Vegetarian Mexican Recipes That Surprise

Long before "veggie" was a trend, Mexican cooking already had dozens of meat-free dishes. The pre-Hispanic base of Mexican gastronomy — corn, beans, squash, chillies, nopales (cactus paddles) — is inherently plant-based. Here are the best authentic vegetarian dishes, not adaptations or substitutions.

Nopal Tacos

Griddled nopal has a unique texture and a slightly sour flavour that's addictive. In tacos with onion, coriander and green salsa they're spectacular. It's a 100% Mexican dish that doesn't exist in any other cuisine in the world.

How to prepare: cut the nopales into strips, sauté with garlic, onion and salt over a high heat for 8-10 min until they release their slimy liquid and it evaporates. Serve in tortillas with green salsa, onion and coriander.

In the UK: fresh nopales are found in larger Latin shops in the bigger cities. Sometimes they come tinned or in a jar. If you find them fresh, buy extra — they can be griddled and kept in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Enfrijoladas

Tortillas bathed in a black-bean sauce with soured cream, cheese and onion. Substantial and full of plant protein. Beans with corn form a complete protein — it's the combination that fed Mesoamerica for millennia.

Quick recipe: blend a tin of black beans with onion and garlic. Heat, pass the tortillas through, fold and serve with soured cream and cheese. Read the full recipe for all the details.

Variation: fill the tortillas with cheese before coating them in sauce. Melted cheese inside + the bean sauce = perfection.

Bean Tlacoyos

Tlacoyos are thick, oval tortillas filled with beans or broad beans, topped with salsa, soured cream, cheese and nopales. They're a popular street snack in Mexico City and one of the oldest dishes there is — there's evidence of tlacoyos from before the conquest.

Make them at home: form a ball of corn masa, make a hollow, fill with refried beans, close and flatten into an oval shape. Cook on a comal or pan for 3-4 min a side. Top with green salsa, soured cream, crumbled cheese and nopales.

Cheese-Stuffed Chilli (Chile Relleno)

A roasted, peeled poblano chilli stuffed with cheese (Oaxaca or mozzarella), coated in beaten egg and fried. Bathed in a tomato sauce. It's one of Mexico's most emblematic dishes.

In the UK: swap the poblano chilli for a large Romano-style green pepper. Roast it directly over the hob flame (or under the grill) until the skin chars. Put it in a plastic bag for 10 min to steam, then peel easily. Stuff with mozzarella, coat in beaten egg and fry.

Tip: the coating is made by separating the whites and yolks. Whisk the whites to stiff peaks, fold in the yolks. Dust the chilli with flour, then through the egg and into the oil. It comes out fluffy and golden.

Rajas con Crema Tacos

Rajas (strips) of poblano or green pepper with onion, soured cream and optionally sweetcorn kernels. It's mild, creamy and one of the most popular taco fillings in Mexico — even meat-eaters ask for it.

Preparation: roast 3-4 green peppers, peel, cut into strips. Sauté onion, add the rajas, corn kernels (tinned works) and soured cream. Cook for 5 min. Serve in tortillas.

Rajas and Cheese Tamales

Corn masa filled with rajas and cheese, wrapped in a corn husk and steamed. Tamales are a weekend project but the result feeds an army and freezes perfectly.

In the UK: dried corn husks are found in Latin shops (£2-3 a packet). If you can't find them, foil works as an alternative (not traditional but it does the job).

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

A roasted-tomato broth with crisp tortilla strips, avocado, soured cream and cheese. Use vegetable stock instead of chicken for the vegetarian version. It's comforting, light and full of flavour.

Esquites

Esquites are cooked corn served in a cup with mayonnaise, chilli powder, lime and grated cheese. It's 100% vegetarian street food that everyone loves.

Chilaquiles (Red or Green)

Chilaquiles without chicken are completely vegetarian: tortilla chips in salsa, soured cream, cheese and a fried egg on top. The perfect breakfast that needs no meat to be satisfying.

The Mexican Vegetarian Store Cupboard

The basic ingredients for cooking vegetarian Mexican food are incredibly accessible:

• Beans: black and pinto. A complete plant protein when combined with corn.
• Corn tortillas: the base of tacos, quesadillas, chilaquiles, enchiladas...
• Chillies: they bring complex flavour with no need for meat.
• Cheese: fresh (for crumbling), Oaxaca/mozzarella (for melting), mature/cotija (for grating).
• Soured cream: soured cream or single cream with lime.
• Avocado: a healthy fat that brings a feeling of fullness.
• Nopales: a unique Mexican vegetable rich in fibre.
• Squash: in soups, stews and as a taco and quesadilla filling.

