Vegan Chilaquiles with spiced Chickpeas. Taco Spiced Chickpeas and crisped tortilla with easy red sauce make this 20 minute savory breakfast or brunch. Easy Chilaquiles Recipe. Nut-free, soy-free. can be gluten-free. Pin this for later
A hearty savory breakfast is what gets me going for a productive day. When my family was visiting this summer, the menu would cycle between Pudla (chickpea flour pancakes), Chickpea flour scramble, Poha – Oats and Rice flakes hash, Upma – Cream of wheat savory porridge, Savory french toasts and South Indian tofu scramble from my book and Stuffed parathas (stuffed flatbreads).
I wanted to add some not so Indian savory options for breakfast which come together fairly quickly for a week day. And these Chilaquiles are just that. Cook some onions and veggies. Add chickpeas and taco spices and cook for a bit. Add tortilla chips or crisped tortilla, the easy 5 ingredient Red sauce, simmer and done. Serve with chopped onions, cilantro, lemon or some avocado/guacamole and vegan queso. Hearty and filling breakfast, brunch or lunch.
At a glance it looks like lots of ingredients, but they are just spices. 7 main ingredients – Onion, garlic, carrot, Chickpeas, Taco spice or chili blend, tortilla and red sauce. And the Red sauce is 5 main ingredients tomato paste, water, some of the onion garlic mixture, chipotle pepper and cumin!
Chilaquiles are a traditional Mexican dish that have fried tortilla strips, some salsa or sauces of the salsa like red, Green or mole. The tortillas are simmered in the sauce until the tortilla starts softening. There can be meat or beans added to the mix. The dish is generally served as breakfast or brunch to use up the leftover salsas and tortillas. Vegan versions can use tofu or beans or chickpeas. I use chickpeas in this version with crisped tortillas. You can pan fry or bake the tortillas or use tortilla chips of choice. I usually crisp the tortillas on a direct flame.
If you make these Chickpea chilaquiles, do let me know in the comments! And rate the recipe.
Cook the onion garlic carrot mixture until golden. Reserve half of the mixture for the red sauce.
Add chickpeas and taco spices and mix in.
Cook for a few minutes so the chickpeas are coated in spices and pick up some flavor.
Layer tortilla chips or tortilla over the chickpeas. Blend the red sauce and add to the skillet. Bring to a boil. Taste and adjust salt.
Add garnishes of choice and serve hot with more tortilla chips or crisped tortillas.
Recipe Card
Vegan Chilaquiles with Chickpeas Recipe
Ingredients
Chilaquiles:
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 5 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 1/3 cup (42.67 g) chopped carrots
- 15 oz (425.24 g) can Chickpeas garbanzo beans, or 1.5 cups cooked
- 3/4 tsp (0.75 tsp) ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) paprika
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) cayenne
- a good dash of cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) or more salt
- 2 (2) tortillas or 1.5 cups tortilla chips
- chopped red onion cilantro and lime juice for garnish
Red Sauce:
- 1/4 cup (65.5 g) tomato paste
- 1 (1) tomato
- 1 cup (250 ml) water or stock
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) ground cumin
- half of the onion garlic mixture from above
- 1/3 tsp (0.33 tsp) salt
Instructions
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, carrots and a pinch of salt and cook until golden. 4 to 6 mins. Stir occasionally. Reserve half of the mixture for the red sauce.
- Add chickpeas and spices to the skillet (or use 1 tbsp or more taco seasoning or chili powder blend of choice ). Mix well, Cover and cook for 4 to 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile make the red sauce: Blend all the ingredients and reserved onion garlic carrot mixture until smooth in a blender and set aside. (You can also make the sauce with red salsa, chipotle pepper, cumin, salt and water as needed).
- Add tortilla chips or crisped sliced tortillas to the chickpea skillet. *
- Pour the blended sauce over them. mix and bring to boil. Taste and adjust salt and heat and mix in.
- Serve immediately garnished with chopped onion, cilantro, and a dash of lime juice. Add other garnishes like avocado or vegan sour cream/vegan queso etc.
Notes
Nutrition
Ashley
Thank you so much this was epic! The spice combination is so good, the chickpeas absorb the taste so well. A great self-care breakfast <3
Cynthia
So delicious! I doubled everything then split up 1/2 the garbanzo mix into another pan & made one with red sauce & one with green. Both were delicious even though I made the salsa versions. (Used Frontera for the green & followed suggestions to add fresh cilantro & lime juice). Definitely a keeper! Easy & love the addition of the carrots. Chickpeas were on point! Thank you, Risha! <3
Vegan Richa Support
Wow!
