Most vegan stuffed pepper recipes skimp on protein and skip a crucial step, leaving you with mushy rice tucked into an undercooked crunchy pepper. I’ve fixed both issues with an Italian-spiced filling of quinoa and lentils–with two plant proteins in one bite–mixed with juicy tomatoes and nutritional yeast for that cheesy flavor–stuffed into peppers that are par-baked first for tender, delicious comfort food. It’s a make-ahead, meal-prep friendly dinner built from pantry staples you probably already have.
When I’m in the mood for Italian stuffed veggies I either go for this quinoa stuffed peppers recipe or, if my garden is over producing zucchini, then it’s stuffed zucchini boats with mushrooms and walnuts.…winner, winner stuffed veggie dinner either way!
Ingredient Notes
- Canned tomatoes diced or whole, make this a true pantry recipe, available year round.
- Quinoa + Lentils: easy sources of plant based protein in these veggie stuffed peppers.
- Ground Flax: Helps bind the vegan stuffing together.
- Nutritional Yeast: Imparts a dairy-free cheesy flavor.
Trim Bell Peppers for Stuffing
Bell peppers are easy to prepare for stuffing. I like to select peppers that are flat on the bottom. However, that’s not always possible. Especially, if you’re using peppers from your garden! That’s OK. Choose a casserole dish or dutch oven that will fit your peppers snugly inside. They will hold each other up!
Use a sharp knife to cut ¼″ off the top of the pepper. If it comes off in one beautiful piece, awesome! Save it to roast with the stuffed bottom. Otherwise, put it aside to chop and saute with the onions.
Once the top is off, use a small paring knife or your hands to gently scoop out the core, membranes and seeds.
Fit peppers into pan snuggly, so they hold each other up. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Par-bake in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes to soften.
Italian Style Lentil Quinoa Stuffing
While the peppers begin to bake, you’ll have plenty of time to make this simple and hearty stuffing. This stuffing is vegan, gluten-free and so good and makes a great side dish on its own. This stuffing is so good, I think I like it better than the inside of my favorite sweet and sour lentil stuffed cabbage!
Saute onions plus any bell pepper scraps in a saucepan. Then add Italian spices and garlic.
Mix in dry quinoa, rinsed and drained lentils and tomatoes.
Add veggie stock and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in nutritional yeast and ground flax.
Mix in herbs until wilted. Stuffing mixture can sit at room temp or in the fridge up to 5 days, until ready to spoon into bell peppers and bake.
Spoon the lentil and quinoa tomato mixture into the par-baked peppers.
If you have any bell pepper “lids” place them gently on top of the filled peppers. Cover with lid of dutch oven (or use a damp layer of parchment paper, topped with foil if using a casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes.
Debra’s Pro Tips
- Par baking the peppers before filling ensures they’ll be tender, rather than crunchy…don’t skip this step!
- If you have too much quinoa filling for your peppers, you can sprinkle it around the peppers…it will bake up with some crisp edges!
- Alternately, freeze any leftover stuffing to use as a side dish another time.
- Vegan recipes using lentils help with satiety, making this a complete meal!
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Stuffed Peppers with Lentils and Quinoa (Italian Style)
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 6 bell peppers
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil* divided
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 cup dry quinoa rinsed well
- ½ cup lentils rinsed well
- 1 28-oz canned diced tomatoes
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- ¼ cup ground flax seeds
- 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Prepare bell peppers by slicing ¼" off the top and removing core and seeds. Save tops that look beautiful, and chop the rest to saute with the onions.
- Choose a cast iron dutch oven or ceramic or glass baking dish that will just fit the peppers snugly, so none tip over, and they hold each other up. Place the tops of peppers askew on top of them, so air can circulate into the peppers. Brush with 1 Tablespoon olive oil (or use vegetable broth) and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Roast for 20 minutes, to soften, while you prepare the filling.
