Chipotle’s Sofritas is a blend of peppers, onion, and tomatoes mixed with crumbled soft tofu. It’s their plant based protein option and in my opinion, it’s not that bad, but it’s not that great either. I think they could’ve made it better. I believe I could fix this with chickpeas. We are going to make a soft chickpea meat in a stronger, thicker sofritas sauce. If you like this be sure to check out this recipe too! and this one!
Let Me Show You How
First for our chickpea sofritas sauce we need chickpeas of course. I drain the can then wash the chickpeas and toss them right into a blender along with two cups of water, some garlic powder, smoked paprika, and a teaspoon of yeast extract powder. Now I give this a blend, it should be a pretty thin consistency. Then in the blender I add one and one fourth cup of chickpea flour and blend some more. Over on the stove I have a large, wide, non-stick skillet over a medium heat and I pour our blended mixture right in. You want to watch this closely making sure it doesn’t stick or burn. Keep stirring it.
Sofritas Sauce
After about fifteen minutes of slowly lowering the heat I got the mixture to a nice thick density. I pour this mixture into an oiled up glass container. Let this cool down in the refrigerator for about an hour. Let’s get our sofritas sauce made. Next we use a poblano pepper. I roast and blister the skin on the pepper. I toss it into a bag, tie it up, and let it steam which is going to make removing the skin a lot easier. Time to chop up about half of a yellow onion and toss it in a well oiled skillet over a medium/high heat.
Now I prepare about four or five cloves of garlic. Once the onion is nicely sauteed I add in the garlic and get that browning as well. Then add in a little black pepper. Let that cook for a little less than a minute then dump into a blender. Along with that I add in two plum tomatoes, wipe the skin away from the poblano pepper and remove the stem and most of the seeds then toss that in. As well as a third cup of tomato paste, three or four chipotle peppers, a teaspoon of the adobo sauce from those peppers, two teaspoons of cumin, two teaspoons of oregano, one teaspoon of chili powder, and two teaspoons red wine vinegar. Then I add in three quarters of a cup of water and blend. This is our sauce!
Back To The Chickpeas
Now our chickpeas have firmed up, I chop it up into small chunks. Then add them onto a lined baking sheet. Next have the oven preheated for 350ºf. I toss these in for about thirty or thirty five minutes. Or until they get nice and crispy on the outside. Toss these back into a large pan or skillet, cover them with the sauce, and bring the heat up. I add a little water to thin it down. Then I ordered a basic veggie bowl from chipotle to try with our sauce. Now we add in some guacamole, and some sofritas, now it’s time to eat!
Let’s Eat!
These sofritas have a real bite to them! Unlike Chipotle’s! It tastes like it’s meant to be a part of the meal. It flavors and compliments it really nicely. Our sofritas have a nice kick to them. This is an awesome meat replacement. This was so easy and didn’t take long to make! You have to give this chickpea sofritas sauce a try! Watch the full video here!
One Can Of Chickpeas Could Change The Way You Think About Chipotle
Ingredients
- 1 can chickpeas
- 2 3/4 cups water
- pinch garlic powder
- pinch smoked paprika
- 1 tsp yeast extract powder
- 1 1/4 cup chickpea flour
- olive oil
- 1 poblano pepper
- .5 yellow onion
- 4 or 5 cloves of garlic
- black pepper
- 1/3 cup tomato paste
- 3 or 4 chipotle peppers
- 2 plum tomatoes
- 1 tsp adobo sauce
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 2 tsp red wine vinegar
Instructions
- Drain and wash chickpeas then add them to blender with water, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and yeast extract powder. Blend. Add in chickpea flour and blend again.
- On stove in large non-stick skillet over medium heat add in the chickpea mixture. Watch closely so it doesn't burn and continue to stir.
- After fifteen minutes of lowering the heat it'll get thick. Pour into oiled glass container and let sit in fridge for at least an hour.
- Scorch and blister skin on poblano pepper then add to bag, tie it up, and let it steam.
- Cop yellow onion and add to well oiled skillet over medium/high heat.
- Once onion is sauteed add in garlic and black pepper.
- Add this all to blender along with plum tomatoes, poblano pepper (after skin, stem, and most of the seeds are removed), tomato paste, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, cumin, chili powder, oregano, and red wine vinegar.
- Add water and blend.
- Take chickpeas out of refrigerator, cut into small bits, and add to lined baking sheet.
- Preheat oven to 350ºf.
- Toss chickpea bits in until they are crispy on the outside. Then toss them into a large pan, cover with the sauce and bring the heat up. Add a pinch of water.
- Cook until warm, add to veggie bowl, and enjoy!