These BBQ Cauliflower and Chickpea Tacos are delicious, flavorful and filling!
Tacos in the morning, tacos in the evening, tacos in the summertime. If you eat cauliflower in a taco you can eat tacos anytime! Sorry, I just had to get that out, because it has been running through my head for about 2 hours now! I apologize in advance for it now being stuck in your head for the next two hours 🙂
All songs aside, true story: if you stuff your tacos full of cauliflower you can eat them all the time and trust me, you will want to! I tested these tacos about three times before I got them just perfect and it was one of the best weeks of my life.
I have yet to eat these tacos in the morning, but I did enjoy them for both lunches and dinners, for 5 days in a row…
Do you ever find yourself making a dish over and over again because you love it so much? As much as I enjoy experimenting in the kitchen and coming up with new recipes for the blog, on the weekdays I usually find myself eating the same things over and over again. It could be that I’m lazy, or it could be my mildly obsessive personality.
When I buy a new outfit that I love, I sometimes wear it every single day for a few days, then wash it and wear it again. And don’t even get me started on how many times I listen to my favorite songs on repeat until my husband probably wants to break the CD so we never have to hear it again.
I also get obsessed with certain ingredients and I find myself putting them in everything I make. Right now cauliflower is that ingredient. I came up with these tacos because what better way is there to eat cauliflower than stuffing inside my other food obsession: tacos. And it turns out, there is not better way!
I’ve been obsessively watching (I told you I had an obsessive personality!) Bobby Flay’s BBQ addiction show lately and it really inspired me to make my own BBQ rub. I feel silly saying that I had never made my own rub before, but I really don’t think I had!
I’m not sure why though, because it is so easy. Literally all you do is add a bunch of spices together and mix them up, and you are done! Then you rub it all over your ingredient of choice and it transforms it into a seriously flavorful meal.
You really can’t have proper BBQ without a healthy serving of slaw on top of it. I took a little shortcut here and used a bag of pre-sliced cole slaw mix, but you could also slice your own cabbage and carrots if you would like.
To me, the most important element of the slaw is the dressing and homemade dressing is always better than the store bought stuff, so that is one shortcut I will never take! For this slaw, I made a classic creamy dressing and then I added the juice of one lime, and let me tell you, it was creamy and tart and delicious!
BBQ Cauliflower & Chickpea Tacos with a Creamy Lime Slaw {gf+v}
- Yield: 4 - 6 1x
Description
A delicious and filling vegan dinner that everyone will love!
Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 1 1/4 cup of cooked chickpeas
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 10–12 corn tortillas
- sliced jalapenos, if desired
BBQ Rub:
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Creamy Lime Slaw:
- 1 14 ounce bag of cole slaw mix or 6 – 7 cups of thinly chopped cabbage and carrots
- A scant 1/2 cup of veganasie, or mayonnaise
- 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 1 teaspoon water
- Juice of one lime
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Make the slaw: In a medium sized bowl add all of the slaw dressing ingredients. Mix ingredients together until a creamy sauce has formed. In a large bowl, add the cabbage mixture and pour dressing over. Mix until everything is combined. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- In a small bowl or jar, add all of the BBQ rub ingredients and mix together.
- Separate all of the cauliflower florets and chop them into bite size pieces. Place florets and chickpeas onto a large sheetpan and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with BBQ rub. Toss everything together with your hands so that cauliflower and chickpeas are coated with the rub. Place the sheetpan in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes, flipping once.
- If desired, warm up corn tortillas on the stove or in the oven. Add about 1/4 cup of cauliflower and chickpeas to each taco and top with a few tablespoons of slaw. Top with sliced jalapenos if desired.
- Enjoy!
- Category: Entree, Gluten Free, Vegan
You May Also Enjoy:
BBQ Black Bean & Quinoa Tacos with Cilantro Slaw
I had grand plans of getting a photo with Cheeto’s head inside a hamburger bun, apparently he had other plans 🙂
Cauliflower is such a versatile vegetable. Great that you have combined it with chicpeas in these tacos. Has a hint of Indian cuisine about it. You have become an incredibly creative healthy chef!
Great idea for tacos. Cauliflower is such a versatile vegetable. You are an incredibly creative healthy chef.
I had some cauliflower and chick peas and thought what on earth can I make with them so I googled cauliflower chick pea recipes and found this truly amazing out of this world recipe. So much more than I expected! My husband said it was one of the best meals he has ever had! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Tonya! Your comment made my day! Thank you so much! I’m so glad you both really loved these tacos 🙂
This looks amazing Isadora! We shared this on our Meatless Monday: Chickpea Pinterest page: http://www.pinterest.com/meatlessmonday/meatless-menu-chickpeas/ and would like to share it on Instagram as well. Hope you don’t mind.
If you’re interested, we would love to send you some of our Steamed Garbanzo Beans to try with this recipe as well. Take a look and let us know what you think: http://www.melissas.com/Garbanzo-Beans-p/639.htm
@MelissasProduce
Hi Melissa! Thanks so much for sharing these tacos! I would love it if you shared them on Instagram as well! I’m interested in knowing more about the meatless Monday group and I would also love some steamed garbanzo beans!! Just let me know what you need from me :). Thanks so much!!
