This walnut meat is the flavor-packed vegan (vegetarian) “meat” alternative for Mexican nights. It gets ready in just 10 minutes with only 6 ingredients.
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❤️About This Recipe
This walnut meat has a perfect “meaty” texture with healthy fat and protein.
The recipe is super simple to make and gets ready in under 10 minutes.
There is not much cooking involved except roast the walnuts.
This vegan walnut taco meat is seasoned with the right amount of spices which gives perfect “meaty”, smokey and Mexican flavors.
🧾Ingredient Notes
You’ll need only 6 ingredients to make this delicious, flavorful walnut meat. These ingredients are easy to find.
Walnuts: It creates a meat-like texture & taste because it has a musky, bittersweet flavor. And when crumbled into a food processor, it adds a thick, oily texture.
Spices & soy sauce: A combination of these spices and soy sauce creates a delicious taco seasoning.
👩🍳Step By Step Photo Instructions
1) Dry roast the walnuts in a pan on medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes only. Do stir continuously for even roasting.
2) Add roasted walnuts in a food processor jar along with the rest of the ingredients (smoked paprika, chili powder, ground cumin, garlic powder and soy sauce).
3) Start pulsing until you get a crumbly texture.
4) As you can see the texture is crumbly yet moist. Do not over-process.
💭Expert Tips & Storage:
Do not over roast the walnuts. Just a few minutes of roasting is enough.
Skip this roasting step if your walnuts are crunchy and fresh. Mine was in the freezer, so I did have to roast.
Do not over-process where the mixture becomes too oily, clumpy and dense.
Storing leftovers: It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
Warm it up: The refrigerated walnut meat can be warmed up slightly in the microwave until just warm. Or warm up in a pan on low heat.
🍽 Serving Ideas
Salad: Sprinkle over any green leafy salad. I like to use this walnut taco meat in my vegetarian taco salad.
Tacos: Use as taco meat in your corn tortillas and top it with black bean corn salsa and some chipotle sauce or avocado lime dressing.
Burritos or bowl: Use as a filling/topping for your burritos/bowls along with other stuff like cilantro-lime rice, black beans or refried beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, etc.
Nachos: You can sprinkle over your loaded veggie nachos before baking.
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📋 Recipe Card
Walnut Meat
Ingredients
- 1 cup (100 grams) Walnuts
- 1 teaspoon Smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon Chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon Garlic powder
- 2 teaspoon Soy sauce
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Instructions
- Dry roast the walnuts in a pan on medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes only. Do stir continuously for even roasting.
- Add roasted walnuts in a food processor jar along with the rest of the ingredients (smoked paprika, chili powder, ground cumin, garlic powder and soy sauce).
- Start pulsing until you get a crumbly texture.
Notes
- Do not over roast the walnuts. Just a few minutes of roasting is enough.
- Skip this roasting step if your walnuts are crunchy and fresh. Mine were in the freezer, so I did have to roast.
- Do not over-process where the mixture becomes too oily, clumpy and dense.
- Storing leftovers: It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
- Warm it up: The refrigerated walnut meat can be warmed up slightly in the microwave until just warm. Or warm up in a pan on low heat.
- Serving: You can use this walnut meat into your vegetarian taco salad, burritos, tacos or sprinkle over your baked nachos.
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