Easy vegan stuffed peppers

Vegetable stuffed peppers

These vegan stuffed peppers are filled with perfectly seasoned vegetables and rice in a smokey tomato sauce and topped with dairy free cheese. Super healthy and delicious weeknight dinner idea to impress the whole family or friends.

Princess Diana loved stuffed peppers

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

Ingredients

These ingredients are really flexible. Interchange the vegetables, grains and beans with your favorites.

• Cooked grain of choice – Quinoa, white rice, brown rice, couscous, farro and barley are all good choices to use.
• Beans – Black beans, chickpeas, red beans or kidney beans are all good choices.
• Bell peppers – Orange peppers, yellow peppers and red bell peppers are the sweet bell peppers. Green bell peppers are a little more bitter, but taste good when baked.
• Tomatoes
• Spices – We use a lovely mix of garlic powder, nutritional yeast, onion powder, smoked paprika, thyme, oregano and basil. You can also use Italian seasoning instead.
• Fresh garlic and onions
• Olive oil
• Salt and black pepper
• Dairy free cheese – vegan mozzarella goes really well with this recipe. Topping these stuffed peppers with vegan parmesan is also delicious. Use whatever vegan cheese you can find at your grocery store. Chao and Violife are my favorite brands.
• Vegetable broth or vegetable stock
• Bonus points if you want to top this recipe with fresh cilantro, fresh parsley or whatever herb is your favorite topping.

Recipe tips

• This recipe works well with a leftover grain that you need to use up, like leftover rice.
• If you need help cooking quinoa check out this guide on how to cook quinoa on the stovetop, pressure cooker, or rice cooker.
• 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.
• A baking dish or casserole dish with a lid is the best thing to use for this recipe. If you don’t have that, then just use aluminum foil to cover the peppers.
• This is a great recipe to double up and meal prep to have for the week.

What to serve with stuffed bell peppers

These peppers go really well with

• A salad
• Seasoned rice
• Steamed vegetables
• Crusty bread and olive oil

Storing

The leftover peppers will last in an airtight container for up to five days.

These can also be frozen, but will change the texture of the peppers slightly once they thaw out.

You will probably have leftover rice mixture. Eat this for lunch the next day. It also tastes really good served over a salad.

FAQ’s

Is this recipe gluten free?

It’s gluten free, as long as you use a gluten free grain and dairy free cheese. Rice and quinoa are both gluten free.

How should I cut the peppers?

• You can cut your peppers lengthwise into pepper halves, or just cut off the bell pepper tops and keep them as whole peppers. Either way works well.
• If you choose to cut off the tops of the peppers, take the stem out and dice up the pepper top. Add the diced pepper top into the large skillet when cooking the rest of the veggies, so it doesn’t go to waste.

Try these recipes next:

• White bean and kale winter soup
• Barley stuffed butternut squash
• Vegan stroganoff
• Vegan Swiss Fondue
• Crispy roasted chickpeas
• Air fryer sweet potato cubes
• Vegan stuffed shells

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