What’s better than a health filled crunchy rolled tacos topped with a creamy smoky sauce? Nothing. Comfort food heaven plus these ones are healthy!
Tacos…a perfect meal. In our house, you can make anything into a taco. I love that tacos are all encompassing, they have the protein, veggies, flavor, and best of all hot sauce! They are definitely in our weekly rotation and range from simple to fancy, crunchy to soft. These particular bites of heaven evolved when I happened to be shopping at my favorite market, Jimbos, on a day when they got fresh local organic nopales.
What are nopales you ask? I didn’t know either, in fact when I first saw them I was a little bit intimidated. Nopales are cactus paddles. Since I have a “blog year” resolution to expand my horizons and create things out of my comfort zone, I bought a few and came home to my computer to figure out what in the world I was going to do with them.
The first thing I read when researching this new ingredient, was how good they are for you. Not only are they a really low calorie vegetable, but they are filled with goodies like fiber, vitamins and minerals. I was super excited to experiment!
I decided that to make it something my family would try, husband and kids included, I needed to present it in familiar form… and tacos are not only familiar but as I said before, you can put anything in a taco! Cleaning the nopales was a bit stressful because you want to make sure to get all the needles out, but once I got them cleaned they were easy to chop.
Just watch out for the gel like substance that they ooze, kind of gross but it evaporates when cooking. I got to work pulling other ingredients together and came up with these easy to make and super healthy crunchy rolled tacos!
These Rolled Tacos Are Packed With Goodness!
These beauties have pretty much everything: protein, iron, veggies…and they are an awesome kid meal. Your little ones will have no idea how many nutrients they are getting. The veggies inside are pureed enough so they are not chunky and noticeable, but still there making their bodies strong.
I did not include spice in the seasonings because I really wanted to keep these kid friendly, but you can always spice it up! They also have no oil, because none is needed, and can definitely be made subbing silken tofu for the nuts in the sauce if you have a nut allergy.
I made them with both corn and whole grain flour tortillas and they both were great. My family preferred the corn, as they did get a little bit crunchier, but they are very tasty with any tortilla you chose.
How Do You Keep Corn Tortillas From Breaking?
The secret? Make sure they are steamed for long enough. They don’t take long (2 mins in the microwave, see recipe below) but you want to make sure they are warm and soft all the way through. If they are still cold and stiff they will break. Also make sure to get high quality tortillas from a brand you trust.
P.S These rolled tacos are so much better for you than the store bought versions, and can be frozen for later use! What are you waiting for?! Let’s get cooking!
- ½ cup chopped nopales cactus paddles
- ¾ cup black beans about half of a 15 oz can
- ¾ cup chopped red potatoes
- ½ cup chopped yellow squash
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- ½ cup veggie broth , low sodium if needed
- Himalayan pink salt to taste if needed
- 15-20 corn and/or gluten free/flour tortillas
- 1 cup salsa of choice more or less depending on preference
- Smoky Taco Cream see recipe below
- 2 cups shredded lettuce
- ½ cup raw cashews soaked if not using high speed blender
- ½ cup walnuts soaked if not using high speed blender
- ¼ - ½ cup water
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- Himalayan pink salt & ground black pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast optional
Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Wash, clean (if needed get all the needles off the nopales using a knife, and be careful!) and chop nopales, potatoes and squash. Rinse beans. In a pan over medium heat, cover and cook the potatoes with ½ cup veggie broth until almost tender.
- Add cumin, garlic powder, nopales, and squash and continue cooking until everything is tender. Taste and add salt if needed. Add more veggie broth as needed so veggies do not stick. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Make Smoky Taco Cream by putting everything into a food processor, blender or high speed blender and puree until well mixed and smooth. If too thick you can add more water. Remove half of the cream and set aside, keeping the rest in the blender or food processor.
- Add beans and cooled veggie mix to the blender or food processor and mix slowly until everything is chopped and combined but not a smooth paste.
- Next, steam your tortillas with water so they don’t break while rolling. You can do this in the microwave by wrapping them in damp paper towels and cooking for 2 minutes.
