Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
This is another recipe I’ve been making since university when I was first learning how to cook. I love it because it’s healthy and filling. Plus it serves six so there’s lots of leftovers for lunch the next day (super key when you’re in university).
I made only four peppers and had lots of leftover stuffing. Usually I eat the stuffing on it’s own, but I had the idea of putting it on some greens (chopped kale) and eating it as a salad. This salad turned out to be delicious! The stuffing tastes great cold and paired well with a simple balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. I highly recommend doing this!
INGREDIENTS
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 cup uncooked white quinoa
4 - 6 large bell peppers*, mixed colors
2 tsp olive oil
1 yellow onion
3 carrots
3 stalks of celery
1 tbsp. dried oregano
1/2 tbsp. basil
1 tsp. thyme
Salt and pepper
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 tbsp. tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
YIELD
6 servings
TIME
Prep - 20 minutes
Cook - 30 minutes
TOOLS
Small saucepan
Rectangle or square baking dish
Large nonstick skillet
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a small saucepan, bring water and broth to boil. Add quinoa, reduce heat to medium, and cook for 13-15 minutes until quinoa is clear.
Cut the stems and tops off the bell peppers and scoop out the seeds. Place upright in a baking dish and put in the oven for 15 minutes.
Dice onions, carrots, and celery.
While the quinoa and peppers cook, heat oil in skillet on medium heat. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes. Add carrots and celery. Sauté for 10 minutes.
Reduce heat on skillet to low. Add in the quinoa, chickpeas, oregano, basil, thyme, salt, pepper, and tomato sauce. Stir until well combined for 5 minutes.
Remove mixture from heat. Add in feta. Scoop into peppers.
Bake for 15 minutes.
*I only make 4 peppers and save the extra quinoa mixture to eat as a side dish. The extra mixture does not need to be baked when you put the stuffed peppers back in. See my note above about making it into a salad.
ADAPTATIONS
You can easily change up what you want to put in these peppers. The original recipe I was inspired by used couscous or you could use brown rice. You can also add other vegetables such as zucchini or tomatoes to your stuffing mixture. You could also remove the cheese to make it vegan.
Recipe inspired by Smitten Kitchen.
