Make these portobello mushroom tacos for an easy, flavorful dinner! Creamy vegan jalapeño sauce spices up the tangy, meaty mushroom filling.
These may be portobello mushroom tacos, but secretly, they’re all about the sauce. It’s a vegan riff on ranch dressing made with cashews, roasted jalapeños, and cucumber, and it’s so good that I have a hard time not eating it all with a spoon! However, resisting it long enough to top it onto these mushroom tacos is totally worth the wait. Cool, creamy, spicy, and bright, it perfectly accents the tangy, meaty grilled mushrooms and fresh garnishes in this recipe. The combination is really terrific – if you try these mushroom tacos once, they’ll have a permanent place in your Taco Tuesday rotation!
Mushroom Tacos Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy mushroom tacos recipe:
- Tortillas – Choose your favorite! Flour tortillas, corn tortillas, or a flour/corn mix would all work here. I love to use my homemade tortillas in this recipe. If you’re gluten-free, be sure to use certified gluten-free corn tortillas.
- Grilled portobello mushrooms – With their juicy, meaty texture, portobello mushrooms are one of my favorite plant-based taco fillings. Like I do in my veggie burger, portobello burger, and sautéed mushroom recipes, I season them with balsamic vinegar and tamari or soy sauce to bring out their savory flavor.
- Avocado slices – For creamy richness.
- Shredded red cabbage – It adds a perfect crunch.
- Fresh cilantro – A veggie taco essential!
- Creamy vegan jalapeño sauce – Last, but not least! Make it as spicy as you like. Use 1/2 of a jalapeño for a mildly spicy sauce, 1 for medium, or 2 for extra spicy. Start with less and taste, because you can always add more.
When your taco filling ingredients are ready, char the tortillas and load them up. If you want even more heat, finish the portobello tacos with a few extra jalapeño slices, and enjoy!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Portobello Mushroom Tacos Variations
If you don’t have these exact ingredients on hand, feel free to swap in what you do have! This taco filling is flexible, and all sorts of variations would work well. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Add something juicy. Top the tacos with diced cherry tomatoes or pico de gallo.
- No cabbage? No worries. Use romaine lettuce in its place.
- Go for guac. Swap the avocado slices for a big scoop of guacamole.
- Add extra veggies. Fajita peppers would be fantastic.
- Make it heartier. Spoon in some cooked black beans.
- Increase the crunch. Sneak in diced red onion, pickled red onion, sliced radishes, or pickled jalapeños!
Let me know what variations you try!
Serving Suggestions
No taco night is complete without cocktails! We love to serve these portobello tacos with classic margaritas, spicy margaritas, watermelon margaritas, or palomas, if we’re in the mood for something different.
On the side, we usually serve chips and salsa, rice, or corn. Here are a few of my go-tos:
- Tomatillo Salsa Verde
- Mango Salsa
- Pineapple Salsa
- Cilantro Lime Rice
- Grilled Corn on the Cob
- Mexican Street Corn Salad
For more ideas, check out my top 21 sides to serve with tacos!
If you love these portobello mushroom tacos, try another of my favorite vegetarian taco recipes next!
Portobello Mushroom Tacos
- ½, 1 or 2 jalapeños (depending on your spice preference)
- 1 cup cashews, soaked for at least 3 hours, then drained
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder (or 1 clove of garlic)
- ½ cup chopped and peeled cucumber
- Squeeze of lemon
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup chopped chives
- 2 portobello mushroom caps, stems removed
- Splash of olive oil
- Splash of soy sauce
- Splash of balsamic vinegar
- 1 large avocado, sliced
- 1 cup shredded red cabbage
- Handful of cilantro
- 1 jalapeño, thinly sliced, optional
- 6 tortillas, flour or corn, warmed or grilled
- Roast the jalapeños. You can do this over a gas stove, in a dry cast iron pan, or under your oven broiler. Roast until the skin on the outside is black and blistering. Remove from the heat, place in a bowl and cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. Once they're cool to the touch, peel off the skins (you can use your hands or a knife - it should come off fairly easily).
- Remove the stem and seeds of your jalapeños and place them in a blender with the cashews, water, vinegar, shallot, garlic, cucumber, lemon, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth and creamy, adding more water if necessary to get your blender moving. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt, pepper or lemon to your liking. Stir in the chopped chives. Chill until ready to use.
- Slice the portabello mushrooms. Place them on a plate and drizzle them with olive oil, soy sauce, balsamic and freshly ground black pepper. Use your hands to coat the mushrooms on all sides.
- Heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high heat. Grill the mushroom slices on both sides until char marks form, about 3-4 minutes per side.
