The goal for this recipe was to make an easy meal that was low cost, provided a bunch of leftovers, and had a ton of flavor. And it worked! While you do need to dice a bunch of vegetables for this one (a dicing tool or food processor really helps!), it’s super easy to put together. Then you just throw it in the oven, and done. The result is reminiscent of a dense cornbread – it has a noticeably different texture and is rather moist and dense (less “corn meal” centric), but it might remind you of cornbread.
We ate this meal as a main, but it could also be a side.
Another added benefit is it would probably be a hit with the kids. You may want to reduce the chipotle spice if they’re sensitive to spicy foods (the amount isn’t super spicy, but it adds a tiny kick).
I can see this one ending up in the regular rotation. Oh yeah, and it’s terrific as leftovers – warm it up in the microwave for about a minute, then throw it in the toaster oven for about 5 minutes and it’s crispy again.
Chipotle Vegetable Corn Bake
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups corn Frozen, fresh, or canned
- 1 cup corn meal
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup chives fresh, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup mushrooms diced
- 1/3 cup onions diced
- 1/3 cup carrots diced, optional
- 1/3 cup celery diced, optional
- 1 jalapeno diced
Blend:
- 8 oz tofu silken or softer firmness
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 cups corn Frozen or fresh (350 g)
- 1 cup low sodium vegetable broth add more water if needed to blend
- 1/4 cup garlic minced
- 2 Tbsp onion powder
- 1 Tbsp cumin
- 2 tsp chipotle powder
Optional Topping:
- 1 cup corn flakes Crushed
- 1/4 cup onion flakes Minced onion (dried in spice section)
Instructions
- Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well until the flour and corn meal coats all vegetables.
- Blend the tofu, corn, and spices with the vegetable broth until smooth (it will resemble a smoothie texture). Add a bit of additional water if necessary.
- Add the blended mixture to the dry ingredients and combine throughly.
- Add mixture to a 9 x 13 baking pan lined with parchment paper. Add the corn flake topping, pressing it a bit into the mixture, and then cover the top with another sheet of parchment paper.
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the parchment from the top in the last 10 minutes of cooking (or so) so it crisps up/browns a bit.
Substitutes and alternatives
You can easily substitute many of the vegetables in this recipe. The key is to dice them somewhat small so the “cake” doesn’t fall apart when you cook and eat it. Beans, peas, olives, and many more additions would all work well. Heck, I will probably try diced potato in a future version of it.
You can also change the spices you use in this. Parsley, sage, dill, and many other spices could easily be added or swapped to change the overall taste. Get creative! This one is truly a blank slate.
In the blend part of the recipe it calls for 350g corn. How many cups is that?
Hi Susan! It’s 2 cups. Sorry, I read/typed it off the bag of corn I used, and should have made it consistent with the other measurements before I posted. Updated now 🙂