Vegan Birria Tacos With Jackfruit

We love making this simple Mexican street food dish. It’s absolutely delicious and a great alternative to a Sofritas recipe. Birria is a Mexican dish usually made with pull-apart slow-cooked goat meat that originates from the state of Jalisco. It’s a slow-cooking recipe where the meat is cooked for about 3.5 hours with a spicy tomato chili sauce until the meat is easy to shred. Birria is delicious when served in tacos or as a stew. Vegan Birria Tacos are the meat-free version of the popular Birria recipe, using Jackfruit as a meat replacement. As a result, it’s a much easier and faster recipe since jackfruit shreds and cooks very quickly, and you don’t need to wait for 3 hours for the jackfruit to be ready! Jackfruit is a tropical fruit with a light flavor but an interesting texture. In fact, canned jackfruit looks like shredded meat when pressed or mashed with a fork. It’s often used in vegan recipes as a meat replacement where the dish calls for pulled pork or slow-cooked beef. It has a very similar texture as Oyster mushroom, but it is more readily available in any season and perfect if you are not a fan of mushroom meat. In fact, jackfruit is pretty tasteless. All you feel is the shredded texture that very much mimics shredded meat.

Ingredients and Substitutions

The ingredients you need for a vegan Birria recipe look a little bit overwhelming, but don’t worry! The recipe is pretty easy and straightforward. The Birria sauce is mainly made of dried chili peppers. Usually, 3 varieties of dried chiles are used: Ancho pepper, Arbol, and Guajillo. Some recipes skip the de Arbol peppers in favor of more Ancho pepper. Feel free to adjust the recipe based on what you can find in your local store.

Dried Ancho Peppers, Dried Guajillo Peppers, Dried de Arbol Chili Peppers – It’s the combination of peppers that is the trademark of birria tacos/ Large Roma Tomatoes – You can use any kind of tomatoes for this. Even cherry tomatoes if it’s all you have. Garlic Cloves, peeled, whole or powdered garlic. Whole Cloves, Ground Cumin, Mexican Cinnamon – This is the perfect spice mix. You can also use your usual taco spice mix, but it’s not as balanced for Birria. Oregano, Marjoram – The blend of dried or fresh herbs is essential. You can also use cilantro (if you like it). White Onion sliced. You can also use red onions. White Vinegar or apple cider vinegar Vegetable Stock – Bottled or homemade. Canned Jackfruit – I used 3 cans of 14 0z each. Open the can, drain, and discard the hard pointy part of the Jackfruit chunks for the best taste in this recipe. Olive Oil – Or any vegetable oil you like. Maple Syrup – optional. Only add at the end if too spicy for you. Note that original Birria recipes never add sweeteners.

How To Make Vegan Birria Tacos

Jackfruit is the meat replacement in these Vegan Birria Tacos.

Serving Ideas

Vegan Birria Tacos are delicious when served with many classic Mexican toppings or sides like:

Corn kernel Salsa Chopped red onion Red cabbage Jalapeno slices A splash of lime Juice Vegan shredded cheese Vegan Sour cream or coconut yogurt Rice Black Beans Vegan Cornbread Recipe

Storage Instructions

This Birria jackfruit filling can be stored very well in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days. You can also freeze it for later and simply thaw it in the fridge the day before serving.