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These lentil tacos are hearty and flavorful, featuring a homemade taco seasoning that makes for a crowd-pleasing meal! They’re a delicious vegetarian and vegan alternative to traditional tacos.
Why we love this recipe
Growing up, it was always a treat when tacos were on the dinner menu. As adults, we tend more towards shrimp tacos or chicken tacos. But when we’re craving the traditional ground beef, these lentil tacos make a marvelous and simple meatless meal!
It’s surprising how satisfying the lentils are and how much the homemade seasonings enhance the flavor. Alex actually likes these lentil tacos more than their meat-filled counterpart—which is saying something since he’s a meat-lover! They’re simple enough to prepare for a weeknight meal, but special enough to have everyone looking forward to Taco Night.
Tips for making these lentil tacos
These vegetarian tacos are easy to make! Here are a few tips for when you go to make this recipe:
- Have your taco seasoning ready to go before you start cooking this recipe. We have a great homemade taco seasoning we like to use, but you can certainly buy the store-bought stuff if that’s easier for you. We recommend buying a spice blend that’s low in salt; you can always add in more salt, but there’s no turning back once you add too much in!
- Use the taco toppings of your choosing. We have a homemade salsa we like to make, but going the store-bought route is probably easiest if you’re serving a crowd. You can also find pre-shredded lettuce and cheese at the store, and likely anything else you could want pre-made.
Dietary notes
This lentil tacos recipe is vegetarian. To make gluten-free, use corn tortillas. To make vegan, omit cheese and use Vegan Sour Cream.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, canned lentils are a convenient shortcut. Just be sure to rinse and drain them thoroughly before using
Yes, the lentil filling can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator for a few days. Warm it up before assembling your tacos.
Yes, lentil tacos are a delicious and plant-based meal that’s perfect for vegans and vegetarians (adjust the toppings accordingly).
Lentil Tacos
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 27 minutes
- Total Time: 37 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 1x
Description
These vegetarian lentil tacos feature a homemade taco seasoning that makes for the most flavorful meal! Serve with black beans and rice for a full meal.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups brown lentils (8 ounces)
- 3 ½ tablespoons homemade taco seasoning mix
- 1 red onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons ketchup
- 8 to 12 whole grain or corn tortillas
- Toppings of your choice: Lettuce, fresh tomatoes, shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, or vegan sour cream
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan, bring 1 ¾ cups salted water to a boil. Add 1 ¼ cup lentils, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer covered for about 20 to 25 minutes, until most of the water has been absorbed.
- Mix the taco seasonings.
- Wash and chop the lettuce and fresh tomatoes, if using.
- Finely dice the red onion and garlic. Heat the olive oil in a skillet; add red onion and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for about 1 minute more.
- Turn off the heat and add the lentils. Stir in the taco seasoning mix and ketchup. Add more seasoning if desired.
- Warm the tortillas. To serve, add lentils to a warmed tortilla and top with lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, salsa, and sour cream. Fold and enjoy! Leftovers store up to 4 days refrigerated.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Diet: Vegetarian
I’m quite new to cooking with lentils and would like to know if I could use crimson or green lentils instead of brown. Do you know of a guide to lentils that I could check out? Starting a Daniel Fast with church in a few days and have been looking at tons of your recipes to try out! Excited to have so many great options!
Thanks for asking! We like it best with brown lentils, but you could try it with green if you like — the cooking times are similar. Green just has a more peppery flavor! We would not recommend trying with red because they become mushy. Here’s our guide to lentils! https://www.acouplecooks.com/what-are-lentils/
Yum! Had these last night. They were a hit!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed them.
I tried this recipe as soon as I saw it. It was awesome! My family loved them. They were great on soft and hard taco shells. They didn’t know the tacos were vegetarian until I told them.
Yum! As a vegetarian, I’m always looking for fun ways to spice up taco night….what a great idea to use lentils! Gonna try these Tuesday!
Yummy ! Tacos… this is added in recipes to try thank you so much :)
This has become one of my favorite convenience recipes. It’s simple, quick, uses few ingredients, and super affordable.
