One of my readers requested a new recipe based on my “Taco Meat” from my Amazing Cauliflower Tacos Recipe. So I took a break from the Instant Pot last night and whipped up what I call this Vegan Taco Pie.
And it was mighty delicious!
Spiced Cauliflower crumbles, mixed with sautéed Onions, Bell Peppers, and a homemade Enchilada Sauce, topped with my Vegan Country Cornbread. The guys are really going to like this one!
Vegan Taco Pie Casserole
Vegan Taco Pie | Brand New Vegan
This is actually a very simple recipe based on several of my previous recipes.
- The Enchilada Sauce can me made from my Potato Mushroom Enchilada Recipe.
- The taco ‘meat’ is from my Amazing Cauliflower Taco Recipe.
- And the Cornbread Topping is my Country Vegan Cornbread Recipe.
I bought one of those bags of Riced Cauliflower already precut and it made the Tacos come together a lot easier. Start your taco meat baking while you prepare the Enchilada Sauce, which is nothing more than Tomato Sauce, Water, and some spices.
Then, sauté a large Onion, 1 Green Bell Pepper, and 1 Red Bell Pepper in a little bit of Veg Broth. When softened, stir in 4-5 cloves of minced garlic and let then simmer for a minute or two.
Stir in your baked Taco Crumbles and 1 cup of Enchilada Sauce. To give it even more of an authentic Taco/Mexican flavor – stir in 1 Tbs of Masa Corn Flour and it will also thicken the filling.
Spoon the filling into a 9×13 Glass Baking Dish and then pour the batter from the Cornbread Recipe over the top.
Bake in a 350 °F oven for 30 minutes…or until the top has turned a golden brown.
Garnish with shredded lettuce, tomato, salsa, or avocado.
The sweet cornbread goes very well with the slightly spice taco mixture. I can easily see this becoming a new regular on our dinner rotation. Please give me a shout if you try it and let me know what you think!
As always – keep those comments coming.
Enjoy!
- 8 oz can of Tomato Sauce
- 1.5 Tablespoons of Chili Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1/8 teaspoon Ground Pepper
- 1 1/2 cups Water
- 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
- 3 cups riced Cauliflower
- 4 oz Fresh Mushrooms
- 1 cup Walnuts
- 2 Tbs Soy Sauce
- 2 Tbs Chili Powder
- 2 tsp Ground Cumin
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
- ½ tsp Onion Powder
- ¼ tsp Ground Pepper
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 Onion diced
- 1 Green Bell Pepper diced
- 1 Red Bell Pepper diced
- 4-5 Cloves Garlic minced
- 1 cup of cornmeal
- 1 cup of bread flour
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Mix all Enchilada Sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until bubbly.
- Slowly stir in cold water.
- When simmering again, add cornstarch slurry to thicken.
- Set aside 1 cup of Enchilada Sauce.
- Prepare Taco Crumbles by chopping mushrooms and walnuts until uniform in size.
- The crumbles should have the size of crumbled hamburger, or rice.
- Add Cauliflower and stir to combine.
- Add all Taco Seasonings and stir to coat.
- Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
- Stir crumbles around and then bake for an additional 15 minutes.
- Set Taco Crumbles aside.
- Saute veggies (onion & Peppers) until softened.
- Stir in minced garlic for a minute or two and then stir in Taco Crumbles.
- Add the cup of Enchilada Sauce and stir to combine.
- Stir in 1 Tbs of Masa Corn Flour to thicken if desired.
- Cook until bubbly and slight thickened, and then remove from heat.
- Spoon mixture into a 9x13 Glass Baking dish and spread evenly.
- Prepare Cornbread Batter by mixing all dry ingredients first.
- Then mix all wet ingredients together and pour into the dry.
- Mix until a loose batter has formed then pour onto casserole - spreading evenly.
- Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Tips are always welcome!
Susie
I was excited to try this recipe. However, it was way too salty for my taste, and, unfortunately, I had to throw it out. 😔 I liked the texture of the crumbles, though. I remade the recipe by roasting the crumbles without seasoning them. I made a red chile sauce with soaked dried New Mexico chilies (blended and pressed through a strainer), tomato sauce (El Pato), oregano, cumin, and salt. I added this to the veggies with a can of drained beans, then placed into a baking pan and topped with the cornbread. With these changes, the recipe is a keeper. My adult children loved it this way, too. Thank you for sharing this recipe idea! 😊
estee
How would these even be too salty? He barely uses any salt and those other spices are just spices with no salt. Are you SOS free?
Susie
I am not SOS free. I think the 2 tablespoons of soy sauce in the Taco Crumbles portion of the recipe was too much for my palate, personally. I still think it’s a great recipe idea. 🙂
veganaasiana
Chuck, I’ve been using your taco ‘meat’ recipe in chili and taco salad. They make my 3-bean chili have that ‘meatier’ texture. What an awesome recipe. To the reviewer who threw out what she made…that is such a waste. So many hungry people out there…I would never throw away food. You could have used it in chili and other things. Just saying.
Sally Crouse
This is really delicious, thank you. Love the sweetness of the crust paired with the spicy meat mixture. I added pinto beans to make it a bit more filling. I’m puzzled about the 15 min prep time though. I’m a pretty good cook but it took me far more than 15 min to make the cauliflower rice, do all this chopping, sauce making, mixing together, and putting together the batter. Was that a mistake or do I need to work on my skills?
