The 18 best places to get vegetarian and vegan tacos in Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, no ingredient is off limits when it comes to tacos. With so much seasonal produce, it’s hardly surprising that plump button mushrooms, sautéed nopales and roasted summer squash make their way into some of our favorite tacos. From the Food team’s inaugural 101 Best Tacos in Los Angeles guide, here are 18 standout taquerias with vegetarian tacos worth seeking out.
Get to know Los Angeles through the tacos that bring it to life. From restaurants to trucks to carts and more, here’s 101 of the city’s best.
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Bar Amá
Downtown L.A. Tex-Mex Dine In $$
The small plates on Josef Centeno’s Tex-Cal-Mex menu roll with the local growing seasons, and his vegan queso is an alchemical wonder. Centeno’s restless creativity means lineups are always changing. For his signature puffy tacos, though, count on righteously seasoned plant-based fillings of soyrizo or mushroom birria simmered in rich adobo.
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Bee Taqueria
West Adams Mushroom Dine In $
Alex Carrasco shreds tender cooked beets and gives them the tinga treatment before piling onion, chile morita, queso fresco, tomato and avocado salsa onto a blue corn tortilla for the Tinga Betabel taco, while the mushroom taco features chewy chunks of roasted mushroom, fragrant funky epazote, salsa verde and quesillo. Order either without cheese for a vegan version.
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Chuy’s Tacos Dorados
Downtown L.A. Potato Dine In $
Crispy, crackly, cheesy — Chuy’s fried tacos are a crowd favorite. The fluffy mash potato tacos stuffed with shredded lettuce and handfuls of cheddar are topped with lime-pickled onions — the right amount of bright-tartness for all that crunch.
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El Atacor No. 1
Cypress Park Potato Dine In $
A fluffy mash of potatoes forms this taco dorado’s soft inner core, supercharged by a quick-fry bath in hot oil. The tortilla emerges super crisp and it’s all cooled down with crema and gently spiced taqueria guacamole plus a sprinkling of white cheese. This may be the city’s best potato taco.
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El Barrio Cantina
Long Beach Potato Dine In $$
Chef Ulises Pineda-Alfaro’s signature dish is also an homage to his late mother, whose recipe lives on in the form of taquitos de papa. Just as a Mexican abuela might make, the snappy taquitos are dressed with a bright green tomatillo salsa, crema and queso fresco. Warm yet assertive, it might be the homiest potato taco you can find in L.A.
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El Cocinero
Van Nuys Vegan Dine In $
If you crave street tacos with fillings that eat like meat but aren’t, you head to Alex Vargas’ El Cocinero in a Van Nuys strip mall. Try the new carne guisada — smoky sautéed soy-based meat with onions and peppers — or crispy quesabirria tacos filled with spicy jackfruit.
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Evil Cooks
El Sereno Vegetarian Puesto $
The metal-inspired pop-up has an entire menu devoted to vegetarian and vegan options dubbed “Heaven” (the meat-centric menu is called “Hell”). You can order the vegan options as a trio of tacos that includes black trompo (stacked with mushrooms, Napa cabbage, eggplant and onions coated in recado negro), green “chorizo” (with soy and a mix of epazote, cilantro, spinach, watercress, peanuts and pistachio) and “chicharrón” (made with flour and salsa verde), or get the plant-based proteins in a mulita, torta or burrito, including a Chilakilles combination with a fried egg.
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Fonda Moderna
Orange Vegan Dine In $
The vegan tacos here rely on expertly cooked vegetables with options like roasted cauliflower al pastor, calabacita and corn and birria-spiced mushrooms, all served on perfectly blistered house-made flour tortillas. The simple avocado taco with pepitas for crunch, raw jalapeños for heat, and vegan cheese is just as tasty as any chip-and-guac combo and equally satisfying.
