Quinoa stuffed bell peppers are vegetarian, and are full of vegetables, beans, and Mexican-style flavors that are sure to spice up your dinner routine!
Looking for a Meatless Monday option so good that your family won’t even realize it’s vegetarian?
Look no further, because quinoa stuffed bell peppers are insanely flavorful, and are full of Southwestern-inspired flavors that are sure to satisfy your entire family!
Salsa, cheese, corn, and black beans stuffed inside sweet bell peppers and topped with even more cheese? Who could resist that?
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What does it taste like?
These vegetarian stuffed bell peppers are cheesy with lots of spices like chili powder and cumin, and flavored with your favorite salsa!
They’re also slightly sweet from the bell peppers, depending on the color of pepper you choose. The red and orange bell peppers are the sweetest, and the green and yellow are slightly less sweet.
Ingredients
Quinoa – The main filler in this recipe. It tends to taste kind of earthy, so I like to always cook mine with broth to help flavor it and make it taste good. 1 cup of dry quinoa will turn into 3 cups cooked.
Vegetable Broth – To keep this recipe totally vegetarian, I opted to use low sodium vegetable broth to cook the quinoa in. The flavors of the vegetable broth fuse straight into the quinoa, making it a great addition to these vegetarian stuffed bell peppers.
Bell Peppers – The star of this recipe! If you prefer your peppers on the sweeter side, go with red and orange bell peppers. If you’re trying to save money and don’t mind your peppers a little less sweet, go for green bell peppers. I always do a mixture of 2-3 different colors, for variety!
Salsa – This is a really important ingredient in this recipe because it adds so much flavor! Grab your favorite salsa at the store, or make your own homemade salsa!
Cheddar cheese – What can I say? If you’re going to have Mexican-inspired food, there has to be cheese! I like to use cheddar, but you could use any type of cheese.
Cumin – Adds a little bit more flavor to this recipe without adding any salt!
Chili powder – Makes these bell peppers taste more Southwestern, definitely don’t skip the chili powder!
Onion powder – Adds the onion flavor without having to cut and saute an onion. Your eyes can thank me later!
Garlic powder – I love a little garlic flavor in these, it really takes their flavor to another level!
Black beans – Black beans add healthy starch and protein, and pair really nicely with the other flavors.
Corn – I usually use frozen corn, but you can use fresh or canned! These stuffed bell peppers aren’t the same without the corn, so don’t skip it!
Recipe Substitutions
Quinoa – If you don’t have quinoa on hand, you can use white or brown rice, or farro as a good substitute. You will have to adjust the amount of vegetable broth you use to cook the other grains, though.
Cheddar cheese – Most cheeses will work great and pair nicely with the other flavors in these quinoa stuffed bell peppers. Colby jack, a Mexican-style blend, pepper jack, or Monterey Jack would all work perfectly! You could even spice it up with jalapeno cheddar or habanero cheese if you wanted!
Black beans – You can definitely use a different type of bean if you don’t have black beans on hand. Pinto, kidney, chili beans, white beans, and even garbanzo beans would work just fine!
Spices – If you don’t have garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and chili powder, you can use 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning or 2 tablespoons of my homemade salt-free taco seasoning!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a saucepan, bring quinoa and vegetable broth to a boil on medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to low-medium and simmer until quinoa is fully cooked and fluffy, and there is no liquid remaining. About 15 minutes.
- While quinoa is simmering, grab a large bowl. Mix together salsa, cheddar, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, black beans, and corn.
- Add cooked quinoa to bowl, and mix together thoroughly.
- Cut, clean, and remove the seeds from the bell peppers.
- Stuff bell peppers with quinoa mixture, top with a little extra cheese and set inside an oven-safe baking dish. Cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Once peppers are done, top with desired toppings, and enjoy!
Tips & FAQ
No! If you roast them for long enough, bell peppers soften in the oven just fine! There is no reason to boil bell peppers before you stuff them. That makes your life so much easier!
Red bell peppers are considered the healthiest because they’ve been ripening the longest. As they turn from green, to orange, to red, they have more and more vitamin C. Red ones are the also the sweetest ones, so that’s a bonus!
