Ancho Mushroom Tacos: Veggie Taco with Homemade Tortillas

My Taco Craft with Ancho Mushroom Tacos & The New Masa Harina

This is a very flavour-forward veggie special.

And I mean properly flavour-forward, not “nice for a vegetarian taco”, not “healthy but slightly boring”, not “where is the meat?” kind of situation.

These are oyster mushrooms marinated in ancho chilli, cumin, oregano, onion, garlic and oil, then cooked until soft, fragrant and full of savoury mushroom juices. After that, I build the taco with just a touch of refried beans, a generous pile of ancho mushrooms, fresh pico de gallo and avocado crema.

Simple? Yes.

Basic? Absolutely not.

This is exactly the kind of taco I love creating here at Dito’s Table: plant-forward, deeply satisfying, and built with the same logic I use in my restaurant kitchen: flavour first, then texture, balance, freshness and tortilla quality.

It is also a good example of what I call Taco Craft: not just putting things inside a tortilla, but thinking about how every element works together.

And as a bonus, I used this recipe to test a new masa harina from Masienda: Masa Taquera. I’ll also add it to my masa harina comparison review, where I compare different masa harina brands I’ve used for homemade tortillas.

Why Ancho Works So Well with Mushrooms

I’ve tried different chillies with mushrooms before, and I must say: ancho is my favourite so far.

Ancho chilli has that deep, round, slightly sweet, dried-fruit character. It is not aggressively hot. It is not trying to dominate everything. Instead, it gives mushrooms this beautiful smoky-earthy warmth that works incredibly well with their natural savouriness.

Oyster mushrooms are great here because they have structure. They collapse when cooked, but they don’t disappear. They stay juicy, slightly chewy, and they absorb flavour beautifully.

You can take them in two directions.

You can keep them soft and juicy, almost like a mushroom stew.

Or you can cook them further until the oil starts doing its job and the edges crisp up a little. I would call them mushroom carnitas.

For this version, I kept them more juicy because I wanted to taste the mushroom flavour and the ancho marinade together. But if you want more texture, take them further. Both versions work.

Ingredients

For the Ancho Mushrooms

• 500g oyster mushrooms
• 1 tsp ancho chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 cup neutral oil
• 1/4 medium onion, sliced
• 1 garlic clove, sliced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp lemon-lime juice

For Serving

• Fresh corn tortillas
• Refried beans
• Ancho mushrooms
• Pico de gallo
• Avocado crema

How to Make Ancho Mushroom Filling

First, clean the oyster mushrooms.

Cut away the root ends and any very thick parts of the stems. These can be too chewy, and not in a pleasant “meaty” way, more in a “why am I still chewing?” way.

Then shred the bigger mushrooms by hand. Just tear them into smaller pieces. You don’t need perfect slices here. In fact, irregular pieces are better because they give you more texture once cooked.

Now make the marinade.

Add the oil, ancho powder, cumin, oregano, sliced onion, garlic and salt to a small pot. Cook over medium heat for at least 5 minutes, stirring from time to time so nothing burns.

This step matters.

You are not just mixing spices with oil. You are waking them up. The ancho chilli powder needs heat and oil to release its aroma properly. The cumin and oregano also become rounder and more fragrant.

Once the mixture smells gorgeous, take it off the heat and let it cool completely.

When it is cool, add the lemon-lime juice and mix.

Pour the marinade over the mushrooms and mix well. At first, it may look like there is not enough marinade. Don’t panic. Don’t add more liquid. Mushrooms collapse as they sit and marinade, and soon everything will make sense.

Leave the mushrooms to marinate for at least 2 hours. Stir after about 1 hour to make sure everything is coated evenly.

When ready to cook, heat a pot or skillet, add the mushroom mixture and cook until the mushrooms are soft and most of the marinade has evaporated.

Now you choose your texture.

For juicy ancho mushrooms, stop when they are soft, glossy and deeply fragrant.

For the mushroom carnitas effect, cook them further until the excess moisture evaporates and some edges begin to crisp in the oil.

Both are delicious. For this taco, I preferred the juicy version because the ancho mushroom flavour was just too good to push fully into crispiness.

Taco Assembly: Using the Flavour Matrix

Now let’s build the taco properly.

