If you love tacos, we have a delicious vegan twist to try, inspired by the classic Birria Tacos from Jalisco, Mexico. We swapped meat for jackfruit but cooked the same way as in the traditional recipe. It’s such an irresistible dish, we’re betting it’ll become your new Taco Tuesday favorite. Sounds good? Let’s do it!
The term Birria refers to the process of preparing and cooking the filling, which is slightly different than your classic taco filling. Birria is actually a dish of marinated meat (usually goat meat) simmered in a chilli-based herb broth Adobe. It can be enjoyed on its own but is often used as a taco filling along with chopped onions and fresh cilantro.
Turning birria into a vegan-friendly recipe is super easy thanks to our versatile friend, jackfruit. The young and unripe green fruit is not sweet at all, but has a rather neutral taste. This means it can absorb the flavors of the herbs or spices it is mixed with. Plus, it has a wonderfully “meaty” texture and is easy to cut into chunks like you would with cooked meat. It’s the perfect plant-based meat substitute for these tacos!
Birria tacos take a little longer to prepare than regular tacos, but the end result is totally worth it. First you need to marinate the jackfruit pieces in the adobo sauce and then stew them in the broth for about half an hour before “pulling” them into shreds.
The adobo sauce makes these tacos stand out. It consists of dried chillies cooked in broth with spices, herbs, onions and ginger and mixed into a dark sauce. For this you need dried whole red chillies, possibly slightly hot. Ancho or guajillo chiles are perfect choices, but if you can’t find them, you can use dried red pepper chiles instead.
What we love most about Birria tacos is that the corn tortillas are first soaked in the adobo broth and then pan fried until crisp and browned. This step adds a lot of flavor and makes the tacos simply irresistible! And the good news is that one of these beauties has only 170 calories, which means you can enjoy two or three of these and make a meal out of them. Excellent!