To clean them, I simply slice them in half, and using my hands, rip out the seeds and the pith.
If you don’t want to slice them in half, you can also slice the tops off and use a spoon to gut them out. Just make sure to roast them standing up in a muffin tin!
Storage & Freezing
After you bake these stuffed bell peppers, they will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Simply microwave them for a minute or two to heat them back up!
To freeze them, simply stuff them with the quinoa mixture, then wrap tightly with saran wrap and place in an aluminum pan. Cover with aluminum foil, labe and date them, and freeze for up to 3 months.
When you’re ready to reheat from frozen, thaw in the fridge overnight. Remove the saran wrap, then cover your pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. After 45 minutes, pull them out of the oven. Crank the oven to 400 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes. Serve!
Nutritional Info
These vegetarian stuffed bell peppers have beans, cheese, and quinoa, making them a great option to get some protein in while keeping it meatless.
Because I used low sodium black beans and low sodium vegetable broth, I was able to keep the sodium fairly low in this recipe, too!
The high fiber content combined with the amount of protein and lower sodium level makes these a really healthy dinner option!
Total nutritional content per serving is:
- Calories: 318 calories
- Protein: 15 grams
- Sodium: 308 grams
- Carbohydrates: 47 grams
- Fiber: 8 grams
*This nutritional information is an estimate and calculated based on the ingredients used to create the recipe. The nutritional value of your ingredients may differ slightly. Furthermore, this food is not intended to prevent, diagnose, cure, or treat any disease.
Pricing Info
This is how much I personally paid to make this recipe:
- 1 cup quinoa (bought in bulk): $1.26
- 2 cups low sodium vegetable broth: $1.50
- 6 bell peppers: $6.00
- 1 cup salsa: $1.50
- 1 cup shredded cheddar: $1.00
- 2 tsp cumin: $0.08
- 2 tsp chili powder: $0.04
- 1 tsp onion powder: $0.02
- 2 tsp garlic powder: $0.09
- 1 can low sodium black beans: $0.59
- 1 cup frozen corn: $0.33
Total for all 6 servings is about $12.95, or roughly $2.16 per serving!
Sides
You may be asking yourself, “what do you eat with stuffed bell peppers”? Here are some ideas!
- Roasted vegetables
- Sweet potato wedges
- Chips & salsa or guacamole
- A side salad
- Dinner rolls
Other Dinner Recipes:
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Tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the comments below! I would really appreciate your feedback!
Recipe
Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa dry
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 6 bell peppers halved, with seeds removed
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 15 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 cup corn frozen or canned
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a saucepan, bring quinoa and vegetable broth to a boil on medium-high heat.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to low-medium and simmer until quinoa is fully cooked and fluffy, and there is no liquid remaining. About 15 minutes.
- While quinoa is simmering, grab a large bowl. Mix together salsa, cheddar, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, black beans, and corn.
- Add cooked quinoa to bowl, and mix together thoroughly.
- Stuff bell peppers with quinoa mixture, top with a little extra cheese and set inside an oven-safe baking dish. Cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove the foil and bake an additional 15 minutes.
- Once peppers are done, top with desired toppings, and enjoy!
To Make It A Freezer Meal:
- After stuffing the bell peppers with the quinoa mixture, wrap them individually in saran wrap and then again in aluminum foil. Freeze them in an aluminum baking dish (I used an aluminum lasagna pan).
- Thaw completely from frozen. Remove the saran wrap, then cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees.
- After 45 minutes, pull them out of the oven. Crank the oven to 400 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes.
- Once peppers are done, top with desired toppings, and enjoy!
Video
Notes
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If you end up making this and loving it, take a photo and tag me on Instagram! I’d love to see your versions of my recipes! And feel free to rate it down below in the comment section. I would really appreciate it!
Quinoa stuffed bell peppers are a great meatless meal option for the carnivores in your life! With all the Southwestern-inspired flavors, they’re sure to be a hit!
xoxo Megan
These are delicious!