Laura
Made this tonight with black beans and chips. So delicious! Bonus points for being so fast. Definitely going into our rotation.
Vegan Richa Support
wow! that’s great
Deb
Just made this and as I got to the end discovered that I did not have tortillas as I thought. I improvised with plantain chips-wonderful! I also added a handful of kale.
Vegan Richa Support
plantain chips would be great!! so crunchy & the kale gives it some balance
Katie
This was so delicious and comes together quickly. I used up leftover tortillas and cooked them in my air fryer with a spray of avocado oil and some salt. I will definitely start going to this for an easy week-night meal.
Richa
yay!
Mark
This is superb- all basically made from leftovers.
I dry roasted whole spices and used a sweet red pepper instead of the carrot. Subbed Lebanese flatbread for the tortillas and sprinkled it all over with some broken corn chips and a few garlic-roasted olives.
Cannot imagine a nicer protein-filled breakfast.
To my taste, yours is the best vegan food blog on the Internet.
Marianne
Do you drain the chickpeas?
Richa
yes
Eti
Hi Richa… I made this yesterday and it was super duper delicious!! I took some to work today for lunch but wasn’t so hungry so my manager got to eat it. He’s a carnivore and was cynical at first asking where is the main course… Now, not only that he left the plate spotless but he also said “it was one of the best meals he had lately”. Thanks for your awesome recipes!!!
Richa
awesome!! Always fun to surprise managers and coworkers 🙂
NicoleJ
Excellent recipe with not too much prep. I have two little “sous chefs” helping me in the kitchen so we chopped veggies in one phase, later prepped the sauce, and later put it all together for supper. My omnivore husband even enjoys it. I added a few extra chipotle peppers to our liking. Thanks for another helpful delicious recipe.
Ethan
If I have taco seasoning, what ingredients does that replace in the recipe as far as spices? I don’t have many spices on hand but I want it to taste the same! Looks yummy
Richa
all the spices cumin through cinnamon. Taco seasoning can be hot depending on the brand. Start with 2 tsp and add more later to taste.
Mrs. FancyPanties
This is great! It’s easy, flavorful, healthy, inexpensive and likely made from ingredients you already have on hand. We topped with avocados, green onions, diced tomato, sliced black olives, and leftover lime cashew crema. My only suggestion would be to mash up a few of the chickpeas for better texture.
Richa
Awesome! Great Idea.
JS
I had it for dinner, and then for lunch the next day. It was delicious! I used tortilla chips and layered it like nachos, rather than boiling it together, and then added the toppings. Yum!
Richa
awesome!
Charlie Hogue
I made this today for my wife and I. It was truly delicious. Thanks for a new favorite!
Heleen
I just made this for lunch and it was amazingly delicious! Will definitely make this more often! Thanks for the great recipe! I omitted the cayenne pepper and cinnamon and served it with avocado!
Tira
Made this for dinner and hubby and I enjoyed it so much! Thanks for the tasty recipe.
Zerrin Günaydın
So incredibly delicious!
jk
I so reliably love your recipes that I had no question that this would be great, and yet it still knocked my socks off. Super delicious, easy, flexible . . . another big winner. The crunchy fresh cilantro bits in the sauce were oh so perfect. (I keep chopped cilantro in the freezer so that it’s always on hand.) For the tortillas I used pieces from two of your flatbreads, the rosemary pumpkin and the lauki paratha! While the skillet of chickpea chilaquiles was cooling off, I made a batch of broccoli chickpea paratha. Everything delicious, all ingredients I keep on hand, and easy even for a newbie cook. What a treat.
Kelly
Looks great-we love chili quilmes! Wondering if there’s a way to make a green sauce version?
Richa
yes you definitely can. In another saucepan, boil some tomatillos, onion, garlic, green chile until the tomatillos are soft. 10 + mins. Then blend with salt pepper, cilantro and use in the recipe.
Cassie
Wow, I’m not normally a Mexican food person, but these just might convert me! LOL! I love how wonderfully easy this recipe is. I could just eat the filling by itself with a BIG spoon!
Catherine Wells
Another lovely recipe!
I made this for my evening meal…I just happened to have all the ingredients too…. and it just hit the spot bang on!
Emily
Just had this for dinner. Was so good!
Richa
Yay!
Sally
A lot of ingredients but it was worth it – Yummy!
Richa
Awesome!! its mainly 7 ingredients and rest are spices. If you have a premade taco seasoning or chile powder, its short list.