Easy vegan stuffed peppers
Healthy, easy and delicious barley stuffed bell peppers with a smokey tomato sauce.
I recently finished Season 4 of The Crown, and like many other people, became quickly obsessed with Princess Diana.
I found myself bingeing YouTube videos and documentary to learn everything I could about her.
During one of those binges, I learned that her favorite meal was stuffed bell peppers, and that she often ate vegetarian while dining alone.
So, I quickly looked up the recipe, and realized it could easily be made vegan.
To be honest, I wasn’t super impressed with the recipe above because the only seasonings it called for was oregano and salt.
I did a little kitchen magic and adjusted the seasonings and ingredients to spruce the recipe up a bit.
I’m really glad I did because this recipe turned out absolutely amazing.
These vegan stuffed peppers are:
Healthy
Made with whole foods
Vegan
Dairy Free
Delicious
Easy to make
Tips for making barley stuffed bell peppers
If you don’t have barley on hand, don’t worry, use whatever grain you’d like. Quinoa, rice, farro, or couscous would all be good options.
I decided to use barley for this recipe because it has an amazing chewy and nutty flavor that is so fun to eat. It’s also really high in fiber and minerals.
Chop up all of the vegetables first, before you start cooking. This makes for a less stressful cooking experience. Everything goes in the pan at about the same time, so it’s good to have it all ready.
Since vegan cheese can sometimes take a little longer to melt, when cooking the peppers, cover them for part of the way. This will help the cheese to melt faster.
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Barley stuffed bell peppers
Equipment
- Silicone non-stick baking mat
- baking sheet
Ingredients
- 8 bell peppers
- 1 medium zucchini – diced
- 1 small onion – diced
- 6 cloves of garlic – minced
- 1 cup of chopped mushrooms
- 1 16 oz can of chickpeas – drained and rinsed
- 1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes
- 1 cup of cooked barley or grain of choice
- 1 bag of vegan mozzarella
- 1 TBL nutritional yeast optional
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 cup of vegetable broth
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tsp oil
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
- Cut the tops off of the peppers and clean out the seeds.
- Dice the pepper tops and save them for putting in the filling.
- Drizzle a little oil over the whole bell peppers and bake for 25 minutes, or until peppers start to slightly soften.
- Remove from the oven when done, and set aside
- While peppers are cooking, dice up all of your vegetables
- Add one teaspoon of oil to a saute pan on medium heat
- Add the diced onions and saute for 1 minute
- Add the mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes and season with a pinch of salt.
- Add in the zucchini, bell pepper tops, minced garlic, can of chickpeas, can of tomatoes, 1 cup of cooked barley, 1 tsp each of garlic powder, oregano, thyme and basil, ½ tsp of smoked paprika and 1 cup of vegetable broth
- Stir everything well, and let it simmer on medium low until the sauce thickens up. Should take about 8-10 minutes, depending on your stove.
- Once everything is slightly cooked down, add in a handful of vegan mozzarella, and 1 TBL of nutritional yeast. Stir until the cheese melts and turn pan off of the heat
- Stuff the bell peppers with the stuffing and top with a generous amount of vegan cheese.
- To get the cheese to melt, it helps to cover the peppers with a lid of foil for part of the way.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese looks melted and peppers are cooked.
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