Black Bean Tacos + Avocado Basil Mango Sauce

When it comes to these Vegan Black Bean Tacos + Avocado Basil Mango Sauce, you’re in for a kick of real flavor. With each taco stuffed with black beans, red cabbage, tomatoes, spinach, avocado, and jalapeños; the real star of this dish is the lightly drizzled bright green sauce which nicely balances between sweet and savory. Perfect as a healthier lunch or dinner option.

With Father’s Day fast approaching, this recipe makes for the perfect easy and simple way to add a nicely satisfying meal to the special guy(s) in your life. While most guys enjoy a big, juicy burger or tender and moist slice of steak, this vegan option makes for a fun way to keep things healthier and meat-free if you choose.

While I do enjoy a good taco loaded with fully seasoned turkey meat, I chose to go down the route of a vegan taco so that I could keep things interesting. Not to say that meat isn’t interesting, however, when making a meat-less dish, there is a bit more challenge involved to ensure that it’s just as satisfying. Haha.

Speaking of vegan, have you tried this Roasted Plantain + BBQ Chickpea Vegan Bowl recipe? It’s the ultimate dinner idea that comes packed with a sweet + spicy side of chickpeas, fresh spinach, baked sweet potatoes, snow peas, and a twist of oven roasted sweet plantains. Pure perfection in one dish.

Back to this dish—I do have black bean tacos ever so often, but I haven’t eaten anything like this one. Surprisingly, adding red cabbage as opposed to lettuce or greens give tacos a refreshing taste. Yum! Because of my braces, I have a tough time eating foods that are crunchy, hard, or overly-sticky, therefore, I lightly cooked the red cabbage to soften it a bit. But of course, if you want to keep your cabbage in it’s raw state, be my guess. I would just recommend thinly slicing your cabbage to ensure that each bite gathers everything evenly.

Let’s dig right into the REAL star of this recipe—-the Avocado Basil Mango sauce. OK, so I know that this may sound like a lot, but it’s so perfect! You would need to prove this for yourself, trust me! I chose to use frozen mangos, however, if you’re able to get fresh mangos, you certainly can’t go wrong with that. More importantly, the avocado adds a nice creaminess and thickness to the sauce while the basil gives it a fresh herb-like flavor. Everything just works! Besides, anything with mango flavor adds an island feel to that dish and you can’t beat that, right?

Looking for something sweet to end the day off right? Take a quick peek at these Vegan Strawberry Oatmeal Ice Cream Sandwiches or perhaps you’d enjoy this Vegan Peanut Butter + Pecan Milkshake instead.

To Make the Avocado Basil Mango Sauce:

Add together the mango, avocado, grape-seed oil, basil leaves, and juice of a lemon to a blender and blend on high speed until smooth. **Be sure to add more grape-seed oil and lemon juice (1 Tbsp at a time) if needed to make sauce less thick.**

Then add sea salt, garlic, pinch of oregano, and dried parsley to sauce and blend for another minute or two, until completely smooth.

Add sauce to a small bowl or container and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

To Make the Black Bean Tacos:

Cook black beans and set aside until slightly cooled. Warm small soft tortillas for 1-2 minutes in the oven and set aside.

To assemble, add 2 Tbsps of black beans atop a tortilla, red cabbage, spinach, diced tomatoes, sliced avocados, and top with jalapenos. Repeat until desired amount of tacos are made. Now, remove Avocado Basil Mango sauce from refrigerator and drizzle over tacos. Bon Appetite.

Vegan Black Bean Tacos + Avocado Basil Mango Sauce