Easy Spicy Garlic Chipotle Jackfruit Tacos. Shredded Jackfruit tacos with garlic chipotle sauce. Top w/ avocado, salsa, vegan sour cream. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe
Jackfruit is the thing these days and starting to appear in stores that we visit. I got a bunch of cans from the Indian store this past weekend. When I told Mom, she said, you guys will never learn the the intricacies of how to peel a real Jackfruit (kathal in hindi) from scratch, remove the seeds and so on, everything you get is always packaged. I know Mom, I try to reduce all the packaging, but then I have only so much energy to spend in the kitchen, so the packaged stuff makes it convenient some days. Also, Jackfruit can become a sticky mess!
Use other shreddable things like squash, soy curls, meat subs, or use beans of choice. See this Easy Jackfruit Curry Post for availability details.
Boil the jackfruit, then cook in spicy garlicky chipotle sauce until it picks up the flavors. Serve in tacos or sandwiches, dressed with avocado or guacamole and hot sauce.
More shredded things recipes from the blog.
- Easy Jackfruit Curry
- Vegan Tinga bowl with Hearts of Palm, Chickpeas, Spanish…
- Pulled Butternut Squash Tacos. Vegan Glutenfree Recipe
- Jackfruit Meatballs Tacos
Happy videos for the day. This wonderful video by MFA of farm animals experiencing freedom. Finally free.
And this video with more animals, dogs, chimps, tigers, experiencing freedom!
Steps:
Boil the jackfruit for 10 minutes. Shred and keep aside. Make the chipotle garlic black pepper sauce. When the sauce smells roasted, add shredded jackfruit, salt and water. Cook until the sauce reduces.
Serve in warm tortillas with avocado, lettuce, salsa and hot sauce.
Spicy Garlic Chipotle Jackfruit Tacos
Ingredients
For the Spicy Jackfruit:
- 1 20 oz (566 g) can of young green Jackfruit in brine not ripe jackfruit in sugar syrup
- 1 small onion thinly sliced or chopped
- 1 or 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 1 tbsp adobo sauce use less or more to heat preference
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 2 Tbsp ketchup
- 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1 1/4 cup (294 ml) water divided
- salt to taste
To serve
- Soft Tacos or tortillas vegan
- Avocado or guacamole
- shredded lettuce
- vegan sour cream or salsa
Instructions
- Drain the Jackfruit. Add to a saucepan with 3 cups of water, bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 10 to 11 minutes. Drain, shred with a fork and keep aside. *You can skip this step and simmer the jackfruit in the sauce longer, Shred the jackfruit pieces midway during simmering when softened at Step 6.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions and a pinch of salt and cook until translucent. Stir occasionally. About 4 minutes.
- Blend chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, garlic cloves, ketchup, ancho chili, black pepper, cumin, coriander, oregano, a with 1/4 cup of water until smooth.
- Add the blended sauce to the onions and cook until the sauce thickens and smells roasted. Stir occasionally. About 6 to 8 minutes.
- Add the shredded jackfruit, 1 cup water and salt. Mix well. cover and cook for 10 minutes.
- Stir, reduce heat to medium,low and continue to cook until the sauce reduces and the jackfruit picks up the sauce flavor. 15 minutes or more. Taste and adjust salt, heat and sweet.
- Prep the toppings.
- Heat tortillas on a skillet or grill, add jackfruit. add lettuce or sprouts or greens of choice. Add avocado or guacamole, salsa or vegan sour cream and serve,
Notes
Nutrition
masala girl says
September 8, 2015 at 12:14 pmi’ve been wanting to make jackfruit for about a year! these look so good. love chipotle in anything though haha. i’ve never heard of my mom making jackfruit though, so ill have to ask if she or her mom ever made it (shes from Delhi )
Richa says
September 25, 2015 at 8:58 pmmy mom used to make a kathal subzi. maybe there is a different name she used?
Samantha @ The Planted Vegan says
September 8, 2015 at 1:57 pmAll these jackfruit recipes are making me want to try jackfruit more and more! Thanks for all the awesome recipes (and photos)!
Elena says
September 9, 2015 at 3:49 amHi! I love your blog and your recipies.
I was glad surprised about the jackfruit because i learned about it with the indonisian cuisine . I liked it very much!
So i bought a can of it but it is with sugar. Can i wash it to get the sugar off before coocking it?
Love from The Netherlands! Elena
Richa says
September 9, 2015 at 9:43 amHi Elena, that is ripe jackfruit. Ripe jackfruit is sweet like mango and is canned in sugar syrup. Use young green jackfruit packed in brine for savory recipes like this.
