These vegan portobello mushroom tacos feature juicy marinated and roasted portobello caps, which are sliced and layered into soft tortillas. The tacos also contain tender pieces of roasted sweet potato and flavorful toppings, including pickled onions, greens, and plant-based cheese. You can prepare the components ahead of time for a quick, colorful, nourishing meal.

There was a stretch of time early this past summer when I ate these portobello mushroom tacos almost every day for breakfast.

I love a savory breakfast, and breakfast tacos might be the one that I make most often.

Breakfast tacos are good hot or cold. They’re easy to assemble if you meal prep some of the components, and they lend themselves to endless variation.

Some time ago, I made sweet potato tacos with black bean spread. That recipe became a go-to. It proved to me that roasted sweet potatoes are a terrific taco filling component: tender enough that they aren’t hard to eat in a taco, but also hearty enough to make the taco feel substantive.

This recipe is a relative of that one, but I it has more texture—and more veggies! You’ll find mushrooms, greens, sweet potatoes, and onion here.

The tacos have become, among other things, one of my favorite ways to incorporate nutrient-dense mushrooms into my diet.

Hearty and wholesome portobello mushrooms

Portobello mushrooms make their way into a lot of plant-based recipes. They’re versatile, and they have a satisfying texture.

Portobellos are often described as being “meaty,” thanks to their thick caps and chewy consistency.

Portobello mushroom nutrition

Portobello mushrooms are good sources of potassium, an electrolyte that aids in hydration status and fluid balance.

They’re also an excellent source of selenium. Selenium has antioxidant function, which means that it may have a protective effect against the stresses of biological and environmental aging. Proper selenium intake is also important for thyroid health.

Portobello mushrooms also provide niacin, or Vitamin B3. Niacin is associated with energy production, circulation, and also with antioxidant effects.

Finally, portobellos are packed with dietary fiber, which also benefits a healthy blood lipid profile. In addition, dietary fiber is associated with GI regularity and overall digestive wellness.

Portobello vs portobella

Am I the only person who’s wondered about this?!

If you’re curious to know why these mushrooms are sometimes called portobello and sometimes called portobella, the answer is that both names are acceptable.

These masculine and feminine nouns, hence the different spellings. Both can be used to describe the hearty mushrooms that so many of us know and love to use in cooking.

Portobello mushroom taco ingredients

The ingredients in these vibrant, colorful tacos are pretty simple. In no particular order:

Portobello mushrooms

You’ll need four regular sized (or 3 giant) portobello mushroom caps. Stem them and clean them before proceeding with the recipe.

If you want to remove the mushroom gills, you can; I usually do.

Sweet potatoes

Crisp tender sweet potatoes join forces with the mushrooms to create a vegetable-forward filling for these tacos.

You’ll need about four sweet potatoes for the recipe.

Vegan cheese

I think that a few spoonfuls of crumbled, plant-based is a wonderful topping. The cheese will add umami, salt, and some texture to the tacos, as well as healthful fat.

If you’d like to use a homemade vegan cheese, I recommend my salty & savory vegan feta cheese.

This cheese is tofu-based, so it will also contribute plant-protein to your tacos.

You can also use a store-bought vegan cheese here. The Forager brand makes a vegan queso fresco that would work really well.

I’m also a big fan of vegan feta from the Violife brand and the Follow Your Heart brand.

Quick pickled onions

In all honesty, I think that at least 50% of the dishes I make are better with a topping of 10-minute quick pickled onions.

Salads, avocado toast, hummus toast, tofu scrambles, and various whole grain dishes: they all take on more personality with some quick pickled onions on top.

These mushroom tacos are no exception. I love the tart, salty flavor that pickled onions add to the dish—not to mention their bright pop of color!

If you don’t have pickled onions at home, but you love the flavor of pickled, briny things, then you could add pickled quick pickled carrot ribbons or quick pickled cucumber slices instead.

Marinade

Before those mushrooms get baked and ready to become taco filling, they’re marinated in a flavorful mixture of:

• freshly squeezed lime juice
• avocado oil
• soy sauce or tamari
• agave or maple syrup
• garlic
• cumin
• crushed red pepper flakes

You can certainly add some of your own touches, such as additional spices, a little hot sauce, or fresh herbs, to the marinade.

