This Vegan Taco Meat Tastes Like The Real Thing

If you're trying to build up your easy meal prep recipes that kids actually enjoy, then I got you. Let's make taco meat. Vegan, of course. The first thing I actually wanna show you is how to make a homemade taco seasoning. I'm adding in chili powder, cumin, black pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, which are optional, and then some oregano, Mexican oregano, if you happen to have it on hand. We're just going to stir that together and then store this into an airtight container or a jar. It is good for at least three months. Now, let's move on to our tofu. You definitely want to press all of the water out of your tofu. You can either use a tofu press, or if you're new to tofu and you don't have one, you can wrap your block of tofu into a towel and then put something heavy on top. I usually do some cast iron pans, and then you are going to let this sit for at least 15 minutes, but you can also do overnight. While that presses out, I just wanna say you can absolutely use store-bought taco seasoning. However, this is cheaper, you never run out, and you get to control the ingredients that goes inside of it. So if you want a little bit less chili powder, a little bit more cumin, or maybe some paprika, you can totally change that based on your own personal desires. Also, as far as the tofu, that is our only top nine allergen inside of this recipe. You can use pumfu, which is a pumpkin seed tofu that you can buy, or you can also use chickpea tofu, which you can also find at some stores like Wegmans and stuff like that. As far as non-processed type of ingredients, you could also do this with lentils, you could do it with mushrooms, or some type of bean that you mash up, or even chickpeas that you mash down, or jackfruit. Now, unrolling our tofu in our towel, we can definitely tell that our tofu is reduced in size, but you can't feel how soaked this towel is. However, taking our tofu out of the press, we can actually see all of the water that is pressed out. This is water that would hinder the absorption of our spices later and make it taste watered down. So that is why we press our tofu. From here, we have two options. You can take the back of a fork and press down until you have crumbles. You wanna make sure that you have gone through the entire block and there are no big pieces remaining. This will give the final texture of ground meat crumbles. Our second option is to shred your tofu with a shredder, like a cheese shredder. This gives you a different texture, more like shredded chicken that you would put inside of tacos. Whether you choose crumbles or the shredded option, there is no right or wrong answer here. It is completely optional, depending on what type of style you are going for. Now, the shredded version does give a little bit more surface area and has an easier time crisping up when you cook it or saute it in some oil, like we are about to do. However, the process that I'm about to show you gives a nice little sear, no matter which option you choose. So let me show you how to do that. Into a skillet, we are going to add some oil. I am doing avocado oil here, but you can use your favorite neutral oil. Once that is heated, you are going to add in your tofu. Then I'm going to let this cook until it has a nice golden sear on it, about two minutes without stirring it at all. Not burnt, just golden. Then stir that together and cook for another two to three minutes. Again, just leave it as long as it's not burning and get that nice golden sear on as much of this as possible. At this point, we are going to add in our spices here to help them bloom. That just means we are activating their dormant state to bring out the flavor faster. And stir all that together and cook for another two minutes until it is nice and fragrant and you can really start to have your kitchen smelling absolutely delicious. Then we are going to add in our tomato sauce and I should be adding my soy sauce here for an umami flavor and helping with the color and then stir it together, but I stirred first, then added, then stirred together. That's not necessary. We are going to let this cook for a few minutes and then depending on the consistency that you want your taco meat to be, you can add some vegetable stock here and let it simmer down until it has the desired consistency that you want. Take this off of the heat and then at the end, we are going to add in some lime juice and voila, you just made a perfect, quick and easy meal night. Listen, if you are new to veganism or maybe new to meal prepping, my biggest tip is to press a block of tofu at the start of the week. I typically go through at least one block and this part saves so much time because it is already pressed by the time I am thinking about a meal and I can just keep going. Obviously, we are making taco meat here, but there are so many things that you can do with tofu, so whether you are using regular soy-based tofu or pumpfu or chickpea tofu, press a block and have dinner halfway prepared already by the time you decide to use it throughout the week. Obviously, we can make tacos with taco meat. We already know that, but we could also make chili cheese fries. We could make nachos. We could put this over baked potatoes. There are so many different ways to use this recipe. I typically double what I showed you here in this video and then we can use it for different things throughout the week. My kids also really love to make our really quick 15-minute mac and cheese and then put some of this tofu crumble on top of it. It is so good and again, really easy and you already have that part prepped. Also, if you are looking to stretch this a little bit further, oftentimes I will start by cooking a onion and garlic before adding the tofu, then add the tofu, continue with the recipe. When you go to add the tomato sauce, I also add in a can of black beans and a can of corn that I have drained and rinsed and that just helps this go even further. It's still cheap and it is still an easy option that takes very, very little effort, but gives a big impact throughout the week. This is cheap, flavorful, quick and kids love it. Seriously, what more could you absolutely ask for? I know those are all the things that I'm looking to hit as a mom. So I hope you love this video. I will link this recipe in the description box, but you can also go to my website, makeitdairyfree.com and search tofu taco and it will come right up for you. I'll see you again soon with more vegan family-friendly meals. I hope you have an amazing week. Bye.