Sunday Breakfast: Vegan Southwestern Quiche with Black Beans and “Chorizo”

Several weeks ago, Upton’s Naturals, a fun and funky vegan company specializing in minimally processed seitan products, contacted me to do some product reviews and write a few recipes. I’ve already reviewed their amazing seitan bacon and created one h*ll of a good vegan philly “steak” sandwich with their traditional seitan.

Next product tested: Chorizo “sausage” crumbles. Chorizo is a smoked, spicy sausage used in Spanish and Mexican cooking. The balance of spices in Upton’s chorizo is nice; it’s definitely spicy and would give chilis and tacos some extra “oomph”, but not so overwhelming you would need to modify the other spices in your recipe.

I make a mean vegan cheesy sausage frittata; I thought it might be fun – and delicious – to make a Southwestern quiche using black beans and chorizo.

This makes a very hearty, chunky quiche! If you prefer a lighter quiche with more of an “eggy” texture, use only 1/2 package of Upton’s Naturals Chorizo and 1/2 can black beans. Use the same amounts of everything else – including tomatoes!

Ingredients:

One block Firm Tofu (I used Nasoya), about 14 oz.
Upton’s Naturals Chorizo (either 1 full package or 1/2 package)
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper (or a few really enthusiastic grinds)
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric
1/4 teaspoon Ground Mustard
1/2 teaspoon Granulated Garlic
1/4 cup Nutritional Yeast
2 tablespoons Canola Oil
2 tablespoons Unsweetened NonDairy Milk
One small diced Onion (about 1/2 – 3/4 cup)
1 whole or 1/2 of a 14 oz. can of Black Beans, rinsed and drained
1 can Original Ro-Tel Tomatoes (well drained)
Nonstick Cooking Spray or Vegetable Oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 and spray a 9-inch pie pan with cooking spray.

In a blender or food processor, combine tofu, salt, black pepper, turmeric, ground mustard, granulated garlic, nutritional yeast, canola oil, and milk. Blend. It doesn’t have to be absolutely smooth as long as it is well blended. It will probably be very thick, and you’ll probably have to scrape the sides of the blender down two or three times.

Brown the chorizo in a frying pan sprayed with a little vegetable oil or cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine the tofu mixture with the chopped onion, cooked sausage, and drained Ro-Tel tomatoes. Stir until ingredients are evenly distributed. Pour into pie pan. Pat down evenly with a spatula.