January has been an epic month of recipe fails for me. It’s been rough, and made even worse by the fact that I slacked off over the holidays and got behind on recipe development, thinking I’d catch up during the new year. Well that hasn’t happened so far! So I ended up scrapping a few of my recipe ideas that just wouldn’t work, and instead turned to something simple, tried, and true. I first posted the recipe for these vegan stuffed potatoes back in 2014. I think I was having a rough spell with recipes back then as well, but I remember being so satisfied with how easy these potatoes came together and how delicious they turned out. Now seemed like a good time to revisit the recipe and update the blog post with some better looking photos.
Buffalo Sauce
First order of business: is Buffalo sauce vegan? Generally, no. Conventional Buffalo sauce is made from vinegar-based hot sauce (Frank’s brand is preferable) and melted butter. Butter isn’t vegan. But! Vegan butter is a thing, so if you want vegan Buffalo sauce, all you really need to do is substitute vegan butter for the dairy-based stuff you’d find in conventional Buffalo sauce. For this recipe I simply used vegan butter to sauté the veggies and chickpeas, thus keeping the amount a bit less than what you’d normally find in Buffalo sauce. It’s still totally delicious. Trust me.
How to Make Buffalo Chickpea Stuffed Potatoes
First, bake your potatoes. This can take a while, but fortunately most of the process of baking a potato is hands-off. Just scrub them, poke a few holes in the skin, and pop those potatoes into the oven for about an hour. I like to start on the chickpea filling when the potatoes are almost done baking. Melt that vegan butter in a skillet and give it a minute to heat up. Now add some diced celery and carrot. Cook the veggies for a few minutes. I like to keep them a bit on the crunchy side. Next, add your chickpeas, hot sauce, and a tiny bit of maple syrup. Stir everything up, bring the sauce to a simmer, and let it cook until it thickens up just a bit and coats the chickpeas. When the potatoes are done you can slice them open and stuff them with the chickpea filling. I like to top mine with some cashew ranch or vegan blue cheese dressing and fresh chives.
To save time, you can microwave your potatoes instead of baking them. The skin won’t be quite as crispy though. Scrub your potatoes and poke them with a few holes, then place them on a plate together and microwave them for about 8 minutes. Check the potatoes and then microwave them in additional one to two minute increments until they’re done.Is this recipe spicy? It is! Buffalo sauce, by nature, is hot stuff. Feel free to experiment and create your own version of this recipe using different sauces, such as barbecue, teriyaki, or pesto.Is this recipe gluten-free? It sure is!Where can I find vegan butter? Check your supermarket’s refrigerator, near the regular butter. Look for brands like Earth Balance and Miyoko’s.
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