I’m working on a big side project right now and it has required me to buy a lot of extra groceries. You know how I hate to see food go to waste, so I took a look at the ingredients on hand and came up with these tasty little tacos to use up my leftovers. All I had to buy was the zucchini. I’d call that a WIN.
I initially set out to make these tacos vegan, but then I realized that I had some monterrey jack cheese in my fridge, too. I have to admit, once I put that jack on there it took the tacos from “good” to “NOM x 100”. Seriously. Even though the tacos already had the creamy avocado slices, something about the monterrey jack cheese just really set them off. These tacos are “stuff your face” good.
The avocado was undoubtably the most expensive item here. I already had it on hand, so it wasn’t a loss for me. If I didn’t already have it, the monterrey jack cheese would have been more than enough to replace it. So, keep that in mind if your budget is extra tight (and whose isn’t?).
Oh, and if you don’t have the spices on hand to make the homemade taco seasoning, you can use one store bought taco seasoning packet in its place (although you won’t need the extra garlic powder listed below).
Roasted Corn and Zucchini Tacos
Roasted Corn & Zucchini Tacos
Servings 6 2 small tacos eachIngredients
- 2 zucchini ($1.68)
- 8 oz. frozen corn ($0.78)
- 1 packet taco seasoning ($0.34)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1 15oz. can black beans ($0.87)
- 1/4 tsp salt, if needed ($0.02)
- 12 small corn tortillas ($0.96)
- 1 avocado (optional) ($2.00)
- 4 oz. shredded monterrey jack cheese ($1.20)
- 1/4 bunch cilantro (optional) ($0.20)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Cut the zucchini into a very small dice, just slightly larger than the pieces of corn. Combine the diced zucchini, corn, olive oil, taco seasoning, and garlic powder in a bowl. Stir until everything is well combined and coated in oil and seasonings.
- Cover a baking sheet in foil and spread the zucchini and corn mixture evenly over the surface. Roast in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until the vegetables look slightly shriveled. Meanwhile, rinse the black beans and let them drain well.
- After the vegetables have roasted, combine them with the well drained black beans. Season the mixture with extra salt, if needed (I used about 1/4 tsp). Cut the avocado into 12 slices.
- Lightly toast the corn tortillas in a dry skillet, then top with a small scoop of the zucchini corn mixture, a slice of avocado, a few sprigs of cilantro, and a pinch of shredded monterrey jack cheese.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Step by Step Photos
Corn and zucchini is one of my favorite vegetable combos. The corn is sweet and the zucchinis get kind of creamy when roasted. YUM. I used 8 oz. (half of the bag) of corn and two medium zucchinis.
It’s really important to chop the zucchini into pieces that are similar in size to the corn, so that they roast at the same speed. The easiest way to do this is to cut the zucchini in half lengthwise, so that it has a flat edge to lay on. Cut the zucchini lengthwise a couple more times to make matchsticks, then cut across the matchsticks into small pieces.
Place the diced zucchini and corn in a bowl and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and one batch of taco seasoning (or one taco seasoning packet), plus 1/4 tsp garlic powder. My taco seasoning recipe doesn’t include garlic powder because I usually use fresh garlic in my recipes, but this time I didn’t, so I supplemented with a little garlic powder. My tacos seasoning also doesn’t contain a lot of salt, so you may want to add a little after the vegetables roast.
Stir it all up really, really good, so that everything is coated in oil and spices. Spread this mixture out evenly over a baking sheet covered with foil. Pop it into an oven that is preheated to 400 degrees and let it roast for 25 minutes or just until the veggies look a little soft and shriveled.
Like this. The steam is still rising off of the delicious veggies… MMmmm. While the corn and zucchini are roasting, you can rinse and drain the black beans. Let them drain really well, so that your tacos don’t get soggy.
Add the well drained black beans and stir to combine. Taste the mixture and add a little salt if it seems bland (homemade taco seasoning doesn’t contain a lot of salt, but if you’re using a store bought packet it probably has plenty).
Now it’s time to build the tacos. You’ll want to toast the tortillas in a dry skillet briefly to get that raw taste out. Just put them in a hot skillet until they get a little stiff, but still pliable enough to wrap a taco. Add a scoop of corn-zucchini mixture, a slice of avocado, a few sprigs of cilantro, and a pinch of shredded monterrey jack cheese.
If you happen to have a lime sitting around (like I did), you can squeeze a little lime juice on there, too. I didn’t think it increased the deliciousness enough to actually include it in the recipe, though.
Tacos are little bundles of love.
Do the taco dance!
This was SO good, I almost ate the whole thing in one sitting, and I turned on the oven just for this even though it was a thousand degrees outside. Definitely going to be a big player in my meal planning from now on.
I love this, and have made it a few times! I add a big portabella mushroom to the mix of veggies, which adds in even more veggies and another level of deliciousness!
Yum! I made this last night. So delicious and easy!!
I’m a big dummy and didn’t read the ingredients list properly, so I only bought one zucchini. I went ahead as planned anyway, and boy were these good! I used kidney beans instead of black (I haven’t been able to find black since moving to the UK), and I opted to leave out the cheese. I also had a bit of sliced tomato on there, because I had half of one lying around. Thanks for another amazing recipe :)
These were amazing!
The addition of lime at the end however, was definitely beyond amazing. It took the tacos from good to incredible with a little dash over each one just before eating. Thanks Beth :)
These are delicious! I will never buy a packet of taco seasoning again. Yours is too good.
NOM NOM NOM. I just finished eating three tacos. SO GOOD. I forgot the avocado, but it was still amazing. Next time I am going to make Chipotle’s Honey Vinaigrette dressing and drizzle it over each taco for an even bigger NOM NOM NOM. Thank you for the great recipes. So excited for you book!
Beth, I’m a total beginner who very recently started cooking. I’ve made several of your recipes and found all of the directions are very clear and simple and easy to make… not to mention colorful, healthy, filling, and delicious!
I made these tacos, and to echo the other comments, they were amazing. I also add raw red onions to any Mexican dish. I wonder if they would have been good baked with the corn and zucchini.
I made this the other night but instead of using zucchini (not a fan) I sauteed some frozen tilapia fillets I had and made fish tacos instead. So good! Love the roasted corn and black beans. I also added sour cream on top, because sour cream makes everything better. :) The fish makes it a little more expensive, but if you happen to have some in your freezer already…
I thought this was a very creative taco recipe! We made it last night and we liked it a lot. I happened to have homemade corn tortillas in our fridge so that added extra flavor. We ate it with homemade tomato salsa.
The taste of this roasted corn reminded me of a delicious Mexican street snack called “esquite”. I can’t believe oven roasting frozen corn could almost achieve that delicious charcoal grilled corn flavor. Put in a bowl, add some sour cream, some sort of crumbly cheese and some lime juice and there you have it!
That sounds SO good!
I’ve made this twice now and I love it! They do tend to cool off rather quickly, so next time I make them I think I’ll add the black beans to the corn in the last 5 minutes of cooking.
I am literally eating these as I type. They are too too good! I love the extra kick that the seasoning gives it. This is definitely a recipe I will be saving and using again. :)
Made this for family, was delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
Just finished making this, really good. I put some portabello mushrooms into the mix and then added some raw onion to the cilantro (a flavor combo I like). If you’re tired of just doing black bean tacos on taco night, these are the ones.
this one def sounds like a winner, and a great way to get meat-eating hubby to eat more veggies. (he might still demand a little shredded chicken or something…but we’ll see!) yummmm!