Awesome!! Email us your mailing info and we will get some goodies shipped out to you. NickQ [at] Melissas.com
I made these for dinner tonight and knew I had to come tell your right away that this is my new favorite meal. So delicious! Thank you so much! The chef boyfriend is also a huge fan!
Thank you so much, Tonyne!! I’m so glad you made them and you loved them! Your comment made my day 🙂
Hi, thanks for posting these! I ACTUALLY TRIED the recipe, instead of just thinking how good they look. 🙂 I’d say the recipe is a keeper! I was confused as to why you called them BBQ tacos. I guess because of the “rub” (which is really just the same as taco seasoning). I always think of cooking on the grill or using a BBQ sauce when I hear those 3 lovely letters together. But roasting makes it simpler so once I figured it out, I was in! I was a little too skimpy on sprinkling the seasoning, so next time I will go for it! The roasting time was just about perfect. The addition of chickpeas was great, but if I was out of them, I think it would be good with just cauliflower, too. The slaw was a keeper, too (though I left out the dijon because last time I used it, the kids were grossed out.) Speaking of the kids, they didn’t love it but they definitely liked it! Thanks for sharing your creativity and helping me find another entree that showcases veggies!
Hi Sarah!! I’m so glad you tried them and that you liked them! I called them BBQ tacos, just like you thought, because the rub was a BBQ flavor, I guess kind of like BBQ potato chips! But, I do see the confusion, thankfully this recipe doesn’t use a BBQ grill because I imagine it would be hard to BBQ little pieces of cauliflower! So glad you liked the slaw too! I’ve been making it a lot this summer and have been putting it on everything! Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me know what you thought of these 🙂
I just love the idea of cauliflower and chickpea taco’s…..so creative. Mine won’t look anything like yours, but you know, I can try! I did try a cauliflower pizza crust once and I totally bombed it, made me sad, had to throw it out it was so bad. But that BBQ rub sounds amazing. Love all the ingredients/seasonings you put in there. I would imagine you could use it on meat as well it you happen to be carnivores like us too =) And it would be simply delicious on chicken or steak.
Haha, I’m sure yours will look beautiful, Laura! I still haven’t tried the cauliflower pizza crust, but I’ve been wanting to. Maybe I shouldn’t though, if yours didn’t turn out. I can see my husband not liking it at all though! It would definitely go well on meat! I made the rub a few times and put it on some grilled chicken once and it was really good! I don’t eat a ton of meat, but I do enjoy it sometimes and my husband loves it so I end up cooking it for him a lot. It is also so easy to make if you have the ingredients on hand!
these look so so delicious!! and I have everything to make these but no tacos hehe! So going to make the filling only and devour them!!
Thanks Ami! I had a bunch of leftovers and since I figured the taco shells wouldn’t hold up well for packing in my lunch, I just brought the filling with some slaw and it was still so good! I hope you enjoy them 🙂
Oh my goodness, I love these meatless tacos! I am a huge fan of cauliflower and this sounds incredible – wow especially with the slaw too! Pinning and can’t wait to try this 🙂
Thanks so much, Kelly! Cauliflower is the perfect meat substitute in these tacos and the slaw is the cherry on top! Thanks for pinning 🙂
Holy cow! I want tacos now! We love cauliflower, and this is such a fun and delicious way to prep it. Even better, we have all the spices we need to make this happen!
I love cauliflower too! And also want tacos right now too, haha! This is a great way to use up some of the spices in the spice cabinet! I hope your family loves them, Monet! 🙂
I just finished roasting cauliflower before I read your post. I am definitely going to have to try it in tacos. It sounds super yummy with the cole slaw.
When I was a kid I hated cauliflower and thought it was so boring, but now I’m beginning to realize that it is a deliciously awesome vegetable, especially when roasted! I hope you enjoy these tacos if you make them 🙂
Bobby totally inspires me to get more creative with grilling and barbecue as well! LOVE these tacos, I always forget that veggies don’t just have to be a side. Delish!
He really inspires me too! In fact I am watching him right now, haha! He makes everything look so easy and so delicious. I’ve been watching some episodes more than once just because I love his recipes so much!
These tacos look awesome, Izzy! Love the BBQ cauliflower, so delicious! I’m trying to find lots of recipes with more veggies, definitely going to be trying this out! 🙂
Thanks Jess! This is the perfect recipe to eat more veggies because the BBQ rub almost makes you forget that you are eating veggies!
Oh wow, I so would have eaten this all week long, too!
I absolutely love its simplicity, but then to jazz it up you’ve added all those beautiful spices. And the dressing on that creamy slaw just sounds like perfection itself.
VERY nice one, Isadora!! 🙂
Hi Helen! Sometimes I wonder if Cheeto ever gets bored eating the same exact food every single day, but after making these tacos, I think I could be happy eating them forever 🙂 When I first started making my own slaw dressing I would just throw things in a bowl and add lots of vinegar and my husband would never eat it, haha, but he loved this one, so I will take that as a good sign! Thanks so much, Helen!