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Guerrilla Tacos
Downtown L.A. Sweet potato Dine In $$
The sweet potato taco with crispy-edged rounds of the root vegetable, feta, fried corn and an almond-cashew chile sauce is a permanent item at Guerrilla Tacos. The seasonal menu often features vegetarian and vegan options too, such as a seared green bean and roasted summer squash taco available this summer.
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Guisados
Downtown L.A. Chile Relleno $
This family-run, Boyle Heights-founded operation has served one of L.A.’s top mushroom tacos for years, but a popular special — the chile relleno taco — recently joined the permanent menu. The earthy poblanos are stuffed and gooey with cheese, while the fried breading goes just-soft from its heaping of bright salsa and queso fresco. It now tops all of the local chain’s other also-excellent plant-based options.
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HomeState
Highland Park Tex-Mex Dine In $
A vegetarian flour tortilla that relies on butter instead of lard is a rarity worth trekking for. Fortunately, HomeState has eight locations across L.A. and Orange County. Fresh corn tortillas are also available to make this taco fully vegan. This stack of warm refried black beans with guacamole, cabbage slaw and pickled red onions strikes a perfect balance of hot and cold, rich and bright — it happens to be a taco designed by comedian Fred Armisen.
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MidEast Tacos
Echo Park Falafel Dine In $
Using his Egyptian grandmother’s falafel recipe, Armen Martirosyan blends Mexican, Armenian and Middle Eastern flavors for his falafel taco. He grinds and fries fragrant, fluffy chickpea fritters with fresh herbs, garlic, onion, cumin and other spices, then folds it into a fresh, handmade corn tortilla and douses it in house avocado salsa and a smoky, creamy chile de árbol toum.
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Socalo
Santa Monica Vegan Dine In $$
Jackfruit is the centerpiece of the tinga tacos at Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger’s Socalo. It’s cooked with peppers and onions in a sauce redolent with chipotle, cumin and sweet tomato. There’s a bright avocado salsa over the top and a handful of garnishes including fried rounds of sliced jalapeño, fried kale and pickled onions on a blue corn tortilla.
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Tacos Por Vida
Palms Mushroom Puesto $
You’ll see big portobello saucers grilling over an open charcoal and wood fire at Roy Choi’s new puesto just next door to his Kogi truck. After it’s taken off the grill and chopped into fine, chewy-crunchy pieces, the mushroom is packed into a corn-flour tortilla, topped with cilantro, onion, finishing-salt blends and green and red salsas.
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Tacos 1986
Koreatown Mushroom Dine In $
Herbivores don’t have to miss out on Tijuana-style tacos from Tacos 1986 and omnivores shouldn’t skip what’s become one of the most popular options on the menu. You’ll see juicy, seasoned slices of hongos getting crisped up on the plancha before they’re deposited into fresh corn tortillas with onions, cilantro and a generous heap of creamy guacamole.
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Tiendita
Anaheim Mushroom Dine In $
Chef Carlos Gaytán’s mushroom tinga taco is as soulful as any guisado, using smoky chipotle and onion in the adobo sauce enveloping button mushrooms with pinto beans on a fresh corn tortilla. A few adjustments, like leaving off the sour cream, queso fresco and beans and adding guacamole can modify this taco into a vegan meal.
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Tigre's Fuego
Redondo Beach Sweet potato Mushroom Dine In $
This laid-back counter opens its menu with a sweet potato and mushroom taco, but honestly I ate it at the end and it was a perfect cap to a lunchtime taco binge. Chef Jimmy Tapia hones down the style here with L.A. gusto, serving slightly charred shiitakes and yam as a base, cool cotija and a salsa macha with pecans that stands up to any in town.
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Villa's Tacos
Highland Park Vegan Dine In $
The choices at Victor Villa’s eponymous taqueria double down on satisfying textures: half-pureed black beans smeared over a tortilla and scattered with cactus salad, or potatoes crunching like home fries, or pebbly, pineapple-sweetened soy chorizo matched with the spuds. Be generous with Villa’s spectrum of salsas.
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