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These vegetarian tostadas are an easy, healthy, and flavor-packed recipe you can make for dinner in less than 30 minutes.
We love shaking up our taco Tuesdays with tostada Tuesdays! And these vegetarian tostadas have a great mix of beans, veggies, and seasonings that make for a filling, fresh, and unique dinner.
One of our favorite parts of dinners like these is that we can serve it family-style by bringing all the toppings to the table and letting everyone make their own tostadas. We always try to make cooking easier and dinner more fun!
Of all the vegetarian dishes we’ve made, this is one of the most satisfying. The chopped cauliflower adds substance and an additional dimension of texture to the sliced pepper and onion. The spices bring a delicious Mexican flair to otherwise plain vegetables. And the creamy refried beans and mashed avocado just melt in your mouth against the crunch of the tostada!
What This Recipe Entails
In just 25 minutes, you can create a delicious vegetarian Mexican dinner.
- Prep time: 10 minutes
- Cook time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
These healthy vegetarian tostadas are made with a spicy medley of vegetables, refried black beans, 3-ingredient guacamole (which we lovingly call “fake guac”), and Mexican cheese. It’s a surprisingly simple mix of ingredients that packs so much great flavor and fun texture into each tostada!
- Corn tostadas – We normally use store-bought tostadas for an easy dinner, but if you want to make homemade tostadas, check out our recipe for chicken tinga tostadas to learn more.
- Vegetable blend – Cauliflower, bell pepper, jalapeno, and yellow onion.
- Seasonings – Minced garlic, paprika, chili powder, ground cayenne, cumin, and salt.
- Toppings – Refried black beans, mashed avocado with lime juice and sea salt, and shredded Mexican cheese (sub for cotija or queso fresco if desired).
How To Make Vegetarian Tostadas
You can make these easy veggie tostadas in only 3 steps – and less than 30 minutes! Here’s how to do it:
- Make the spicy vegetables. Heat vegetable oil in a large sauté pan, then add the cauliflower, bell pepper, jalapeno, onion, garlic, and spices and cook until softened, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Prep the toppings. Warm the refried beans and mash the avocado with lime juice and sea salt.
- Assemble the tostadas. Spread a layer of refried beans on each tostada, then top with a serving of vegetables, followed by a dollop of mashed avocado. Finish with some Mexican cheese and serve immediately.
Use your intuition when cooking the vegetables. They should be slightly soft and smell delicious when they’re ready! You want to keep a little bit of that natural crunch in the peppers for added texture. Cook them too long, and they’ll end up too soft on top of your tostadas.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve these tostadas family-style and bring all the ingredients to the dinner table for DIY assembly! Here are some of our favorite sides that we recommend adding to your easy vegetarian dinner:
Try our vegetarian tostadas recipe and don’t forget to rate, comment, and share if you love it! Check out our delicious vegetarian comfort food dishes for more recipes like this one.
Expert Tips
- Storing leftovers: You can store the vegetables for these tostadas in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat them in the microwave for about 30 seconds per serving, or in a frying pan over medium-low heat until warm, about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Veggies: We find these tostadas are best when the veggies still have some crunch and texture to them. So keep a close eye on the veggies while they cook to make sure they don’t get too soft.
- Spice: These tostadas can be decently spicy. If you want a milder flavor or just want the veggies to shine more, we recommend reducing the dry seasonings by half.
- Cheese: When we serve these with shredded Mexican blend cheese, we often put the cheese right on top of the beans, underneath the veggies. The warm beans make the cheese a little melty which is so delicious. You can also sub Mexican cheese for some cotija or queso fresco for a fresher flavor.
Love this recipe? You may enjoy these recipes, too:
- Chicken Tinga Tostada Recipe
- Vegetarian Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas
- Vegetarian Black Bean Southwest Sliders
To browse more of our latest recipes and seasonal dishes, visit our homepage here.
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Vegetarian Tostadas
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1½ teaspoons minced garlic
- ½ head cauliflower chopped finely
- 2 medium green bell peppers sliced into 1-inch long strips
- 2 large jalapeno peppers sliced into 1-inch long strips
- 1 medium yellow onion sliced
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1½ teaspoons ground red cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 pinches salt
- 1 medium lime juiced
Toppings
- 2 to 3 medium avocados
- 1 to 2 medium limes juiced
- 1 to 2 pinches salt
- 15 ounces canned refried black beans warmed
- 16 corn tostadas
- shredded Mexican blend cheese optional topping, sub cotija or queso fresco
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat, then stir in the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.Add the cauliflower, bell pepper, jalapeno, and onion, then season with paprika, chili powder, cayenne, cumin, and salt. Stir to combine and sauté until vegetables are slightly softened, about 10 to 15 minutes, then stir in the lime juice and remove from heat.
- In the meantime, prepare the toppings. In a small bowl, combine the avocado, lime juice, and salt and mash until smooth. Adjust lime juice and salt to taste.Warm the refried beans.
- Finally, assemble the tostadas. We recommend spreading a layer of refried beans on each tostada, then adding 2 to 3 spoonfuls of the veggie mixture. Top with mashed avocado. Optionally add shredded Mexican cheese or other Mexican cheeses like cotija or queso fresco. Serve immediately
Notes
Nutrition
If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.
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