- Assemble tacos with mushrooms, avocado, cabbage, cilantro, sliced jalapeños, if using. Serve with jalapeño sauce.
The tacos are healthy, fresh, delicious. I will be making them again. The sauce was laborious and bland in my opinion. It also wasn’t creamy like the photo. Perhaps I didn’t have the right food processor. I was preparing for a party and the sauce took the longest to make of all the food I was serving but had the least wow factor. I think next time I’ll try a simpler avocado sauce with the tacos. Most importantly, the tacos really shined. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Sally, thanks for your feedback! You might like this avocado sauce instead.
These were delicious!!! The sauce was awesome and so creamy! Even the meat lovers in my family devoured these.
Mushrooms turned out SO good. Added onions and peppers and cooked on a skillet. I didn’t have enough time to pre-soak the cashews for 3 hours and it’s a definite must. The sauce was completely watery not great.
i’m allergic to cashews, is there something i can sub for them? maybe chickpea flour?
i’m not vegan, so i don’t have dairy restrictions.
These look great!
Hi,
Do you make your own tacos ? Do you have a recipe for making them at home?
Great recipe. I’m new to vegan eating and this was delicious.
Hi Linda, I’m so glad you loved it!
Holy moly, this recipe was a total hit!! I made it for dinner tonight and it had the taste and appearance (all those vibrant colors!) of a restaurant quality meal! (It’s cool to feel like you’re dining out while staying in.) Also, I want to dip everything in that sauce! Chips, veggies, my fingers–it’s a scene-stealer and I’m not sorry to have a lot leftover for the rest of the week. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Sophie – I’m over the moon to hear that you loved it so much! I feel the same way about that sauce 🙂
Could I broil the mushrooms in the oven? I don’t have a grill or grill pan. If so, how long should I broil (or bake) them?
Hi, you can roast them in the oven. Place them on a baking sheet and roast at 400°F until they’re soft and tender – about 5 to 8 minutes per side. The timing will depend on the size of your mushrooms. Hope that helps!
Thank you. Will make this tomorrow!
Thanks. Made these by roasting and they were wonderful. Will make them again tonight as I have lots of sauce left over.
These are so delicious! I made them tonight and was delighted with the flavors. My husband is usually suspect of newer recipes, but he ate his whole plate and said let’s make this again. The seasoning on the grilled mushrooms and the delightful jalapeno sauce made this a perfect recipe and it wasn’t too hard. Thank you!
Hi Terry – I’m so glad these were a hit and I’m glad your husband loved them too 🙂
Is there anyway to make this without cashews? Maybe with toffuti Cream Cheese or Sour Cream?
Hi Aly, either of those should work, I might start with 1 1/2 cups. Be sure to skip the water in the recipe as well since you’ll be starting with a creamy base already. I’m not sure if those products have salt in them already, so you may need to adjust the seasonings in the recipe to taste.
Just made these and my meat loving husband adored them!! Thanks x
This was delish!!!
The sauce recipe made too much and I was wondering if I could freeze it. Next time I make it I intend to use half the cashews and 1/2 the water…other than this recipe is a keeper. Thanks.
Hi Annie, I’m glad you liked it! I’m not sure the sauce will freeze well – but I usually keep mine around for the next few days and put it on other things (thin it and make a salad dressing, spread it on a sandwich or toast, dip chips or veggies into it, dollop it into a bowl of chili, etc). But if you freeze it, let me know how that goes 🙂
thank you!! I agree, furthermore yours is the first comment from someone who made the recipe. Why do people give 5 stars and admit they haven’t made it!!!
This looks so fantastic. I like the idea of how versatile your sauce is. One question, I usually have roasted cashews in my pantry. Is your recipe for raw or roasted cashews? What is the purpose of soaking them? I’ve seen this mentioned in other recipes and wondered. Thanks
Hi Kit, thanks for asking (I’ll go fix it in the recipe). You really need to use raw cashews for cashew cream sauce (this way the sauce ends up not tasting like cashews, they just provide the creamy element). Soaking is to help your blender, there are also some health benefits (see this article or you can google about it: http://healthyblenderrecipes.com/info/soaking_grains_nuts_seeds). That being said, I forget to soak mine all the time – if you have a really powerful blender and add a little more water, you can skip it.
Hi
Wonderful recipes and pictures. Can you please tell me which bran do tortillas you use?
These were flour tortillas from Central Market (the homemade kind)… but you can use any tortillas you like. I often get the Whole Foods brand whole wheat tortillas.
How do you cook your tortillas? Any tips for keeping them hot for a crowd?
Hi Love your recipes and pictures. What brand of tortillas do you use? I am going to try these tacos today.
Thank you very much.