Slow-Cooked Black Beans and Poblano Pepper Baked Taquitos (Vegan & Gluten-Free)

I know a recipe is good with these three things come out of AJ’s mouth one after another:

1. “Hey, this is really good, hon!”

2. “Yeah, you can make these whenever you want.”

3. “Man, these are really good! Are there any more?”

#Win.

Oblique view of a three vegan and gluten-free black bean and poblano pepper baked taquitos on a white, dinner plate.

If there is one thing you should know about me, it is that I love beans. I could eat them for every meal for about a month before I got sick of them. That becomes about two months if they are of the refried variety.

I.LOVE.BEANS. But for some reason I don’t make them at home all that often. But after this, that is going to change. Because I learned today that making beans at home is: 1) infinitely more satisfying; 2) tastier than any canned beans; and 3) SO EASY! All you do is throw them in a slow cooker with some spices, set it on low, and let ’em cook all day. Donezo.

A white porcelain bowl containing vegan slow cooked black beans.

The kicker with this recipe is that you take your home-cooked beans and mash them up and turn them into quick refried beans. Double the tasty!

And then you roll them up with some charred poblano poblano peppers and cook ’em in the oven til they’re nice & crispy and then do a little happy dance because these things are good. So good, I’m allowed to make them every day, according to AJ.

Three fresh poblano peppers on white wooden surface.

If you want to be lazy (like I am most of the time) and just use canned beans, that’s totally fine! You can mash them and re-fry them yourself, or just buy refried black beans from the store. Simple. BUT! If you’re feeling remotely motivated, make the beans yourself.

Top down view of three vegan baked taquitos made with slow cooked black beans and charred poblano peppers.

I found out when I made these that taquitos are actually a real thing in Mexico. I feel like a lot of the things that we think of as Mexican food actually have no roots in Mexico… like burritos and chips, for instance.

A close up of two slow cooker black bean and poblano pepper baked taquitos.

If you ever wonder what people really eat in Mexico, the answer is tortillas. All day, every day, with every meal and probably when they sleep – tortillas. They’re kind of like wheat here – abundantly everywhere and in everything. I think I want to move to Mexico, because my love for tortillas almost surpasses my love for beans. Almost.

Top down view of a tomatillo based salsa in white ceramic square container.

And when you combine both tortillas and beans and package them up into cute little rolls of deliciousness? Heyyyoo. Dinner. Win. Serve these with some salsa and sour cream on top and you’ll be in heaven.

Have too many tortillas after all is said and done? Make tasty chips out of them!

Three vegan and gluten-free slow cooked baked taquitos made with slow cooked black beans and charred poblano peppers. A dollop of vegan sour cream has been added to the top.

Another benefit? If you cook the beans while you’re away at work, they’ll be ready to go when you get home. The taquitos only take a few minutes to throw together, and they bake for 20-25 minutes. So that makes this an awesome weeknight meal! Does it get any better?

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Top down view of a three vegan and gluten-free black bean and poblano pepper baked taquitos on a white, dinner plate.

Slow-Cooked Black Beans and Poblano Pepper Baked Taquitos (Vegan & Gluten Free)


  • Author: Raquel Smith
  • Total Time: 6 hours 40 minutes
  • Yield: 8 large taquitos 1x

Description

An easy recipe for baked taquitos with homemade slow-cooked black beans and charred poblano peppers.


Ingredients

Scale

For the Slow- Cooked Black Beans:

  • 1/2 lb (about 1 heaping cup) dry black beans, rinsed
  • 4 cups water
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 11 1/2 tsp salt

For the Taquitos:

  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 8 corn tortillas
  • 3 small (2 medium) poblano peppers
  • 2 Tbsp-ish canola oil
  • sour cream, vegan or otherwise, optional
  • salsa, for serving, optional

Instructions

For the Slow-Cooked Black Beans:

  1. Combine all the ingredients for the beans except the salt and cook on low for 6 hours. When done, the beans should be nice and tender, and the skins should peel back a bit when you blow on them.
  2. Turn the slow-cooker off and stir in the salt – 1 tsp if you just want to eat the beans, 1 1/2 if you are planning on making the taquitos. Let the beans sit and soak in the salt for 30 minutes.

