Easy Smashed Buffalo Tacos! These tasty and spicy tacos are brimming with plant based goodness and awesome for enjoying taco Tuesday with a twist!
These Easy Smashed Buffalo Tacos come together in minutes and burst with bold buffalo flavor. If you’re a Buffalo sauce lover and keep Frank’s Hot Sauce within easy reach, this recipe is tailor-made for you. Smashed chickpeas spread over corn tortillas, heated on the stove (or oven), and finished with cool toppings like chunked avocado, greens, tomatoes, vegan ranch or blue cheese dressing. They’re simple, healthy, and seriously fun to make.
Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.
Hi there, Ameera here!
Okay, this easy recipe has shot up to the Top 10 favorites in my book, a testament to how fast and delicious it comes together. We LOVE Frank’s Hot Sauce, and this tasty recipe is bursting with authentic Buffalo flavor—the tang, the heat, and that unmistakable peppery punch that fans crave.
It’s the kind of dish that’s incredible for taco night, a quick weeknight supper, or a standout game-day snack. You gotta give it a try!
Tips for Success:
- Flavor Profile: These Buffalo Smashed Chickpea Tacos are easy to make and incredibly flavorful. If you are a Buffalo lover and love Frank’s Hot Sauce, then this recipe is just for you. They are hearty, delicious, and fun!
- Non-Stick Skillet: Using a non-stick skillet is essential for the success of this recipe. It helps prevent the chickpea mixture from sticking to the skillet. If you do not have a non-stick skillet, you can heat them up in the oven (Preheated 400F). Lay them onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, chickpea mixture side up. Heat for 15 to 20 minutes until hot. The oven method may prevent them from easily bending in half (largely dependent on the tortilla brand) like a normal taco and you may end up with tostados instead of tacos. Or if you are worried about the buffalo mixture sticking to the skillet, simply fold the tacos in half (half-moon style) and heat them on both sides in the skillet (or in the oven), either works great. The heating method for recipe is very forgiving. Note: Use a thin-edged wide-ish spatula with a swift sliding motion (think flipping a pancake) to flip them over.
- Optional Dressings: We loved these flavorful smashed tacos plain with just lettuce and chopped tomatoes as well as with Vegan Ranch and/or Vegan Blue Cheese dressing. Both versions (with and without dressings) are absolutely delicious. We have a Chipotle Ranch Dressing, Tofu Ranch Dressing, and a Tofu Blue Cheese Dressing. Feel free to use your favorite dressing or simply none at all. Chopped avocados can take the place of dressings as well.
- No Food Processor? If you don’t have a food processor, you can easily use a potato masher or a fork. The key is to get the mixture to a paste-like mixture.
- Amount of Sea Salt: Frank’s hot sauce can taste salty. Our family was completely divided over the amount of sea salt needed to season these tacos. We ultimately landed on ¼ teaspoon. The good news is that you can literally taste the taco mixture before committing.
- Taco Mixture and Tortillas: We used 1/3 cup of chickpea mixture for each 6-inch tortilla. Scoop up 1/3 cup, then roll the mixture into a smooth ball, then plop it out into the center of the tortilla, flatten it out, spreading it carefully nearly to the very edges of the tortilla. The mixture should stick easily to the tortilla. Going to the edge ensures that the edges won’t curl up while heating and pull the chickpea mixture off the tacos. Test one taco, if it works well, then you can proceed with the remaining tacos. If it doesn’t work out, in other words, the mixture sticks to the pan or you just can’t get it right, then don’t worry, simply follow the process outlined above, then just fold the tacos in half like a half-moon and the tortilla can easily be heated in the skillet on both sides without anything sticking to the skillet.
- Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
- Table Salt: If using table salt, you should use less table salt than the amount listed in the ingredients as sea salt crystals are larger than table salt crystals. Since table salt crystals are very fine, less table salt is required to season a dish. We would suggest starting with about 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of sea salt listed. You can always add more salt but cannot take it away. We recommend using sea salt as it is less refined than table salt.
Leftovers and Freezing:
Leftovers will generally keep 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator. Store in a covered air-tight container.
These tacos can be frozen. However, we suggest folding them in half for freezing.
Pantry Products:
- Hot Sauce: We used Frank’s RedHot Original Hot Sauce.
- Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Kitchen Equipment:
- Large non-stick skillet (skillet of any kind) or large baking sheet (if baking in the oven)
- Food Processor (or potato masher)
If you try this fun twist on tacos, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
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Easy Smashed Buffalo Tacos
- Prep Time: 20 Minutes
- Cook Time: 5-8 Minutes
- Total Time: 25 Minutes
- Yield: 7-8 Tacos 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These Easy Smashed Buffalo Tacos come together in minutes and burst with bold buffalo flavor.
Ingredients
Base Ingredients:
- 2 – [ 15.25 oz. cans ] chickpeas, drained, but not rinsed
- 3 Tablespoons hot sauce *
- 1 Tablespoon tahini
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
Spice/Herb Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon sweet paprika
- Pinch to ¼ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
Other Ingredients:
- 7 to 8 [ 6-inch ] corn tortillas (or flour tortillas) *
Optional Toppings:
- Vegan Ranch or Vegan Blue Cheese Dressing
- Chopped lettuce greens
- Chopped fresh tomatoes
- Chopped avocados
Instructions
- Place all the Base Ingredients and Spice/Herb Ingredients into a food processor and process until thoroughly mixed and the chickpeas are broken down into a paste-like mixture.
- Take a tortilla and lay it on a flat surface. Scoop up 1/3 of the chickpea mixture and form a smooth ball, then lay it onto the tortilla and press the mixture to the edges of the tortilla. Continue until all the tortillas are covered with the chickpea mixture.
- Place a non-stick skillet onto the stove over medium-high heat, then lay the tortillas down onto the hot skillet, mixture side down. Heat until the tortilla mixture is hot (3 to 5 minutes), then gently flip over to the other side. Heat until golden brown (approx. 2 to 3 minutes). Continue until all the tortillas have been coated and heated on the skillet.
- To serve, eat plain or with chopped lettuce greens, chopped tomatoes, avocados, vegan ranch dressing and/or vegan blue cheese dressing.
Notes
Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used.
Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Servings: 4 (makes 7 to 8 tacos)
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