Laurie Brown
I’m with you, Sally. This meal took a LONG time for me to prepare – but the results were so delicious that I know I will want to make it again. Next time I will do all the veggie prep the day before. Then I can make the enchilada sauce while the “meat” is baking and saute the onion/pepper mixture.
I was a little confused about the water and cornstarch in the enchilada sauce. A slurry was mentioned, but made with th cornstarch and … what? some of the water? How much. Anyway, I forged ahead, loved the sauce, and went ahead and used it ALL in the recipe since I didn’t have any upcoming use for it. Made a great texture. The recipe is a keeper, but definitely had miscalculated the time necessary to make it.
Jamee Levy
cooking is hard for me. this recipe, while simple, took hours! i really pushed to mix the cornbread top and get it on the dish all at one time, ’cause i was getting mighty hungry…and as i stepped back and closed the oven door…i noticed the saucepan of enchilada sauce on top of the stove. crimany, that should have gone in before the cornbread top!!! well, i poured the sauce around the edges of the casserole, and drizzled some on top, knowing deep in my heart that i ruined this dish. did not expect anything edible to come out of the oven, but to my surprise…FOOL PROOF RECIPE!!!
Kyla Zehr
Can the taco crumbles be made and then frozen for later use?
Susan
Yes, I’ve frozen it many times. I’ve also frozen the cauliflower and mushrooms after I processed them to have on hand to save time for a future batch.
Vicki Hickerson Sorensen
Do you include nutritional values in your recipes?
Susette
I usually use the amazing cauliflower taco meat recipe on Tuesdays for our Taco Tuesday. My husband and I love it so much that I have recently started making a double batch. I was wondering what to do with it when I came across this taco pie recipe. It was very quick and easy to make since I’ve already made the meat meat crumbles. This was very tasty, my husband is still telling me how amazing supper was and we ate 2 hours ago!
We’ve been eating mostly plant-based for almost 3 years, and after his second serving of Taco pie, my husband told me this was the best plant based meal I’ve ever made. The flavors were spot-on, the spice combined with the sweetness of the cornbread were great!
Like I told my husband, the only complaint is that it had a bit too much flavor for our toddler so I had to make him something different, but that means more for us!
Thank you for the recipe!
Sherry Livering
Hi Chuck,
I’m getting ready to make this and noticing that the cornbread topping is missing the can of creamed corn that you use in your cornbread recipe? Is that correct?
Cindy
I’m a little confused. The recipe says to set aside one cup of enchilada sauce. One cup of sauce is added to the sauteed peppers and onions and crumbles. What do I do with the other cup of enchilada sauce?
Chuck Underwood
Save it for another use.
Laurie
Cindy, I added all the enchilada sauce (almost two cups). It was GREAT!
Denise
Fantastic!!! I didn’t change a thing! I had made the taco crumbles before, but the enchilada sauce and corn topping recipes were new to me. Everything combined was so delicious. Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes!
Terri Kane
This taco pie is one of our family favorites. It is one of those recipes that is just as good, or even better, the next day. It is less time consuming if you have the taco crumbles made ahead of time. I triple the batch and freeze the crumbles so that I can just pull them out of the freezer. The enchilada sauce is very versatile and can be used in many other recipes.
Susan Wright
just made it and its great thank you
dana
I did everything wrong and a few things differently, and it still tastes great!
I used “taco crumbles” a full sized sample bag Butler Foods sent me when I ordered soy curls. Basically taco crumbles are crumbled soy curls pre-seasoned with taco seasoning. I did add a few crumbled plain soy curls so I also added the spices called for in the recipe, but I did not measure them out. I used hot water just barely covering the taco crumbles to re-hydrate them. I covered my bowl with a plate to help speed the rehydration. I later put that cup of enchilada sauce in the taco crumbles also. So I did not make the cauliflower taco meat, which did cut down on time. I thought the cornstarch slurry was to be made with the 1 1/2 cups of water…all of it. So I made the slurry and set it aside waiting for the enchilada sauce to begin to bubble. Once it was bubbling I added all of the slurry water. The sauce never did thicken but it still worked. I sauteed the pepper and onion & made the cornbread batter. Then I added seasoned, rehydrated taco crumbles (which rehydrated to about 5 cups) to the skillet and mixed well with the peppers and onions. I poured/scooped that into my casserole dish and poured the cornbread batter on top. It was in the pre-heated oven for about 5 min when, as I was removing pots and pans from the range, I saw that the rest of the enchilada sauce was still in the pot. I took the casserole dish from the oven, scooped the cornbread batter, along with some taco crumbles, out of the dish and back into the batter bowl. I then poured the rest of the enchilada sauce into the casserole dish and mixed it all well. After that I put the cornbread batter back on top along with mixed in taco crumbles. I cooked it for 20 min but had to leave, so turned off the oven. Returned about 1 hour later, turned the oven back on, but 10 min later turned it off because I had to leave again. 30 min later someone else got home, pre-heated the oven and cooked the casserole for 15 min, as I directed. An hour later I returned home and ate some, It came out DELICIOUS! As I ate I read the reviews and saw I was supposed to save the rest of the enchilada sauce and only use 1 cup….
Laura
Any substitute for bread flour?