It’s Meatless Monday, and my family is having these walnut tacos. We actually had them last week too. Rob was having his physical and blood work done (which ended up being better than his previous results!), so he asked if I would make something “light” for dinner the night before. I have heard of making ground meat with walnuts, so I decided to give it a shot. Oh…and I’m glad I did! It was a huge hit with my whole family, kids included. Even my triathlete husband filled up on these tacos. Like most raw recipes, this one takes minutes to make, and the clean up is even easier.
The “meat” of the recipe is the walnuts. Shaped like a brain and good for your brain, walnuts pack in 2.5 grams of plant-based omega 3s per ounce as well as other mono and polyunsaturated fats. Eating walnuts helps lower your bad cholesterol and reduces the risk for heart disease.
In my food processor, I combined the walnuts with a few soaked sundried tomatoes (soaking water discarded) for flavor and a little moisture. Sundried tomatoes wrap up all kinds of goodness in a dried little package – lots of potassium, iron, calcium, and vitamins A, Bs, C, and K. I prefer to pick up my sundried tomatoes from the produce section instead of buying canned or jarred.
I seasoned the walnut taco “meat” with typical taco spices – chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, sea salt, and a little cayenne. After processing together all of the ingredients, I made sure to taste test the result just like I would with any raw recipe. My family likes spicy food, so I added a good amount of spice to the “meat”.
So it would taste more like the taco meat my family is used to eating, I warmed the “meat” over medium-low heat for a few minutes before serving.
We are eating our tacos tonight using a romaine “shell”, but a gluten-free tortilla would also make a delicious taco. Or, try a taco bowl or salad by layering the ingredients and drizzling lime and salsa over the top as a dressing.
- 12 ounces walnuts
- ¼ cup soaked sundried tomatoes, soaking water discarded
- 1-2 teaspoons chili powder, to taste
- 1-2 teaspoons cumin, to taste
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- pinch of cayenne, to taste
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor, and process until it is the consistency of ground meat.
- Taste test, and add more spices if desired.
- Optional: heat in a skillet over medium-low heat for 5 - 10 minutes.
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I never thought about using walnuts as “meat”, love the idea!
Hi Courtney,
I love the addition of the sun-dried tomatoes. I’ve tried walnut taco meat before, but yours takes it up a notch. Definitely going to be making this next. Thank you 🙂 I was thinking that I could warm this up in my dehydrator too.
Just tried your recipe using some sundried tomato pesto since I didn’t have sundried tomatoes in the fridge. You’re right…sundried tomatoes add that extra flavour. I’ll definitely make this again. 🙂