Easy, cheap vegetarian tacos are always a winner! These come together easily with canned beans, brown rice and fresh or frozen spinach. These humble ingredients make a delicious and satisfying taco filling thanks to a flavorful spice mix and melty cheese. Top them with whatever you like, use hard or soft shells, and enjoy your taco night!
How are these tacos so good?
I don’t even know. They just are.
Taco nights are always a winner, and vegetarians have so many possibilities for making amazing creative tacos. We can use mushrooms, we can use cheese, we can use beans, we can use lentils, we can make things that mimic meat or we can lean into vegetables. But today we are just making life easy with an economical mix of rice, beans and spinach, and we are making it taste amazing with the right seasonings until it becomes so much more than the sum of its parts.
So for the nights when you need a dinner idea and you don’t really want to have to try, this is the one! These are the tacos. Get out a pan, gather your ingredients, scavenge for toppings, and away you go.
Ingredients: What Matters, What Can Flex
- The black beans could be swapped for pinto or kidney beans, no problem.
- I like to use brown rice in this recipe because it’s a little bit firmer, but white rice is still great.
- Fresh spinach works nicely here because you can just throw in a few handfuls and let it wilt in the pan, but if you want to use frozen spinach, that’s fine too! You would just want to cook it separately and then squeeze out some of the excess water before adding it into the filling. You can also just leave out the spinach if you need this to be a pantry only situation.
- The spice mix is what takes this simple filling and makes it into something amazing. I love to use a teaspoon of crushed fennel seeds for that extra special umami flavor, so definitely include those if you can! Feel free to swap in a packet of your favorite pre-made taco spice if you wish, but make sure it’s a good one with lots of flavor.
- I use cheddar cheese grated off the block, which melts into the filling like a dream. It gives a little bit of an oily / fatty edge to it which is welcome here. Don’t use pre-grated cheese if you can avoid it. It’s coated with starch which can leave the whole filling a bit more sticky and dry.
- I opted for soft corn tortillas, but this would be a good contender for the hard shells. If you do use soft tortillas, frying them in oil will add some richness and crunch – that can be a good middle ground.
Topping Ideas
Because the filling is so carby and creamy, my strategy for these tacos is to focus on whatever fresh, crisp ingredients I can pull out of a hat.
- I like to use cherry tomatoes, red onion and cilantro to replicate the flavors and textures of pico de gallo. You can also just use prepared salsa or pico de gallo.
- Lettuce or cabbage can add crunch – if you’re able to pull together the quick slaw from this recipe, it would work well here.
- Sour cream, avocado slices or guacamole can add some extra creamy / cooling effect.
- Jarred or homemade pickled onions are also great for the tangy factor.
- Black olives can add a nice pop of flavor.
- Lime and cilantro (fresh coriander) are always welcome additions to tacos if they’re available.
Leftover filling?
Store it in the fridge or freezer for another day. If you don’t have enough for a full blown taco night you can add smaller amounts to quesadillas, make a small batch of air fryer tostadas or wrap it up with some lettuce to make a single burrito.
More Cheap & Easy Bean Taco Recipes
Cheesy Rice & Bean Tacos
Ingredients
- 14 oz (400 g) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup (80 g) finely diced red onion, about 1/4 of a large onion
- ⅓ cup (60 g) uncooked brown rice, or 1 cup pre-cooked
- 1 cup (120 g) grated cheese
- 3 cups (100 g) fresh spinach, chopped
- 2 tbsp salted butter
- 12 corn tortillas or taco shells
Spice mix
- 1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
Suggested toppings
- Something creamy (sour cream, guacamole)
- Something crispy (lettuce, slaw)
- Something fresh (pico de gallo or just some diced tomatoes, onions and cilantro)
- Limes for squeezing
- Sliced black olives
Instructions
- If you are cooking your rice from dried, set it going first, before you do anything else. While it cooks you can chop your onion, gather your spices and prep your toppings.For this recipe, I like to cook my rice like pasta: Don't worry about measurements, just fill a medium-large saucepan with salted water and bring it to a boil, then add the rice to the water. Allow it to cook for 25-30 minutes for long grain brown rice or 8-10 minutes for long grain white rice. Be sure to taste test as you go. Once it's ready, drain it in a sieve (the kind you use for icing sugar!), shaking it a little to get all the water out.
- In a large frying pan or saute pan, heat a little olive oil to a medium heat. Fry the onions until they start to soften.
- Add the cooked rice and beans to the pan and saute for another minute or two.
- Push the rice and beans to the side of the pan and add the spices and butter. The butter will melt and activate the scent of the spices.
- Mix the butter and spice mix through the rice and beans in the pan. Saute until the fragrance is released and then quickly move on to the next step.
- Add the chopped spinach and mix through until it starts to wilt and cook down. You may want to add more butter if the pan seems dry at this stage.
- Finally, add the cheese and stir until it's melted through. The mixture can sit in the pan for a moment while you heat your tortillas.
- If you're using soft tortillas, heat them by placing them on a dry pan for a few minutes on each side, or fry them in a little oil to add some crunch.Serve with your choice of toppings.
