This vegetarian stuffed peppers recipe is the hearty and filling dinner recipe you’ve been looking for! Packed with protein from quinoa, black beans, and cheese, these are sure to one of your new favorite meatless dinner recipes.
I started making this vegetarian stuffed pepper recipe over 15 years ago, in the decade I spent as a vegetarian, and it’s always been a favorite meal. Like most of the vegetarian recipes I love, these stuffed peppers hit all the right marks for easy meals that were also filling and flavorful.
Alongside our vegetarian three bean chili, lentil sloppy joes, and our vegetarian pizza with broccoli, arugula, and pesto, these peppers have probably been one of our most made vegetarian dinners in the past 15 years. My (meat-eating) husband loves these, they hold up well for the week for those who like to meal prep, and they’re just a fun yet easy way to mix up your dinner routine. So for your next meatless Monday, give these yummy quinoa stuffed peppers a try!
Jump to:
- Why you’ll love this Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers Recipe
- Ingredients For Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
- How to Make Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
- Have a little extra filling?
- Quinoa Stuffed Peppers Recipe Variations and Substitutions
- Tips For Making Stuffed Peppers With Quinoa
- How to Serve Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers With Quinoa
- How to Store Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
- Recipe FAQs
- Love This Recipe? You May Also Enjoy
- Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers With Quinoa
Why you’ll love this Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers Recipe
A great make ahead meal. For those who love to meal prep, this is a great recipe to make as these veggie stuffed peppers hold up well in the fridge for the week.
Packed with plant-based proteins! Quinoa is rich in protein, boasting eight grams of protein in one cup. Unlike some plant-based proteins, quinoa is a complete protein on it’s own! Black beans are another plant-based protein powerhouse with 15 grams of protein in one cup.
Lots of veggies. Bell pepper halves are the perfect vessel for your dinner, and we’re packing in more veggies with added spinach too!
Ingredients For Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
- Bell Peppers. You can use red peppers, yellow peppers, green peppers, orange peppers, or a combination of colors for your bell pepper halves in this recipe. Select whatever looks best at your store or farmers market.
- Dry Quinoa. I generally use white quinoa or tri-colored (rainbow) quinoa when making stuffed peppers.
- Water. Water is used to cook our quinoa.
- Cheese. We use cheese in the filling as a binder for our quinoa stuffing and as a nice cheese topping too. This recipe is great with a spicy cheese like pepper jack or a Mexican cheese blend, with any kind of cheddar cheese, or a Monterey jack cheese. I’ll use whatever cheese I happen to have in my fridge (I do live in Wisconsin after all…), or whatever happens to be on sale at my grocery store that week.
- Fresh Spinach. Extra veggies are always a good idea in my book! We add strips of fresh spinach into our recipe for the perfect filling.
- Taco Seasoning. The taco seasoning is where we’re getting a lot of the great flavor in this recipe. We’re simply using one, one ounce packet of taco seasoning to keep tings easy. Most taco seasoning mixes contain chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and cumin. They may also have paprika, oregano, and cayanne pepper.
- Black Beans. The black beans are our main source of protein in this vegetarian meal.
- Olive Oil. We’re using just a little bit of olive oil to rub onto and roast our bell peppers.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to Make Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
Step 1: Cook the quinoa with the water per package directions.
Step 2: While the quinoa cooks, preheat the oven to 400°F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 3: Rub the outside of the peppers with the olive oil and place onto the baking sheet.
Step 4: In a large bowl, mix together the cooked quinoa, black beans, taco seasoning, spinach, and 4-5 ounces of the shredded cheese.
Step 5: Divide the filling between the peppers, gently pushing the filling in.
Step 6: Bake the filled peppers for 20 minutes.
Step 7: Remove the peppers from the oven and turn on the broiler.
Step 8: Top the peppers with an additional 1-2 ounces of cheese, then broil the cheese-topped peppers for a few minutes (keeping a close eye on them) until the cheese is nice and melty.
Have a little extra filling?
Depending on the size of your peppers, you may end up with a little quinoa mixture. Enjoy this on it’s on, as a salad topping, or as a taco filling!
Quinoa Stuffed Peppers Recipe Variations and Substitutions
- Use a different grain. I’ve made this recipe with brown rice and white rice too if you do not have quinoa on hand. Both work great!
