How many times have you adapted a favorite recipe to make it meatless? For vegetarians, this is a common practice. I adapted these spicy vegetarian chipotle quinoa sliders from my chipolte fish sliders recipe.
I identify as a pescatarian. In other words, a vegetarian who still eats fish. I post 90% vegetarian recipes, therefore, I attract more meatless-eaters with my recipes than fish-eaters.
The fish sliders recipe is one of my favorites that I make regularly. I wanted to share it with my lovely vegetarian readers, and anyone else interested in a meatless meal.
I chose to use quinoa and chickpeas for the filling because I love how they work in my buffalo quinoa chickpea burgers. The texture is firm, not mushy, and with the help of a few eggs, they don’t fall apart, either!
Variations to the Spicy Vegetarian Chipotle Quinoa Sliders recipe:
- I like serving these sliders with sriracha lime mayo. Use as much or as little sriracha in your mayo as you like to make it cool and creamy, or extra spicy!
- Turn your chips into crumbs using a food processor or blender. The tortilla chip crumbs on the exterior of the slider add sweetness that helps to balance the spicy chipotle, as well as crunchy texture.
- I like to serve these sliders with a side of sweet corn to balance the heat. Try corn on the cob this summer, or snap pea and fire roasted corn salad.
- ⅓ cup quinoa
- ⅔ cup water
- 1 small onion, diced
- splash olive oil
- 1 TBS white wine vinegar
- 1 cup chickpeas, smashed*
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large chipotle pepper, from a can with adobo sauce, minced
- ½ tsp each: cumin, paprika, salt, and black pepper
- ½ cup bread crumbs
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- ⅓ cup tortilla chip crumbs** (from 1 large cup of chips)
- ⅓ cup mayo
- 2 tsp each: sriracha and lime juice
- 8 slider buns
- Romaine lettuce, for serving
- Combine quinoa and water in a rice cooker or small pot. Cook until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is fluffy.
- Combine the onion with a splash of olive oil in a skillet. Cook over medium heat until the onion has softened, 3-5 minutes. Poor in white wine vinegar and stir until it is absorbed.
- In a large bowl, combine cooked quinoa, cooked onions, garlic cloves, smashed chickpeas, chipotle pepper, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, and bread crumbs. Stir to combine and taste test the mixture. Adjust seasonings to taste. Mix in eggs.
- Form the mixture into small patties (about 8). Gently press each patty into the tortilla chip crumbs, reforming if necessary. Place in a large skillet with 1 TBS canola oil (all 8 should fit in a 12 inch skillet, or you can cook in batches). Cook until golden brown on both sides.
- Meanwhile, mix together mayo, sriracha, and lime juice.
- Serve sliders on buns with romaine, and sriracha lime mayo.
