Tlayudas Recipe Recipe
How to make Tlayudas! This healthy, lightened-up version is vegan and gluten-free adaptable. Feel free to add walnut chorizo, chicken carnitas, or turkey chorizo. Made with a crispy tortilla, topped with refried beans, cheese (optional), cabbage slaw, avocado and cilantro.
How to Make the Best Tlayudas Recipe
Tlayudas are a beloved street food from Oaxaca, Mexico, that combines crispy tortillas with fresh, flavorful toppings. This lightened-up, vegan-friendly version captures all the authentic flavors without sacrificing taste or texture. The key to great tlayudas is achieving that perfect crispy tortilla base—toasted until completely dry and crunchy, it serves as the ideal canvas for your toppings.
What makes this recipe so special is the contrast of temperatures and textures: warm, seasoned refried beans, cool and crunchy cabbage slaw, creamy avocado, and zesty lime. The optional avocado-cilantro sauce adds a fresh, vibrant element that ties everything together beautifully. While the base recipe is vegan, you can easily customize it with chicken carnitas, chorizo, or cheese to suit your preferences.
This recipe is incredibly versatile and perfect for meal prep. You can toast the tortillas ahead of time, prepare the slaw in advance, and make the sauce whenever you’re ready. When it comes time to eat, just warm the beans and assemble—it’s a quick, satisfying meal that tastes like an authentic Oaxacan experience right in your own kitchen.
Tlayudas Recipe
How to make Tlayudas! This healthy, lightened-up version is vegan and gluten-free adaptable. Feel free to add walnut chorizo, chicken carnitas, or turkey chorizo. Made with a crispy tortilla, topped with refried beans, cheese (optional), cabbage slaw, avocado and cilantro.
Ingredients
Base & Slaw
Bean Filling
Avocado-Cilantro Sauce
Optional
Instructions
Toast Tortillas
- Preheat oven to 275°F.
- Toast tortillas dry, directly on the oven racks (no sheet pan) until crisp, about 20 minutes. They need to be very crispy and dry, not bendy. Can be made ahead.
Prepare Slaw
- Combine cabbage, carrots, radish, and onion in a large bowl. Toss with salt. This will seem like a lot at first, but it will release liquid and shrink down.
- Add cucumber, jalapeño, scallions, and cilantro. Toss well, then add olive oil, lime juice, and a little zest.
- Let rest on counter or refrigerate until ready to use.
Make Sauce
- If making the avocado sauce, place all sauce ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust salt and spice level, adding more jalapeño if needed. Transfer to a bowl.
Final Assembly
- Heat the refried beans, adding 0.25-0.5 cup water to loosen them. Using a fork, whip in a pinch of salt, cumin, and coriander to taste.
- If using chicken or chorizo, heat them up now. If using cheese, turn on the broiler.
- Carefully spread beans on the tortilla like pizza sauce. Add chicken and cheese if desired (and melt under broiler), or leave vegan.
- Top the warmed bean base with a generous mound of cool slaw. Spoon over avocado sauce or sliced avocado.
- Garnish with cilantro sprigs, hot sauce, lime wedge, and pickled onions. Serve immediately with knife and fork while beans are warm and tortillas are still crisp.
