April 23, 2020

Loaded Vegan Tiny Tacos

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Loaded Tiny Tacos. You know, like the ones at that fast food place with the big headed mascot whose name rhymes with Yack … but these are vegan. And honestly so much better. Sorry Mr. Big Head.

loaded tiny tacos, but make it vegan

For some reason that is beyond me, Jack in the Box tacos have had a cult following ever since I could form a sentence. And although I’ve heard many people describe them as “wet envelopes stuffed with cat food”, they continue to remain the fast food chain’s most popular product – selling 554 million a year! Personally, I was never a fan of these “vile yet amazing” tacos, but the fact that they’ve surpassed the legendary Big Mac in annual sales is pretty astounding. Since coming out with a tiny version, I couldn’t help but make a vegan version. What can I say, I’m a f*ckin sucker for any food that’s tiny. Aaaaand, who doesn’t love tacos?! So, here we are.

Grab a drink and let’s get to cookin’ the best Loaded Vegan Tiny Tacos!

how to make Loaded Vegan Tiny Tacos

Look, I’m not trying to break any culinary molds with this recipe. It’s easy, straightforward, uses minimal ingredients, and in my opinion, wayyyy tastier than any fast food version. Here’s how to make the best Loaded Vegan Tiny Tacos:

  1. Make the cheese sauce. Pulse the cheese sauce ingredients in a blender until smooth and creamy. Transfer to a small sauce pan and keep on low heat, stirring frequently.
  2. Cut out your tiny taco taco molds. Use anything round  to cut out a small tortilla mold from regular corn tortillas – I used the lid of a cocktail shaker. Set aside. Pro tip : Keep the tortilla scraps, fry them up, season them, and put ’em on top of salads and burrito bowls!
  3. Prepare your filling. Use any veggie ground meat you like, and make sure to season generously with your favorite taco seasoning … homemade or store bought!
  4. Stuff your tiny tacos with about 1 teaspoon of your prepared taco meat, then fold in half into a cute lil baby tiny vegan taco!
  5. Fry ’em up! Using about an inch of vegetable or canola oil, fry the tacos until golden brown and crispy, about 4 minutes per side. Repeat until all the tiny tacos are fried.
  6. Load ’em up! Now that your tiny vegan tacos are deep fried and crispy, time to load them! I decided to keep it simple like the fast food chain does, with just cheese sauce, taco sauce, and shredded lettuce … but feel free to load these babies with whatever your heart desires!
  7. ENJOY! Try not to accidentally bit your finger off while scarfing these down.

more tiny, bite-size recipes that are delicious and cute af

I wasn’t kidding when I said that I’m a sucker for tiny foods! Here are more of my favorite bite-sized recipes to get you through this quarantine:

let’s taco ’bout it

Did you love my Loaded Vegan Tiny Tacos as much as I do? If so, I wanna know! Snap a photo or video of your creamy orzo and tag me on Instagram at @eat_figs_not_pigs and #EatFigsNotPigs.  I love seeing all your recreations of my recipes! Until next time, friends!

XO!

 

4.2 from 5 reviews
Loaded Vegan Tiny Tacos
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Loaded Tiny Tacos. You know, like the ones at that fast food place with the big headed mascot whose name rhymes with Yack ... but these are vegan. And honestly so much better. Sorry Mr. Big Head.
Author:
Recipe type: Vegan
Cuisine: Mexican-Inspired
Serves: 30 Loaded Vegan Tiny Tacos
Ingredients
Cheese Sauce
  • 1½ cups vegan cheddar cheese shreds
  • ½ cup non-dairy milk
  • ½ tsp Cajun seasoning such as Slap Ya Mama
  • Pinch of salt to taste
Tacos
  • 30 small corn tortillas
  • 2 tsp neutral oil such as vegetable or canola oil + more for frying the tacos
  • ½ LB vegan beef crumbles
  • 3 TBS taco seasoning, homemade or store-bought
  • Taco sauce, for serving
  • Shredded lettuce, for serving
Instructions
Cheese Sauce
  1. In a blander or food processor, pulse all the cheese sauce ingredients until completely smooth, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Taste and adjust seasonings. Transfer sauce to a small sauce pan on low heat to keep it warm while you prepare your tacos. Stir every 5 minutes or so.
Tacos
  1. Using anything round such as a cup or cookie mold, cut out small rounds from each of your corn tortillas. Set aside.
  2. In a small pan on medium heat, add 2 teaspoons of oil. Once the oil is hot, add vegan beef crumbles, taco seasonings, and 3 tablespoons of water. Cook, stirring often, until the crumbles are completely warmed through, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from the heat.
  3. Heat tortillas in the microwave for about 30 seconds to prevent them from cracking when you fold them.
  4. Fill each tortilla with about 1 teaspoon of prepared vegan beef crumbles. Repeat until all the tacos are stuffed and folded in half.
  5. In the same pan you cooked the vegan beef crumbles in, add about an inch more oil on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, fry tacos until they are golden brown and crispy, about 4-5 minutes per side. Remove and place on a paper towel lined plate.
  6. Serve tiny tacos with cheese sauce, shredded lettuce, and your favorite hot sauce!
  7. ENJOY!!!

