These High-Protein, Plant-Based Tacos Will Be Your New Favorite Way To Eat Veggies

Looking for a legit delicious vegan taco option? Try this amazing lentil taco recipe.

If I see one more "the key to my heart is" prompt on Hinge answered with three taco emojis, I will be forced to send my mother another dramatic text about how I will never find love and maybe I'm just meant to be alone forever. Of course you like tacos. They're delicious, and there is an abundance of ways to make them: Paleo tacos, low-carb tacos, fish tacos... the list goes on. But today we are here to talk about plant-based tacos—specifically, the vegan lentil taco recipe from chef Palak Patel in the latest episode of Well+Good's show Cook With Us.

For her dish, Patel makes a taco "meat" by combining lentils, mushrooms, cauliflower, and walnuts. The quartet works incredibly well both for health and flavor reasons. Lentils are packed with protein and fiber, and thicken while cooking to make a great base for plant-based "meat." For an earthy, meat-adjacent flavor, Patel recommends using baby bella or crimini mushrooms. As for cauliflower and walnuts, they add great texture to the final dish (plus additional fiber and heart-healthy fats.) "Cauliflower is in season, and it comes in three different colors," says Patel. In the video she uses yellow cauliflower, but you can use white or purple cauliflower instead because they all taste the same. (To cut down on prep time, you can use store-bought cauliflower rice and pre-cooked lentils for the same delicious result.) All of it is seasoned with a blend of spices to make the mix truly feel like it belongs in a taco.

Once finished, Patel adds the taco "meat" to blue corn tortillas, and tops the tacos with shredded purple cabbage, cilantro, avocado, flavored vegan mayo, and microgreens. "It's an explosion of flavor," she says of the final dish. "So much crunch from the walnuts. There's this lingering heat from the chipotle powder at the end, and then the lentils are just nice and creamy. So you get a little crunch, a little cream, cooling from the avocado... honestly, mic drop on the tacos."

Get the full recipe, including the unexpected ingredient you need to add for umami flavor, by watching the video above. And if you, like me, are in a state of "could use a drink" after every time you check your phone, pair the tacos with one of these low-sugar margarita recipes and close Twitter and Hinge for the rest of the night.

Oh hi! You look like someone who loves free workouts, discounts for cult-fave wellness brands, and exclusive Well+Good content. Sign up for Well+, our online community of wellness insiders, and unlock your rewards instantly.