These vegan stuffed bell peppers are packed with quinoa, beans, corn, and spices. They are loaded with flavor, prepped in 25 minutes, and make a healthy, easy meal for any night of the week.
This vegetarian Mexican stuffed peppers recipe features quinoa, black beans, and corn all tossed with your favorite salsa and southwest inspired spices. A flavorful, easy, and delicious meal for any night of the week.
Looking for more southwest inspired recipes? Try my southwest chicken chili, oven baked fajitas, or southwest quinoa salad.
Why Make This Recipe
- GREAT FOR FOOD PREP: can be made in advance and freezes great too!
- EASY: this vegan stuffed peppers recipe takes only 25 minutes to prep!
- VEGAN: great for a meatless Monday, or any time you are looking to enjoy an easy meal focused on plants.
- GLUTEN FREE: this recipe uses naturally gluten-free grains and ingredients for a gluten-free meal.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Peppers: you can use any combination of bell peppers that you’d like, but I like to use red, yellow, and orange since they are sweeter than green bell peppers. And use the largest peppers you can find.
- Vegetable broth: using vegetable broth to cook the quinoa adds a ton of flavor. But you can easily cook the quinoa in water if you don’t have broth on hand (it will still be delicious, I promise).
- Salsa: I used mild salsa since I don’t like spice, but any kind of your favorite salsa would be delish in this vegan stuffed peppers recipe!
- Corn: I use frozen sweet corn, but you can use canned corn as well.
Tips for Keeping the Ingredients Clean
These are specific things I look for in order to keep the ingredients used in these vegetarian Mexican stuffed peppers clean. Ingredients not listed don’t have any specifications when it comes to keeping/purchasing them clean.
And if you don’t use items with my recommendations below, the recipe will still turn out great.
Peppers - although peppers are not on the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Dirty Dozen list, they do show up on their “dirty dozen plus” list. Because of this, I buy organic peppers.
Salsa - look for salsa that contains just the veggies you would use to make it yourself and be sure there isn’t any form of sugar listed in the ingredients. And because tomatoes are ranked high in pesticides, according to EWG, I look for organic salsa.
Vegetable broth - ingredients in your broth should just be water, vegetables, and seasonings (for sure no sugar). Check the label to make sure you are only getting these ingredients, and opt for organic if you can. I love Pacific brand broth.
Step by Step for Making Stuffed Peppers
STEP 1: Cook quinoa according to package directions, using broth instead of water.
STEP 2: While quinoa is cooking, prepare the bell peppers. Cut each pepper in half lengthwise and carefully remove the seeds and whitish membranes. Place bell pepper halves face up in a 9x13 baking dish.
STEP 3: Add cooked quinoa, beans, corn, salsa, and spices to a medium sized mixing bowl. Mix until fully combined.
STEP 4: Scoop quinoa mixture evenly into the prepared peppers. You may need to really pack the quinoa mix into each pepper depending on how big your peppers are.
STEP 5: Cover and bake for roughly 50 minutes. Top with desired toppings and enjoy these vegan stuffed bell peppers!
Recipe FAQs
No, you can cook in water like the package most likely says. I like using broth because it adds some flavor.
Yes! These are perfect for food prep. You can prep everything ahead of time and then bake when you need them. You can keep them in the fridge for up to 24 hours before baking. And be sure to add an extra 10 minutes or so if you bake them straight out of the fridge. They will stay good in the fridge after they’ve been cooked for up to 4 days.
You bet! These vegan stuffed bell peppers will stay good in the freezer in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Sometimes I will even double the batch just so I have some to freeze and re-heat later for an easy weeknight meal.
Notes & Tips
Quinoa filling: Depending on how big your peppers are, you may end up with some extra filling. I recommend just piling it on top of each pepper. As a last resort, you can just keep any extra filling and heat up later to add to your cooked peppers.
Add some cheese: If cheese is your thing, go ahead and add some shredded cheese to the top of the peppers. You can also add some shredded cheese into the quinoa mixture for some extra cheesy goodness.
Reheating: Throw the peppers in the microwave to re-heat. Before heating, cut each pepper into quarters so that they heat evenly.
For serving: make some fresh guacamole for the top, add some extra salsa, sprinkle with cilantro, add a dollop of sour cream (dairy free if needed), or eat alongside some chips.
Servings: this vegan stuffed peppers recipe makes 8 half peppers.
Other Recipes I Think You'll Like
If you make this recipe, please let me know what you think! I would so appreciate you leaving a star rating and/or comment below. And don't forget to share a photo on Instagram or Facebook and mention @CleanPlateMama!
Eat Clean.Be Well!
-Sara
Vegan Stuffed Bell Peppers
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Ingredients
- 4 bell peppers (your choice of colors)
- 1 cup dry quinoa
- 2 cups vegetable broth (see notes)
- 1 cup frozen sweet corn, thawed
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- ¾ cup salsa
- 2 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- ¼ tsp. fine sea salt (plus more to taste)
Instructions
- Cook quinoa in vegetable broth according to package directions (use the same amount of broth as you would water).
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Prepare the peppers by cutting them in half lengthwise. Then carefully remove the seeds and whitish membranes. Place pepper halves face up in a 9x13 baking dish.
- In a large bowl, add the cooked quinoa, corn, black beans, salsa, chili, cumin, garlic, and salt. Stir until ingredients are fully combined. Taste filling and add additional salt, and/or spices, as needed.
- Scoop the quinoa mixture evenly among the 8 pepper halves.
- Cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes, or until pepper edges are beginning to brown and filling is fully heated.
- Serve with toppings such as cilantro, sour cream, onions, and/or avocado/guacamole.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Most packaged quinoa calls for 2 cups liquid for each cup of broth. Check package directions to see how much water the quinoa calls for; use the same amount of broth for cooking the quinoa.
- If you don't have broth on hand, you can cook the quinoa in water. I like the broth as it adds some extra flavor.
- When cutting the peppers, you can remove the stems as well if you'd prefer.
- If you want to add some shredded cheese, you could add ¼-1/2 cup in the quinoa mix before filling the peppers. Additionally, you could top the peppers off with shredded cheese or add at the end of baking and turn the broiler on to quickly melt.
- Depending on how big your peppers are, you may end up with some extra filling. I recommend just piling it on top of each pepper. As a last resort, you can just keep any extra filling and heat up later to add to your cooked peppers.
Nutrition
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