Vegan Taco Stuffed Tomatoes (2024)

Published: Sep 7, 2019 · Updated: Sep 8, 2019

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These vegan taco stuffed tomatoes are easy to prepare and very delicious with their “meaty” filling of taco spice seasoned tvp; a vegan meat substitute that is much more economical and versatile than veggie ground round.

Serve them as is or pile on your favourite taco toppings: vegan cheese, vegan sour cream, shredded lettuce, avocado, corn chips, cilantro ... the list goes on!

We’ve had a greattomato season in our garden this year – so much so that we’re almost sick ofeating tomatoes every day! I’ve been trying to come up with creative ways ofusing them and now that our biggest beauties are finally ripening, I’ve got theperfect specimens for stuffing!

Just like with vegan stuffed peppers, you can stuff a tomato with pretty much anything and let me tell you, I’ve been experimenting with all kinds of fillings for our abundance of tomatoes! My favourite recipe so far has been these taco tomatoes using my favourite cheap meat substitute: tvp.

I love tvp so much I even wrote a whole recipe collection post about it: 40+ TVP Recipes. If you’re not familiar with tvp and why you should have it in your vegan pantry at all times, that post will explain it all for you!

Making these vegantaco stuffed tomatoes couldn’t be easier. First scoop out the tomato innards. Ibriefly perused some non-vegan taco tomato recipes and was annoyed by the factthat most of them make no use of the tomato pulp! How wasteful. My recipe fixesthat!

After frying off someonion and garlic, add the chopped tomato flesh and let it fry down into a thickpaste. Then add in your taco seasoning and give it a minute to release thearomas.

You can use either astore-bought packet of taco seasoning or make your own using your favouriterecipe. Most store-bought taco seasonings are vegan but be sure to read theingredients and check online if in doubt. If you don’t have a large spicecollection, using a packaged taco seasoning is probably more economical thanbuying a bunch of spices and mixing your own.

I know this soundsweird but my supermarket only carries one brand of taco seasoning. I find itlacking in cumin and smoked paprika so I added an extra teaspoon of each to mypan. Since each brand is different, feel free to add in, or not, any extraseasonings that you like!

Once you’ve got thespices how you like, add in your pre-soaked tvp crumbles. I like to give them asqueeze with my hands to get out any excess water and prevent them from gettingtoo soggy and losing some of their “meaty” texture.

I also take the panoff the heat before adding the tvp in for the same reason of maintaining itstexture. I found that heating it in the pan made it go too soft for my liking.

A bit of tomato sauceis necessary to give the tvp an extra bit of flavour and juiciness so that getsstirred in now along with some cilantro, if you like it, and the tomatoes areready for stuffing!

Bake the stuffedtomatoes for about 25 minutes or until they are soft and easily pierced with aknife. If you want to add some vegan cheese (choose a brand that melts!), addit in the last 5 minutes.

Because I’m acheapskate, I served these vegan taco stuffed tomatoes with just a sprinklingof cilantro and some corn chips on the side. But you can dress them up moretaco-like by adding some shredded lettuce, a dollop of vegan sour cream orvegan yogurt, avocado, a slice of lime, corn, beans ... whatever you want!

Vegan Taco Stuffed Tomatoes

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Total Price: $4.09

Price per Serving: $1.02

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 144kcal

Ingredients

1 cup (75 grams) dried tvp / textured vegetable protein - $1.53
4 large tomatoes - $0.87
Salt and pepper as necessary - $0.06
1 tablespoon oil - $0.08
½ large onion finely diced - $0.12
2 cloves of garlic minced - $0.16
1 packet taco seasoning about 4 tablespoons. Packets are usually just over 1 oz / 30 gr. - $1.00
Optional: additional spices if you think it’s necessary. I added 1 tsp each cumin and smoked paprika - $0.07
¼ cup (60 ml) plain tomato sauce - $0.12
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro plus more for garnish if desired - $0.08
Optional toppings: vegan cheese corn chips, vegan sour cream, avocado, shredded lettuce, lime slices, tortilla chips, etc.

Instructions

Put the dried tvp in a bowl and cover with water. Set aside.
Slice the tops of the tomatoes and use a spoon to scoop out the pulp and seeds into a bowl. Season the insides of the tomatoes generously with salt and pepper and place them upside down on a plate to drain any excess juice.
Remove the chunks of tomato pulp from the bowl, wiping off the seeds and membranes, and roughly chop them. I ended up with just over one cup of chopped tomato pulp.
In a large pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and fry until transparent and soft then add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add the chopped tomato pulp. Cook down, stirring frequently, until you have a thick paste – about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 F / 17Drain the tvp and give it a little squeeze with your hands to remove the excess water.
Add the taco seasoning and any additional spices that you think are lacking to the pan and fry, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds to a minute until darkened in colour and the spices are aromatic. Turn off the heat and add the tvp, tomato sauce and cilantro. Mix well and taste. Add a pinch of salt and pepper only if necessary.
Stuff the filling into the tomatoes and place in an oven-safe dish. If you’re not adding vegan cheese, you can place the lids back on the tomatoes. Bake for 25 minutes or until soft and easily pierced with a knife. If adding vegan cheese, add it in the last 5 minutes to melt.
Serve hot with your choice of toppings.