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, chiles, 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 flavor that's addictive. In tacos with onion, cilantro 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 cilantro.

In the US: fresh nopales are found in larger Latin shops in the bigger cities. Sometimes they come canned 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 sour 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 can of black beans with onion and garlic. Heat, pass the tortillas through, fold and serve with sour 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, sour 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, sour cream, crumbled cheese and nopales.

Cheese-Stuffed Chile (Chile Relleno)

A roasted, peeled poblano chile 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 US: swap the poblano chile for a large Romano-style green pepper. Roast it directly over the stovetop flame (or under the broiler) 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 chile 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, sour 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 (canned works) and sour 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 US: 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, sour cream and cheese. Use vegetable stock instead of chicken for the vegetarian version. It's comforting, light and full of flavor.

Esquites

Esquites are cooked corn served in a cup with mayonnaise, chili 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, sour 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...
• Chiles: they bring complex flavor with no need for meat.
• Cheese: fresh (for crumbling), Oaxaca/mozzarella (for melting), mature/cotija (for grating).
• Sour cream: sour cream or light 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 sour 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 flavor, 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 nixtamalized 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 US, but Latin shops sometimes have it canned 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: sour cream, cheese and lard.

Vegan sour 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 flavor 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 flavor 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 US

If you don't want to cook, more and more Mexican restaurants in the US 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): canned 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 yogurt (~£1.10, as a soured-cream substitute), free-range eggs (~£1.80), canned sweetcorn (~£0.75).

At a Latin shop (monthly spend ~£14): fresh corn tortillas (£3-4/kg), assorted dried chiles (£2-3/bag), canned 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 flavor at that price. Discover all our vegetarian Mexican recipes and start cooking today.