These Buffalo Chickpea Taquitos are crispy, spicy, and satisfying! You can make the taquitos in your air fryer or oven; the recipe is gluten-free, vegan, and easy to make.
Crispy Taquitos – Baked or Air-Fried
Crispy, spicy, hearty, satisfying, and tasty! Yes, please! I am talking about these delicious vegan Buffalo Chickpea Taquitos. I love crispy finger food like Air Fryer Chickpeas, Hasselback Potatoes, Vegan Hash Browns, or Vegetable Pakora, and of course, taquitos!
Did you ever make your own taquitos? They are super easy to make and since I tried them for the first time a few months ago, I am hooked. Taquitos are a great snack, just think about your favorite Netflix series and all these hearty taquitos in front of you. Perfect evening, right?
No Chicken Taquitos
After a quick Google search for Buffalo Taquitos, I found about a million “Buffalo Chicken Taquitos”. Seriously, this isn’t very nice, especially since I have a pet chicken called ERNA. Yes, Erna is my rescue chicken, and she is living with me for 10 months now. She is quite a character and pretty popular because her story was shared on “The Dodo”. My Instagram followers love her. If you want to see Erna in action, go and check out my highlighted Insta stories. Here is a picture of Erna:
Having said that, I really cannot imagine that someone would kill my sweetheart Erna just for the pleasure of eating a dish for a few minutes.
There are so many cruelty-free plant-based alternatives to meat which are healthy, protein-rich, and tasty, like these Buffalo Chickpea Taquitos. Once you try them, you might change your mind. Erna would be very glad if other people would stop eating her friends.
Quick and Easy Recipe
It took me only about half an hour to make these crispy Buffalo Chickpea Taquitos. This recipe is super easy to make, and I bet you probably already have most (or all) ingredients at home. You’ll just need tortillas (I used homemade, gluten-free tortillas), chickpeas, a bell pepper, one onion, garlic, tomato sauce, hot sauce, and some spices. So if you are looking for a quick vegan dinner or snack, this easy recipe is perfect for you!
How To Make Baked Taquitos
- Using a fork, roughly mash the chickpeas in a bowl.
- Heat oil in a pan/skillet over medium heat and add the chopped onion and bell pepper. Cook for 3 minutes, then add garlic and spice mix and sauté for a further minute.
- Add all other sauce ingredients + chickpeas to the pan and bring the mixture to a boil. Let simmer on low heat for about 2-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, then turn off the heat.
- Taste the mixture, if you want it spicier, add more chili powder to taste.
- Preheat oven to 410 degrees F (210 degrees C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place about 2 tbsp of the filling onto each tortilla and roll them up tightly. Place every tortilla seam-side down on the baking sheet, next to each other.
- Brush them with a little bit of vegetable oil (to make them even more crispy).
- Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until they are golden brown and crispy.
- Drizzle with vegan cheese sauce (optional) or top them with your favorite vegan cheese before baking. Enjoy with your favorite dip!
Air fryer Vegan Taquitos
Spread them in a single layer, seam-side-down, in your air fryer basket with space in between (cook in batches if necessary). Then air fry in a pre-heated air fryer at 350F/175C for 6-8 minutes, until lightly browned and crispy on the edges.
These vegan taquitos will turn out crispy when you bake them in the oven, and even crispier in the air fryer. There is no need to deep-fry them. I mean, you could deep-fry them, but I always get sick when I eat deep-fried food, so I prefer to bake or air-fry my taquitos. The secret is to brush them with a little bit of oil (1 tbsp oil is enough for 10 taquitos) and bake or air-fry them until they are golden brown and crispy!
Since I like spicy meals, I often add chili powder to my savory dishes. Because every person has different taste buds, though, it’s difficult to recommend the right amount of hot sauce and chili powder. 3 tbsp of hot sauce and a pinch of chili powder will add a pleasant spiciness, at least to my taste buds.
If you dislike spicy meals, you better leave out the chili powder completely and just add 1 tbsp (or even less) of hot sauce. And if you are like my boyfriend, who slathers his food in chili powder, I would recommend adding more hot sauce and more chili powder until you are happy with the spiciness.
If you make this delicious meal and maybe even take a photo of it, then I would love to see it. You can DM it to me on Instagram. Don’t forget to tag me in your Insta caption + photo with @elavegan and use the hashtag #elavegan, and I will gladly check out your post. And if you are a fan of Buffalo Chickpea recipes, definitely also try out my Avocado Chickpea Pizza which is gluten-free and vegan as well.
