Panela Cheese Tacos
Panela Cheese Tacos - an easy vegetarian taco recipe featuring pan-seared Mexican cheese and your favorite toppings. Great for busy weeknights!
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.
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