Tacos

Soft corn tortillas are my soft taco of choice. However, you can also use wheat tacos, wheat and corn tacos, or an alternative of choice.

If you have both gluten and wheat allergies, you could try cassava tortillas, almond flour tortillas, or even large romaine lettuce leaves.

Can I use a different type of mushroom?

If you can’t find portobello mushrooms, or if you don’t love them, you can definitely replace them in the recipe.

Many other types of mushrooms, ranging from humble sliced button mushrooms to trumpet mushrooms, can work in the recipe.

However, with smaller mushrooms, like shiitakes or sliced cremini mushrooms, cooking time may be shorter. Start checking the mushrooms after 15 minutes of roasting for doneness.

How to make portobello mushroom tacos with roasted sweet potato

Step 1: Marinate the mushrooms

First, you’ll place your cleaned mushroom caps into a large, flat, storage container with a lid.

Whisk together the marinade ingredients, then pour them over the mushrooms in the container.

The mushroom caps will need to marinate, covered, for at least 8 hours in the fridge. They can marinate for up to 48 hours, if that suits yours schedule best. I usually leave in them in the fridge overnight.

Step 2: Bake the mushrooms and sweet potato

After the mushrooms marinate, you’ll bake them in the oven.

Simultaneously, you’ll roast your sweet potato cubes.

The vegetables will need about 30-35 minutes of roasting time in total. Halfway through roasting, be sure to flip the mushroom caps over on their sheet and stir the sweet potatoes for even browning.

In the last 5 minutes of roasting, you also have the option to warm your tortillas. Simply wrap them in foil and transfer them to the oven.

Placing them directly on a rack is ok, if you have the space. Alternatively, wait until the vegetables have been removed from the oven, then warm the tortillas as you slice your mushroom caps.

Step 3: Prepare the taco ingredients

Once the mushroom caps are cool enough to handle, cut them into slices for easy piling into your tacos.

Step 4: Assemble your mushroom tacos

I like to pile these tacos with the roasted sweet potatoes and mushrooms, a small handful (per taco) of baby spinach leaves or chopped romaine, and my toppings: vegan feta cheese and quick pickled onion.

Additional topping suggestions

If the vegan cheese and/or pickled onions aren’t what you’re craving, there are so many other ingredients you could use instead.

Some examples:

• Toasted pepitas
• Fresh, chopped cilantro leaves
• Pickled jalapenos
• Shredded vegan cheese of choice
• Vegan yellow cheese sauce
• Halved grape or cherry tomatoes
• Roasted red bell peppers
• Cilantro cashew lime sauce
• Chimichurri sauce
• Sunflower seed romesco
• Sliced avocado

Accompaniments and serving suggestions

I love to serve the tacos with a fresh green salad or some simply prepared veggies. Some ideas:

• Corn avocado salad
• Tofu feta kale salad
• Protein-packed bean and quinoa salad
• A sliced half avocado
• Steamed or roasted broccoli
• Grilled zucchini spears
• Sliced cucumbers
• Roasted red bell peppers

Meal prep & storage

Once roasted, the mushrooms and sweet potatoes will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

The vegan feta cheese can be stored in the fridge for up to 6 days. The pickled onions will last for a couple weeks.

These tacos are relatively easy to make once at least one of those components has been made in advance. And they’re nearly effortless to assemble if past you was kind enough to prepare all of them for future you.

One of the nice things about these mushroom tacos is that you can enjoy them year round, or at least for a significant portion of the year.

Mushrooms and sweet potatoes can each be found in grocery stores year-round or in farmers markets from early or late fall through March.

Cooler weather—which we’re just starting to experience where I live—makes it a little tougher for many folks to eat ample veggies. Nutrition clients often tell me that they find vegetable consumption more difficult in the fall and winter.

I hear this, but I often point out that salads and other summery fare aren’t the only way to celebrate produce. Wintery soups, stews, pasta dishes, and many other recipe types allow us to showcase vegetables in an intuitive, seasonal way.

Tacos are an especially great vehicle for roasted or sautéed veggies, as this recipe demonstrates. I hope that the sweet potato and mushroom tacos will become a go-to meal for you, as they are for me!

xo