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 🙂
I can’t stop making these!!! Absolutely love them !!! These are now a weekly meal for me. So fresh, healthy and light. Delicious !
That is so great to hear, Thomas!! I’m glad you are enjoying them! 🙂
Had this tonight for dinner. We really enjoyed it. We will be having it again. Thanks.
Awesome! So glad you liked it! 🙂
My husband went vegan a few years ago and this recipe is a staple in our home. These tacos are so flavorful and delicious!
That’s so great to hear, Wendy!! 🙂
I really hope my kids like them- I’m making it as we speak! I used cauliflower rice instead! I hope it works!!! Thanks for a great sounding vegan recipe!
UODATE: it’s REALLY good with rice cauliflower!
I hope both you and your kids enjoyed them! 🙂
This is an amazing recipe – I make this all the time since I discovered it.
I made loads of the cauliflower/chickpea mix last time and then stewed it in coconut milk – a tasty curry with sliced bananas on top!
That’s so nice to hear, Maria! I’m glad you enjoy it! The coconut milk sounds like a great addition 🙂
I am obsessed with this spicy blend. The tacos have great texture and it is a really simple recipe.
We love it!!!
Thank you so much
So glad to hear!! 🙂
I made these last night and my meat obsessed husband who literally said to me, as I was making them, “it’s not a real meal if it doesn’t have meat in it” really enjoyed these! He said he’d eat them again and even took all of the leftovers for lunch today…most importantly he said he felt SATISFIED after eating 3 of them! The biggest accomplishment for people who think they need meat to feel full!!
Great recipe, the coleslaw dressing was my favorite part- so creamy and tangy and made with things I already had in the house. Yay!
Yah! That’s so great to hear, Kelsey!! I love it when we can impress the meat eaters! Thanks so much for letting me know! 🙂
Seriously this is so delicious!! I want to share it with everyone. I don’t make anything else like this and I am so happy to now have the recipe in my rotation! Great job!
Thank you for your kind words, Jennifer! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed these!! 🙂
I made these and they are amazing! Easy to make too!
That’s great to hear! So glad you liked them! 🙂
I just had to write to you and thank you for such a delicious satisfying meal. This recipe was a real winner. My husband couldn’t believe how great it tasted. Thanks to individuals such as yourself, eating vegan is an exciting tasty journey.
That is so nice to hear, Gretchen!! I’m so glad that your husband enjoyed it too! 🙂
So tasty!! It’s a staple for our dinner rotation each week.
That’s so nice to hear, Sam! I just made them a few days ago and still love them so much 🙂
These tacos were amazing. I loved the coleslaw dressing and the cauliflower and chickpeas tasted amazing. I will use brown sugar in the rub next time and also add chili powder and cayenne. I can’t wait to make these again, such a great dish. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Thanks Crissy! It’s great to hear that you liked them! 🙂
Well done!! I made this nearly exact to your recipe (added red onions to the baked mixture, used lemon juice instead of lime, and added light BBQ sauce to finished taco),
Super delicious, went well with pickled jalapeño.
That is great to hear, Angela! I’m so glad you liked it! Pickled jalapeno sounds like the perfect topping!
Hi, I made these tacos tonight for dinner. I expected them to be tasty but they were INCREDIBLE! Thanks so much for a delicious vegan recipe!
Aww, thanks so much! I’m so glad you liked them! 🙂
THESE WERE AMAZING!!!! I would pay money for these!
My husband even LOVED them and he always wants meat. It felt like we were eating fish tacos or something. The texture was meaty. My husband also loves spice and sauce and coats the heck out of his food. But with these, he didn’t add a single thing! I have never tried a recipe that came out so perfect!
I did change a few things: baked on 425 for 25 min., also added a tsp. of brisket rub seasoning and cayenne pepper to the BBQ rub. Added cilantro and more mustard to the coleslaw (and no syrup, cider or water). I’m sure you could changes this a ton of ways and they would still be awesome. THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!
My husband always wants meat too, haha! I’m SO happy to hear you both loved them so much! That makes my day! Thank you:)