- Meanwhile, MAKE STUFFING: Heat remaining Tablespoon olive oil in large skillet over medium heat and sauté onions, and any chopped bell peppers until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add spices and garlic and stir continuously for 30 seconds, being careful not to burn the garlic. Mix in quinoa and lentils until coated with spices and then add tomatoes and 2 cups of veggie stock. Bring to a low simmer and let cook for 15 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off heat and then stir in nutritional yeast, ground flax and fresh herbs.
- You can refrigerate the mixture at this point if you’re not ready to stuff the peppers. Mixture can also be frozen for up to 3 months if you have extra or wanted to prep this dish in advance.
- Remove peppers from oven, but leave it on. When peppers are cool enough to handle, spoon quinoa mixture evenly into peppers. Sprinkle with additional nutritional yeast and fresh basil, if desired.
- Cover with lid of dutch oven and bake for 30 minutes, until peppers are soft and filing is piping hot. If using baking pan, cover with unbleached parchment and then aluminum foil before baking.
Notes
Nutrition
Note
The nutrition calculations were done using online tools. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you used. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information is accurate, complete and useful.
Alicia Perry
Delicious recipe, thank you so much! I didn’t have any quinoa so just doubled the lentils, yum!
Debra Klein
Love that you were able to modify to work with what you had!
Maria
This looks fantastic! I can’t wait to try it. Do you use canned or dry lentils?
Debra Klein
Start with rinsed, dry lentils. They will cook in the broth/tomato mixture and then continue to soften when that mixture is stuffed into the peppers.
Leslie
Loving this version of stuffed peppers! Soooo good!
Debra Klein
Agreed….and so easy too!
Chef Dennis
This Vegan Stuffed Peppers Recipe is making my tummy growl!
Marcellina
Yum! My kind of recipe!
Debra Klein
Thanks…mine too!
Jessica Formicola
I love that you made this vegan instead of using ground beef! Off to try it for dinner tonight!
Debra Klein
Enjoy…I think it’s very satisfying as a vegan dish.
Laura
These are great. I like the quinoa instead of rice in these peppers.
Debra Klein
Thanks…I think it lightens the dish up to use quinoa.
Tayo
I just sent this to my friend who is vegan and she loves it!
Debra Klein
Thank you….this is a great one, even if you’re not vegan.
Amanda Marie Boyle
I’ve recently really started to like quinoa and have been looking for more ways to use it. Love this recipe!
Debra Klein
Great….this stuffing is so good, you can eat it as a side dish on its own too.
Mama Maggie's Kitchen
It looks delicious. I wish this were in front of me right now.
kerri
Stuffed peppers are one of our favorite meals! Love that we can use this as one of our meatless monday staples!
Swathi
I agree with you pantry staples can make good healthy meals, I like the additon of quinoa in stuffed pepper recipe
Debra Klein
Thank you. This easy pantry recipe makes a regular appearance on our table!
Michele Peterson
I loved how this recipe was able to use up the bounty of peppers in my garden in such a delicious way!
Sarah James
Your stuffed peppers look amazing. I not a fan of cheese so your Italian stuffing is perfect for me, thanks for sharing.
Debra Klein
Yay. Glad you found this one…you’ll never find cheese in my recipes, I’m not a fan either.
Chef Dennis
Oh I m craving right now! This Vegan Stuffed Peppers is the best.
Debra Klein
So easy to scratch that itch with this simple recipe.
Amy
Had a craving for stuffed peppers and found your recipe. It was so good! Family loved it. And your photography was so enticing! Bookmarking for next time.
Meesha
Looking for a good vegan stuffed pepper recipe for a while now and this might be it!
Debra Klein
This is my “go to” because it’s so universally liked.
Kay
Perfect recipe, I love the quinoa stuffing mix!
Debra Klein
Same….I make that for a side dish, even without the peppers,often.
Taleen | Just As Tasty
I love stuffed peppers and the fact that these are vegan make them even more appealing to me!
Sue
I love stuffed peppers and I agree that the non-green ones are just…better! This vegan filling looks delish, I’ll have to give it a try!
Debra Klein
I knew I wasn’t the only one! Thanks for the validation!
Emily Flint
These stuffed peppers were a hit with my family! Thanks for such a delicious recipe and for helping me find a way to get more veggies on the table!