By now, you’ve heard of birria tacos unless you’ve somehow avoided social media altogether! Traditionally, they're made with slow-cooked meat, but this version brings a plant-based twist by using mushrooms to deliver the same bold, rich, and slightly spicy flavours.
These sheet pan mushroom birria tacos are a quick and easy alternative to the classic recipe. Instead of hours of slow cooking, everything comes together on a single sheet pan, perfect for when you want a delicious meal without the long wait.
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why mushrooms work so well here
When it comes to vegan meat substitutes, mushrooms are hard to beat. For these birria tacos, portobello and shiitake mushrooms are used together for a reason. Portobellos bring the bulk and meatiness, while shiitakes add a deeper, more savoury flavour. Torn by hand and roasted at high heat, they absorb the spiced oil and consommé beautifully and hold up in the taco without falling apart.
You could use any combination of mushrooms, to be fair. Shitake and oyster mushroom clusters, portobello and cremini, if that's all you can find at the store. Either way, I would use two types for texture variation.
what is the consommé?
Traditional birria gets its signature flavour from the rich braising liquid, and this recipe doesn't skip that step. As the mushrooms roast, they release liquid that becomes the base of your consommé. That liquid gets combined with mushroom broth, chipotle peppers in adobo, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, and a little brown sugar, then simmered down into something deeply flavourful. The tortillas are dipped in it before baking, which is what gives them that crispy, slightly stained exterior that birria tacos are known for.
a quick and easy cooking method
Most birria recipes require slow-cooking for hours. This version simplifies the process by using a sheet pan, making it perfect for busy weeknights. Plus, who doesn't love a sheet pan recipe?! It is a shortcut, and I'm not claiming to have the most traditional or even best birria taco recipe, but it's pretty tasty!
Some ingredients have been simplified to make it more accessible and faster to pull together. What my recipe delivers, is the core experience: crispy dipped tortillas, a spiced mushroom filling, melted vegan cheese, fresh onion and cilantro, and that consommé on the side for dipping.
hot tips for the tortillas
The tacos pictured are prepared with 100% corn tortillas, but a corn and wheat blend is recommended for best results. The blend holds up better during baking, stays flexible when dipped in the consommé, and keeps its structure once folded and crisped in the oven. If you only have corn tortillas on hand, warm them well before dipping so they don't crack.
a note on birria
Birria has roots in Jalisco, Mexico, traditionally served at weddings and special occasions before it took over every food feed on the internet. Safe to say it earned its place. So whip out that large sheet pan and let's get cooking!
And if you're ever in Toronto and want to skip the cooking altogether, I highly recommend Taqueria Vegana. Best tacos in the city and an epic birria broth.
frequently asked questions
Yes. Use 100% corn tortillas and double-check your chipotle peppers in adobo and vegan cheese for any gluten-containing additives. The rest of the ingredients are naturally gluten-free.
Hot water with a no-beef bouillon base works well here. Better Than Bouillon makes a no-beef version that adds a savoury depth without any animal products.
Yes. The consommé can be made up to two days ahead and stored in the fridge. Reheat it gently before dipping the tortillas and serving.
They have some heat, mostly from the chipotle peppers in adobo. You can reduce the amount of chipotle if you want a milder version, or add extra if you want more heat.
A meltable vegan mozzarella or Monterey Jack-style shred works best. Daiya is used in this recipe and melts well under oven heat.
sheet pan mushroom birria tacos
Ingredients
- ¼ C neutral vegetable oil
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 3 tsp granulated garlic powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp sea salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ lb large portobello mushroom caps (about 6)
- ½ lb shiitake mushrooms (about 10)
- up to 1 ½ C mushroom broth
- ¼ C canned chipotle peppers in adobo
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp light brown sugar
- 10 to 12 soft corn and wheat blend tortillas
- 2 C vegan mozzarella or monterey jack shreds
- ⅓ C sliced pickled or fresh jalapeños
- ½ C red onion, thinly sliced
- fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- In a large bowl, combine vegetable oil, oregano, cumin, garlic powder, smoked paprika, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Use your hands to tear the mushrooms into pieces and coat in the spice mixture. Transfer to a large parchment-lined sheet pan and roast in oven for 10 to 12 minutes.
- After 12 minutes, check on the mushrooms. If mushrooms have released a significant amount of liquid, carefully pour it into a large liquid measuring cup. Continue roasting the mushrooms for another 10 to 15 minutes.
- Pour additional mushroom broth or beef-flavoured broth into the measuring cup until you have a total of 1 ½ cups of liquid. Bring this to a boil in a small saucepan over medium to high heat. Turn down the heat slightly if needed to keep it at a low simmer and add chipotle peppers in adobo, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, and brown sugar. Continue simmering until reduced and you have about 1 cup of liquid. If you can’t get the chipotle pepper broken up with a fork once cooked you can place an immersion blender in the pot to get the broth less chunky.
- After mushrooms start to brown, stir and push all the mushrooms to one side of the sheet pan or remove them to a plate to make room for the tortillas. Lay out 10 to 12 tortillas and either brush some of the consommé on both sides of the tortillas or dip them in the broth/consommé quickly to coat. This will warm the tortilla and make it more flexible, as well as encourage browning and crisping during baking. You may have to roast the tortillas in batches depending on how large your sheet pan is.
- Divide the vegan cheese shreds evenly onto one half of each tortilla and top the cheese side with ¼ cup of the roasted mushrooms, additional pickled jalapeños, and sliced red onion. Gently fold each tortilla in half and press so it stays folded. Bake in the oven for 15 more minutes, flipping halfway and basting the other side with more mushroom liquid with a brush, until the tacos are crispier and the cheese is melted.
- Garnish tacos with cilantro leaves and serve with the remaining consommé on the side for dipping.
Lauren Toyota
Lauren is a plant-based powerhouse, a former TV host turned wildly successful food creator, best-selling cookbook author, and the woman responsible for making vegan comfort food a thing worth craving. Through her blog and YouTube channel, hot for food, she’s amassed a dedicated following by recreating all the nostalgic, indulgent dishes we love—mac & cheese, burgers, cinnamon rolls—but making them entirely plant-based. No compromise on taste, no weird ingredients, just damn good food.