Roasted Chickpea Quinoa Taco Bowls are fresh, and flavorful! These easy chickpea taco bowls are loaded with zesty cilantro lime quinoa, taco roasted chickpeas, salsa, black beans, and avocado.
Pile them high with your favorite taco toppings and dive into this delicious vegetarian taco bowl!
Taco night will never get boring in this house.
The options are quite literally endless, and we rarely have the same exact combination of ingredients twice.
Unless I’m making shrimp tacos in which case, this exact formula has entered my face countless times!
I usually let the contents of my fridge and pantry decide which direction to go in.
Out of tortillas? Taco salad time! Out of lettuce? Quinoa to the rescue! We’re no stranger to turning bell peppers and sweet potatoes into glorified tacos as well. Anything goes!
For protein we usually cycle through the same few options: lentils or chickpeas for vegan/vegetarian, chicken or beef for t-rex, and shrimp or salmon for pescatarian.
Today I’m alllllll about the chickpeas!
Roasted Chickpea Quinoa Taco Bowls
These tasty quinoa bowls are loaded with some of our favorite taco fixin’s. Todays creation features a mountain of goodies including…
- fresh tomatoes, tomato jalapeño salsa, or pico de gallo
- spicy taco roasted chickpeas
- cilantro lime quinoa
- black beans
- quick pickled red onions
- avocado
- sliced jalapeños
- sour cream
- lime wedges
For a tasty twist, try it with my Mexican Quinoa Salad with Chili Lime Dressing in place of the cilantro lime quinoa. I used it in some of the newer post photos that I’ve added and it’s super tasty both ways!
Feel free to go crazy with the extras and empty your crisper drawer!
Other awesome topping options include shredded cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, crushed tortilla chips, fresh corn, roasted sweet potatoes and/or sautéed pepper and onions. You can even skip the sour cream and go vegan, or simply sub in Greek yogurt for a lighter vegetarian option.
I used my go-to taco roasted chickpea recipe here but feel free to use shawarma chickpeas here as well! Both recipes rock my socks and they’re great with pretty much everything.
Let’s get our taco bowl on!
Roasted Chickpea Quinoa Taco Bowls
Ingredients
- 15 oz chickpeas (I used 1 can)
- 1 TBSP avocado oil (or olive oil)
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- ¾ tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- ¼ tsp paprika (smoked or regular)
- 2-3 cups cilantro lime quinoa (see below for recipe)
- 1 cup chopped ripe tomato
- 1 jalapeno
- 1-2 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 lime halved
- 1 cup black beans (optional) drain and rinse if using canned
- 1 avocado (thinly sliced or diced)
CILANTRO LIME QUINOA
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 1.5 cups water
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves
- juice of 1/2 a lime
- zest of 1/2 a lime
- 1-2 TBSP avocado oil (or olive/coconut oil)
- salt + pepper to taste
TASTY EXTRAS:
- pickled red onion
- guacamole
- sweet corn kernels
- chopped bell pepper
- fresh or leftover grilled/roasted/sautéed veggies
- tortilla chips or strips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Grab a can of chickpeas. Rinse, drain, and pat dry. Lay spaced out on a baking sheet and drizzle with avocado oil or olive oil and sea salt. Set timer for 20-25 minutes, toss em in the oven, and move on to prep the rest of your taco bowl. At the 20-25 minute mark, remove chickpeas from oven, toss with cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and paprika.
- Next make the cilantro lime quinoa. Rinse and drain your quinoa using a mesh strainer or sieve. Add to a medium saucepan with 1.5 cups water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered with the lid slightly ajar, for 13 minutes or until quinoa is fluffy and the liquid has been absorbed. Add chopped cilantro, lime juice, lime zest and oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss to combine.
- While the chickpeas roast and your quinoa simmers, chop all your tasty toppings for the taco bowls. I listed out some delicious extras that can be mixed, so be creative and have fun with it!
- For the tomato jalapeño salsa, combine chopped tomato (I love using ultra ripe cherry or grape tomatoes here) with jalapeño, cilantro, and juice of half a lime. Cut remaining half of lime into wedges to serve with the bowls.
- Ready to eat? Load up each bowl with cilantro lime quinoa and top with your roasted chickpeas, salsa, black beans, avocado, and all your favorite toppings! Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
hungry for more?
If you get a chance to try these quinoa chickpea taco bowls, let me know! Leave some love in the comment form below or tag your photos with @peasandcrayons on Instagram so I can happy dance over your creation.
Questions & Reviews
Absolutely excellent! Everything is on point from the seasonings to the texture of the ingredients. I did add black beans like recommended. Really impressed. Thanks so much for sharing!
This is a go to meal for me during the week with my busy schedule. It is SO easy to make and SO delicious!
Yay!!! So happy to hear it Paige – thank you!
Hi Jenn! I really love these taco bowls! I am totally pinning these for later! Super excited to try them!
HI! Looks delicious. How long do you roast the chickpeas after tossing them with seasoning?
Hey Holly! You’ll only roast them that first time with the oil and salt and then toss them, warm from the oven, in the seasoning. The spices don’t need to be cooked at all and will stick to the hot chickpeas, giving them all their tasty flavor!
Ok, perfect! That was my question too. Looks so healthy and delicious! Thank you!
yum! this looks great. i love tacos for that reason – you can really throw anything together and it’s good!
Thank you Kristin!
Do you have the nutrition facts for this recipe? My family and I love this meal!
I’m so glad it was a hit! I haven’t had a chance to calculate this one yet but you can plug it into myfitnesspal.com and it’ll give you a free breakdown. xoxo
Chickpeas in 400 degrees F for 20 minutes? Our oven looks like something exploded inside 😀 I’m not sure what went wrong.
10 minutes or so was easier to clean up and the chickpeas were good enough.
Holy cow! Does your oven run a bit hotter than usual (aka recipes need to bake/roast less time when you follow them usually) or are you at a higher altitude maybe? Did you skip the oil or use dried vs. canned/cooked chickpeas? I’m happy to help troubleshoot!
I make these chickpeas 2x a month and the time and temperature works perfect for me here in Florida (sea level with a 4 year old oven) — I’m glad you still enjoyed them even though those little buggers went all over the place for ya! Thanks Hannu! xoxo
Interesting! Third try and now with different brand chickpeas – and no problems after 20 minutes! We actually live in Northern Europe, Finland, at sea level. So I’m going for 200 degrees Celcius with the oven. The peas are from can, I patted them dry and used olive oil. The first two batches were from Italian chickpeas, or so it said in the can. These non-exploding ones were French! Go figure 😀
Fascinating! I would have never guessed the brand/source of chickpeas could have been the culprit here. I have to admit I will probably forever think of “exploding chickpeas” when I cook with them now. Too too funny and I’m so glad the third time was the charm with the French chickpeas! Thanks for popping back in to let me know! 🙂
This looks so fresh and delicious, it would be a great side for dinner or even a quick lunch!
Sooooo perfect for lunch; thank you Trang!
Yes! This is a taco dish I want on my table! So good, and such clever ingredients to use!
Woot! Thank you Patricia!
I’m making something similar tonight for Meatless Monday. I love your roasted chickpeas. Yum!!
Woot! Enjoy girly!
I’ve been eating a lot of these ingredients lately, but not chickpeas, I forget about chickpeas and any protein they have, and they do have 2.4 g per tablespoon, great, so thank you for a nice new recipe to me!
They’re just so wonderful, right? I hope you get a chance to try this recipe soon and get your chickpea fix!