- One by one add a few spoonfuls (depending on tortilla size) at one end of the tortilla. Roll tightly into a rolled taco and seal end with a touch of mixture. You can use a wooden toothpick to hold them in place while cooking as well.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) on a parchment lined cookie sheet for 20-25 minutes or until crisp. Once done serve topped with shredded lettuce, drizzle the remaining Smoky Taco Cream and add salsa.
- If you aren’t using a high speed blender make sure to soak the nuts for at least two hours to over night.
- You can also make this cream nut free by using silken tofu instead of the nuts and water.
- Because you are cooking the veggies with broth you may not need extra salt. I did not, but add if you prefer more.
- You can sub the cactus paddles with another veggie like any pepper or even zucchini. You can even simply use any veggies you have in your fridge as long as you keep the total veggie amount (1 3/4 cup) the same.
- Tips to prep ahead: Prepare the filling. Make Smoky Taco Cream.
- Baby/toddler food idea: Serve filling only. Blend well and use liquid of choice to thin out to desired consistency.
- For toddler, bake rolled tacos only a few minutes so tortillas are still soft, cut up into small pieces and serve.
Emily Kemp says
I’ve never made rolled tacos before, your recipe sounds so easy can’t wait to try it!
Marla says
I cheated and got Canned Nopales. But these Tacos were so good! Thank you for the recipe!
veggiesdontbite says
Thanks Marla! Not cheating at all! Great idea for making it easier. So happy you liked them!
Laura says
So I have everything prepped to make these for dinner tomorrow! I was wondering though, do you think I could assemble, stick in the fridge and bake tomorrow without issue? Not sure if after I steam/roll the tortillas if I put them back in the cold fridge, will they crack….have you tried this?
veggiesdontbite says
Hi Laura! I’m so excited for you to try them. They are a weekly staple! My suggestion is to either make the filling then put that in the fridge and assemble tomorrow before you eat, or what I’ve done is assemble them, partially bake for about 5-10 minutes and then freeze. Then before you eat bake the rest of the time. You can try freezing before baking too but I don’t know how good they’d stay in the fridge. Let me know what you do and how it worked!
Jennifer says
i made these for cinco de mayo (sans potatoes) and my boyfriend went NUTS
veggiesdontbite says
Thank you so much for letting me know Jennifer!! I’m so happy he loved them! And thank you for being here!
Jessica Tripp says
These look so good! Love the idea of switching up to a rolled taco version. Can’t wait to try.
veggiesdontbite says
Thank you Jessica! They are so good and easy to make. We make them almost weekly! Let me know when you try them. I love hearing about how you all like what you try!
Laura says
Hi! I’m mexican, and I’m glad to read, that you eat rolled up tacos, for another vegan recipe, why don’t you try doing them with potatoes.cook them, smash them and then fill the tortillas, and fry them in sunflower oil. They came out crispy and are very delicious.
And for another go with Nopales clean them and grill them, they are very delicious.
veggiesdontbite says
Hi Laura! Thanks for following. I’ve made rolled tacos in many ways and love the potatoes as well! I bake mine since I try and stay away from fried foods but they are still great. I’ll definitely be experimenting with Nopales more!
The Vegan 8 says
I have never seen or heard of nopales ever anywhere! The tacos look absolutely delicious, I love corn tortillas too. Is the nopales something you can sub with? I’ve never seen them anywhere and I think I’d be scared to mess with something that prickly, lol.
I love the cashew cream too! I make a spicy “mayo” out of cashews, they are such a wonderful nut!
I think I could easily eat 10 of these, no lie!
veggiesdontbite says
I had no idea what they were before I saw them that day either! You can definitely sub with something else. Anything really, as they are just a veggie that fills the tacos. You could probably add some green or red peppers, or even just more squash. I love these tacos because they can be versatile, so if you are looking for a way to use some of those veggies that are going bad, just use those inside. However make sure you use the same amount of veggies because if you throw off the proportions you may get more veggie taste than bean. Which I guess could be fine too! The flavor really comes from the beans and seasoning, since when pulsed together with the veggies, they take over in taste. Another reason why it’s a great kid meal. Picky eaters will have no idea there are veggies inside! We also love the corn tortillas…and I can EASILY eat 10…oh wait, I did! Lol!