35+ Vegetarian Cinco de Mayo Recipes!

I eat Mexican food all year long, but as we roll into Cinco de Mayo, it's always fun to try something new. Here's a roundup of more than 35 Mexican inspired vegetarian Cinco de Mayo recipes that you can make for this holiday (or any other time of year).

Here are more than 35 vegetarian Cinco de Mayo recipes, including cocktails, appetizers, main dishes, sides, soups, brunch ideas, and dessert.

If there's a particular category of food you're most interested in, use the below Table of Contents to help you find it quickly.

Jump to:

• 35+ Vegetarian Cinco de Mayo Recipes
• C O C K T A I L S
• A P P E T I Z E R S
• M A I N     D I S H E S
• S I D E S
• S O U P S
• B R U N C H
• D E S S E R T

35+ Vegetarian Cinco de Mayo Recipes

C O C K T A I L S

Spicy Mexican Clamato Michelada Recipe

Make this mildly spicy Clamato Michelada made with clamato juice (or tomato juice to keep it vegetarian) and a light Mexican beer. It's spiced up with hot sauce and horseradish sauce, but it's up to you how spicy you want it!

Shortcut Classic Mojito

This simple cocktail recipe for classic mojitos is special for at least two reasons: it provides a shortcut for muddling the mint leaves that loses none of the freshness, and it has an extra ingredient that makes them shine. 

Classic Simple Margaritas

A good margarita needs only three ingredients and very little time to make. This classic simple margarita recipe always gets raves, and it's perfect to stash away in the freezer until the party begins.

Spicy Jalapeño Mango Margarita from Culinary Ginger blog

You only need 3 ingredients to make this spicy jalapeño mango margarita, and one of those ingredients is mango sorbet.

A P P E T I Z E R S

Texas Trash Dip

Texas Trash Dip is a classic cheesy, warm bean dip of refried beans loaded up with sour cream, cream cheese, taco seasoning, and topped with gooey cheese. Addictive.

Jalapeño Mac and Cheese Bites

These jalapeño mac 'n cheese bites swap out the more traditional milk with yogurt to make them creamy. They're the perfect finger food.

Tomatillo Green Chile Salsa Verde Recipe with Avocado

Salsa verde is the slightly tart cousin to red salsa, and you can make this recipe for fresh salsa with only 7 ingredients and 15 minutes. 

Jalapeño-Cornbread Poppers

Jalapeño halves are filled with cheese and cornbread for a perfect cheesy jalapeno cornbread poppers party appetizer.

Nacho Roasted Chickpeas from Life Currents blog

These roasted nacho chickpeas are packed with all the nacho seasonings you love and cheese. Make these for lunch, a snack, an appetizer, or a filling for tacos.

Air Fryer Mexican Cheese Dip from Recipes From a Pantry blog

This Mexican Cheese Dip recipe is a delicious combination of cheese, jalapenos, tomatoes, and salsa, and it's made in the air fryer!

Air Fryer Mini Tacos from The Urban Life blog

These vegetarian mini tacos crisp up perfectly in the air fryer, making them the ultimate appetizer. Serve them up with your favorite toppings.

M A I N     D I S H E S

30-Minute Vegetarian Skillet Enchiladas

These vegetarian skillet enchiladas are made with a red enchilada sauce, and can be completely made in ONE pan in about 30 minutes. This is a fabulous vegetarian Cinco de Mayo recipe. My meat-loving husband always has seconds and never misses the meat.

Mexican Stuffed Pepper Casserole

This "dump-it" Vegetarian Mexican Stuffed Pepper Casserole is made with a Mexican twist using taco seasonings, black beans, and corn. It's topped with cilantro (or parsley), sour cream, and avocado.

Vegetarian Tamale Pie

This Vegetarian Tamale Pie starts with dressed-up cornbread mix. The cornbread is topped with Tex-Mex spiced Beyond Beef, cheese, and whatever toppings you like. Any plant-based meat substitute works great in this recipe.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos

These spiced black bean and sweet potato tacos are topped with cabbage and Mexican cheese, and topped with salsa verde.

Vegetarian Enchiladas with Beer

These vegetarian enchiladas are filled with two kinds of beans for protein, veggies, spices, and cheese. The filling is first simmered in beer and lime juice before rolled into tortillas and topped with cheese and salsa.

Black Bean and Avocado Tostadas with Cabbage Salad

This incredibly simple Mexican tostada recipe uses a flour tortilla as the base, although you can also use a corn tortilla. It's fried in just a little oil until crispy and then topped with guacamole, black beans, and peppers. Finish it with a cabbage salad with corn, radishes and lime.

