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5 from 4 votes

Vegan Stuffed Bell Peppers

For an easy vegan comfort food dinner make my Vegan Stuffed Bell Peppers filled with rice, chickpea mushroom spaghetti sauce and topped with crispy breadcrumbs and melty vegan cheese. Gluten-free option.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 15 minutes
Course: dinner
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: stuffed bell pepper, vegan stuffed bell pepper
Servings: 4
Author: Vegan Richa

Ingredients

  • 2 bell peppers
  • 1 1/2 cup cooked white rice (3/4 cup uncooked will make about 1.5 cups cooked)

For the sauce

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 sweet white onion or red onion chopped
  • 2 bay leaves (optional)
  • 3 large garlic cloves chopped
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt depends on salt content in sauce
  • 1 very ripe diced tomato
  • 2-3 tsp Italian seasonings basil, oregano, thyme
  • 1 cup thinly sliced mushroom
  • 2 cups spaghetti or marinara sauce
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 3/4 Cup cooked chickpeas (Half of 15 oz jar drained) or use 1/2 cup veggie crumbles or omit

For the topping:

  • 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 3/4 cup shredded vegan cheese I use a mix of vegan mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
  • 2 tsp olive oil
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400°F (206 c)
  • Start by cutting off the tops of your green peppers and remove all seeds, until cavity is completely hollow.
  • Bake the peppers: Sprinkle inside with a dash of salt and pepper. Place in any oven safe bake ware, that will allow peppers to stay in place w/open tops facing upright.
  • Bake for aprox 20 mins, or until almost tender
  • While baking, cook rice if you haven’t already (3/4 cup dry will make about 1.5 cups cooked. Wash the rice and soak for 15 minutes. The drain, combine with 1.5 cups water and cook in a saucepan over low heat partially covered for 20 minutes)
  • While peppers and rice are cooking, mince garlic, and finely chop the onion, mushrooms,coarsely chop tomato.
  • Make the sauce: Preheat olive oil in a fairly large deep skillet pan on  medium-high heat, add onion, and a pinch of salt. cook for about 3-4 mins. You can also add 1/4 cup chopped bell pepper here for variation.
  • Add garlic, cook until almost golden. Add tomato, salt, pepper, mushrooms. Mix well, cook until tomato breaks down a bit.
  • Now add your sauce, chickpeas, brown sugar, seasonings. Mix well
  • Simmer on medium low for 10-15 mins. Taste and adjust salt and flavor of this spaghetti sauce.
  • Remove peppers from oven set aside to cool. Mix rice into your 'spaghetti sauce' with half of the cheese, let rest.
  • When cool enough to handle, spoon sauce/rice mixture into the peppers. Leave enough room for your topping
  • Now take another portion of cheese, the breadcrumbs, garlic powder and olive oil, mix well and top each pepper generously.
  • Return the stuffed peppers into oven and bake for about 20 min or until topping is nicely browned and fork easily penetrates through the walls of the peppers. Serve with breadsticks or french bread. Enjoy!

Notes

Storage: will keep nicely for up to 3 days in air tight sealed container
  • Feel free to add veggie crumbles or vegan meat crumbles to the filling
  • cooked lentils make another great addition to the filling
  • omit the mushrooms if you don’t like them
  • Use Glutenfree breadcrumbs or a mix of almond flour and coarsely crushed oats for Glutenfree 

Nutrition

Calories: 466kcal | Carbohydrates: 72g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 780mg | Potassium: 1134mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 2945IU | Vitamin C: 97mg | Calcium: 145mg | Iron: 6mg