We tried these tonight and they were delicious! I’m always looking for new ideas for vegetarian dinners, and we really enjoyed this one. Thanks for sharing!
Hi,
I would like to make this tomorrow night, but I would like to know if it is not necessary to soak the lentils one night before. If you get a chance, I would love to know!
Thanks in advance!
Hi Jennifer!
It’s not necessary to soak the lentils — they cook really quickly! :)
Thank you for the quick response! I can’t wait to try this recipe!
I love your guys’ blog! I started looking through the recipes recently and knew I would love it. I made these lentil tacos last night and they were so tasty! I can’t wait to cook up some of your recipes.
Thanks, Danielle! I’m so glad you enjoyed these tacos – they are one of our absolute favorites! Let us know if you happen to try anything else :)
I am excited to try these! Is it made using dried lentils??
Yes! Hope you enjoy the recipe.
Just wanted to add that we made these yesterday and, like everyone else has said, they really were amazing! If my eyes had been closed I would have thought it was beef, only I don’t really like “taco meat” beef and I LOVED this! (probably because it wasn’t greasy) You guys have got a new fan!
Glad you enjoyed them!
We eat a lot of veggie tacos around here (2 Texans), but had never considered lentils. Can’t wait to try!
Hi, from another Sonja! Had to write and tell you how much we enjoyed this dish. Made them this afternoon for lunch. My taco was on corn tortilla and hubby had his on flour ones. Both were delicious. We topped the tacos with some ranch dressing combined with salsa. Nice little bit of moisture that hit the spot. Thanks for your beautifull collection of recipes.
I just made these in hard taco shells. They’re great that way, too!
I just made these, and although I was hopeful they’d be good, I wasn’t expecting that much. Wow was I surprised! These are really fantastic and quite honestly made my former weeknight chicken taco recipe pale in comparison.
One thing I’m curious about: do you think the lentil mixture would freeze well? I’ve frozen lentil dishes of similar consistency (daal, stew-like soups, etc.) with great success, but I was wondering anyone had success freezing leftovers for this recipe.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Made these tonight! Was looking for a lentil taco recipe and yours came up! I had leftover lentils so I prepared them a bit differently, but so yummy!
We LOVE Lentil Tacos at our house. We’ve been using this recipe from Heather at Healthy Mom’s Kitchen. Homemade taco seasoning is so much better than store bought for sure!!
Yum! I made lentil sloppy joes a few months ago! They were really, really good!
YUMMY. I made these and they were so good. I was out of taco seasoning so I used your receipe for that also. These were a little too spicy for the kids but my hubby and I loved them. I’m also linking this post within my menu monday blog. Thanks for a great recipe.
I’m so glad you liked them! It’s great to know others enjoy a recipe too — thanks for sharing! :)
Love this! I’ve done something similar with chickpeas in a burrito.. yum!
I made these tacos tonight and they were DELISH! Using the lentils was such a wonderful change from the norm. My family loved it. It will be our go to filling for taco nights. A huge thank you from our family to yours for a great recipe.
You’re welcome! We’re so glad you enjoyed them. They really might be tastier than ground beef – who knew?
What a great idea! They look scrumptious! I’ll definitely try it!!! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe! :)
This is awesome!! I was just telling Jason how lentils are my new food that I’m cooking with. I’m off to guy buy some corn tortillas now. Thanks guy
yummy looking tacos
Yum! I’ve seen roasted chickpeas in tacos but these look awesome too! Love using lentils but I never would have thought to put them in tacos. Awesome!
I didn’t see the recipe for the homemade taco seasoning. Can you please post it or send it to me? Thanks.
You can find it right here: https://www.acouplecooks.com/2011/07/homemade-taco-seasoning/
I’m not only excited about the lentil tacos here (as I have had some lentils sitting around for a LONG time with no ideas in mind), but I’m almost more excited about the homemade taco seasoning! Yess!
*stuffs recipe into the “have-to-try-or-I-might-explode-pile* :D