BBQ Pulled Jackfruit Tacos Recipe

Name: BBQ Pulled Jackfruit Tacos
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 2 (14-ounce) cans jackfruit in brine, drained and rinsed; 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups); 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped (optional); 3/4 cup barbecue sauce, store-bought or homemade; 2 teaspoons ground cumin; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 1 teaspoon ground coriander; 1/2 teaspoon paprika, smoked or regular; 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt; 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest; To serve:; 10 to 12 (6-inch) corn tortillas; 1 ripe avocado, thinly sliced; 4 radishes, thinly sliced; 1/3 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped; 1/3 cup red cabbage, shredded; 1/3 cup corn kernels, canned, frozen and defrosted, or fresh from the cob; 1/4 cup sour cream (optional); 1 lime, cut into wedges

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Tacos are my “single girl” food. You know, the food that you make whenever your partner, kids, or roommates are out of town and you get to sit down and be really honest about what you and only you feel like eating? I never tire of them and am always looking for ways to amp up my taco game.

But if for some reason you’re sharing, these jackfruit tacos are a saucy, lick-your-fingers addition to the weeknight roster for the vegans and non-vegans in your life. They’re ready in fewer than 30 minutes, and couldn’t be simpler to pull together—it’s more assembling than cooking, really.

What Is Jackfruit?

If you’re not familiar with jackfruit, it’s a large fruit that’s thought to be indigenous to India. Today, it grows in tropical regions, such as Southeast Asia and Brazil. It can be purchased frozen in its ripe, sweet form and used in dessert recipes or smoothies, or you can find it in its young green unripe form, packaged in cans.

Both are edible, but they’re not interchangeable per se. For today's recipe, we're focusing on unripe canned jackfruit.

Young green unripe jackfruit has the texture of a stringy, pulled meat but doesn’t actually taste anything like meat on its own; in fact, it tastes more like artichokes! But much like tofu, jackfruit takes on the flavor of whatever sauce, marinade or spices you’re cooking it with, making it an incredibly versatile meat substitute and an obvious choice for vegetarian tacos, sandwiches, salads, and wraps.

Where To Buy Jackfruit

Canned jackfruit is available at most Asian grocery stores and well-stocked grocery stores with a natural-foods focus (such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, or Amazon).

What is Jackfruit and How Can You Use It?

How To Prepare Your Jackfruit

Be sure to buy canned unripe, green or young jackfruit for this recipe. (Ripe jackfruit is sweeter and has a different texture; it won’t work in this recipe.)

After removing it from the can, give the jackfruit pieces a good rinse to remove that briny, salty flavor.

Next, shred your jackfruit before starting to cook. Take the larger canned chunks and simply use your fingers or a fork to shred them, much like you would pulled pork or chicken, or canned tuna, which it loosely resembles.

If you’ve got little bits of the core on some of the chunks, don’t worry about those. You can leave them as they are or give them a quick chop with a kitchen knife. They’re edible as well. And you won’t even notice them once you cook the fruit down.

Ways To Use Leftover Pulled Jackfruit

If you end up having leftover jackfruit filling, it’s great folded into a breakfast burrito, salad, or wrap. But if your crew is anything like mine, leftovers won’t be likely with these quick, new family favorites!

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How To Store and Reheat Jackfruit

You can store leftover jackfruit in the refrigerator or freezer. It'll keep for weeks in the freezer, but just a couple of days in the fridge.

Canned jackfruit doesn't have to be cooked, per se. But it's nice to heat this recipe up for the taco filling. You can re-heat any leftover jackfruit by sautéeing it over medium heat for 4 to 6 minutes. You can also reheat it in the microwave for a minute or so straight from the fridge, or a couple of additional minutes, if frozen.

Leftover jackfruit is the perfect addition to any meatless, vegan, or vegetarian meal.

BBQ Pulled Jackfruit Tacos

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Total Time 30 mins

Servings 4 to 6 servings

2 (14-ounce) cans jackfruit in brine, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped, optional
3/4 cup barbecue sauce, store-bought or homemade
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon paprika, smoked or regular
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

To serve:

10 to 12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
1 ripe avocado, thinly sliced
4 radishes, thinly sliced
1/3 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
1/3 cup red cabbage, shredded
1/3 cup corn kernels, canned, frozen and defrosted, or fresh from the cob
1/4 cup sour cream, optional
1 lime, cut into wedges

Shred the jackfruit:

Place the drained jackfruit in a bowl large enough to work in. Using your fingers or two forks, break apart the chunks of jackfruit into shredded pieces.

Megan Gordon
Cook the onions:

In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeño (if using) and cook for an additional minute, until the garlic is fragrant.
Cook the jackfruit:

Add the shredded jackfruit to the pan and stir well. Add the barbecue sauce, cumin, oregano, coriander, smoked paprika and salt to the pan.

Stir to evenly distribute the spices and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes, or until the jackfruit is browned and slightly crisped around the edges. Fold in the orange zest.

Megan Gordon
Assemble the tacos:

In a separate, lightly oiled skillet, warm the tortillas and add a large spoonful of cooked jackfruit to the center of each. Top with avocado, radishes, cilantro, cabbage, corn, and sour cream (if using). Serve with wedges of lime, for squeezing.

Megan Gordon

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
461	Calories
17g	Fat
80g	Carbs
6g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 to 6
Amount per serving
Calories	461
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 17g	21%
Saturated Fat 2g	12%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 513mg	22%
Total Carbohydrate 80g	29%
Dietary Fiber 11g	38%
Total Sugars 14g
Protein 6g
Vitamin C 19mg	94%
Calcium 145mg	11%
Iron 3mg	14%
Potassium 726mg	15%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.