 

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  1. Oh. My. GODDDDDD!!! These little tacos are just the best! Oh wait, nacho cheeeeeze sauce, too?!?! Seriously… I thought I knew what I was getting into making these little vegan imposters, but boy was I wrong. These little bad boys really packed a punch. I used just a simple, store brand, vegan safe taco seasoning packet to season my plant based meat. For the cheeze, I used oat milk and daiya shreds. I didn’t have cajun seasoning, so I used harissa(it has a cajun-y like feel to it so I figured “eh, why not”). The cooking and prep time was really short and convenient. When it was done and was ready to take a bite to make sure all was safe, and Oh.My.God… It was the tastiest little thing to touch my lips in sooo long!!! Maybe I was just craving tacos and melty cheese for a while, who knows. But these… I’m sure it would have tasted better with cajun seasoning, but the harissa worked out really well!!! I’ll be making this nacho cheeze like FOREVER! NO MORE carrot/potato/nooch sauce…. lol Mama’s got some new tricks in her bag! Thanks!!!!! ????

  2. I saw this taco recipe and was instantly inspired to make them for dinner and boy am I glad I did! Super quick and easy to put together and they were so delicious but the star for me was that cheese sauce. I want to slather that on everything and it will be my go to from now on! Would be great for nachos as well. I added corn to the beef crumbles because I oddly love corn in my tacos and it was a 10/10. Haven’t made a bad recipe of Ashley’s yet.

  3. let me start by saying that ashley is my favorite vegan food blogger and the first one i followed when i went vegan(almost three years ago)! this is my first time fully recreating one of her recipes and i don’t know why it took me so long!! i hate to admit it but when i was a kid i used to be OBSESSED with the jack n the box tacos so when i saw this recipe i knew i had to make these for old times sake and to redeem myself. and WOW these were so good!! i wanted to make something simple and flavorful with ingredients i already had in my kitchen so i knew these mini tacos were going to hit the spot! there’s something about mini foods that just makes them so satisfying to eat! we topped them with jalapeños and avocado and devoured the whole plate! my mom, who isn’t vegan, loved these just as much as i did and probably ate more of them than me lol. i’ll definitely be making these again!! i even fried up the leftover tortilla strips to make nachos with some of the vegan beef and cheese sauce that i had left over!

  4. These are freaking amazing, guys. So much better than their counterpart which shall not be named. We subbed the veggie crumbles for TVP because one of the people eating them can’t have sugar. Still delish! We added sour cream, mashed avocado and cilantro on top. We’re still eating, and still SHOOK!

  5. I was super excited to make these, but this recipe was really frustrating for me. I heated up my tortillas so they were pliable, but I had an insanely hard time keeping them folded. I had to use some brute force of pressure to keep them folded. Then when i dropped them into the oil they would fold back open and I would cry a little bit. From that point I had to keep them folded with a spatula for the first few seconds of frying, but that got frustrating so I just did them in the air fryer and they turned out fine. Im not sure if I did something wrong or got the wrong tortillas, but I wouldnt do this again.

    1. Hey Greg! I’m sorry you had such a hard time with keeping the tortillas closed! If you ever decide to make these again, I recommend holding them closed with tongs in the frying pan for about a second to endure they stay closed when you flip them! Hope this helps!