Crispy Mexican Black Bean Burgers

These spicy bean burgers are made with black beans and have a crispy crust from switching out breadcrumbs for rolled oats that are pulsed in the food processor. As a bonus, the oats make these fabulous burgers gluten-free.

Creamy Mexican Green Spaghetti

Mexican Green Spaghetti, also called Espagueti Verde and Spaghetti Verde, tosses cooked spaghetti pasta with a creamy green sauce made from roasted poblanos, Mexican crema, garlic, cilantro, and queso fresco. I use trofie pasta, a twisted pasta shape, that holds the sauce beautifully.

Cheesy Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Originally created for the Food Network blog, these Mexican stuffed sweet potatoes stuff fully baked sweet potatoes with black beans, white onion, Anaheim pepper, and cheese. The potatoes are topped with chipotle pepper spiked Mexican Crema.

Vegan Fajita Bowls with Quinoa from Healing Tomato blog

These quick and easy Vegan Fajita Bowls with quinoa and fresh bell peppers are ready in only 30 minutes.

Chiles Rellenos from Giangi's Kitchen blog

This Chile Relleno recipe starts with roasted poblano peppers stuffed with cheese, which are then dipped in a fluffy egg batter and fried to a golden brown.

S I D E S

Healthy Mexican Casserole with Quinoa

This cheesy Mexican quinoa casserole is made healthy with quinoa and pumpkin seeds, eliminating the sour cream many similar recipes include. It's packed with protein from the quinoa, black beans, and pepitas, making it a perfect main or side dish for the whole family.

Jiffy Mexican Cornbread

Thanks to both the sour cream and cream-style corn, this easy Jiffy Mexican Cornbread is incredibly moist and tender, and as much a Mexican cornbread casserole as it is a cornbread.

Easy Mexican Black Beans

Homemade Mexican Black Beans are so easy to make, and you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry right now! 

Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

Mexican street corn is turned into a Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad with lots of charred corn, cojita cheese, cilantro, and a yummy sauce of mayonnaise, sour cream, lime, and spices.

Chevy's Sweet Corn Tomalito Copycat

Also called tomalito, this Mexican sweet cornbread has both puréed and whole corn kernels added to it. This dish is steamed in the oven, so it's soft and moist. 

Mexican Street Corn Casserole

This Mexican street corn casserole is a little dressed up from the norm by adding diced peppers and red onion. Serve it in a crust like a tart, or in a casserole dish.

Skillet Baked Corn Pudding 

This southwestern corn casserole without Jiffy Mix strikes the perfect balance between a creamy and soufflé-like consistency. And it's laced with cheese and has a little kick of roasted poblano heat.

S O U P S

Vegan Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup

This slow cooker black bean soup is made with dry beans and practically makes itself. Dress it up with garnishes such as sour cream, pickled jalapeños, or the spicier variety, cilantro, lime, green onions, or avocado.

Avocado Soup with Roasted Tomatillos and Hatch Chile

This avocado soup is a chilled soup of avocados, roasted tomatillos, white onion, and Hatch chili (or Anaheim chili), puréed in the blender with cilantro, Mexican crema and broth for a perfect summertime soup.

Mexican Green Spaghetti Soup

Roasted poblano peppers are puréed with cooked tomatillos, onion, and garlic to create a mildly spicy broth which is the amazing flavor base of this Mexican Green Spaghetti Soup. The purée is combined with vegetable broth and fideo (cut pasta) toasted in oil.

Southwestern Black Bean Chili with Tomatillos and Corn

This is a hearty southwestern black bean soup made with tomatillos, corn, and tomatoes, and topped with avocado, lime, cilantro, and sour cream.

B R U N C H

Huevos Rancheros

Huevos Rancheros is a traditional Mexican breakfast of crispy corn tortillas, refried beans, and warm salsa, with a fried egg on top. This recipe, which won first prize in a contest, adds roasted mini peppers and uses salsa verde instead of the more traditional red salsa.

Chiles Rellenos Frittata

This chiles rellenos frittata recipe stuffs roasted poblano peppers with corn, black beans, sweet bell pepper, and cheese and bakes them inside an egg bake for a fabulous brunch dish. 

D E S S E R T

Margarita Pie with Pretzel Crust

This is a no-bake margarita pie that tastes like a margarita, complete with salt from a pretzel crust.