Erni says
January 13, 2016 at 7:26 pmYou can buy it in cans in syrup (for a sweet treat) or in brine (for something more savory).
Dan Hooley says
September 10, 2015 at 7:20 pmI tried making this but found it way too spicy. What size of a chipotle pepper did you use? I’m thinking maybe mine was too big. Should I up the ketchup? Any ideas?
Richa says
September 10, 2015 at 10:29 pmsome peppers end up spicier than the usual. I used 2 average 2 to 2.5 inch peppers. you can add more jackfruit and cook, or add a chopped potato and water and let it sit overnight. you can also cook it with the potato for a bit. the potato should absorb some heat. remove the potato to use elsewhere. serve with cooling toppings like vegan sour cream.
Zo says
February 7, 2016 at 9:24 pmYum, made it tonight, friend put the pic up on instagram. Forgot to double up the recipe for 4 people. Gotta make it again I guess. Put the leftover chipotle in adobo sauce in the freezer for the next time. Didn’t have ancho chili powder, put cayenne instead, would put less next time for a lil less heat. Weird how the jackfruit looks so much like meat. Friend says it looks like pulled pork.
Thanks for another great recipe, Richa! Can’t wait to make the jackfruit curry.
Richa says
February 7, 2016 at 10:54 pmThats awesome! yes ancho isnt as spicy and adds more flavor, while cayenne is hot!
Bruce lee says
January 10, 2017 at 11:23 pmOMG how good those look .
suzi says
January 11, 2017 at 7:16 amjust wondering, have you ever made a double batch and tried freezing half? does jackfruit freeze well?
Bkmom3 says
April 20, 2017 at 4:03 pmDo you think it’s possible to rehydrate dried jackfruit for bbq? Last can I got tasted icky so I thought dried might have less of a punky flavor.
Richa says
April 20, 2017 at 6:25 pmWhats the punky flavor? Maybe you need to just squeeze out all the brine and then cook it in the sauce?
Bkmom3 says
April 20, 2017 at 8:33 pmNot sure. The first time I made it, it was great. Until I added the nutritional yeast (sorry, folks, I’m not a big fan). The 2nd time I made it, it just tasted weird. Like the can, perhaps? Not sure. I rinsed it well. Should I have boiled it?
Richa says
April 20, 2017 at 10:58 pmYes either boil it or wring it really well using paper napkins. the brine sometimes has a salty and strong flavor. Also there is no nutritional yeast in this recipe. was the right kind of jackfruit? young green.
Bkmom3 says
April 21, 2017 at 12:25 pmLOL. Sorry for the confusion. The first bbq recipe I tried used Annie’s bbq sauce and nutritional yeast (just before serving). I sampled it with just the bbq sauce and thought it was great. When I served it up……..yuck. To be fair, that was my first recipe with nutritional yeast and it may have been in the pantry for a while. Does it go bad or just always taste so strong?
rachele says
May 4, 2017 at 8:32 amHI, We have a ripe fresh jackfruit and would love to make a savory recipe work. Is it possible? It is sweat but maybe with all the spices it would offset? thanks for your help!
Richa says
May 4, 2017 at 9:53 pmripe jackfruit is very sweet. so you will get a sweet and spicy result. Make a small portion to see how you like it
Nicole Klepper says
May 7, 2017 at 1:31 pmHello!
Just sending along a compliment! We got the new Canned Jackfruit from Trader Joes and were looking for an easy spicy dish to make! This one is a WINNER!
Thank you so much, Richa!
Richa says
May 7, 2017 at 7:12 pmAwesome!
Linda says
June 20, 2017 at 6:24 amI made these lastnight and the flavour is amazing but I too had the problem of it being out of the ballpark spicy! 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce was way too much, next time I think I’ll use less than 1. Tasty though! I ended up mixing it in the taco with a little plain refried beans to tone it down and added a touch of mango puree on top.
Richa says
June 20, 2017 at 9:36 amchipotle peppers can be moderate to really hot. You can remove the seeds from the peppers to reduce the heat. Do that carefully (with gloves). I usually keep some dried chipotle pepper powder handy, so that if i get mild or moderate heat chipotle peppers, i use the powder to add more of the heat and flavor later while simmering.
Kit Haynes says
June 26, 2017 at 9:13 amI was reluctant to try this because I’ve not had good luck with jackfruit recipes but I still had 2 cans left of the stuff and wanted to make a quick lunch over the weekend. Let me tell you – these were some tasty tacos! And I had to omit coriander and chili powder because I was out. I did have more jackfruit than sauce but that’s all right – the sauce is pretty quick to make. And now I know my last can of jackfruit will not go to waste.
Thanks Richa!
