These Vegan Birria Tacos are ridiculously flavorful and oh so filling! They are so hearty that even your meat loving friends will be asking for seconds!
Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chilis. Soak dried chilis in 2 cups of boiling water for 20 minutes.
Shred the mushrooms with a fork or your hands. Once shredded, toss with oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Set aside and let marinate until ready to use.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic cloves and sauté for 5-6 minutes, stirring often, until the onions are translucent and lightly browned.
Add the rehydrated chilis with the soaking water, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, apple cider vinegar, oregano, cumin, salt, black pepper, cinnamon, and cloves to a high-speed blender. Blend until smooth.
Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve back into the saucepan and add the bay leaves and vegetable broth. Let the mixture come to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Discard the bay leaves.
To cook the mushrooms, set another large skillet over medium heat. Add the marinated mushrooms and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring often, until the mushrooms are lightly browned. Add 2 cups of the sauce to the mushrooms, reserving the rest for later. Cook for an additional 10 minutes, stirring often.
To prepare the tacos, working in batches of 2-3 tortillas, dip the tortillas in the reserved sauce. Then, place the dipped tortillas in a preheated skillet over medium heat. Fry for 1 minute and then fill half of the tortilla with the mushroom filling. Top with some onions and cilantro and then fold over. Fry on each side for 1-2 minutes, until golden. Repeat with remaining sauce, tortillas and mushroom filling.
Serve with remaining reserved sauce topped with cilantro and onion.
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Notes
Tips and Tricks for Vegan Birria Tacos
I like to use my cast iron skillet for pan-frying the tacos. It gives the tacos a great crust and the sauce doesn’t stick to the pan like it might with a stainless steel skillet. You can use a non-stick skillet if you prefer.
I used king oyster mushrooms for this recipe, which are really meaty. You can find them at health food stores and Asian grocery stores. You can also use oyster mushrooms, which are smaller than king oyster mushrooms but still meaty. The king oyster mushrooms are really easy to shred, similar to meat. If you can’t find either of these types of mushrooms, you can use shiitake or portobello mushrooms and thinly slice them.
To shred the mushrooms, use a fork or your hands. The caps of the mushrooms are not easy to shred, so I usually just slice them very thinly.
I remove most of the seeds from my dried chilis. If you like a lot of heat, you can leave the seeds in the chilis.