Vegan tacos so flavorful you won’t miss the meat! This plant-based taco filling is made with a chipotle “carnitas” shredded jackfruit– smoky and savory, served on warm tortillas with cilantro and lime.
Young/green jackfruit is a wonderful ingredient with fibrous flesh that can take on almost any flavor it’s cooked with. Here it’s marinated in a spicy tangy sauce, then simmered with chopped chipotle peppers until tender and easily shredded.
For a final step, I like to pop the jackfruit into the oven and bake it for a few minutes until the edges crisp and char (results in a chewier texture and smokier flavor).
Serve with corn tortillas, jalapeño peppers, red pepper, onion, tomato, cilantro, and lime.
Burrito Bowl Option:
Alternatively, you can also eat the jackfruit filling in the form of a burrito bowl, with black beans, rice, diced tomatoes, and guacamole, as shown below.
If you made this recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and a rating below. Or tag me on Instagram @hannah__chia, I love seeing your re-creations!
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Print📖 Recipe
Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos
Vegan tacos so flavorful you won’t miss the meat! This plant-based taco filling is made with a chipotle “carnitas” shredded jackfruit– smoky and savory, served on warm tortillas with cilantro and lime.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 50
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons tamari
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- ½ teaspoon each smoked paprika, ground coriander, ground cumin, chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 can green jackfruit in water, drained and thoroughly rinsed, with center core parts chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1–2 chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, chopped
- ¼ cup orange juice
- vegetable broth
- flour or corn tortillas
Instructions
- In a bowl or freezer ziploc bag, combine maple syrup, tamari, liquid smoke, and spices, and mix well. Add in jackfruit pieces and marinate for at least two hours or overnight for best flavor.
- Next, heat oil (or water) in pan and sauté onion and garlic, cooking until fragrant and softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add in chopped chipotle pepper with adobe sauce, then add jackfruit with the marinade and orange juice, and enough vegetable stock to barely cover. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Break up jackfruit using a fork or potato masher, reduce heat, and continue to cook on low for another 15 minutes until most liquid is evaporated. (Optional last step: place jackfruit on a baking tray and bake at 400F for a few minutes until crispy and charred.)
- Serve on warm tortillas with toppings: cilantro, lime juice, red onion, sliced jalapeño peppers, vegan crema*, fresh salsa, etc.
Notes
- Prep time does not include marinating overnight.
- *To make a vegan sour cream, blend the following ingredients in a high-speed blender for 2-3 minutes until creamy: 1 cup blanched sliced almonds or soaked cashews, ½ cup + 2 tablespoon water, 1 tablespoon lime juice, ½ teaspoon sea salt, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Rita says
Hi!! I’ve been following you since you first started sharing recipes and I must say, you’re one of my favorite food bloggers out there, so thank you so much for your awesome content!! I had a question about liquid smoke. Is there anything I can substitute it with, as I don’t have any on hand?
Thank you,
Rita
Hannah says
Hi Rita,
Thank you so much for your kind words and so sorry for this late response! If you don’t have liquid smoke in the future I would recommend adding an extra 1/2-1 tsp of smoked paprika– it won’t be exactly the same but will still help add that “smoky” flavor.
Dev says
This looks incredible! What can size and brand of Jackfruit did you use for this recipe?
Hannah says
Thank you! I used Trader Joes’ 20 oz canned green jackfruit in brine
Mel says
The recipe calls for jackfruit in water, but I only found it in brine. Based on your comment above, though, it seems it’s ok!
Jennifer says
These are amazing. Even the non vegans enjoyed it. The smokey, spicy, tangy flavor was addicting. I will definitely make these again.
★★★★★
Jenna says
Excellent flavor! I used only one chipotle in adobo and I removed the seeds, so it has a nice mild heat, which we prefer. The only error I made was leaving it under the broiler too long, while I was frying the tortillas, so we had to pick out a few burned pieces. This was my first attempt at a jackfruit recipe and I definitely enjoyed it, will definitely make it again.
★★★★★
Julie says
Wow. I used the jackfruit recipe, my own refried beans and cheese to fill flour tortillas. These honestly were the best burritos I have ever made and we are transitioning to plant-based meals (they were better than meat versions). Exceptional!
I did add: cumin seeds when sautéing garlic & onion, 1 chopped jalapeno. Doubled the sauce b/c I had a bag of frozen green jackfruit from Trader Joes and seemed that it was more than 1 can of jackfruit.
Thank you!!! 🙂
★★★★★
Emilia says
So tasty! I used coconut aminos instead of tamari because it’s what I had on hand. I also skipped the broiler (I was hungry) and they still came out really delicious. My dad and I loved them. Looking forward to making your other recipes 🙂
★★★★★