VEGAN Beef + Pickle Tacos! 🌮 🧀 🤗 SO GOOD 👌

VEGAN Beef + Pickle Tacos! 🌮 🧀 🤗 SO GOOD 👌

[Music] what’s up guys it’s Nicole also known as Nikki vegan and in today’s video I’m gonna be showing you how to make my new favorite taco recipe and this is my beef and pickle tacos now I’m gonna show you some really great tricks that you can use and not only to make these tacos but also really to make any kind of comfort food that you’re cooking in your kitchens I’m gonna show you how to season lentils to make them taste really media and savory I’m also gonna show you a really great trick for shredded cheese because you may know that sometimes vegan cheese doesn’t melt very well so I’ve got some really great hacks that make it really melty and gooey and delicious so I hope you guys enjoy those tips and this recipe because it is honestly one of my absolute favorites this video is brought to you by thrive market which is where I got a lot of the ingredients to make these tacos I generally load up on groceries from thrive at least once a month because it’s really easy to find vegan options because they have a filter so what I do is I click the vegan filter and everything that’s not vegan just kind of fades away and it makes it to where I don’t have to read the labels I don’t have to really worry like is this vegan is there something kind of hidden in there that I’m not aware of everything is just vegan and so I can shop based on what looks good to me it saves me time it’s really efficient and it’s a great place to not only get my pantry staples but also to find some really yummy vegan snacks and also I use the filter for my home cleaning products as well so if you guys want to try thrive market make sure you check out the description box below that is where you’ll find a link to try thrive market and the full recipe for these tacos and with all of that said let’s get started now there are really only a few ingredients in these tacos so what I like to try to do is really maximize each ingredient so that they’re super flavorful and one trick I have for you to get really melty gooey vegan cheese is to grade it yourself when you buy the pre-shredded kind it has an anti-caking agent on it which prevents it from all clumping up in the bag and that’s great because as a consumer you don’t want to have like a big clump of cheese that you can’t sprinkle on to whatever it is that you’re sprinkling it on to but it also makes it to where it really does hold that shredded shape and if you want it to melt a little bit more and be a little bit more gooey you can just grade it yourself fresh and it will be so much more melty and delicious so what I like to do is take my grater I’ll take a block of vegan cheddar cheese and what I do is I use the grater in an actual either Bowl or a casserole dish with high sides and that way it kind of catches all of the grated cheese and I don’t make a big mess in my kitchen and I personally also like to use the medium size of the grater just because I find that it makes it a really delicate shredded cheese that melts really nicely you can store leftover cheese in the refrigerator hole and then shred it as you need it that’s my advice or what I will do sometimes is cut it into cubes and freeze it and then I’ll thought as I need it and kind of just put it through the food processor to make more of like a grated Parmesan texture to melt over you know casseroles or cheesy rice or anything like that and it works pretty well now for the taco meat I’m gonna be using lentils now you can use brown lentils or green lentils but I went for green because that’s what I happen to have on hand and if you want to make them from scratch like I did you’re just gonna go ahead and drop them into some boiling water and cook them according to the package directions until they’re nice and tender or you can save yourself some time and use the canned variety I get my lentils on thrive market and I recommend stocking up on them because they’re a super versatile pantry ingredient that lasts a really long time I use lentils in everything from soups and sauces to like a lentil version of hummus I even use it to make meatballs for spaghetti and meatballs it’s really great and it’s really inexpensive as well so definitely add that to your cart next time and while the lentils were cooking I just went ahead and chopped up some onions and garlic and in a large frying pan over medium heat I went ahead and I added some coconut oil you can do coconut or avocado oil whatever you have and then I added the onions once the pan was hot now you don’t want it to be so hot that you’re gonna Brown these onions because you’re not looking to get any color or caramelization you just want them to soften and become a little more translucent after about five minutes I like to add my garlic and I do recommend chopping it up as small as possible or using a garlic press just because I find that it really permeates the entire dish with a lot more garlic flavor if you do it that way and if you find that your pan is getting a little bit too hot go ahead and turn down the heat and add a splash of water to prevent the onions and the garlic from burning because you really don’t want to have that burned flavor as the foundation of your lentils now to create kind of a meaty richness to the lentils I’m going to use steak seasoning and one of the greatest things about learning to cook vegan food is you realize that a lot of them meat and animal based products that you were eating before tasted the way that they did in large part because of the way they were seasoned and oftentimes they’re seasoned with plants so this mixture happens to be all vegan it’s really just a mixture of salt and pepper a little bit of rosemary and oregano and thyme it’s a really delicious blend it’s got some black pepper and red pepper going on in there and it really does have something about it that is very meat like now if you don’t have this on hand you can go ahead and use it regon oh and cumin I have some options written out for you in the description box below but I love using this whenever I can because it just adds like a sticky beefy flavor then I’m also gonna layer in some taco seasoning and I like combining these two different seasoning blends to really create a taco meat so the first seasoning kind of gives it a steak like quality and then the taco seasoning is a blend of paprika and chili powder and that’s what’s really going to make it taste like taco meat so I add that to the pan I kind of let the spices and herbs toast up and become really fragrant and then I add water and what this does is it kind of creates a really fragrant and flavorful broth that we can add the lentils to and it will sort of permeate the lentils and make them really nice and tender and super super flavorful so I’m just gonna stir the lentils through and let this cook for about five minutes until most of the liquid in the pan has evaporated and at that point you can just take it off the heat and it’s ready to go so the tips I gave you for the cheese and to make the lentil taco meat can really be used for any kind of taco but this recipe in particular is for beef and pickle tacos I first saw this on Emily Schumann’s Instagram story and it looked so good her husband was making beef and pickle tacos I had never seen anything like a beef and pickle taco but the combination of flavor sounded great so I decided to try to veganize it and this has become one of my all-time favorite tacos and of course you can assemble the tacos however you like but I do think that there is a sort of perfect layering strategy to make sure you get that perfect bite in every bite so what I do is I take the warm crunchy corn tortilla and I like to fill it up about 1/3 of the way so pretty generously with the lentil taco meat then I add a thin layer of the cheese on top because that’s gonna melt over the warm lentils and create a really gooey cheesy layer and then I will add some shredded iceberg lettuce now of course you can add any kind of lettuce that you like but there’s something so delicious about really finely chopped cold slightly sweet iceberg lettuce and I think it just works really perfectly with the more savory flavors in these tacos in particular so I’ll add that along with some dill pickle slices and some more cheese and I like the combo of the melted cheese on the bottom and then the cold shredded cheese on top it’s just really really satisfying and then I finish this with a little bit of vegan sour cream on top I actually like to use vegan yogurt instead I find that it’s a little Tangier a little more mild and it’s just really nice to have a cold sort of refreshing condiment when everything else is so savory and warm and gooey and cheesy it’s like the perfect contrast in flavors and then you got to have a little hot sauce it really just brings this whole thing to life and makes all the flavors pop and this taco recipe you guys is honestly my new favorite and I have a feeling it’s going to be on rotation for you many many times over because it is seriously addicting it’s kind of the perfect blend of flavors and textures you’ve got cold and crunchy you’ve got savory and cheesy and gooey but then you also have the kind of crunchiness and briny salty bite it is so delicious and it’s very very easy to make so I really hope you guys will give these tacos a try they are delicious and so so satisfying so I can’t wait for you to give them a go I hope you guys enjoyed this video if you did please give it a thumbs up and share with a taco lover in your life because honestly these tacos are loved by vegans and non-vegans alike because they’re honestly just so good and satiating and savory and delicious and as you saw it very easy to make so I hope you’ll give them a try share this video with someone who may also enjoy it and I will see you guys in a video very soon bye you [Music]

