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Cauliflower Lentil Taco Salad

I was inspired to make this amazing cauliflower lentil taco salad after watching one of my favorite cooking shows – “How to Live to 100” starring my friend Jason Wrobel. If you haven’t seen this show on Cooking Channel yet, it’s a must see! Jason combines some serious nutrition knowledge, with comedy and a very endearing story line. It’s like Alton Brown’s “Good Eats” gone plant-based – SO AWESOME.

Cauliflower Lentil Taco Salad

On the show, Jason made tacos… but I decided to take his recipe another direction. I changed a few ingredients and made a big bad a$$ salad! I used sprouted lentils from Tru Roots, because they take less than 5 mins to cook and digest really well. You certainly can use any type of regular lentil or bean, but I love going the sprouted route when I can. This salad is filling, full of flavor and perfect to feed a crowd if you double or triple the recipe. Best of all? It’s so easy to make! 

Food Babe's Cauliflower Taco Salad
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 cup sprouted lentils
  • 1 head cauliflower, cored and broken into small bite size florets
  • 1 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 teaspoons chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • ½ cup of your favorite tomato sauce or tomato puree
  • 1 teaspoons salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • ½ cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 large head of romaine
  • 1 lime cut into wedges
  • 1 avocado cut in slices
  • sour cream (optional)
Instructions
  1. For the taco filling: Rinse the lentils and drain well.
  2. Combine the lentils and 3 cups water in a small saucepan.
  3. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes (or 5 mins if you are using sprouted).
  4. Drain off excess water and set the lentils aside.
  5. Pulse the cauliflower in a food processor or chop by hand with a knife until reduced to pieces the size of rice grains.
  6. Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
  7. Add the onions and jalapenos and cook until the onion is translucent, 5 to 7 minutes.
  8. Add the cauliflower, garlic, 2 teaspoons of the chili powder, 1 teaspoon of the cumin and cook for 4 minutes.
  9. Stir in the tomato sauce and cook until the cauliflower is tender, another 3 minutes.
  10. Add the cooked lentils to the cauliflower mixture. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin. Stir in the salt and pepper and cook for 3 minutes more to blend the flavors.
  11. Combine with chopped cilantro and place mixture over romaine leaves
  12. Top with fresh lime juice, avocado and/or sour cream

 

This recipe is now a mainstay over in my household. I love freezing leftovers for taco “meat” on demand. Hope you love this recipe as much as we do and share it with your family and friends. 

Xo, 

Vani 

P.S. I had a chance to catch up with Jason again last weekend at the Everyday Health and Wellness Conference in Fairfax, VA. I love the fact that he is from Detroit – a city that I spent a lot of time in and absolutely miss! 

Jason Wrobel and Vani Hari

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97 responses to “Cauliflower Lentil Taco Salad

  1. I made this tonight and it was delicious!!! Unfortunately, my kids didn’t like it but I think I will put less chili pepper and jalapenos next time, since it was a little spicy for them.

  2. I just made it and its absolutely delicious! I used two teaspoons of chili powder instead of four.
    Thank you for the recipe!

  3. I concur, this one is a true keeper.. and sprouted lentils where have you been all my life..??

  4. Everyone who tried this absolutely loved it! Even my “vegan food sucks” kid loved it. He ate his in a flour tortilla. The only changes I made were cutting the salt in half, using four garlic cloves instead of two, using a Serrano pepper instead of a jalapeno and sauteing with water instead of the oil. We’re going to use this in a layered Mexican dip as the “meat” next time I make it. So good! This will definitely be a regular in our rotation from now on!

  5. I just made your Cauliflower Lentil Taco Salad. It was so delious, what a wonderfully healthy toco filling alternative !

  6. This is absolutely delicious. My spouse and I had it for dinner. We have plenty for leftovers.

  7. I want to make this for a friend but she does not like cauliflower. Any substitution ideas?

  8. Loved this recipe! My husband said he didn’t miss the meat at all!! It was so good!! Vani, thanks for the recipes and all that you do!!!!!

  9. Thanks for the dinner idea! I’m going to make this tonight. It looks so good. I’m also a huge JWro fan! 🙂

  10. WOW! I just finished making this delicious “taco filling”. I am doing a 21 day detox cleanse and cannot have meat so I’ve been looking for good dinner options. I can have lentils but I’ve never cooked them before! I made on slight change in that I make my own spice blends and seasonings professionally. I make a Hot & Spicy Taco Seasoning that is clean (organic, no salt, no msg, no fillers, no sugar) I substituted that teaspoon for teaspoon of the seasonings in the recipe. I cannot wait until dinner to dig in! Thanks for sharing!

  11. Wow! That was amazing! I added no chili or pepper and the kids loved it! New family favorite.

  12. Wow, this was GOOD! I couldn’t believe how delicious it turned out. My husband is a foodie so I’m always really happy when he likes something I make Thad is healthy and he really liked this as well. We ate it as a salad but had leftover of the cauliflower/lentil mixture and used it for burritos which were also fantastic. The flavor is exactly what you’d expect taco meat to taste like and the texture is perfect, not to mention it’s ridiculously healthy! This will be a staple from now on!

  13. This recipe is great. I left out the salt. My 9-month-old loved it, too! I served it with avocado slices and full-fat Greek yogurt.

  14. Delicious! Took about 40 minutes to prep, which is longer than I prefer, but it made a ton of food, so I’m looking forward to healthy lunches at work. My husband drizzled a little vegan ranch on top and liked it.

  15. Absolutely delicious and so flavorful. I make this ALL the time. My new go to !!!

  16. THANK YOU so much for your fabulous recipes. I made the cauliflower-sprouted lentil taco salad tonight and it was DELICIOUS! You are helping to become a more competent and healthy cook. I already have two other recipes of your’s that I want to try. BLESS YOU for all your good, hard work.

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