1 min read · August 26, 2026
The Best Vegan Tacos in America
From an Austin truck that invented the Korean BBQ taco to Chicago taquerias doing everything plant-based — where to eat vegan tacos, city by city.
Austin: the standard
The Vegan Nom has been doing this longer than most and better than nearly everyone - a rock-and-roll taco truck on East Cesar Chavez where the Korean BBQ taco and the short rib BBQ taco are the order for everyone in line, vegan or not. Nissi Vegan Mexican Cuisine carries the same flag indoors, with mole and birria that read like your tia made them.
Chicago: two taquerias, one city
Penelope's Vegan Taqueria proved a fully plant-based taqueria could hold a Chicago block, and its Andersonville sibling doubled down. Healthy Substance on the Southwest Side rounds it out with Mexican comfort food that happens to be vegan - the trio makes Chicago quietly the best vegan-taco city east of the Rockies.
The West Coast bench
Cena Vegan turned LA taco-truck culture fully plant-based - their soy asada and al pastor hit the smoke-and-char notes most fake meat misses, and the lines at their stops are the proof. Up the state, El Cantaro Vegan Taqueria does the same for Sacramento, and Tacos Veganos keeps Phoenix honest.
Wherever you are
Portland's El Nutri-Taco packs plant-based Mexican into a cart city that already understood the assignment. In New York, BRUJOS Brooklyn Taco Company slings late-night tacos with a mezcal program, and Los Tacos No. 1 will make its tacos vegan on request at the counter. Seattle's Carmelo's Tacos keeps vegetarians and vegans equally fed. The pattern everywhere is the same: the vegan taco spots that last are run by people who take the taco seriously first and the vegan part as a given - which is exactly how it should taste.