There are few cuisines Americans have grown to love as much as they do Mexican. While many American favorites utilize more the flavors of Mexican rather than traditional recipes, there is a great love for the spices and vegetables used by our neighbors to the south. Mexican has a rich and delicious culinary history that utilizes a variety of plant-based foods and lends itself to easily being adapted to completely plant-based. We’ve included a list of traditional ingredients and their vegan counterparts that can help you veganize any Mexican recipe as well as an extensive variety of what we consider to be the very best vegan Mexican recipes with a variety of traditional dishes as well as more American takes on Mexican flavors.
Items typically used in Mexican Cuisine & their vegan alternatives
Pork
Beef
Most people think of ground beef when they think of Mexican cuisine, and there are a lot of amazing vegan alternatives such as Gardein Beefless Ground and LightLife Smart Ground as well as tons of whole food plant-based recipes using a variety of lentils, mushrooms, and walnuts. If it’s a steak alternative that you’re seeking, MorningStar Farms offers vegan steak strips. Also, making your own replacement is simple using mushrooms.
Chicken
Shredded chicken can be found in several Mexican dishes and there are a few vegan options that work perfectly. Gardein makes Meatless Chick’n Strips and MorningStar Farms offers Chik’n Strips as well.
Sour cream
Sour cream is often used as a topping for several Mexican dishes. Brands such as Tofutti, Wayfare, and Follow Your Heart all offer vegan sour cream and it is incredibly easy to make your own with a simple google search.
Cheese
Cheese is found in a lot of Mexican recipes. There are a lot of vegan cheese options readily available these days. Daiya, Parmela Creamery, Treeline Cheese, Follow Your Heart, So Delicious and Violife offer a range of products from blocks to shredded cheeses to cover all of your cheese needs.
Queso
Queso is one of those delicious foods that can make a meal just taste better and more authentic. Siete Foods offers an incredible vegan option. Making your own is incredibly easy and we share a recipe for it below.
The Best Vegan Mexican Recipes
The following recipes are absolutely incredible. They are a mix of traditional inspired Mexican recipes as well as more Americanized interpretations of traditional Mexican flavors.
Recipe: The Best Cashew Queso
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
This recipe is creamy yet light and full of flavor and couldn’t be any easier to make. The recipe is delicious yet not overpowering so it goes well paired with something thats extremely spicy. This recipe uses only a handful of easy-to-find ingredients and a blender, making it extremely accessible and quick to make.
Our Suggestions
We suggest adding a touch of raw garlic or raw onion, as well as a teaspoon of diced jalapeño for a hint of spice. This combination works extremely well if you’re serving this with something a little more bland, such as potatoes or simply tortilla chips.
Recipe: Lentil Walnut Taco Meat
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
This whole foods based recipe is incredibly delicious and the perfect stand in for taco meat. It’s packed full of fiber, omega 3’s, vitamins and minerals and is so easy to make, plus it stores well. This is the perfect staple to have in your recipe box for tacos and nachos.
Our Suggestions
This recipe is great as is, although we typically add a bit of garlic powder as well as chipotle to make it a little more spicy and flavorful. An easy alternative to make it a little quicker is to purchase a packet of taco seasoning, such as Simply Organic Mild Taco seasoning. Add the contents of that to your lentils and walnuts and process.
Recipe: Cauliflower Walnut Taco Meat
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
This is another whole food based taco meat recipe, but is a great option for those with digestive difficulties with beans or just wanting something a little less dense. We love how healthy and flavorful this is and how easy it comes together. It’s a great option for when you want some extra flavor and texture to add to your meal but already have several heavier elements such as guacamole and vegan cheese.
Our Suggestions
Experimenting with different spices in this recipe is an easy way to mix it up. You can add in a clove or two of fresh garlic or throwing in a few diced sun-dried tomatoes for a more intense flavor.
Recipe: The Best Vegan 7 Layer Dip
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
This dip is so amazing and is a great healthy option to serve to guests, or just your hungry self. This recipe is mostly whole-foods-based and we love how easy the ingredients are to find and just how easily it comes together. There is even an option to make your own sour cream if you want to keep the dip all homemade and avoid more processed foods.
Our Suggestions
This dip is pretty near perfect, however, we prefer a little more texture. So adding in a few chopped spring onions to the top rather than just one as well as using extra olives for more salty and meaty texture is always a good idea.
Recipe: The Best Vegan Ceviche
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
This is an incredibly unique and delicious recipe and is worth the effort. The effort to open a few young Thai coconuts is totally worthwhile. And if you’re not interested or don’t have the time, many health food stores carry young Thai coconut meat in the freezer section. This recipe is light and refreshing. You won’t regret sourcing out all the unique ingredients to create this vegan masterpiece.
Our Suggestions
This recipe is perfect as is, so we don’t have anything to offer other than enjoying this on a hot summer day with a beer or kombucha in hand.
Recipe: Ensalada de Nopales
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
This recipe is whole foods based, healthy, and a really delicious twist on a classic Mexican dish. While it requires a little extra effort to find the cactus and prepare it, it is worth it for such a unique flavor.
Our Suggestions
We absolutely love the suggestion of adding the chopped avocado. In place of queso fresco, we suggest using a crumbly nut cheese such as Kite Hill ricotta if you want it to be a little more filling or have a bit more texture.
Recipe: Mexican Quinoa Salad Cups with Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
This ultra healthy salad is an American take on Mexican flavors and is delicious. It’s light yet filling. It has a variety of flavors and textures that will please anyone looking for a hearty salad with intense flavor.
Our Suggestions
If you really want to go all out, serve this topped with hot sauce or salsa, and perhaps even a sprinkling of shredded cheese, such as Parmela Creamery’s cheese shreds.
