If you’re looking for a new and different kalette recipe, or something healthy and unusual for Taco Tuesday, this is the one to try. Simple, delicious vegan tacos with roasted kalette (kale sprouts), black beans and a simple avocado coconut crema sauce. Incredibly simple to prepare and on the table in 20 minutes! You will love the crispy texture of roasted kalette alongside the spiced black beans, and the luxurious cooling crema sauce. 

So, I am obsessed with these kalette tacos. Obsessed. 

I had no idea if they would work. I apologized in advance to Mr. Veggie for what might just be a really weird taco experience.

But we loved them! Loved. And I made them a few more times, to get the recipe perfect, and then I was sad because once a recipe is perfected I usually have to move on to my other recipe development ideas and stop making it alllll the time.

And I don’t want to stop making these tacos! 

Do you hear me, tacos? Don’t leave me! I wanted you to stay forever. 

Anyway. Let me worry about how to keep eating these every night despite needing to develop new recipes for my stash. Let you worry about how to get your first bite in.

Can we rewind… what is a kalette?

Oh, I forgot we weren’t all obsessing over kalette these days. Ha. 

Kalette is also known as kale sprouts, and they’re a kale / brussels sprout hybrid. I personally love them roasted, which is the method we’re using for these tacos.

Also, I have posted a Roasted Kalette Pasta recipe on here before if you’re generally in the market for kalette recipes.

How to prepare your kalette

Your kalette really needs to go into the oven dry for the texture to be right.

So if you can buy bagged kalette that is already washed and clean, please do! But if you’re buying it from a farmers’ market or loose in the supermarket, you should clean it in advance and keep it in a salad spinner to dry out before cooking with it. 

If you put it in the oven wet, it will steam rather than roast and taste a bit too, well… green vegetable-like. (That’s Mr. Veggie’s official description of some roasted kale that I once made which went in the oven too wet.)

Once you have clean, dry kalette to work with – please note that the sizes between pieces can vary a lot! So I cut the larger pieces down the stop in two or four pieces to open them up. I leave the teeny pieces whole. I am not overly worried about the differences in size.

Some will come out of the oven super crispy, and others will be more tender and just cooked. I love all the contrast.

How to make your roasted kalette tacos

Well, it’s not hard. 

You’re going to drain your beans, slice your kalettes (just to open them up), mince some red onion, and then shove it all in a pan together with some taco or fajita seasoning to roast.

I am using a packet fajita seasoning for this recipe because lately I am just feeling lazy, but if you prefer to use homemade spice mixes, I put a recipe in the card.

They roast for a mere 8 minutes. And then they look like this:

Mmm. Tender with crispy edges. Perfection.

In the time that your filling is in the oven, you’ll blend up your avocado, coconut milk, cilantro leaves and lime juice to make your crema. You will also chop some cherry tomatoes for the topping.

That is it!

This is a 20 minute meal, folks. The first time you make it you might prefer to make your sauce first and take it slower because first time with a new recipe can just require more double checking and whatnot.

But the subsequent times you make it, you will be able to throw it together super duper fast.

These are deliciously dairy free & vegan!

I usually pile my tacos high with sour cream and cheese, but these tacos are completely vegan. And I wouldn’t change a thing!

The avocado crema is made from avocado, coconut milk and lime juice. It’s very cooling, just like a dairy cream would be, but it has the most delicious sweet tang which perfectly complements the earthier flavors of black bean and kalette.

When I first made these tacos, I tried a sour cream and chive topping. Mr. Veggie’s feedback was that the filling was awesome but there needed to be a slightly sweeter topping. Fair.

Which is why the cherry tomatoes showed up, and why I started brainstorming how to make a slightly sweet crema sauce (and shock horror! ditch the sour cream). 

Coconut milk was a natural choice and I found this great recipe on the blog Freutcake.com (which they used as an accompaniment to fish tacos) which felt like the perfect fit. 

You don’t have to be vegan or dairy free yourself to appreciate this. Even if you love dairy, I promise you that this crema is the best topping for these tacos. 

Best Tortillas to Use For these Tacos

Well I got lazy and used the Old El Paso Stand and Stuff Soft Tortilla Shells today. I find them easy to use and easy to photograph!

But if you can easily get them, I do think that fresh corn tortillas will always be the best choice for your homemade tacos! I usually order them from Amazon UK when MexGrocer have them in stock there.

I don’t see these working as well with hard taco shells, but by all means, if you prefer them… give it a try?

Ready for the full recipe?

Phew! OK. I feel like we’ve covered all the bases there. Go forth and make your kalette tacos!

Kalette Tacos

If you’re looking for a new and different kalette recipe, or something healthy and unusual for Taco Tuesday, this is the one to try. Simple, delicious vegan tacos with roasted kalette, black beans and a simple avocado coconut crema sauce. Incredibly simple to prepare and on the table in 20 minutes! You will love the crispy texture of roasted kalette alongside the spiced black beans, and the luxurious cooling crema sauce. 
5 from 1 rating

Ingredients

  • 1 can black beans, 400g or 14oz
  • ½ small red onion, finely minced
  • 150 g (5.5 oz) kalette
  • 1 packet Taco seasoning, if you want to mix up your own seasoning, I put a suggested recipe in the Notes section
  • 10-15 cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 10 soft taco shells or tortilla wraps

Avocado Coconut Crema

  • 1 avocado
  • 120 ml (0.5 cups) coconut milk
  • Juice of 1 small lime
  • A Few cilantro leaves, (you can use more as a topping / garnish)

Instructions 

  • Pre-heat the oven to 180C / 360F. I use a fan assisted (convection) oven – if your oven doesn’t have a fan, ramp up the temperature to 200C / 390F. It’s better to have the oven too hot than too cool in this case.
  • Scatter your beans and red onions on a large skillet, baking tray or shallow casserole dish that has been lightly oiled. Spray with oil and sprinkle with a light coating of taco or fajita seasoning. Push all the beans and onions to the edges of the pan.
  • Arrange the kalette in the middle (some may overlap with the beans and some may overlap with other bits of kalette if your pan is a little smaller – it’s not a big problem. As you can see in the photos, mine didn’t all fit perfectly but it came out OK.)
  • Roast in the oven for 8 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, prepare your crema by blending all of the ingredients until smooth.
  • Remove your kalette and bean filling from the oven after 8 minutes. If you think the kalette needs more crisp to it, put it back for another 2-3 minutes.
  • Serve! Pile your black beans and kalette into tortillas, top with cherry tomatoes and crema, and devour.

Notes

Homemade Seasoning Mix:
  • 2 tsps of oregano
  • 2 tsps of smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp of chili powder
  • 1 tsp of ground coriander
  • 1 tsp of cumin
  • 1 tsp of garlic granules
Sources: Avocado Crema Recipe adapted from Freutcake.com
Serving: 3tacos, Calories: 568kcal, Carbohydrates: 75g, Protein: 14g, Fat: 26g, Saturated Fat: 12g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 12g, Sodium: 1014mg, Fiber: 18g, Sugar: 14g