More Crispy Vegan & Gluten-Free Snacks
- Veggie Taquitos
- Crispy Polenta Fries
- Baked Vegan Onion Rings
- Vegan Quesadillas
- Chickpea Fritters
- Roasted Cauliflower Steaks
- Air Fryer Zucchini Chips
- Oven-Baked Tacos
Or browse my list of 32+ Vegan Super Bowl Snacks
Baked or Air-Fried Taquitos
Ingredients
Buffalo chickpea sauce:
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 medium-sized onion chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 bell pepper chopped
- 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (or one 15 oz can, drained and rinsed)
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce (passata)
- 3 tbsp hot sauce (or more to taste)
- 2 tbsp plant-based milk
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 3/4 tsp coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- Sea salt & black pepper to taste
- Chili powder to taste
Tortillas:
- 10 small flour tortillas (gluten-free if needed) about 14 cm in diameter
Dipping Sauce (optional):
- vegan cheese sauce (or your favorite dipping sauce)
Instructions
- Using a fork, roughly mash the chickpeas in a bowl.
- Heat oil in a pan/skillet over medium heat and add the chopped onion and bell pepper. Cook for 3 minutes, then add garlic and spice mix and sauté for a further minute.
- Add all other sauce ingredients + chickpeas to the pan and bring the mixture to a boil. Let simmer on low heat for about 2-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, then turn off the heat.
- Taste the mixture, if you want it spicier, add more chili powder to taste.
- Preheat oven to 410 degrees F (210 degrees C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place about 2 tbsp of the filling onto each tortilla and roll them up tightly. Place every tortilla seam-side down on the baking sheet, next to each other.
- Brush them with a little bit of vegetable oil (to make them even more crispy).
- Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until they are golden brown and crispy.
- Drizzle with vegan cheese sauce (optional) or top them with your favorite vegan cheese before baking. Enjoy with your favorite dip!
Notes
- I used homemade gluten-free tortillas.
- I describe the method for air-fryer taquitos in the blog post above.
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
Dasch Ki
Hi, Ela! I made these for dinner last night. I usually can’t follow a recipe to save my life, but I did this time, and you did not disappoint – these were SO yummy!! I have 2 left over and I can’t wait for lunch time to get here so I could finish them off. (I strongly considered eating them for breakfast!) I’ll definitely be making these again and again. Thank you for sharing!
Ela
Wonderful! So glad you liked the taquitos. 🙂
Sierra
I was pleasantly surprised with how good these were. I am not vegan so I added some shredded cheese on the inside and they were amazing! I don’t generally like chickpeas but had some leftover from a different recipe and needed a reason to use them. This was perfect. I’m actually looking forward to buying more chickpeas to make more of these.
Ela
Thanks for your comment, Sierra! 🙂
Karla
Hi, quick question what kind of tortillas did you use? I used corn El Pueblo and when I tried rolling the taquitos, the tortilla kept on breaking. I finally added less mixture and was able to roll them somewhat properly. Once we took them out of the oven, they all looked dry and all the tortillas were open. They definitely didn’t look as nice as yours. Any suggestions? We did add the oil to make them crispy.
Ela
Hi, I use homemade tortillas which I also linked in the recipe! 🙂
https://elavegan.com/gluten-free-tortillas-recipe/
Karla
Thank you SO much! Will be trying this tortilla recipe. 🙂
Ela
You are very welcome! I hope you will like it. 🙂
Nicole
Can these be made ahead or in bulk and put into the freezer?
Ela
Yes, that’s possible!
Sarah
My question was about freezing also, which would you recommend…Before baking? Or after baked and cooled?
Ela
I would recommend it before baking. 🙂
David E
Okay, listen. The Buffalo Taquitos may be the best thing I’ve eaten in the past couple weeks of veganism. I mean Really—- totally amazing.
This is coming from a big dude living in Buffalo. I can’t wait to make them again. I’ll make them for my carnivorous pals, too.
MORE RECIPES LIKE THIS!!! ????????????
I didn’t see nutritional info on the recipe. Did I miss that?
Ela
Thank you so much, David! I am glad you liked the recipe. Hope your friends will like it too!
As regards the nutritional info, I will include it shortly! 🙂
Tori
Made these for dinner, I used corn tortillas. Make sure to warm the tortillas or they will rip once you roll them up. Dipped them in a vegan queso dip found at Aldi.
Ela
Amazing! Thanks, Tori! 🙂
Sheri
This was amazing! I pretty much followed the recipe verbatim, and I actually doubled it. It sounded so good I wanted to be sure there would be enough to take for lunch tomorrow if I enjoyed it 🙂 We did not have taquitos, but had it over rice with sliced avocado. It was really delicious and definitely worth doubling. Thank you!
Ela
Awesome! Thanks a lot for your great feedback, Sheri! 🙂
Jason
I’m new at this vegan lifestyle, been at it for about a month. I’m also trying to incorporate these dishes into my family’s meals. I made these the other day and the kids loved them. They even thought that the mashed chickpeas were meat. That helped start the healthy eating conversation. Thanks for the great recipe and keep them coming! ????
