Baked Black Bean Taquitos

Tiny tasty tacos! Alliteration! When I first made this recipe I doubled it, and I’m glad I did; a single batch of these would not have been enough for two hungry adults. I highly recommend serving this with a salad, such as the Southwestern Bean Salad or Tex-Mex Chopped Salad. This recipe has been adapted from the taquito recipe on Naturally Ella.

Ingredients:

Servings: 10 to 12 taquitos (depending on how much filling you put in each, I think it’s closer to 8-9 but I might be overfilling!)

½ cup black beans, drained and rinsed
½ cup frozen sweet corn (thawed)
¼ cup diced red bell pepper
¼ cup diced onion
½ tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. paprika
¼ tsp. chili powder (I highly recommend bumping this to 1-2 tsp. or more, the taquitos don’t have a strong flavor on their own)
- optional for extra spicy: wfpb-friendly hot sauce, however much you want!
2 tbs. minced cilantro
half to full amount of cheese sauce from the black bean cheese quesadilla recipe (see below for a copy of it)
corn tortillas (at least 10)
Optional toppings: salsa (I really like Mi Elote!‘s Medium salsa, sold at Kroger’s), wfpb guacamole, additional cheese sauce, additional cilantro, hot sauce

“Cheese” sauce recipe:

¼ cup nutritional yeast
2 tbs. rice or whole wheat flour (add another tbs. if you want a thicker sauce than 2 tbs. makes)
¼ tsp. tumeric
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. onion powder
1 cup plant-based milk (I use unsweetened original-flavor almond milk)
salt to taste
optional (and I highly recommend for a Mexican flavor): ¼ tsp cumin, ½ tsp. chili powder

Add all dry ingredients for the Cheese Sauce to a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir with a whisk periodically as the dry ingredients begin to toast. Continue whisking until there is a clear, pungent fragrance. Add the plant milk and whisk often. After several minutes the sauce should be thick. Remove the sauce from the heat.

Taquito Directions:

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

In a food processor, combine the beans, corn, pepper, spices, and cilantro. Pulse three or four times to chop and mix the veggies.

Heat the tortillas until they’re easy to bend and roll. An easy way to do this is to put 5 of the corn tortillas at a time on a microwave-safe plate, cover them with a damp paper towel, and microwave them for 30 seconds. There are also other alternatives to warming up the tortillas if you’d prefer!

Scoop 2 to 3 tablespoons of filling and a small spoonful of the cheese sauce onto the third of the tortilla closest to you (this makes it easier to roll). Roll the edge over and tuck in as tightly as you can before you finish rolling it.

Place the rolled taquitos seam-side down (a baking sheet works fine). Use a toothpick to hold them shut if you need to.

The original recipe says to bake 18 to 22 minutes, but it took me closer to 30, and it might need even longer. The taquitos should be crispy and clearly browned, and not just on the edges. If you can poke the middle of the taquito with your finger and it feels squishy and billows back to its original shape, then you need to keep it in longer. Cook at least 25 minutes, then check again every 5 minutes until your taquitos are crispy and browned.