Outstanding Tacos: Your New Favorite Recipe
Outstanding Plant-Based Tacos
*The full recipe can be found at the bottom of the page, but we encourage you to continue reading for some insider tips and tricks!*
If you’re anything like us here at Outstanding Foods, you love a good Taco Tuesday!
Unfortunately finding a super delicious, mouth watering, plant-based taco recipe can feel a little like looking for a needle in a haystack. Lucky for you, creating insanely good, crave-worthy, and 100% plant-based recipes is exactly what we’re good at! You’d be surprised how harmoniously this spanish rice, guacamole, and salsa come together with the help of our Outstanding PigOut Pigless Pork Rinds. They provide just the right amount of crunch and salty goodness that will make your stomach grumble just thinking about it.
Let’s get down to business, shall we? We’re going to start off by making the Spanish rice. So grab a skillet and heat up your oil over medium high heat. We’re only adding a tablespoon to give a nice coating to the pan, so don’t get too crazy. Next add your onions, carrots, celery, and peppers, giving everything a nice little stir. Feel free to take in the heavenly scent of onions simmering! -Don’t worry we’ll wait.
Continue to bask in the glorious aroma until the onions have become translucent. Make sure to stir occasionally to prevent anything from cooking unevenly. After the onions have softened and become translucent, toss in the minced garlic. Garlic burns rather quickly so really be sure to mix everything around before adding in the rice. After another 2-3 minutes incorporate your spices. The chili powder and cumin are what really gives this dish a punch of flavor, so feel free to add a little more to taste. No dish would be complete without salt, so give it a little Salt Bae action as well. Continue to stir until those glorious spices have evenly covered the rice grains. We are a no man left behind kind of company and that applies to how we cook as well!
When you add the tomatoes there will be a bit of hissing and popping as the liquid starts to deglaze the pan. This just means that all the yummy caramelized bits that are stuck to the pan are released and able to be fully incorporated back into the rice. You can then add water to your pan and bring it to a boil. Once it’s reached the boiling point, bring that baby down to a simmer and cover it to lock in all that flavor! It helps to have a clear pot lid to be able to tell when all the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. But don’t worry if your lid isn’t see-through, we’ll be able to help see you through to the finish line. (Just carefully peek inside the pan every 5 minutes or so.)
Now that your rice is nice and fluffy, turn off the heat and add in some fresh cilantro and more salt and pepper to taste. Let that bad boy rest for another 10 minutes or so before assembling your tacos.
The next two steps are equally as important, but if you don’t have time to make your own salsa or guacamole, store bought will do in a pinch! If you have the time, and love whipping things up from scratch, both of these recipes are hella tasty and a perfect addition to your Taco Tuesday menu.
We’re going to tackle the salsa first. All you have to do is grab some large tomatoes, a small onion, cilantro, some fiery jalapenos, and lemon juice. Chop up all your ingredients except our zesty lemon friend. If you like a chunkier salsa, go ahead and give them a rough chop. If a smoother finer salsa is more your jam, you could also put everything in a food processor, blender or even use an immersion blender if you have one. Whichever way you like it, be sure to add the juice of that little lemon guy to your salsa. You’ll also want to add a bit of salt as well to bring out all the Outstanding flavors, and bind them together. The next step is very important, so pay attention...you need to wait.
You need to let all the delicate flavors sit and settle. They need to be able to develop, otherwise it will just taste like tomatoes and onions. Don’t get us wrong, tomatoes and onions are delicious, but that’s not salsa! The good news is that while you wait you can crack open some avocados and make that scrumptious guacamole. Although make sure to be extra careful when getting the pit out of the avocado. Those little fellas can be tricky, and we don’t want anyone losing a finger!
We’re going to be using all the same ingredients as we used for the salsa, but adding in two whole smooth and creamy avocados. Dice up more of your onions and tomatoes, cilantro and jalapenos. This is another situation where you can really control the consistency of the dish. The more you mix and mash, the smoother it will get. You can play around with how spicy you want it as well, by adding in more jalapenos to your liking. After you’ve achieved your optimal guacamole texture and flavor combo put it aside..it’s time to assemble our tacos!
Warm up your tortillas, either on the stove or in the microwave (we recommend the stove) and set them up on your plate. Open up that bag of our PigOut Pigless Pork Rinds, and use them as the base of your taco. We’re using the Original flavor, but if you like to walk on the wild side, try the Hella Hot! Grab a scoop of the luscious, fluffy, spanish rice and a dollop of refried beans, then layer on your salsa and all the guacamole your little heart desires - we promise it doesn’t cost extra!
Have a seat, take a load off, and dig in. If you go for seconds, which you most definitely will, we won’t judge. In fact, we’ll be too busy getting thirds to even notice.
Let us know what you think, and be sure to tag us @OutstandingFoods if you take any pics!
Outstanding Tacos
Ingredients:
Soft corn tortillas (taco size)
PigOut Original Pigless Pork Rinds
Spanish Rice (see recipe below)
Refried beans
Salsa (see recipe below)
Guacamole (see recipe below)
Preparation
1.) Warm a soft corn tortilla.
2.) Crumble 3 tablespoons or so of PigOut Original Pigless Pork Rinds down the center of the taco shell.
3.) Load your taco up with Spanish Rice, refried beans, Salsa, Guacamole and whatever other toppings you enjoy on your tacos…
***Or you can start with a large flour tortilla and build a burrito instead
Spanish Rice
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup yellow onion, small dice
1/4 cup celery, small dice
1/4 cup carrot, peeled and small dice
1/4 cup green pepper, small dice
1/4 cup red pepper, small dice
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 cup long grain rice
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes (with liquid)
1 1/2 cups filtered water
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
Preparation
1.) Heat a saucepan on the stove over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and heat until hot. Add the onion, celery, carrot, green pepper and red pepper and saute, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a minute longer.
2.) Add in the rice and cook, stirring often, for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, cumin and salt and cook a few minutes more, stirring often.
3.) Pour in the tomatoes and stir, deglazing the pan. Add the water and bring the mixture to a boil.
4.) Cover and reduce the heat to low and simmer until all of the liquid has been absorbed. Turn off the heat and stir in the cilantro and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let rest, covered, for 10 minutes before serving.
Salsa
Ingredients:
2 large tomatoes, cut into small dice
1/2 cup (small) diced onion
2 tablespoons minced jalapeno
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Salt to taste
Preparation
1.) In a mixing bowl, mix the tomato, onion, jalapeno, lemon juice, cilantro and salt to taste. Mix until the ingredients are well combined.
2.) Let rest for at least 5 minutes before using to let the flavors develop.
Guacamole
Ingredients:
2 avocados, mashed with a fork
3 tablespoons (small) diced tomato
2 tablespoons (small) diced onion
1/2 tablespoon minced jalapeno
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
Salt to taste
Preparation
1.) In a mixing bowl, mix the avocado, tomato, onion, jalapeno, lemon juice, cilantro and salt to taste. Mix until the ingredients are well combined.
2.) Let rest for at least 5 minutes before using to let the flavors develop.
Enjoy!
