An easy, flavorful Chipotle copycat sofritas recipe with 1-step cooking! Tofu, chipotles in adobo, poblanos, garlic & onion roast together for a saucy, spicy, delicious meal.
Place one rack in the center of the oven and pre-heat to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Press the tofu to remove excess water. Cut the tofu lengthwise into 3-4 slices, and place on a plate covered in paper towels. Cover with more paper towels, then place a heavy object on top. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Place the remaining ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well blended, stopping to scrape down the sides. The consistency should be like a paste or thick marinade.
Remove the heavy object from the tofu, and press gently with more paper towel to remove a bit more liquid. Add the slices to a large mixing bowl and crumble into about ½-inch chunks with your hands. (See the article above for pictures.)
Add the sauce to the bowl, and use a large spoon to toss together until well combined and all of the tofu is coated with the sauce. (Once tossed together, the chunks should get smaller, about ¼ inch. Break up any larger chunks with the spoon.)
Spread the tofu mixture out evenly onto the baking sheet. Check again for any oversized chunks and break them up with the spoon.
Place in the center rack in the oven, and bake for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through the cooking time. (Note, the tofu will be cooked but still quite soft. If you prefer firmer/drier tofu, cook for an additional 5 minutes.)
Notes
Watch the cooking time. 20 minutes (in my oven) yields a still soft but cooked tofu crumble. An extra 5 is firmer but still great. More will likely yield a too-dry crumble.
Remove ALL of the seeds from your poblano pepper. Whole seeds tend to ruin the texture of the finished dish.
Test the heat level. Chipotles in adobe are quite hot. One pepper is mild, two is spicy, and three is quite hot, in my opinion. But if you're timid with heat, add a small pepper (they do vary in size), or even half a pepper, and taste test the sauce.
Don't put the tofu in the food processor. It's tempting, and while it's probably possible to get the right size crumbles, it's so easy to accidentally over process. (I tried it and ended up with something like a Mexican-flavored vegan ricotta.)
Regarding oil. I could not find chipotle peppers in adobo sauce that were oil free, but since this recipe uses a very small amount of this ingredient compared to the entire dish, AND I always try to use ingredients that are easy to find, I felt it was acceptable to use a very low oil brand.
La Costeña Chipotle Peppers in Adobo SauceThis is the brand I used in the recipe. It's low in oil--only 20 kcal per 30g serving, no added sugar, and oil at end of the ingredient list. To reduce the oil even more, you could rinse each pepper off.That said, for an 100% oil free substitution, you could try (though I haven't tested) these options:Chipotle Pepper PureeOil free. Try 1 tablespoon at a time and test for spice level.Spice Way Ground ChipotleAll natural ground chipotle powder. Try 1 teaspoon powder + 1 extra tablespoon of tomato paste, and test for spice level.