Vegan birria tacos (quesabirria tacos)

Wow, these vegan birra tacos are SO good! Shredded crispy meaty mushrooms bursting with umami flavor, cooked in the most amazing sauce, served in fresh corn tortillas dipped in sauce, and oozing melty cheese, make our vegan quesabirria tacos a real treat to eat. Inspired by the traditional Mexican dish. this is a recipe you’ll want to make again and again.

Why you’ll love this delicious recipe

• Our insanely delicious tacos are brimming with flavor, you’ll think twice about going to a restaurant for them again.

• The whole family will love this fun and tasty Mexican-inspired treat!

• They are perfect served with salsa taquera, salsa roja, or pico de gallo.

• Hard to believe but they are 100% vegan.

Stop the clocks, this is the moment you found your new favorite recipe. You need our vegan birria tacos in your life. Forever.

What are tacos de birria?

Apart from being a social media sensation right now (and rightfully so), birria tacos are an insanely delicious Mexican dish, traditionally cooked with tender meat, possibly the most popular in America is a beef birria.

The meat is cooked in a broth and then the corn tortillas are dipped in the broth, placed on a hot skillet, Oaxaca cheese is placed on half of the tortilla, and then the meat on top of that, and cooked until crispy.

That’s how they are usually made but obviously, we don’t eat meat, so we have a glorious vegan birria tacos version that we’ve fed to the staunchest of our meat-eating friends and they LOVE it.

If you don’t try any other vegan dish in your life, you’ve got to try this!

How do you replace the meat?

Traditional birria tacos are made with shredded meat, typically birria meat will be goat meat or in the US beef, specifically, chuck roast.

So how do we get a big umami boost in our tacos de birria?

We use mushrooms, big meaty flavored mushrooms, that when cooked will knock you sideways with the taste explosion in your mouth.

Seriously.

If you can. use all king oyster mushrooms, the flavor will blow you away when cooked in our vegan consume broth.

But we know that you can’t get hold of king oyster mushrooms, so we’ve used a mixture of king oyster mushrooms, portobello mushrooms, and woodland mushrooms,

The trick is to shred them into slithers, that replicate shredded meat, cook them until they have crisped up, and then add that amazing birria sauce.

What is the birria broth made from?

There are different ways to make a birra broth, you’ll usually find it’s meat-based a goat, or beef broth.

Naturally, ours is 100% vegan.

Our outstanding vegetable birria tacos broth has been lovingly simmered giving the flavors of ancho peppers, Arbol peppers, guajillo peppers, and pasilla peppers to infuse with onion, spices, and herbs.

Are they spicy?

They are perfectly spiced but not spicy.

Of course, you can notch up the spice if you are a fan of spicy food, simply leave the chili seeds in or add chili powder.

How do I store vegan birria tacos?

We don’t recommend storing cooked meat-free birrias as they tend to go a little soggy.

You can store the cooked mushrooms in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days, when reheating, add a little more broth.

The broth stores well, it keeps covered in the fridge for up to 3 days and you can freeze it for up to 2 months.

Recipe notes and expert tips

• Out of ground cinnamon?
  When simmering your broth, place a cinnamon stick in, just remember to remove it when you have finished cooking.
• Like a thinner sauce?
  Simply add more vegetable broth when blending, add a little at a time as you can add broth but you can’t take it away!
• Don’t have all the chili peppers?
  Be creative, you could use chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, or try other dried chiles.
• Want more spice?
  If you’re a spice fan then leave the seeds in the chili peppers and you could also add a little cayenne pepper to the broth.
• Add a smoky flavor
  When marinating your mushrooms add a teaspoon of smoked paprika.

More vegan recipes for you to try

If you like our tacos, why not try these other delicious recipes? Aloo tikki, nut roast, tomato risotto, or spaghetti marinara.

How to make vegan birria tacos with step-by-step instructions

Making the best vegan birria tacos is easy if you follow our simple instructions.

Full measurements in both US customary and metric are available in the printable recipe card below.

Making the vegan birria broth sauce

Take your dried guajillo chili peppers, Ancho chili peppers, Arbol chili peppers, and pasilla chili peppers, and using scissors, cut the stalk off, and remove the seeds (if you like it spicy then leave them in).

Place them in a jug or pan of hot water and leave them to soak for approximately 20 – 30 minutes.

Next, line a baking tray with parchment paper and place your garlic and onions, and, using your hands make sure that they are all covered with vegetable oil.

Now, broil (grill) them in the oven under high heat until you see that they are charred around the edges, approximately 20 – 30 minutes, remove them from the oven and place them in a food processor or blender.

Drain the rehydrated chili peppers and add them to the blender, add oil, vegetable broth (stock), and Mexican dried oregano, cumin seeds, whole peppercorns, whole cloves, allspice, and ground cinnamon.

Blend until you have a smooth sauce.

Transfer to a pan and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, place the lid on and simmer for approximately 45 minutes to an hour.

Making the vegan birria meat filling

Meanwhile, you can be preparing your mushrooms.

Take your mushrooms and using your hands shred them so they are thin slithers of mushrooms.

Place them in a bowl and add oil, apple cider vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder, and kosher salt.

Toss the mushrooms, and then cover them and set them aside, leaving them to marinate while your broth is simmering.

Once the broth is ready, place a skillet over medium heat, add oil and when it’s hot, place your shredded mushrooms, be careful not to overload the skillet, have one layer only.

Cook your mushrooms until you see that they have started to crisp up around the edges and are turning brown, for approximately 12 minutes.

Then it’s time to add your broth, add a ladle or so of sauce to the mushrooms, stir and cook for a further 3 – 5 minutes.

Building your quesabirria tacos

Place another skillet over medium-high heat and add oil.

Now, take your fresh corn tortilla and dip it into the birria broth, so that the whole tortilla is covered in broth.

Now, place the tortilla in the skillet, add vegan mozzarella cheese and mushrooms to one-half of the tortilla, cook until the bottom of your tortilla is starting to crisp and turn brown, approximately 1½ minutes.

Then, using a spatula fold over the tortilla, and press down gently to hold it together.

Carefully remove your birria taco, serve immediately with dipping sauce, chopped cilantro, chopped onion, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

We hope you enjoy making and eating our birria tacos as much as we do and we’d love to hear how you got on with making them.

Please leave a comment below and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram, for more tasty inspiration!

Learn how to make vegan birria tacos with step-by-step photos.

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