You’re already home – no need to go anywhere to get your Chipotle sofritas fix!
As much as I love stopping by Chipotle Mexican Grill for a hearty burrito or rice bowl, I love being home even more, especially with stretchy pants.
Thankfully, homemade sofritas are actually very easy to make and you’ll only need a handful of ingredients.
This vegan sofritas recipe is everything it needs to be:
- Juicy
- Flavorful
- Made in just 20 minutes
According to Chipotle’s website, their sofritas are made with bell pepper, chipotle chili, cumin, garlic, onion, tomato, and many more ingredients.
We’re using sofrito, a blend of aromatic that is used as a cooking base to take care of many of the ingredients in that list. It is the magic ingredient that makes this recipe incredibly easy.
To stick with an easy and quick recipe, we’ll be using pantry-friendly ingredients including a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, cumin seeds, red wine vinegar, and tomato paste

How To Make The Marinade
We’re creating a JUICY marinade. No dry or even water-down Chipotle-inspired sofritas in this recipe. If you love saucy sofritas, this will be your go-to recipe.
Here are the main ingredients:
- First, toast the cumin seeds in a skillet until fragrant. Remove, then add the adobo sauce, sofrito, red wine vinegar, tomato paste into a blender. Blend until smooth.
- You’re already halfway there to getting the recipe done. Next, allow the Chipotle sofritas sauce to cook and simmer for about 1 minute to get the flavors to mingle.
- Combine the marinade with the cooked tofu simmer for 15 minutes. The result is a saucy, flavorful, sofritas recipe made in under 30 minutes!
Ways To Eat Sofritas
You can keep it traditional and go for a burrito, burrito bowl, lifestyle bowl, salad, or tacos.
My favorite, easy way to have sofritas is with a side of Puerto Rican rice and a few slices of ripe avocado.
If you’re feeling bold, you can even create a loaded baked potato with sofritas, beans, rice, salsa, guac, and cashew sour cream.


20-Minute Chipotle Sofritas
Ingredients
- 16 ounces firm tofu frozen
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 7 ounces chipotle peppers in adobo sauce for mild add 1 chipotle pepper. For spicy, add all.
- 1 cup sofrito
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1.5 cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon oil
Instructions
- First, defrost the block of tofu, drain, and press as much of its water from the block. Cut the tofu into small, 1-inch cubes. Add oil to a pan or skillet over medium heat. Cook tofu on all sides until golden. Set aside.
- In the same pan, remove from heat and toast cumin seeds for about 30 seconds.
- In a blender, blend together the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, sofrito, red wine vinegar, tomato paste, toasted cumin seeds, water, and salt. Blend until smooth.
- In a skillet or pan over medium-high add oil. Once oil is hot, add the Chiptole sofritas sauce. Cook and stir for a minute.
- Add the tofu to the pot with the sauce and bring everything to a boil. Once at a boil, lower heat to medium. Cook the sofritas, stirring occassionally for 15 minutes. Crush tofu into smaller pieces with a fork half way through.
Notes
- Your pot should be deep enough to hold all of your ingredients, with a couple of inches on top to allow for evaporation. I used a cast-iron skillet.
- If you’re unable to freeze the tofu prior to use, it’s fine. It’ll just be a bit softer. Be sure to press the water from the tofu.
- For a milder sofritas dish, add 1 pepper in the chipotle adobo sauce. Or, go for a can with just adobo sauce without the chipotle pepper.
- Sofrito is a blend of aromatics made with onion, garlic, pepper, and cilantro. I have the full sofrito recipe on the blog.
Did you try out this 20-Minute Chipotle Sofritas Recipes Recipe?
Please leave a comment below, share it, rate it, or tag a picture @plantbasedandbroke on Instagram and hashtag it #plantbasedandbroke. Show off that creation with us.
Will
What does the 1cup of sofrito in the ingredient list refer to?
plantbasedandbroke
Hey Will. Thank you for pointing that out. It was supposed to be hyperlinked to bring more context to the ingredient. Sofrito is a vegetable base that’s popular in Latin-Caribbean cultures and it can either be store-bought, or homemade. I prefer the homemade stuff. I will make the call out more clear and add a short description within the post to explain what that is. If you have any other questions, feel free to let me know.
Sahil Saini
I can’t wait to try this recipe!! Thank you for sharing..
Randi
Omg I bought a jar of sofrito from the grocery store months ago and didn’t know what to do with it, so I’m super excited to try this! Saw it just in time because I’m meal-prepping burrito bowls next week 😀
Aly Michell
Yessss that sofrito came in handy! Let me know how the recipe comes out when you try it. Also, I have the recipe on this blog for homemade sofrito, if you ever want to make your own! Super fresh with easy-to-find ingredients.
Karrie
Is there a measurement for the vinegar?
Aly Michell
Hi Karrie! I added the red wine vinegar to the recipe card. Thank you for pointing that out.