Amazing vegan beef, cheddar, and pickle taco recipe! Meal prep and family friendly with a hack for getting vegan cheese to melt + how to make vegan taco “meat!” Recipe below 🙂
Click to check out Thrive Market: https://thrivemarket.com/nikkivegan
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#vegan #vegantacos #veganrecipes #tacotuesday #cincodemayo

Vegan Beef + Pickle Taco Recipe: https://nikkivegan.com/vegan-beef-and-pickle-tacos/

GROCERY LIST

Produce:
onion
garlic
Iceberg lettuce

Cold:
vegan cheddar cheese, block or shredded
vegan sour cream or plain vegan yogurt

Pantry:
brown or green lentils
sliced pickles
mild taco seasoning
steak seasoning or dried oregano and thyme
crunchy taco shells
Cholula hot sauce

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkivegan/
Recipe Blog: https://nikkivegan.com

I hope you guys love this vegan beef and pickle taco recipe! It’s delicious and so easy to make. Lentil taco meat is a great vegan meat alternative and this plant-based recipe is super versatile. Use it for these tacos or double the recipe for meal prep and use it in vegan burritos, on nachos, or to make taco salads throughout the week! Meal prep and freezing tips can be found in the recipe linked above. Let me know if you have questions in the comments below! Happy cooking!