minutes from start to finish.

You can find the step-by-step recipe here tofu taco meat.

Prep the Tortillas

I like to use the small corn tortillas when making tacos for a couple of reasons. First, they are gluten-free. While we don’t adhere to a gluten-free diet, we have enough friends who do that it is super helpful to have this delicious gluten-free meal in my back pocket. Also, I like the texture of corn tortillas and their small size. You can eat a couple of these, which means you can customize each taco with different toppings. No FOMO, you can try each type of salsa! I do love a good wheat tortilla, but find them better suited for burritos or enchiladas rather than tacos.

How to Cook Corn Tortillas

Unlike wheat tortillas, corn tortillas need to be cooked a little. If you don’t cook corn tortillas they are pretty crumbly and tend to fall apart. We have a center griddle on our stovetop and it is perfect for cooking tortillas. We have also cooked these on the grill and in a skillet. The skillet works great, but it’s a slow slog to get all the tortillas done. We can only fit about 3 tortillas in the pan at a time. Allow for extra time if using a skillet.

The key to cooking tortillas is that the cooking surface needs to be super hot before you add the tortillas. I turn my griddle all the way up to high, which is 450°, and let it preheat for at least 5 minutes. Once your cooking surface is hot, your tortillas will cook up very quickly. 1-2 minutes per side is all you need. They don’t need to be browned or anything, just a quick sear to warm them up and help the dough bind together.

Cook those Veggies

Once I’ve got a good rhythm going with the tortillas. I grab another skillet, toss in a little olive oil, and turn the heat to high to warm the pan. When the pan is ready, I add the chopped eggplant and sauté for about 3 minutes, until it begins to soften. Then I add the chopped bell pepper to the pan. If you have picky eaters who don’t like one of these veggies, you can cook them separately—words from real-life experiences at our house. One kid likes eggplant but not bell peppers, the other likes bell peppers but not eggplant. No complaints, we work around it so everyone gets a little of what they like and everyone is eating their veggies.

Choose Your Salsa

Oh the options! Sometimes we do make a simple homemade pico de gallo, but for easy weeknight tacos it is typically something store-bought. There are great options out there. Otis’ favorite is Green Mountain Gringo medium salsa. I must say it is perfection on our gringo tacos, it’s on the tacos pictured below.

I am partial to a green chili salsa. I love 505 green chili sauce, but it’s not carried locally in Maine. Herdez salsa verde is a close runner-up and what we get in Maine. On taco night, we usually put both a red and green salsa on the taco bar, among our favorite assortment of hot sauces: Cholula or Valentina.

Taco Assembly Time

Once the tortillas, tofu taco meat, eggplant, and bell peppers are all ready to go. It’s time to assemble tacos. On lazy taco Tuesdays, I just leave everything in the pan it was cooked in and add a serving spoon. Dinner is called, and everyone grabs a plate, adds their own taco shells, and loads up. We usually start with refried beans, then tofu taco meat, veggies, and top it with salsa, but there is no special order. Then it’s time for the best part, chowing down. Maybe that’s why kids love tacos so much: you get to eat them with your hands. Finger foods are way more fun!

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