Vegan Taquitos with Lentils, Squash, Arugula and Avocado Crema

Skip the deep fried and meat heavy traditional taquitos and make vegan taquitos with red lentils, butternut squash, chickpeas, arugula and red onion instead. Baked to make these healthier and then drizzle with a decadent avocado crema. Gluten-Free too. 20 grams of protein per serving. A  Cinco de Mayo themed healthy dinner or party appetizer. 

Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner so I know you can’t get enough Mexican themed recipes. Well here’s one more.

I’m going to assume you haven’t quite gotten your fix with vegan Mexican themed recipes. I have several meat heavy Cinco de Mayo themed recipes (think Mexican spicy slow cooker chicken with pineapple,  Mexican turkey taco lettuce wraps, seven layer dip, you get idea).

But I wanted a veggie heavy healthy recipe – so meet your new favorite baked vegan taquitos.

Now before I got to naming this recipe I needed to figure out what the difference between taquitos and flautas was. Was there a difference? It doesn’t seem to be a big one – taquitos are normally made with gluten free corn tortillas, whereas flautas are made with regular flour tortillas. And taquitos are normally made with smaller tortillas, whereas flautas are made with larger, longer full size ones.

Which officially qualifies this recipes as neither a taquito nor a flauta as these are made with gluten-free corn tortillas, but those were big full size ones. Oh well, you’ll enjoy them either way.

The filling for these vegan taquitos is mashed up cooked squash, red lentils, chickpeas, arugula and red onions.

**The key is to make sure to drain all the water after cooking so that you mashed mixture is very dry and not liquidy. Key tip right there!

Add a couple tablespoons of the filling to each tortilla and then roll up tightly. Don’t get too greedy with the filling, no need to over stuff the tortillas. Better to have more tortillas than a few bulging overstuffed ones.

I only mention this because I personally have a probably with overstuffing, overlaying, mixins, toppings, fillings, etc. I just can’t help myself, but maybe you can!

Bake until browned and in the meantime whip up the avocado crema (my favorite part) in the blender.

Serve these vegan taquitos drizzled with avocado crema (or if you’re like me just dip each bite of the taquito deeply into the sauce).

A perfect healthy and vegan take on the classic taquito, just in time for Cinco de Mayo celebrations. Serve for dinner or as an appetizer.

4.8 from 5 votes

Print

Vegan Taquitos with Avocado Crema

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

45 mins

Total Time

1 hr

 

Vegan Taquitos with Avocado Crema make for the perfect meatless dinner. Full of hearty and healthy flavors. Perfect for Cinco de Mayo too! 

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: gluten free, Healthy, Mexican, Vegan

Servings: 6

Calories: 492 kcal

Author: Vicky Berman

Ingredients

• 1 cup red lentils
• 2 and 1/2 cups diced butternut squash
• 1 can chickpeas
• 1/2 red onion diced
• 1 cup arugula diced
• 10-20 vegan gluten free corn tortillas depending on the size
• additional olive oil for brushing
• For the sauce:
• 2 small avocados
• 1 clove garlic chopped
• 1 lime juiced
• 1 small red chili pepper diced (optional - depending on your desired spice level)
• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons coconut milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Combine red lentils and squash in a pot. Add 2 cups water and cook until lentils and squash are soft and cooked through. Drain.
3. In a large bowl mash chickpeas and add the squash lentil mix. Mash into a smooth dry mixture. Add red onions, arugula, and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Divide the mix evenly among the tortillas, a few tablespoons per tortilla and roll them up.
5. Place tortillas side by side on baking sheet, seam side down.
6. Brush the tortillas with additional olive oil.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes until tops are browned and look crisped up.
8. In a blender combine the sauce ingredients, avocados, garlic, lime juice, red chili pepper (optional), olive oil and coconut milk. Blend until smooth.
9. Serve tacquitos with avocado crema.

Nutrition Facts

Vegan Taquitos with Avocado Crema

Amount Per Serving

Calories 492 Calories from Fat 162

% Daily Value*

Fat 18g28%

Saturated Fat 4g25%

Sodium 40mg2%

Potassium 1655mg47%

Carbohydrates 75g25%

Fiber 22g92%

Sugar 7g8%

Protein 14g28%

Vitamin A 26835IU537%

Vitamin C 75.9mg92%

Calcium 193mg19%

Iron 5.4mg30%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.