Make all your ingredients ahead of time, store separately and you’ll have tacos throughout the week. Protein packed and fiber-ful with plenty of beans and cauliflower, I’m inviting everyone over for a taco, or 5! (Seriously, these are too good!)
Summer tacos are a favorite way to make the most of our warm weather produce. If you’ve been looking for ideas on how to use up a plethora of veg, this is the recipe for you. These black bean and creamy chimichurri cauliflower tacos are a must make dinner you’ll want in heavy rotation all season long. We’re not wasting a single stem with our herbaceous, chimichurri and if you’re feeling extra ambitious–black beans from scratch will make this dish incredibly budget friendly and even more delicious. Homemade tortilla recipe to come!
Black bean + cauliflower tacos with creamy chimichurri
These black bean + cauliflower tacos with creamy chimichurri are protein packed and a perfect to use up all of your abundant summer produce.
makes: 14 – 16 tortillas | prep time: 15 min | cook time: 40 min | total time: 55 min
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Black beans from scratch
- 1 cup dried black beans
- 1/4 quarter onion
- 2 Roma tomatoes
- 1/4 tsp chili flakes
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 4 cups water
Creamy chimichurri
- 1 medium shallot
- 1 bundle cilantro, stems included
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp chili flakes
- 1/2 block firm tofu
- 14 – 16 small corn tortillas
- lime wedges to serve
To-Do's
How to make black beans from scratch
- The night before, soak black beans in double the water with 1 tsp kosher salt. (Approx 8 hours.)
- Finely chop onions. Roughly chop tomatoes.
- To cook–strain beans. In a large pot, add beans, onions, tomatoes, chili flake, kosher salt, cumin, baking soda, and water. Turn heat to high. Stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and let simmer uncovered about 40 – 50 minutes. Stirring every 8 – 10 minutes.
- Once cooked, beans should be fork tender and thick when stirring. Turn heat off, serve, and enjoy!
Tacos
- If using dried beans, prepare black beans using the method above. If using canned beans, finely chop onions. Roughly chop tomatoes. In a medium pot, add beans, onions, tomatoes, chili flake, kosher salt, cumin, baking soda, and water. Turn heat to medium. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer. Once simmering, reduce heat to low and let continue simmer uncovered about 20 minutes. Stirring every 5 ish minutes. Turn off heat.
- While beans are cooking, make the creamy chimichurri. We’re using this recipe for reference as a base. Wash a pat dry cilantro, removing any wilted pieces. Peel and roughly chop shallot.
- Add shallot, cilantro, red wine vinegar, olive oil, red chili flake, and tofu to your food processor. Blend on high for 20 seconds, scrape down the sides, and continue blending until smooth. Once finished, set aside.
- Prepare cauliflower. Halve the cauliflower and carefully using your knife, remove the bottom of the core by cutting it out like a triangle, removing additional stalks as needed. Repeat on both sides. Quarter the cauliflower. Either roughly chop into approximately 2” pieces or use your hands to tear / peel pieces into a large bowl.
- Heat a large skillet on medium high with olive oil. Once hot, add in prepared cauliflower, making as even of a layer as possible. Let sear for about 5 – 8 minutes, gently moving every 2 – 3 ish minutes to ensure nothing is burning.
- Flip / stir cauliflower best you can for another sear on the other side, about 5 – 8 minutes. Add in the prepared chimichurri, reserving about 1/4 cup for additional taco topping and continue stirring. Cauliflower should be mostly fork tender. Cook an additional 2 – 3 minutes, as desired. Turn the heat to ÷low.
- Heat a separate small / medium skillet on medium and place 1 – 3 tortillas in. Let brown slightly on each side for approximately 2 – 3 minutes.
- On a large plate, place warm tortillas, add 2 – 3 spoonfuls of black beans, a large scoop of cauliflower and serve with lime and additional creamy chimichurri. Enjoy!
- Ingredients keep well separately in the fridge about 3 days.
