These Vegan Tacos Al Pastor are packed full of flavour from the traditional marinade but made with jackfruit. Get the recipe below.
Mexican inspired recipes
I love to make Mexican inspired recipes and at the top of my list are tacos. What I love about Mexican food is the variety of flavours and textures used to create delicious dishes. It's not just about chilli heat, there's so much more to it.
What are 'tacos al pastor'?
Today I'm sharing a recipe for my vegan tacos al pastor.
Tacos al pastor translates to "shepherd style" in English which refers to the way in which the marinated pork is cooked. Traditionally the pork would be roasted on a spit (along with a pineapple at the top) and the cooked meat would then be shaved off.
To make this recipe vegan I use jackfruit which is shredded to have a similar texture to the pork ordinarily used.
Pineapple is an important ingredient in this recipe and I use it in the marinade as well as char grilled and served as an extra to top the tacos with.
What is an 'al pastor' marinade?
My al pastor marinade is made of cumin, oregano, garlic, onion, ancho chilli, fresh green chilli, apple cider vinegar, lime juice and pineapple juice. All of this gets blitzed together before being poured over the jackfruit which marinates for at least an hour.
What is jackfruit?
Jackrfuit is tropical fruit grown in Asia, Africa and South America. It's become a popular meat substitute due to it's flavour and stringy, meat-like texture.
You can buy jackfruit in tins or fresh (though the latter is harder to come by).
If you are buying fresh then make sure you're buying unripe jackfruit. The ripe jackfruit is sweet and tastes like a mix of tropical fruits - not what you want for a savoury recipe like this. Instead look for unripe jackfruit which has a much plainer, mild taste. Unripe jackfruit will be green.
Tinned jackfruit will be unripe - this will be stated on the tin or it may say "young green" jackfruit. It's perfect for a recipe like this as it's already been prepared for you. Just take it out of the tin, break up any larger chunks and its ready to use.
Jackfruit substitutes
If you can't get hold of tinned jackfruit then you could also use banana blossom. For a cheaper option you could also marinate strips of firm tofu or aubergine.
The recipe
Vegan Tacos Al Pastor
Ingredients
For the marinade
- 2 ancho chillies dried, stems removed
- 1 onion
- 1 teaspoon cumin ground
- 0.5 teaspoon oregano dried
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 green chilli or more (adjust to taste)
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 lime juice only
- 220 g tinned pineapple juice only (reserve pineapple chunks to serve)
For the "meat"
- 400 g tinned jackfruit drained
To serve
- 8 small tortillas
Instructions
- Rehydrate the ancho chillies in 200 ml boiling water and leave for 15 minutes.
- In the meantime cut the onion in half and griddle for 15 minutes, turning halfway, until charred.
- Roughly chop the chillies and onion and add to a high speed blender along with the remaining marinade ingredients.
- Blend the marinade on high until smooth.
- Shred the jackfruit then pour over the marinade.
- Let the jackfruit soak up the flavours of the marinade for at least 1 hour.
- Pre-heat your oven to 180C / 356 F / gas mark 4.
- Place the jackfruit into the oven and cook for 15 minutes or until piping hot and tender.
- Once cooked, serve with the pineapple chunks on flour tortillas with some of the leftover sauce from the jackfruit and your favourite salsa.
Nutrition
Serve with...
Salsa Roja
More vegan taco recipes
For the full range of Mexican inspired recipes on the blog, check out the Mexican recipe collection.
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