Easy Vegan Jackfruit Tacos are a perfect quick and easy dish. Jackfruit has a shredded meat texture, and in this recipe, it is packed full of spices and can be layered on a taco with your favorite toppings. Perfect for Taco Tuesday!
There are four of my favorite words in the title of this recipe... yeah, I bet you guessed each and every word, you clever minx you. Easy Vegan Jackfruit Tacos. Boom.
EASY: Every now and then I don't mind a more complicated recipe such as my Vegan Tiramisu (so worth it), but for the most part, I like my recipes easy, and I like 'em quick. These jackfruit tacos just require a little sautéing, add some seasonings, then mash, and done. They take less than 30 minutes to prepare. Easy peasy, quick, and so super delicious.
VEGAN: pre-tay sure that you aren't surprised that this is one of my favourite words. Not only did this life-changing word make me a healthier, happier, more compassionate and environmentally-friendly human being, but it also gave my career a 180-degree flip. Now I have the job of my dreams (that I didn't even know I was dreaming about)!
JACKFRUIT: the fruit that is the jack of all trades. You can eat this fruit ripe and sweet, which to be honest is not my fave, but where jackfruit really shines is when you get it young and green. At this stage, it's starchy, savoury and is so amazing in that it replicates pulled or shredded meat almost exactly. Except, of course, it's so much better! I swear I was eating these tacos and wondered why in the world would anyone want to eat a chicken when they can have jackfruit!?
TACOS:Â this Mexican handheld food with endless topping combos is an all-time fave for me. There's an entire day of the week dedicated to tacos called #tacotuesday! So I'm clearly not the only one who get's this excited about tacos. Just as this shirt says, mas tacos por favor.
Common Questions:
What can you make with jackfruit?Â
Jackfruit is perfect for making a shredded meat texture so it is great in tacos, on a BBQ jackfruit sandwich, as a jackfruit salad sandwich, or try my buffalo jackfruit to use on nachos!
Is jackfruit healthier than meat?
Yes! Jackfruit is a whole plant food that is full of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It is also cholesterol-free, and free of harmful animal proteins.
How do you use jackfruit?
When ripe, jackfruit is very sweet and can be eaten as is like any other fruit. I prefer to use young green jackfruit found in a can that is in brine or water (not syrup). When the jackfruit is young (and not fully ripe), it's much starchier and not sweet and makes for a great meat substitute. The cool thing about it is that once cooked, it has this pulled pork, shredded texture that is totally fun.
How do you use jackfruit?
To prepare young green jackfruit, slice it into thin pieces, then cook it for a bit to soften it. Once it is softened you can mash it with a potato masher to get a shredded meat texture. Season with any spices, sauces, or flavor you like! You can use it in tacos, burgers, curry, on pizza, in stir-fries, pot pie, on nachos, in sandwiches- really anywhere you wanted a shredded meat replacement.
How make Easy Vegan Jackfruit Tacos:
First, you are going to need jackfruit. (I know, you're probably shocked). It's important that you find young green jackfruit in brine or in water, and not the sweet ripe kind in syrup. You can pick it up on Amazon, or check out any Asian grocery store.
For optimal texture, use a knife to cut the jackfruit into thin slices from core to the outer edge as seen in the picture above. This breaks up the tougher core as much as possible and makes for the best shredded texture.
Do NOT discard the core or seeds, they are totally edible and you are just wasting precious jackfruit!
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onions and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes until the onions have softened and begin to brown.
Add the chopped jackfruit, broth, agave, lime juice and all the spices to the pot and cover. Reduce heat and let it simmer until the jackfruit softens slightly, and about ½ of the liquid is absorbed. About 5 minutes.
Take a potato masher and smash all the jackfruit to get that shredded texture. Pretty cool huh? If you find it a bit wet, just cook a little longer. If you find it a little dry, just add a splash more vegetable broth.
To assemble the tacos, warm the taco shells according to the package directions. When warmed, add a scoop of the jackfruit, with the toppings and a squeeze of lime juice. OR you can top with whatever toppings you enjoy such as pico de gallo, guacamole, salsa, roasted sweet potato, pineapple chunks, (for something sweet), vegan cheese, vegan sour cream, hot sauce, or more salt and pepper to taste. Omnomnom.
