One Pot Vegan Taco Skillet

Hello TKD readers! I am sure you all are going to love today’s post. This recipe of one-pot vegan taco skillet was born out of necessity. A busy mama with no clear dinner plan running behind on schedule. Sounds familiar? Ever since I have been back from my trip to India, I feel I am still playing catch up with everything going around. After almost a month of Indian festivals, it was Mr. little V’s fifth birthday and now the Holidays. I love all the excitement and the fun but it does get me tired sometimes.

You know that I am a strong believer of planning all our weeknight meals. However, since mid-October I have not had a chance to it. Both Dr. A and I are traveling a lot for work, Ms. Little A has busy school and basketball schedule and weekends are taken up by parties and get togethers. This has left me with almost no time to plan weeknight dinners and Sunday grocery store trips. Even without a plan, I always but lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, eggs, cheese and other staples. Most days my well-stuffed Indian pantry of lentils and beans comes to my rescue.

This recipe of one pot vegan taco skillet was such a happy surprise! Though I usually make quinoa with beans in my pressure cooker (recipe here), this skillet took no more than 5 minutes to put together and everything was on the dinner table in under 30 minutes. Every mom’s (or college student’s) dream come true!

PLAN AHEAD!

Start up by quickly chopping whatever veggies you want to use. I used onions and red and green bell peppers. I always keep lot of frozen vegetables on hand and used frozen edamame and corn for this recipe. You can most likely also find chopped up onions and bell peppers blend in the freezer section of your grocery store. So this is the only prep step that you need in this recipe. Rest is dumping everything together in a skillet (my Scanpan) and let it cook. While the things are cooking up, you can get the toppings ready. Chop an avocado, some cilantro, slice a lime and shred some cheese. That’s it!

I enjoyed this taco skillet in a bowl with all the fixings while rest of TKD clan tucked it inside flour tortillas to make tacos. You can also serve it with chips. Check out the end of this post for more ideas to customize this recipe to your taste.

A combination of all the brain foods in a skillet – one pot, ready in 30 minutes – a perfect weeknight meal that will become your family’s new meatless favorite.

Here is the handy dandy printable:

One Pot Vegan Taco Skillet

Vaishali

This one-pot vegan taco skillet is a completely balanced meal that takes less than five minutes to put together and is ready in under 30 minutes. A complete weeknight dinner winner.

4.95 from 19 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Resting Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 teaspoon olive oil see notes
• ▢ 1 medium white onion chopped about 1 cup
• ▢ ½ red bell pepper diced small
• ▢ ½ yellow or green bell pepper diced small
• ▢ 1 cup frozen edamame and corn about ½ cup each see notes
• ▢ 1 can black beans drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 cup quinoa
• ▢ 1 tablespoon taco seasoning or to taste
• ▢ 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ 2 cups vegetable broth see notes
• ▢ Salt and black pepper to taste

To serve (optional):

• ▢ Chopped cilantro
• ▢ Lime wedges
• ▢ Sour cream
• ▢ Avocado
• ▢ Salsa
• ▢ Chips
• ▢ Tortillas

Instructions

 

• Set a heavy bottomed cast iron or nonstick skillet (that has a lid) on medium high heat and add the oil.
• Once the oil is nice and shiny, add the chopped onions and bell peppers.
• Stir for about a minute and then add the frozen edamame, corn, and black beans.
• Add the dry quinoa, taco seasoning and garlic powder. Give everything a big mix.
• Add the broth and increase the heat to high. Add salt and pepper and cover the skillet.
• Once the stuff in the skillet starts boiling, lower the heat to low/simmer, cover and cook for 20-25 minutes until the quinoa is cooked.
• Wait for 5 minutes and then fluff with a fork.
• Serve warm as such in a bowl topped with desire toppings, or tucked in a tortilla to make a taco or a burrito or as a dip with chips.

Notes

I made this in my favorite nonstick Scanpan that uses almost no oil, if you are using a traditional stainless steel skillet you might have to add more olive oil.

To save time, you can use frozen chopped onion and bell pepper blend. Use about 1.5 cups.

Another time saving tip is to chop and get all the toppings ready while our vegan taco skillet is cooking. You can use whatever veggies you want. Edamame adds a good bit of protein along with black beans and quinoa.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Other variations of this skillet:

1. Add browned soy granules (about ½ cup)
2. If not making it vegan/vegetarian, cooked ground or shredded chicken can be mixed in about five minutes before the end of cooking time.
3. You can top the skillet with shredded Monterey jack cheese for last 5 minutes of cooking time, cover and cook. Serve as a dip with tortilla chips.

If you like this recipe, some other recipes that you can make with similar ingredients are:

Quinoa Salad

Quinoa with beans in a pressure cooker

Protein Rich Quinoa and Lentil Salad

I hope you will give this nutritionally packed, quick, easy and one pot meal a try during one of your crazy busy weeknights. If you do share it on your social media and tag The Kitchen Docs on Facebook or Instagram.

Love - Vaishali

Tools used

Knives: Chopping board:

Measuring cups: Measuring spoons:

Scanpan or cast iron skillet: OR

Supplies that you might need