This hearty pinquito bean and quinoa taco filling will satisfy your taco craving. This vegan taco filling brings together pinquito beans and sweet corn into a quinoa “meat” filling that everyone will enjoy.
How To Make This Recipe
When we tried Fat Free Vegan’s pinquito bean and quinoa taco filling, we found ourselves inspired to put our own spin on this recipe. Our aromatics include red onion, bell pepper, and garlic. We spice things up with a blend of chili powder, ground cumin, smoked paprika, and oregano.
This vegan taco filling recipe is highly flexible based on what you have available locally. While we’re using black quinoa for color, standard or tri-color quinoa also work well. In addition, black beans or azuki beans stand in well for pinquito beans.
Pinquito beans and sweet corn.
Of course, we love using fresh sweet corn when in season. However, we’ll often use a cup of frozen sweet corn kernels during the off season.
WFPB (Oil-Free) Variation
To keep this dish oil-free, simply sauté your onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a thin layer of vegetable broth or water in lieu of olive oil. If your vegetables start to stick to the pan, just continue adding a little more broth or water as you sauté them. In this version, we always use non-stick cookware.
Make Filling
We begin by warming a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Next, we add our olive oil (or broth if oil-free), onion, and bell pepper and cook until the vegetables begin to soften. Then, we mix in and our garlic and seasonings. We cook this blend for just a moment until the garlic and spices release their fragrance.
Next, we stir in our quinoa and vegetable broth. We bring this quinoa taco meat blend to a boil, then quickly reduce heat. With our cover in place, we simmer this blend for 15 minutes or so. This timing may vary slightly based in what variety of quinoa you use. We then turn off the heat and allow our quinoa to stand until all liquid is absorbed.
Allow quinoa to stand until liquid absorbs.
Finally, we add our pinquito beans and corn to the quinoa taco meat mixture and cook over medium heat until warmed through. Before serving, we taste vegan taco filling and adjust our seasonings to taste.
Add the beans and corn to the vegan taco filling.
Ready To Serve
Once everything is warmed through, your taco filling is ready to serve. We enjoy using this blend in taco salads, nachos, and burritos.
Your vegan taco filling is ready to serve.
And, of course, we always enjoy this in street tacos.
Fold into soft corn tortillas.
Now, grab some soft corn tortillas and enjoy your pinquito bean and quinoa taco filling!
Enjoy your pinquito bean and quinoa taco filling.
More taco filling recipes:
Recipe Card for Pinquito Bean And Quinoa Taco Filling
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Pinquito Bean And Quinoa Taco Filling
Equipment
- Medium saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 medium red onion chopped fine
- 1 medium bell pepper chopped fine
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin, see notes for oil-free
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 3 teaspoons chili powder or to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 cup vegetable broth beef-style preferred
- 1/2 cup black quinoa or other quinoa, rinsed well
- 2 cups pinquito beans or black beans, cooked, drained and rinsed
- 1 ear sweet corn shucked, or 1 cup frozen corn kernels
Instructions
- Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, onion, and and bell pepper. Cook until it begins to soften.
- Next, add garlic and seasonings. Cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
- Add the vegetable broth and quinoa. Stir well, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn off heat and allow quinoa to stand until all liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes.
- Add the beans and corn to the quinoa. Cook over medium until warmed through. Taste and adjust seasonings to personal preference.
