Black Bean Tacos with Charred Corn and Mango Salsa

These Black Bean Tacos are topped with easy charred corn, a tangy and spicy mango salsa made with Cholula Hot Sauce, topped with avocado and cheese. This is an easy recipe and a delicious dinner for the whole family.

Save this recipe for your next Taco Tuesday! Or why wait? Have taco night any day of the week. This dinner is full of fibre with hearty black beans, healthy fats from avocado and it contains half your daily Vitamin C requirements.

I've also got some other great vegetarian Mexican dishes, like these Black Bean Nachos, or this Mexican Potato Feast or another take on Tacos, these Tray Bake Mushroom Tacos with Buffalo Sauce and Slaw.

This post has been sponsored by Cholula Hot Sauce, which was lucky for me, because I love Cholula Hot Sauce. It's my favorite type because it's got that perfect balance of flavour and spice. It's not going to blow your head off, but it is perfect for adding that delicious heat to any dish, and it is full of flavour. My husband loves it on eggs, and it works so well with the tanginess of the lime and sweetness of the mango in these tacos in this fresh mango salsa.

Ingredients you'll need to make Black Bean Tacos Mango Salsa

For the Charred Corn:

• 1 cup frozen corn kernels or kernels sliced from sweet corn
• 2 teaspoon olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper

For the Black Bean Filling:

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 brown onion, sliced into wedges (alternatively red onion works really well with Mexican food, so red onion if you have it).
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt and pepper
• 800 g black beans (canned)
• 400 g diced tomatoes (canned), or baby grape tomatoes.
• ½ cup water

For the Mango Lime Salsa:

• 1 mango, diced into ½ cm pieces - make sure this is a lovely ripe mango.
• Zest and juice of ½ lime - fresh lime juice is best here.
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (optional) - or if you don't have hot sauce you can use chili powder, but it won't have quite the same taste.

For Assembling the Tacos:

• 12 mini soft tacos, mini tortillas
• 1 avocado, sliced into wedges
• 100 g cheddar (tasty) cheese, grated
• ½ lime, sliced into quarters
• Extra Cholula hot sauce for drizzling (optional)

Substitutions and Add-ins

Optional toppings - you can add sour cream, fresh cilantro (coriander), serrano pepper, Jalapeno pepper, sliced red bell pepper, chopped lettuce, sliced red cabbage or brown rice to the top of your tortillas.

Protein - if you want to add some animal protein to this dish, bake some white fish like Mahi Mahi and add to the taco to make fish tacos, or pork and mango are a partnership made in heaven, so you can add some pulled pork or sauteed pork to make pork tacos. These are both great options.

Gluten-free - to make this recipe gluten-free, use soft corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas.

Dairy-free - to make this recipe dairy-free, use dairy-free shredded cheese. My favourite is dairy-free shredded parmesan cheese. This will also make them Vegan Black Bean Tacos.

How to make Black Bean Tacos Mango Salsa

1. Place frozen corn kernels on a baking tray, toss through olive oil, salt, and pepper. Grill (broil) on high for 5 mins until golden brown, then remove. Watch this carefully as the corn kernels may start to pop. If they do, remove from the grill.
2. Heat olive oil in a frying pan or large skillet on medium-high heat, add onion, garlic, onion powder, cumin, paprika, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir for 1-2 mins until fragrant.
3. Drain black beans and add to the pan with diced tomatoes and water. Simmer on medium heat for 10 mins until thick, then set aside off the heat. Gently mash some beans with a spoon to thicken the filling, but leave some whole for texture.
4. Dice mango into ½ cm pieces and place in a medium bowl. Zest and juice ½ lime into the bowl. Mix through the diced mango, then drizzle over hot sauce (optional).
5. Warm tortillas or soft tacos in the residual heat of the oven. Slice avocado into long wedges. Grate cheese. Slice the remaining lime into quarters.
6. Serve tacos filled with black beans, grated cheese, charred corn, avocado slices, mango lime salsa, and drizzle over extra hot sauce (optional). Serve the tacos with a lime wedge for squeezing over the top for a burst of fresh flavor.

Kid-Friendly Variations of Black Bean Tacos Mango Salsa

• Charred Corn:
  • Thaw the frozen corn to skip the grilling step.
  • Reduce or omit the salt and pepper on the corn to make it milder.
• Black Bean Filling:
  • Adjust the spices like cumin and paprika to be less intense or omit them entirely if your kids prefer milder flavors, and serve plain black beans.
• Mango salsa:
  • Serve kids slices of plain mango, then make the salsa with the remaining mango.
• For Assembling the Tacos:
  • Offer a variety of toppings separately.

How to Store Black Bean Tacos Mango Salsa

Store mango salsa, toppings and bean mixture separately in an airtight container in the fridge. Avocado will go brown once cut, but you can help that by drizzling over lime juice.

Store tortillas as you would in the pantry in an airtight container.

Equipment

You will need a:

1. Baking Tray: For roasting the corn kernels.
2. Frying Pan: To sauté the onions, garlic, and create the black bean filling.
3. Oven and grill (broiler): To cook the corn and warm the soft tacos.

More Mexican Recipes

If you like Mexican food, try some other popular recipes like my One Pot Cheesy, Easy Mexican Ground Beef and Rice or The Best Chicken Quesadillas. These are some Easy Chicken Fajitas that I just love whipping up, or this Chicken Tortilla Soup is a lovely and filling dinner.

Recipe