A Weekly Mexican Vegetarian Menu

• Monday: enfrijoladas with soured cream and cheese (20 min)
• Tuesday: mushroom quesadillas with green salsa (15 min)
• Wednesday: green chilaquiles with egg (25 min)
• Thursday: rajas con crema tacos (20 min)
• Friday: tortilla soup + molletes (30 min)

Weekly cost for 2 people: under £22. No meat, no sacrificing flavour, with all the authenticity of Mexican cooking.

Explore our recipes filtering for vegetarian options, and discover that meat-free Mexican cooking is as rich and varied as the meat version.

Plant Proteins in Mexican Cooking: A Complete Guide

One of the most frequent questions we get is: where do vegetarians who eat Mexican get their protein? The answer is that Mexican cooking solved this problem thousands of years ago. The combination of nixtamalised corn with beans provides all 9 essential amino acids — it's a protein as complete as a chicken fillet. This ancient combination was no accident: Mesoamerican civilisations cultivated the milpa, an agricultural system where corn, beans and squash grow together in symbiosis.

Besides the classic corn-bean combination, Mexican cooking offers other sources of plant protein that are often overlooked:

• Pumpkin seeds (pepitas): with 30g of protein per 100g, they beat many meats. They're used in pipián verde, in sauces and as a snack.
• Amaranth: the Mexican pseudo-cereal with more protein than quinoa. It's used in alegrías (a sweet) and in atole.
• Mushrooms and huitlacoche: huitlacoche (corn fungus) is a delicacy with a meaty texture. It's hard to find fresh in the UK, but Latin shops sometimes have it tinned for £4-5.
• Chapulines: yes, grasshoppers are a traditional source of protein in Oaxaca. They're not for everyone, but more and more gourmet shops are importing them.

Vegan Adaptations of Mexican Classics

In our experience, Mexican cooking is the easiest of any cuisine in the world to adapt to veganism. The reason is simple: the base is already plant-based. You only need to substitute three ingredients: soured cream, cheese and lard.

Vegan soured cream: cashews soaked for 4 hours, blended with lime, garlic and salt. The result is surprisingly close to Mexican crema. We've tried many alternatives and this is the best by far.

Vegan melting cheese: nutritional yeast brings the umami flavour of cheese. Mix with cooked potato and carrot for a vegan cheese that melts — perfect for quesadillas.

Vegetable fat: swap lard for coconut oil or vegetable shortening in the tamal masa. The flavour changes slightly but the texture stays just as fluffy.

With these substitutions, you can make vegan versions of chilaquiles, enfrijoladas, tamales, sopes, tlacoyos, enchiladas and practically any Mexican snack.

Where to Eat Vegetarian Mexican in the UK

If you don't want to cook, more and more Mexican restaurants in the UK offer authentic vegetarian options. In our experience, the best Mexican restaurants always have at least 4-5 meat-free options on their menu, and many have added complete vegetarian sections in response to growing demand.

In London, areas with a strong food scene concentrate Mexican restaurants with vegetarian awareness. Always ask for huitlacoche quesadillas, bean sopes, mushroom tacos or nopal salads — if a Mexican restaurant knows how to make them well, you know its kitchen is authentic.

Smart Shopping: The Mexican Vegetarian Supermarket List

To make your week of vegetarian Mexican cooking economical and efficient, here's the optimised shopping list we've refined over time:

At the supermarket (weekly spend ~£11): tinned black beans (~£0.85 x2), avocados (~£1.40 x2), tomatoes (~£1.40/kg), onions (~£0.85/kg), green peppers (~£1.40/kg), lime (~£1), a big tub of natural Greek yoghurt (~£1.10, as a soured-cream substitute), free-range eggs (~£1.80), tinned sweetcorn (~£0.75).

At a Latin shop (monthly spend ~£14): fresh corn tortillas (£3-4/kg), assorted dried chillies (£2-3/bag), tinned nopales (~£2.30), chipotles in adobo (~£2.30), Oaxaca-style cheese if they have it (£4-5).

With these purchases and the recipes in this article, two people can eat vegetarian Mexican all week for under £27, which works out at around £2 per meal per person. It's hard to find another cuisine that offers so much variety and flavour at that price. Discover all our vegetarian Mexican recipes and start cooking today.