Ela
That’s awesome, Jason! So happy you and your kids loved this recipe. 🙂
Diana
Ela, had these for dinner tonight! Amazing! Such a delicious and easy recipe. Thank you! I’m still in awe of how yummy and crunchy they were! Definitely will be remaking over and over again.
Ela
Very happy to hear that you liked my recipe, Diana! 🙂
Jodi
I made these tonight and they were so good! I have saved so many of your recipes to try. Can’t wait! Thank you!
Ela
Amazing, Jodi! I am glad you liked these taquitos. 🙂
Eglė
Hi! could you make video how you make vegan cheese? we did smth wrong 🙁
Ela
I will probably make a video in a few days. What went wrong with the cheese sauce?
Egle
It was not thick and white:)
Cybille
Made this for lunch. It’s so good!!! Thank you! 🙂
Ela
So happy you liked this recipe, Cybille! 🙂
Chelsea
Hi! I just want to start by saying I love that you have a little rescue chicken. I can’t wait to have a few hens of my own to love! I tried to make this recipe tonight and for some reason it just did not come out tasting like I hoped it would. I’ve only been a vegetarian for a few months now so I probably did something wrong. I cooked the canned chickpeas which may have caused the odd taste? I also realized I used a tomato sauce that was flavored with basil and oregano. Maybe this was my mistake?? I’d love your feedback so I can try it again and hope it comes out better. Thank you!
Chelsea
Ela
Hi Chelsea, thanks for your comment. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you if it was the basil and oregano in the tomato sauce as I never tried it out. Also, it’s difficult to give you feedback since tastes differ a lot. I have received great feedback on Instagram and here so far, so my answer is probably not very helpful.
Best wishes, Ela
Merolyn
You don’t need to cook the chickpeas if they come from canned (already cooked). I think that was the “mistake”. Try again and just cooked the onion, etc.
Brittany
We cook canned chick peas all the time, oregano has a strong flavor as well as thyme, if your tomato sauce was seasoned I imagine that’s whats went wrong ! You’re taste also changes slowly the longer you eat a diet lower in fats and sugars (which most balanced plant based diets are in comparison to non plant based diets) so it could be that too! Good luck
Sarah
Hi Ela,
Do flour tortillas or corn tortillas work better for taquitos?
Ela
Both should work fine. I prefer my homemade tortillas. 🙂
Hayley Mete
Your tortillas in the above pictures looks amazing…so thin and yummy! The Tortilla recipe attached to this recipe, the tortillas look much thicker. I’m curious what recipe you used. Thank you!
Ela
It’s always the same recipe but sometimes I use more water to make them thinner and sometimes less water to make them thicker. 🙂
Abin
Sweet and healthy
Ela
Thank you! 🙂
Mike Thomas
This was sooo delicious!! The combos of spices with the chickpeas made for a mouthwatering easy to make meal. Thank you so much Ela for the inspiration!!!
Ela
Wonderful! I am glad you liked the recipe, Mike! 🙂
Heather
Do you know the calories per taquito
Ela
Unfortunately, I don’t. It also depends on which kind of tortilla you use (corn or wheat-based or gluten-free etc). But you could check out cronometer.com and calculate it yourself with the type of tortilla you are using.
Cyndy
My family loves these! I made them with whole wheat flour tortillas and they were delicious.
Cybille
Oh, sorry. I was too excited and went straight to the recipe. :))
Thanks for the quick response though! 🙂
Ela
You are very welcome! 🙂
Cybille
HI, Ela!
This is amazing! Was just wondering, I don’t really eat spicy food. Is it possible to not add the spice mix?
Thanks!
Ela
Hi Cybille, if you don’t like spicy food then definitely leave out the chili powder and use less hot sauce. I actually mentioned it in the text of the blog post. ❤️
Karen Riha
I just made this recipe and it’s so good. I added sweet corn and it worked! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Ela
You are welcome! I am glad you liked the recipe, Karen. 🙂
Agustin
Sweeeeeeeeeet <3 thnx from Argentina
Ela
You are most welcome! 🙂
Ashlee
Are you using buffalo sauce or just regular hot sauce?
Ela
I used regular hot sauce. 🙂
Angela
can i replace legume for other thing? My baby is allergy to chickpeas ????
Ela
You could use black beans or kidney beans instead of chickpeas if your baby can eat that. 🙂
Amy J
I’m going to make them with mushroom walnut meat. I’m so excited that I found this recipe.
Ela
Enjoy it, Amy! 🙂
Julie
Ohhh!!! That sounds amazing!
Thanks for the idea! ????????
Tiffany
You could use fork-shredded mushrooms or jackfruit