Jackfruit Tacos
Canned young green jackfruit pulled apart, spiced with cumin, smoked paprika, chipotle, and oregano, then seared in a hot pan until the edges brown and the filling gets sticky. Served in warm corn tortillas with avocado crema, quick-pickled red onions, cilantro, and lime. Jackfruit works here because of its fibrous texture — shredded, it genuinely resembles pulled pork or chicken, and it absorbs whatever flavor you cook it with. The key is buying the right can: young green jackfruit in brine or water, not the ripe sweet fruit packed in syrup. Everything else follows from that.
Ingredients
- 560 gcanned young green jackfruit in brine or water
- 2 tbspneutral oil
- 1 medium onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1.5 tspground cumin
- 1.5 tspsmoked paprika
- 1 tspdried oregano
- 1 tbspchipotle in adobo sauce
- 2 tbsptomato paste
- 60 mlvegetable stock or water
- 8 small corn tortillas
- 1 ripe avocado
- ½ red onion, very thinly sliced + juice of 1 lime
- 1 bunchfresh cilantro and lime wedges
Method
- Prepare the jackfruit. Drain and rinse the jackfruit thoroughly under cold water — this removes the briny taste. Squeeze out as much moisture as possible using a clean kitchen towel or paper towels. Pull the pieces apart with your hands or two forks, separating the fibres into shreds. Trim and discard the harder triangular core pieces if they don't shred easily. The jackfruit should look roughly like coarse pulled pork at this stage.
- Quick-pickle the red onion. Toss the thinly sliced red onion with the juice of 1 lime and a generous pinch of salt. Let it sit at room temperature while you cook everything else — at least 15 minutes. The lime juice turns the onion bright pink and takes off the raw sharpness. This topping is worth making: it cuts through the richness of the jackfruit filling.
- Cook the jackfruit filling. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook 4 to 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, and a pinch of salt, and stir for 60 seconds until very fragrant. Add the tomato paste and chipotle sauce and stir for 1 minute — let the paste cook in the pan rather than just warming it. Add the shredded jackfruit and stir to coat everything in the spice mixture. Pour in the vegetable stock and stir to combine.
- Sear for texture. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook the jackfruit, stirring occasionally but not constantly, for 8 to 10 minutes. You want some of the liquid to evaporate and the edges of the jackfruit to brown and get slightly caramelized. This is where the flavor concentrates — resist the urge to stir too often. Taste and adjust: more salt, a squeeze of lime, a pinch of cumin if needed. The filling should be slightly sticky, well-seasoned, and smell smoky.
- Warm tortillas and assemble. Warm the corn tortillas directly over a gas flame for 20 to 30 seconds per side until lightly charred and pliable, or in a dry skillet. Make the quick avocado crema: mash the avocado with the juice of half a lime and a pinch of salt until smooth. Spread a spoonful of avocado crema on each tortilla, top with the jackfruit filling, pickled red onions, and fresh cilantro. Serve immediately with extra lime wedges.
FAQ
For tacos and any savory application, you need young green jackfruit packed in brine or water. This is the unripe fruit — it has a neutral, almost flavourless taste and a fibrous texture that pulls apart like shredded meat. Ripe jackfruit packed in syrup is a completely different product: sweet, soft, and fruit-flavoured. Using it in tacos produces a dish that tastes like dessert. Look for labels reading 'young green jackfruit in brine' or 'young jackfruit in water'. If you can only find the brine-packed version, rinse it well under cold water and squeeze out the excess moisture before cooking.
Rate this
Keep browsing
More dishes from the Mexican archive — picked by overlap with what you're cooking now.
Join the conversation
Comments (1)
I went through four cans of jackfruit before I figured out the right technique. The key is pressing it really dry — I mean paper-towel-squeezed, almost crumbly — before it goes into the pan. Wet jackfruit steams instead of searing and you never get those crispy caramelised edges that make the whole taco work. Also, pull the pieces into thin shreds with two forks before cooking, not after. The texture ends up remarkably close to carnitas when you get it right.