These vegan tacos are packed with bold flavors and satisfying textures, making them perfect for anyone craving a hearty, plant-based meal. The star of the recipe is tender young jackfruit, carefully seasoned and cooked to create a filling that’s juicy, smoky, and wonderfully meaty in texture. Paired with fresh tomato salsa, creamy avocado guacamole, and zesty homemade pickles, these tacos come together as a vibrant, well-balanced dish that’s both nourishing and indulgent. This recipe focuses on the jackfruit filling — a simple yet flavorful base that works beautifully in tacos, wraps, bowls, or even sandwiches, and can easily be adapted to suit your taste.
Smoky jackfruit tacos filling
Course: MainCuisine: fusion, MexicanDifficulty: Medium4
servings25
minutes15
minutes40
minutesWhile we can use many different fillings inside a tortilla, one of my favorites is this vegan recipe made from canned unripe jackfruit. If jackfruits are in season, you can also use fresh jackfruit straight from the tree. The jackfruit used here is unripe, which means it’s treated as a vegetable rather than a fruit. Unripe jackfruit is not sweet in taste and has a flavor similar to cooked artichokes.
Ingredients
4 cups / 400 grams unripe Jackfruit chunks
100 g or 1 Medium Onion
2 Tbsp Tomato paste
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 Tbsp Sugar/Jaggery
1 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
1/2 Tbsp Hot paprika
1/2 Tbsp Coriander Powder
1/2 Tbsp Oregano
3 Tbsp Oil
Preperation
- Soak canned jackfruit in water for 15 minutes; rinse 2–3 times until excess salt is removed.
- Shred jackfruit gently using a fork or hands; do not finely chop or blend.
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan; add jackfruit and sauté for 2–3 minutes to remove moisture.
- Push jackfruit to one side; add 1 tbsp oil and sauté onions until soft, not browned.
- Mix onions with jackfruit.
- Add coriander powder, red chilli powder, smoked paprika, and dried oregano; mix well.
- Add tomato paste, jaggery, and Dijon mustard; combine evenly.
- Add 2 tbsp water and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat once well coated, juicy, and slightly chewy.
Recipe Video