These jackfruit tacos are...
- Meaty
- Juicy
- Quick to make
- Delicious with your favorite taco toppings
More jackfruit recipes to try:
Vegan Jackfruit Salad Sandwich
Easy Vegan Buffalo Jackfruit
6 Ingredient Pulled Jackfruit
If you try this recipe let us know by leaving a comment, rating it, and don't forget to tag @itdoesnttastelikechicken on Instagram.
Bon appetegan!
Sam Turnbull
Easy Vegan Jackfruit Tacos
Ingredients
For the jackfruit:
- 2 20oz cans green jackfruit in water or brine, , drained, rinsed, and chopped (see instructions)
- 1 tablespoon light oil (such as canola or vegetable)
- 1 yellow onion, , sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, , minced
- ½ cup vegetable broth or water
- 1 tablespoon agave
- ½ lime, , juiced
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the tacos:
- 8 taco shells, , hard or soft (gluten-free if preferred)
- 1 avocado, , sliced
- ¼ red onion, , thinly sliced
- ¼ cup cilantro, , roughly chopped
- lime wedges
Instructions
To chop the jackfruit:
- For optimal texture, cut the jackfruit into thin slices from the core to the outer edge as seen in the pictures. This breaks up the tougher core as much as possible and makes for the best shredded texture. Do NOT discard the core or seeds, they are totally edible, and you are just wasting precious jackfruit!
To make the shredded jackfruit:
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onions and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes until the onions have softened and begin to brown.
- Add the chopped jackfruit, broth, agave, lime juice and all the spices to the pot and cover. Reduce heat and let it simmer until the jackfruit softens slightly, and about ½ of the liquid is absorbed. About 5 minutes.
- Now take a potato masher, and smash all the jackfruit up to get that shredded texture. If you find it a bit wet, just cook a little longer. If you find it a little dry, just add a splash more vegetable broth.
To assemble the tacos:
- Warm the taco shells according to the package directions. When warmed, add a scoop of the jackfruit, and top with an avocado slice, a couple red onion slices, some cilantro, and a squeeze of lime juice. Or you can top with whatever your favourite taco toppings are! I also love a squeeze of hot sauce.
Nutrition
More delicious vegan recipes:
Holly says
These were a hit. Will make again and again. Thank you!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
Yay!
Danielle M Motz says
winner, winner it doesn't taste like chicken dinner! Great recipe I was trowing it together so I didn't have cilantro or avocado but I will next time! I will also pickle some red onion! Thanks for a great dinner!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
Hahahaha! Fantastic!
Barbara says
So it's Saturday, which is my house (kitchen, specifically) means Cooking-With-Sam Day. I'm looking at my two cans of jackfruit, eager to try it for the first time, but here's my question: can I freeze leftovers? Thanks!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
Cooking-With-Sam Day! Ha! We love it! The leftovers should freeze just fine.
Chad says
Is the recipe asking for agave nectar or syrup?
Janice Krinsky says
This was outstanding! This is the first time I cooked with Jackfruit and it was out of this world!!! I made a few minor changes. We love garlic so I added more, I also added the spices at the end of cooking the onions and garlic so the spices could bloom (I needed to add a little more oil so the spices wouldn't scorch in the pan), and finally, I substituted chicken broth for the vegetable broth. We are recent vegetarian/pescatarians, but we still use chicken broth since it's a byproduct, not the reason chickens are killed. I like the flavor it imparted by the chicken broth but will try it next with vegetable broth. I can't wait to try more recipes on this site! Thank you so much for helping us walk more lightly on the earth!!!!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
Thanks for sharing your experience!
VeganMommaOfBoys says
This is the key to good jackfruit! I do not usually like jackfruit, but this recipe totally changed my mind. Cooking jackfruit in vegetable broth is delicious. I did use bouillon vegetable and made it more concentrated. We’ve been vegan almost 5 years and I’ve never cooked it myself. Thank you Sam!!
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you love it! 🙂
Lynn says
This was my first time making anything with jackfruit. I found this recipe to be quite bland, so I added more of all the spices. Maybe canned jackfruit by itself just doesn’t have much flavor? I ended up making tacos with this jackfruit along with mushrooms and then it was tastier. My family loved it!