The hearty flavor of the mushrooms enhanced by the smoky chipotle salsa and the spicy taco seasoning makes for delicious meat free taco experience.  Portobello Tacos are hearty enough and flavorful enough that you will not say, “Where’s the beef?”

So, a little while ago, Mom tagged me in a pic of some portobello tacos. Granted, it was already on my list of things to cook, so it was a nice reminder that they WERE on my list of things to make. I’m always looking for meals that we usually eat with meat and make them meatless. Sometimes it’s a bit of a stretch or a challenge, but sometimes it’s fun and comes out pretty tasty!

Sometimes, there are #MeatlessMonday meals where I’m thinking, “This can’t be filling. I just KNOW I’m going to be hungry after this one.” That’s exactly what I thought about this meal, too. But honestly, they were filling; almost filling as meat tacos. I say almost because I forgot the lettuce. So, the almost has nothing to do with the filling but my craptastic memory for putting lettuce on the menu for me to purchase. Stupid stupid memory!

Anyway.

Barring the omission of the lettuce, these were really tasty! I thought the mushrooms would absorb more of the taco seasoning flavor, but they didn’t. This, actually, was quite nice. I liked the hearty flavor of the mushrooms enhanced by the smoky chipotle salsa and the spicy taco seasoning. Usually, the ground beef version just tastes like taco seasoning and you can’t taste the ground beef. But being able to taste the meaty portobellos was a welcomed change.

They were even pretty good for lunch the next day, too! Okay. Remember that craptastic memory I keep talking about? Well, it left the mushroom mixture on a low simmer for like 20 minutes after serving it up. I forgot to turn it off when we prepared our plates. Oops! So, it was a little dry, but I just put the mushrooms over the left over Spanish rice and then topped it with some more salsa and voila! Resuscitated mushroom tacos! Make sure to turn the heat off when you’re getting ready to eat. *snort*

We turned these into healthier tacos because we used the whole grain taco shells, low fat cheese, and opted for the lower fat version of the Spanish rice mix. That with the meatless option, made me feel good about eating one extra than I usually eat and actually eating them as tacos instead of taco salad like I usually do. Mmmm taco salad. Now I’m going to have to make that soon, too. LOVES me some taco salad.  Maybe I’ll try the lentil version next…Hmmm.