Panela Cheese Tacos
Panela Cheese Tacos – an easy vegetarian taco recipe featuring pan-seared Mexican cheese and your favorite toppings. Great for busy weeknights!
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Whether you’re looking for a meat-free taco recipe or want to try something new, these Panela Cheese Tacos are DELICIOUS!
The cheese gets seasoned, then seared in a pan and added to flour or corn tortillas with avocado, salsa, pickled red onions, and more!
I started making panela tacos when I wanted to make my family a vegetarian taco recipe that the whole family would eat. My kids won’t eat mushrooms, but you know what we all like? Cheese.
After it’s seared, panela cheese gives you a great texture without being gooey, which is perfect for tacos. Add your favorite toppings and you’re set!
What is panela cheese?
Panela cheese or Queso Panela is a fresh Mexican cheese that’s made from cow’s milk. It has a mild, almost buttery flavor and is known for keeping its shape and not melting when heated.
Panela is soft and has a spring to it, but firm enough to slice. It doesn’t crumble like queso fresco or cotija cheese and it’s doesn’t melt like cheddar or mozzarella.
The most similar cheese to panela would be either paneer or halloumi.
Panela cheese is a great meat-free ingredient in Mexican food, making it perfect for Meatless Monday or a vegetarian option for Taco Tuesday.
Ingredients needed (scroll down to recipe card for complete recipe):
- Panela cheese
- Taco tortillas – corn or flour
- Spices – smoked paprika, cumin, chili powder
- Taco toppings: salsa, avocado, pickled red onions, cilantro
📍The full recipe with exact ingredient amounts and instructions is on the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Simply slice the cheese, season it with spices, and sear it on a nonstick griddle.
how to serve panela tacos
Panela tacos are best served warm with the cheese right out of the pan.
We serve them with either black beans or refried beans and The Best Mexican Rice.
A bright salsa, tangy pickled onions, and creamy avocado really complement the panela cheese.
Toppings ideas
- Fresh homemade salsa is spectacular on these tacos. We like the tang of tomatillos in either Chile de Arbol Tomatillo Salsa or Serrano Salsa best.
- Sliced avocado or guacamole
- Pickled red onions
- Chopped cilantro & onion
💡Tips & Tricks
- Pan/Griddle: A nonstick pan or griddle is best so the cheese comes off the pan easily without breaking apart.
- Tortillas: Corn or flour work well for these tacos. If you use corn, they’re best heated before eating. I either brush a little vegetable oil on them and heat them in a skillet or using tongs, quickly place them over the flames of a gas stove.
- Quick Meal: If you make the salsa and pickled onions the day before, these tacos come together in just 20 minutes!
Looking for more Mexican recipes?
- Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken
- Achiote Chicken Tacos with Creamy Chipotle Sauce
- The Best Carne Asada
- Slow Cooker Mexican Beef Barbacoa
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Panela Cheese Tacos
Equipment
- nonstick griddle or large nonstick skillet
Ingredients
- 1 (10 ounce) panela cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 6 taco-sized tortillas corn or flour
- avocado slices optional topping
- chile de arbol tomatillo salsa optional topping
- pickled red onions optional topping
Instructions
- If you're using corn tortillas, you'll want to heat them first. I like to brush a little bit of vegetable oil on them and heat each side in a skillet. If you use flour tortillas, you can pop them in the microwave.
- Slice panela cheese into 1/4" thick slices. Sprinkle half of the cumin, smoked paprika, and chili powder over the top of the cheese, flip them over and sprinkle the other half of the spices over the cheese.
- If you use a nonstick griddle, you can cook all the cheese at once. If you use a nonstick skillet, you'll have to cook the cheese in batches. Add the seasoned panela slices to your griddle/skillet. Cook on medium heat 3-4 minutes, then flip them over and cook another 3-4 minutes. The cheese should be golden.
- Add avocado, salsa, and pickled onions to tacos and serve right away. Excellent with rice and beans! Enjoy!
Notes
- Depending on the grocery store, I find panela in different areas. Sometimes it’s in the cheese section, sometimes it’s in the refrigerated Hispanic section with crema and cotija.
- By cutting the panela into 1/4″ slices, I get about 20 slices of cheese. You get the stated servings (6 tacos) by adding 3 slices of cheese to each taco.
- These tacos can be a quick, 20-minute meal if you prepare the salsa and pickled onions the day before!
- If you use flour tortillas, to get 6 tacos, they’ll need to be the small tortillas that are the size of corn tortillas, not the bigger “fajita” size tortillas.
- Store leftover cooked cheese in an air-tight container and use within 4 days. Pop it back on the griddle to reheat.
Panela tacos are the best vegetarian recipe for Taco Tuesday! Can’t wait for you to try these!