For the Taquitos:

  1. Preheat your oven to 425F.
  2. Measure out 2 cups of drained black beans. Place in a medium skillet and mash with a potato masher until only some small chunks remain.
  3. Push the beans to the side of the pan and add the 2 Tbsp olive oil to the center. Turn the heat to medium and let the oil warm up (just about 30 seconds or so). When the oil is hot, begin to stir the beans into the oil until it is all homogeneous. The beans should get nice & creamy. Remove from the heat and set aside.
  4. Remove the tops and seeds of the poblano peppers (wear gloves if you are sensitive to the heat!). Cut them in half, then slice into about 1 cm wide strips.
  5. In another pan, heat a bit of olive oil and toss in the poblanos. Cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until they begin to blister and blacken.
  6. Heat a griddle or pan over medium heat. Add the tortillas one at a time and cook, flipping once, until hot & pliable. Remove the tortilla to a plate and spread with about 2 Tbsp of the beans, top with a small handful of the peppers, and roll it up. Set it on a greased baking sheet and brush with a bit of the canola oil.
  7. Repeat for all the tortillas, placing them an inch or so apart on the baking sheet.
  8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until they are nice and golden on the edges. Serve with salsa and sour cream, if desired. Enjoy!
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 6 hours 25 mins
  • Category: Dinner
  • Method: Slow Cooker
  • Cuisine: Mexican

Keywords: slow cooker, black beans, poblano, taquitos, gluten-free, vegan, mexican, weeknight

What about you? Did you try this recipe? Let us know in the comments below and please give it a rating!

If you love Tex-Mex inspired vegan or vegetarian dishes, then check out some of these recipes:

Photos by Raquel Smith, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details. Originally published on August 29th, 2015. Last updated: July 29, 2021 at 13:23 pm. With additional writing and editing by Allison Sidhu.

Nutritional information derived from a database of known generic and branded foods and ingredients and was not compiled by a registered dietitian or submitted for lab testing. It should be viewed as an approximation.

About Raquel Smith

Raquel is a whole foods enthusiast, an avid mountain biker, and a dog lover. She works by day at Food Blogger Pro and formerly maintained her food blog "My California Roots" (now merged into Foodal).

14 thoughts on “Slow-Cooked Black Beans and Poblano Pepper Baked Taquitos (Vegan & Gluten-Free)”

  1. Just to make it clear. I cook the peppers whole until they blister? Then take them peel and chop them? Do you leave the seeds in? Are the peppers cooked again after chopped? Sorry lots of questions. Really want to make these they look delicious.

    Reply
    • I’m so sorry, I forgot to say that! You don’t cook them whole first. You just remove the seeds, cut them in half, and then slice them into 1cm-ish strips. I’ll update the recipe tonight!

      Reply
    • I’m so sorry I left the poblano prep out! The recipe has been updated. Thanks for catching that. You just seed and slice them, then cook them on the stove as described. Let me know how they turn out for you! Thanks again!

      Reply
  2. These are so incredibly good, I made them for my mom as she is a vegetarian/Mexican food fanatic and she was stoked on them!

    Only thing I must ask is after you drain the beans and are mashing them with the oil, how did you get them creamy? I had to add like 1/2 cup of water to give them the “creamy” consistency that I envisioned. Any tips on that? …..I’ll be honest, I totally missed the salt soaking step though.

    Would recommend this recipe to ANYONE, 5/5!

    Reply
    • Hi Christian!! So if I recall, the beans didn’t get suuuper creamy when I mashed them. It was only after I “refried” them in the olive oil again that they break down enough to get to that creamy consistency.

      Either way, so glad these worked for you and that your mom liked them! Hope you are doing well! Come up to SLO sometime and let’s get lunch 🙂

      Reply
  3. Made these for the second time and they’re insane. Found that saving some liquid from the slow cooker and adding it as you mash the beans helped with the consistency. That and a little extra olive oil, dang, just so good.

    Reply

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