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The Denver-born Chipotle chain rolled out sofritas at its Colorado stores back in 2013, and the new, meat-free protein was deemed “so freaking delicious that just about everybody will like it” by our Veggie Girl.
And today it’s more than meat-free: If you order sofritas in any entree at any Chipotle today, you can bring your receipt back tomorrow through February 28 for a free burrito, bowl, salad or order of tacos — meat-free or meaty. See also: Chipotle Rolls Out Sofritas, a New (Vegan) Protein
To create sofritas, shredded Hodo Soy tofu (non-GMO) is braised with chipotle chiles, roasted poblano peppers and assorted spices; the resulting texture is incredibly meaty, and the flavor is smoky and rich.
The genesis of this meatless ingredient started with a search for a new way to use…meat. “It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, let’s start a project, and our initiative for this project is going to be a meatless alternative for the line,” Chitpotle’s Nate Appleman told us when sofritas first rolled out in Denver. “It all came from chorizo.”
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Which, he readily admited, “sounds crazy.” But that’s how it started.
“I was working on a chorizo for Chipotle because I believe in finding more ways to use the entire animal — I think if we’re going to be sustainable and walk that walk, we have to find more ways to use more of the animal,” he said. “That was the path I was going down. So by making chorizo, we were making chicken and pork and different cuts than we normally use.
“We haven’t had a new protein in nineteen, twenty years,” he continued. “Everything on the Chipotle menu was on the original lineup: barbacoa, carnitas, chicken, steak. And the powers-that-be said we’re not sure if chorizo is the one we want to bust out of the gates with. So we thought, maybe we can come up with a different way to go about this instead of using more meat. Maybe this could turn into something that’s not meat.”
That was the start of sofritas — meat-free, and free tomorrow if you buy some today.