A fast, delicious, and vegan dinner! These taquitos aren’t too spicy, making them perfect for everyone at the dinner table. 

THE INGREDIENTS:

Canned Chickpeas: Canned chickpeas are much quicker to work with than dry chickpeas! Their soft texture makes them perfect for mashing. If you are using dry chickpeas, follow the cooking instructions on the package before continuing to this recipe. You want to make sure they’re soft. 

Yellow Onion: Onions add moisture and incredible flavor to so many dishes, this one included! We use yellow onions because that is what we have on hand, but feel free to replace this with a white onion, a vidalia onion…any onion! Even though we have not tried red onions in this recipe, we believe the flavor of red onions would even go with this meal. A small onion or half of a large onion is sufficient for this recipe. 

Jalapeño: Just because these taquitos are mild doesn’t mean that they have to be entirely devoid of spice and flavor! The biggest issue with jalapenos is that they can vary a lot in terms of how hot they are. Some don’t seem to have any heat whereas others can definitely pack a punch. Try taking a small bite of your jalapeno before proceeding with the recipe to adjust how much to add. It might be helpful to consider halving the jalapeno, adding it without the seeds, or you could even omit it entirely if you want to avoid the heat. Another great substitute for a jalapeno is canned mild green chiles. 

Salt: A basic and necessary ingredient! Salt adds a nice savory flavor to this dish. You can adjust it to your preference. 

Black Pepper: Another basic ingredient! Feel free to adjust this to your liking. 

Chili Powder: Now this is a crucial spice! Adjust to your preference. 

Smoked Paprika: Another crucial spice! Smoked paprika adds the smoky flavor to this vegan meal. As always, adjust to your preference-you know what is best for your taste buds! 

Garlic Powder: Garlic powder has a high chance of being the spice you go through the most in the kitchen, and for good reason! This spice brings more flavor without bringing more heat, perfect for a mild dish. As always, adjust to your preference. 

Cumin: Cumin goes well in so many dishes and it pairs very well with both the chili powder and smoked paprika. It has a strong flavor with no heat, making it a great addition to these taquitos. Adjust to your preference, but if you aren’t used to cumin, consider giving it a chance! 

Water/Broth: Since such a small amount of liquid is added to this recipe, you can either use up a little bit of broth hanging out in your fridge or just use water. The purpose of this liquid is to help the ingredients all stick together once mashed. Without this little amount of liquid, it almost seems too dry in the sense that instead of binding together, the ingredients exist in separate clumps. 

Tortillas:  Although we use corn tortillas, you can easily replace them with flour tortillas and still have a successful meal. We use 6”/15.25cm tortillas, so you may make more or less taquitos depending on what size of tortilla you have. 

Vegetable Oil: Your taquitos will not be crunchy without the oil! Please do not omit it. Even if you are able to successfully heat up your tortillas without the oil, you will still need to oil the bottom of the baking dish and the tops of the tortillas. 

KEY INFORMATION:

Baking Times: Feel free to check on your taquitos a little early or add a few more minutes if, when taken out of the oven, they don’t seem to be crunchy yet. The edges may brown a little bit and that’s ok! We prefer the middle/lower rack in the oven so that the tops don’t get too dark before the taquitos are ready. 

How to Make This a Full Meal: You can eat these taquitos as is, of course! However, we like pairing ours with our Easy, Mild Queso Sauce and a mixture of diced tomatoes and green onions. Depending on your preference, this meal goes great with sides and sauces like pico de gallo, guacamole, calabacitas, cilantro lime rice, poblano cream sauce … .there are so many possibilities! 

Mild: We see mild as something a person with a low spice tolerance can handle without discomfort. A person with low spice tolerance, in our opinion, can’t handle hotter than canned mild green chiles and jalapenos. If you or someone you are cooking for views any of these 4 things as too spicy, then we recommend cooling your taquitos down by reducing the chili powder and/or jalapeño. To make up for that loss in flavor, however, consider upping other spices. Jalapenos vary a lot in heat, as well, with some being less than mild and some having quite the kick! Taste test your jalapeno before adding it to the chickpea filling to make sure you aren’t making your meal too spicy or too cool. 

Tortilla Handling: Tortillas crack heavily if not properly warmed up. The best method to ensure a pliable tortilla is to put oil in a pan and heat the tortilla up for 10-20 seconds per side (or until your tortilla feels warm, but not hot!) . We’ve tried the other methods-the microwave and using water instead of oil. All methods but the classic oil and frying pan method led to at least ½ of the tortillas still cracking. If you cover your taquitos in sauce you won’t notice, however, so don’t feel bad if they crack!