In my article Plant-Based Mexican Food That Eats Like a Night Out, I talk about my flavour matrix: protein, fibre, fat, texture, acidity, freshness, heat and balance.

This taco is a good example of that logic.

Mushrooms are delicious, but they are not very high in protein. So I don’t want the taco to feel too light or unfinished. This is why I add just a small amount of refried beans first, just about 1 teaspoon spread onto the tortilla.

This is not a bean taco with mushrooms. It is an ancho mushroom taco with a little bean support system.

Then add the mushrooms. They are light, so even 50g looks like a generous pile.

After that, add pico de gallo for colour, freshness and a little crunch.

And finally, avocado crema.

Why avocado crema?

Because this is where my Salsa System comes in.

I didn’t want to use a red salsa here. The ancho marinade already gives us chilli depth, and I didn’t want another chilli-based sauce competing with it. I also didn’t want too much acidity, because this is a veggie filling and there isn’t heavy animal fat to cut through.

So the answer is something creamy, green and bright.

Avocado crema does exactly that. It softens the chilli, rounds the taco, adds richness, and lets the ancho mushroom flavour stay in the spotlight.

See? This is how taco building becomes easy once you understand the system.

About the Tortillas

Of course, I suggest making your own tortillas.

These ancho mushroom tacos are at their best when assembled in fresh, warm, homemade corn tortillas. A good tortilla is not just a vehicle. It is part of the flavour.

You can follow my full guide here: How To Make Tortillas: Real Corn & Wheat Ones At Home.

For this test, I used Masienda Masa Taquera, a new masa harina I’m trying.

The method was very easy:

Mix 1 cup masa harina with a pinch of salt and just under 1 cup warm water.

Knead briefly to improve hydration.

Rest for 30 minutes.

Then portion into balls of around 40g each, press in a tortilla press, and cook on a hot comal or a flat non-stick skillet.

I use either my Victoria cast iron tortilla press or the metal tortilla press from Masienda. Both work well, but the key is always the same: hydrated masa, even pressing, and a properly heated surface.

Masienda Masa Taquera: First Impressions

The first thing I noticed was the aroma.

This masa harina smells very nice. Not overwhelmingly strong, but definitely more pronounced and rounded compared with many standard masa harina options. Even compared with Masienda’s white or yellow masa harina, which I use these days, this one had a very pleasant, noticeable corn aroma.

The hydration was easy. The dough came together nicely and felt good to work with.

But the real test is always the tortilla.

And yes, the tortillas puffed beautifully. Flawlessly, actually. My best experience thus far.

The texture was pillowy and soft, but with a little more rustic character. I found it slightly coarser than the tortillas I make with Masienda’s heirloom yellow corn masa harina.

Flavour-wise, I liked it a lot.

Would I choose it over the heirloom yellow in a blind test? Probably not. I think the heirloom yellow still wins for me by a tiny margin.

But Masa Taquera performed very well. It is aromatic, easy to hydrate, easy to press, puffs beautifully, and makes a very satisfying tortilla for tacos.

So yes, I’ll add this to my masa harina comparison review.

Final Taste of Ancho Mushroom Taco

The final taco was excellent.

Soft warm corn tortilla. A little refried bean base. Juicy ancho mushrooms. Fresh pico de gallo. Creamy avocado crema.

It tasted smoky, earthy, fresh, creamy and comforting all at once.

And honestly, you don’t sit there thinking: “This needs meat.”

This veggie taco doesn’t even prompt such a thought.

But it just needs to be built properly.

That is the whole point of taco craft. When the filling has depth, the salsa makes sense, the tortilla is fresh, and the whole thing is balanced, a veggie taco can absolutely eat like a proper night-out taco.

Try It at Fiesta in Tbilisi

And now for the fun part.

If you are in Tbilisi, Georgia, you can actually try this taco at Fiesta Mexican Restaurant.

We are dropping this Ancho Mushroom Taco as a veggie special, made with our handmade corn tortillas, ancho-marinated oyster mushrooms, refried beans, pico de gallo and avocado crema.

It is smoky, fragrant, juicy and very satisfying, exactly the kind of taco I love sharing both at Dito’s Table and at Fiesta.

I hope you’re hungry to try my drop, and let me know what you think.

Buen provecho.