Recipe: InstantPot Mexican Rice
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
This recipe is so flavorful it is a great staple recipe to have on hand. For those with an instant pot, this is a great choice. If you don’t have one, either run out now or consider making this in a more traditional pot.
Our Suggestions
This recipe is absolutely delicious and perfect as is so we just suggest making it and devouring it either topped with beans and avocado or in tacos.
Recipe: Loaded Mexican-Style Potato Skins
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
This delicious blend of Mexican flavors makes the most delicious appetizers or snacks that you will want to make weekly. It takes a little work to make all the individual parts, but it is so worth it. While the recipe uses metric, a simple google search for conversions makes this recipe easy to make.
Our Suggestions
Adding a touch of something more acidic, such as topping these with salsa or a splash of hot sauce makes this dish absolutely off the charts delicious.
Recipe: Crispy Vegan Potato Tacos with Jalapeño Cilantro Sauce
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
This recipe is a delicious lower fat take on traditional tacos. We love just how easily it comes together and how it uses just a few simple ingredients to create one of our favorite foods. The jalapeño cilantro sauce is the only item that requires much work. And even that is easy for something so delicious.
Our Suggestions
We love lots of toppings, so adding hot sauce to these tacos would be amazing. If you want a lower fat version, omit the jalapeño cilantro sauce and instead add a meat substitute, such as the Lentil Walnut option or Cauliflower Walnut options we shared above and top with fresh tomatoes and cilantro.
Recipe: Smoky Mushroom Tacos
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
These tacos are so creative and simple, they’re bound to become a repeat meal. We love that they’re mostly whole foods based and use mushrooms for a hearty and healthy meat substitute. The simple additions of kale, guacamole and pickled onions come together beautifully for an exquisite yet easy meal.
Our Suggestions
These tacos are perfect as is, but if you want just a little something extra, we recommend grating some Treeline classic hard cheese over them, or adding a dollop of coconut yogurt such as Coyo for a sour cream feel.
Recipe: Ultimate Vegan Quesadillas
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
These quesadillas are absolutely dreamy and filling and surprisingly healthy. We love that this recipe uses chickpeas as part of the filling. This makes it a great source of protein without a ton of extra processed food. The veggies combined with the super savory and cheesy filling will impress your dinner guests and certainly be a hit.
Our Suggestions
We suggest using raw cashews instead of roasted for a less intense cashew flavor that is a bit more neutral for the cheesy filling.
Recipe: Jackfruit Burritos
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
While this recipe takes some forethought and time, it’s absolutely packed with flavor and is a great filling option for lunch or dinner. We love the use of jackfruit in a burrito and the marinade used here makes this absolutely delicious. This makes a fair amount of burritos so it’s a great option for a large family, dinner party or even meal prep for lunch for the week!
Our Suggestions
We love the combination of ingredients used in this recipe, and our only suggestion is that if time is an issue, buy premade salsa and guacamole for faster assembly.
Recipe: Grilled Sweet Potato Fajitas
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
This innovative American take on a Mexican classic is sure to be a hit with anyone who tries it. Using sweet potatoes as a steak substitute is a genius way to make a healthier, lower fat, cruelty-free option. The recipe uses easy-to-find ingredients and comes together extremely easy, so it’s a great option for a weeknight summer dinner.
Our Suggestions
We suggest having something a bit fatty to dip these in such as queso, guacamole or a cashew sour cream to make them a bit more filling.
Recipe: Pinto Bean Fajitas with Cilantro Chile Marinade
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
We love how simple this recipe is and that it uses easy to find ingredients that are relatively cheap, making it a great staple meal. The pinto beans give this meal a nice dose of protein and fiber. While the peppers add antioxidants, making it a fantastically healthy meal. Healthy, delicious, and cheap really leave little room for us to ask for anything more.
Our Suggestions
We suggest absolutely adding in a hearty helping of avocado slices to make this meal a bit more filling and add a creamy element.
Recipe: Vegan Carnitas Style Enchilada Recipe
Why We Love It
This recipe is whole foods based and oh so delicious and filling. This healthy meal has a few steps so it takes a little extra time to prepare. But it’s worth trying for a special occasion or any night you really want something out of the ordinary. It’s packed full of fiber, protein, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals so you can feel good about eating this and won’t have to worry about a food hangover or upset stomach afterwards.
Our Suggestions
We love this recipe as is so our only suggestion is to enjoy it with good company.
Recipe: Oil Free Vegan Tamales
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
This take on a traditional Mexican dish is delicious and unique. The recipe requires a few specialty ingredients as well as time to prepare. But the end result will convince you it is worth it. We love the use of sweet potatoes with black beans for a healthy option that is filling and sure to please most palates.
Our Suggestions
We suggest changing up the filling, substituting white potatoes in place of the sweet and adding some garlic as well as either a taco meat alternative or a vegan shredded cheese for a hearty and filling tamale.
Recipe: Posole
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
This vegan take on the traditional Mexican stew, usually with pork, is amazing. It takes a few unique ingredients but comes together quickly and easily for a hearty vegetable stew that is perfect for any occasion.
Our Suggestions
This stew is delicious and we love it served along with some corn chips and topped with a hint of avocado or sour cream.
Recipe: The Best Vegan & Gluten-Free Churros
Where to Find it:
Why We Love It
While this dish has an extensive history with roots in several countries, it’s easy to see why it’s so loved. This vegan version is gluten-free and incredibly easy to make. This makes it a great option to round out a Mexican themed dinner or just as a treat because well, they’re amazing and why not.
Our Suggestions
These are amazing with the chocolate dipping sauce, however, a sweet cream cheese dip would be absolutely phenomenal. (There are a ton of easy recipes online, even as simple as just mixing maple syrup with cream cheese).