Richa says
June 26, 2017 at 9:54 amAwesome! you can whip up another batch of the sauce and simmer the jackfruit for a bit.
Emily says
August 14, 2017 at 3:31 pmOMG These were so Ahmazing! Removed the seeds from the peppers and it was the right heat for us. Added to the rotation!
elziv says
September 5, 2017 at 4:15 amlooks so yummy,
Lisa Ellis says
November 7, 2017 at 11:19 pmThese were killer spicy for us. I scraped out the seeds and used less of all spice that this recipe called for, but it was still way too hot. Lol, where do you come from that you could handle this much heat? I added about 1/3 of a bottle of ketchup to tone down the heat, so I didn’t have to throw it out. It is tasty now, but more like BBQ. I would jackfruit again, but not with this sauce.
Richa says
November 8, 2017 at 12:06 amoops. Maybe you got a hot batch. Chipotle chilies are hot but sometimes 1 chile in a batch ends up ultra hot. It happens with other hot chilies like green serrano, thai or bird’s eye as well. I ended up with a sauce once in which i used just 1 serrano and it was too hot to eat. Added some cashew cream and it worked out. I do eat a good level of hot from Indian food, but sometimes the limits get tested by unknown forces 🙂
AlexA says
December 10, 2017 at 4:46 pmLoved these! Used only one chipotle and 6 garlic cloves and still found spicy. Added more ketchup and that helped. Served with cut up Boston lettuce, avocado, cilantro and light sour cream in whole wheat tortillas. Husband loved these too.
Richa says
December 10, 2017 at 8:06 pmAwesome! I think i mentioned above the chipoptles vary in heat. If you are lucky, most end up being mild, otherwise they end up too hot. Remove all of the seeds before using. You can also lightly taste the pepper mixed with ketchup or vegan sour cream before blending to ensure that it is mild. If too hot use much less.
Tiffany says
January 11, 2018 at 3:50 pmThis looks amazing (as do all of the recipes on your site)! Can this be made in the Instant Pot? If so, how long would you recommend cooking under pressure?
Richa says
January 11, 2018 at 10:17 pmYes, cook on saute till step 4, then add a few tbsp of water and jackfruit and salt and cook on manual for 4 mins. Natural release
VA says
February 15, 2018 at 8:28 amI’ve made this countless times now. This is one of my favorite jackfruit recipes. Last night I added chopped creminis right before adding the jackfruit, mostly because I really need to use my mushrooms; they added a really nice texture to the taco.
Richa says
February 15, 2018 at 9:19 amAwesome!! Mushrooms are a great addition.
Jess N says
May 2, 2018 at 12:41 pmDo you have to cut the core off or remove the seeds from the jackfruit prior to boiling? or is this done during the shredding process?
Thanks, this looks delicious and plan to make this weekend.
Richa says
May 11, 2018 at 12:06 amnot really, the core usually is edible. if it is too hard like a stem, remove it. Some brands dont remove enough of the core when canning.
Maneesha says
June 1, 2018 at 9:30 amHi Richa! This jackfruit recipe is awesome! Perfect for taco night! This was my first time cooking with jackfruit, and I’m looking forward to trying out more of your jackfruit recipes on the blog!
Richa says
June 1, 2018 at 12:24 pmawesome!
Amanda says
July 6, 2018 at 8:34 pmThese were delicious! It was my first time cooking jackfruit and it turned out great. The avocado and cilantro added the perfect balance. I’ll definitely make these again. Thanks!
Richa says
July 6, 2018 at 11:07 pmyay!
Shane says
February 23, 2019 at 7:22 pmIf using other vegan meat instead of jackfruit, should one still use a cup of water for the sauce in step 5?
Richa says
February 23, 2019 at 11:31 pmyes, you wont need that much water. Just 1/4 cup should be enough
Shane says
February 24, 2019 at 8:00 pmHero! Thanks. Your recipes have become staples in our house.
Richa says
February 24, 2019 at 9:00 pmthanks!!
Shane says
March 24, 2019 at 7:27 pmWant to finally get the 5* rating on this. We used No Evil Chik’n the first time, and tonite had a soy curl vs jackfruit showdown. This sauce is so good, every protein tastes amazing. Thanks again!
Richa says
March 24, 2019 at 7:46 pmyay!!
Tina says
April 8, 2019 at 5:36 amI cannot do spicy beyond medium. What should I omit as I see a few comments that this was way too spicy. I wouldn’t be able to eat it. I want to try this so bad. Any suggestions? Thank you.
Richa says
April 8, 2019 at 3:19 pmUse a combination of mild chili powder and the chipotle chilis. Also remove the seeds from the chipotle chili before using