- Use vegetable broth or vegetable stock to cook the quinoa instead of water. This delicious recipe already has a ton of flavor thanks to the seasoning used, but if you’d like to amp things up a little bit, get some additional flavor added to your grain by cooking it in veggie broth or stock.
- Add diced tomatoes to your filling. Want even more veggies? Drain a can of your favorite diced tomatoes and toss it in your quinoa filling too.
- Add onion if preferred. We’re keeping things easy in our base recipe, but if you’d like to take a little extra time to prep an onion for your filling, go for it! Sauté onion in olive oil until translucent and starting to brown, then add it to your filling.
Possible Dietary Restrictions?
This recipe is vegetarian and gluten free as written. One small modification is needed to turn this into a dairy-free and vegan stuffed peppers recipe: replace the standard cheese one-for-one with your favorite vegan cheese.
Tips For Making Stuffed Peppers With Quinoa
Rinse your quinoa. Quinoa has a protective coating (called saponin) on it that can result in a batch of quinoa that tastes “off”, overly earthy, and bitter. Use a fine mesh strainer to rinse your quinoa before cooking to avoid this.
Try to cut pepper halves so they’ll sit flat(ish) when on the baking tray. If you can get your bell pepper half to sit mostly flat on your pan, they’re a little easier to stuff. When they sit at an angle on your tray, it can be harder to keep your filling in.
How to Serve Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers With Quinoa
My favorite way to enjoy these veggie stuffed peppers is alongside a big green salad! A simple salad of greens tossed in a vinaigrette, or even your favorite bagged salad, goes along way to fill out your meal.
You can also serve these peppers with some additional toppings if you’d like. A dollop of sour cream, some fresh cilantro, a squeeze of fresh lime juice, a dash of hot sauce… treat them like you’d treat a taco.
Have some family members who need meat? Make a batch of our ground beef stuffed peppers to serve alongside this vegetarian version.
How to Store Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Store cooled peppers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. Reheat leftover stuffed peppers in the microwave or in a baking dish in the oven at 350°F until your desired temperature is reached.
Recipe FAQs
You do not need to precook your bell peppers prior to stuffing (especially since we’re cutting our peppers in half and not stuffing a full pepper). However, if you prefer your peppers to be cooked to a softer texture then you can precook them. To do so simply blanch the peppers in gently boiling water for a few minutes on the stove. Be sure to pat them dry before stuffing if you add this step to remove excess moisture.
There are a few reasons your stuffed peppers may become soggy. If you decided to precook your bell peppers, they may have been cooked too much prior to stuffing and baking. Filling ingredients (usually veggies) may have released excess water resulting in soggy peppers. Or you may have simply left the peppers in too long and overbaked them.
Love This Recipe? You May Also Enjoy
Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers With Quinoa
Equipment
- Chef's Knife
- Box Grater (if using block cheese)
Ingredients
- ¾ Cup dry quinoa (white, or tri-colored blend)
- 1.5 Cups water
- 4 medium bell peppers, stem and seeds removed, cut into halves (any color)
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 15 ounce can of black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 ounce taco seasoning
- 1 Cup fresh spinach, cut into ribbons
- 5-6 ounces cheese (pepper jack or other spicy cheese, cheddar, colby jack, etc.)
Instructions
- Cook the quinoa with the water per package directions.
- While the quinoa cooks, preheat the oven to 400°F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Rub the outside of the peppers with the olive oil and place onto the baking sheet.
- Mix together the cooked quinoa, black beans, taco seasoning, spinach, and 4-5 ounces of the shredded cheese.
- Divide the filling between the peppers, gently pushing the filling in,
- Bake the filled peppers for 20 minutes.
- Remove the peppers from the oven and turn on the broiler.
- Top the peppers with an additional 1-2 ounces of cheese, and then broil the cheese-topped peppers for a few minutes (keeping a close eye on them) until the cheese is nice and melty.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Use a different grain. If preferred, replace the quinoa with brown or white rice.
- Use vegetable broth or vegetable stock to cook the quinoa instead of water.
- Add diced tomatoes to your filling. Want even more veggies? Drain a can of your favorite diced tomatoes and toss it in your quinoa filling too.
- Add onion if preferred. Sauté onion in olive oil until translucent and starting to brown, then add it to your filling.
Dan says
As a big meat guy, even I loved these peppers, thanks for a great recipe!
Meredith says
So glad to hear you enjoyed these Dan! Thanks for giving this recipe a try.