Stuffed Bell Peppers Vegan

Stuffed Bell Peppers Vegan are incredibly delicious and healthy: lean protein, veggies and whole grain. This recipe is easy to customize to fit your tastes: you can swap green lentils with mushrooms, instead of rice you can use quinoa or riced cauliflower and so on. Also you can stuff all kinds of vegetables: tomatoes, zucchini, cabbage and grape leaves. Feel free to add your own twist; it's just a basic recipe. Serve them warm, topping the finished peppers with something creamy or saucy, like vegan sour cream, guacamole and Gluten Free Quinoa Oat Bread.

Stuffed Bell Peppers Vegan
GF SF YF EF VG NF

Ingredients:

NameMetricUS
Bell peppers 8
Brown or white rice, pre-cooked 2 cups
Green lentils, uncooked 1 cup
Vegetable oil 4 tbsp
Medium yellow onion, chopped 1
Small head of cabbage, thinly shredded 1/4
Medium carrot, peeled and thinly sliced 1
Cloves of garlic, minced, divided 6
Tomato paste 1 tbsp
Diced tomatoes, divided 2 cans
Celery ribs, trimmed and finely chopped 2
Celery ribs, whole 2
Red beans without their juice 1 can
Roughly chopped parsley or dill 1/4 cup
Salt, to taste 1 tbsp
Cracked black pepper, to taste 1 tsp
Whole peppercorn 8
Bay leaf 1
Sun dried tomatoes 4

Optional Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 pinch red pepper flakes
  • 1 tbsp fresh chopped basil
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp cumin

Steps:

Step 1

Step 1

Prepare the peppers for stuffing. Cut off the top and pull out the core and the seeds.

Step 2

Step 2

If using 1 cup uncooked rice, rinse rice thoroughly (until the water is clear). Combine 3 cups of water with rice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until half done for about 15 minutes. Drain excess water.

Step 3

Step 3

Rinse 1 cup of green lentils with cold water, combine 3 cups of water with lentils and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until half done for about 15 minutes. Drain excess water.

Step 4

Step 4

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Cook onion, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 7 minutes.

Step 5

Step 5

Add ¼ small head of cabbage, thinly shredded, and let sweat for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step 6

Step 6

Stir in carrot and cook for another 3 - 4 minutes.

Step 7

Step 7

Stir in garlic (3 cloves), tomato paste (1 tbsp), diced tomatoes (1 can ), 2 celery ribs (trimmed, finely chopped), and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 5 minutes more.

Step 8

Step 8

Remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the rice (pre-cooked), red beans (1 can) without their juice, green lentils (pre-cooked), roughly chopped parsley (1 ⁄ 4 cup ), salt (to taste), cracked black pepper (1 tsp) and. You can add some extra seasonings, see my suggestions in the optional ingredients. Stir the mixture again to redistribute the ingredients. Taste the mixture for salt and spices.

Step 9

Step 9

Stuff each pepper generously with the rice mixture, filling them all the way to the top (if the peppers were truly large, you should have just the right amount of filling, in case you have extra, save it to serve as a side dish).

Step 10

Step 10

Get a large soup pot, on the bottom put 2 whole celery ribs, 3 whole garlic cloves, 8 whole peppercorn, 1 tbsp salt, 1 can diced tomatoes, 4 sun dried tomatoes.

Step 11

Step 11

Arrange peppers cut side up in the pot.

Step 12

Step 12

Fill the soup pot up to ⅓ with boiling water.

Step 13

Step 13

On the stovetop, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until the peppers are tender, approximately 45 minutes.

Step 14

Step 14

Serve warm topping the finished peppers with something creamy or saucy, like vegan sour cream, guacamole and Gluten Free Quinoa Oat Bread.

Notes:

Stuffed Bell Peppers Vegan

This dish is a bit time consuming, though it’s not difficult. You could make rice filling in advance, even assemble the peppers completely and refrigerate, covered, until you're ready to bake.