 |
It’s Meatless Monday time, and do I have an amazing recipe for you! I’ve been thinking about doing a Mexican-style stuffed pepper for a while, and finally came up with the perfect combination.
Believe me, dear reader, this is something you’ll want to try.
If you’re new to quinoa, this is a great way to try it. These were SO full of flavor and were absolutely delicious. I loved the quinoa stuffing mixture –quinoa, black beans, green chiles, cilantro, and more. I snuck several spoonfuls to taste before stuffing the peppers. Even Sophie liked it!
The cheese was more of a garnish than a necessity, so you could easily leave it off if you’re eating dairy-free or vegan. I also highly recommend making your own enchilada sauce. It’s completely delicious and just the right amount of spicy.
- 4 bell peppers (any color), sliced in half stem-to-tip, seeds removed
- 1c quinoa, uncooked
- ½ medium onion, diced
- 1 (15oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 roma tomato, seeded and diced
- 1 (4oz) can diced green chiles (don’t drain)
- ¼c cilantro, minced
- ¼tsp salt
- ¼tsp pepper
- olive oil, if desired
- ½c Monterrey Jack, grated
- ½c cheddar cheese, grated
- 1 recipe red enchilada sauce (or 1 (28oz) can)
- Add quinoa and onion to a large saucepan with 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil 5 minutes, cover, turn off heat and let steam 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
- In the meantime, microwave pepper halves 2-3 minutes to soften slightly. (Prepared this way, the peppers should come out crisp-tender. If you want them crisper, you can omit this step.)
- Pour quinoa/onion mixture into a mixing bowl. Stir in black beans, tomato, green chiles and their juices, cilantro, ¼ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp pepper. If the mixture seems to dry, drizzle in a bit of olive oil (I didn’t need any).
- Pour enchilada sauce into a 9×13″ baking dish. Divide filling among peppers. Nestle stuffed peppers into the enchilada sauce. Sprinkle with cheeses.
- Cover the pan with foil and bake at 375 degrees 25-30 minutes. Remove foil and cook about 5 minutes longer. Serve peppers drizzled with enchilada sauce.
{ 113 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
Hello Emily, I love this recipe and wanted to prepare it for the family for Thanksgiving. Is there a way to prep the peppers and everything and then just bake the day of?
Nicolle – I’m SO SORRY I didn’t get this in time!!! Yes, you can prepare the peppers ahead of time and bake them the day of. I would only make them 1 day ahead.
This receipe was amazing! I will definitely be making this often. Very easy and packed with healthy stuff!
This sounds wonderful!!! I will for sure be trying this. Thanks for sharing.
I love this recipe! This is one of my favorites, I make it over and over. I’m nutritarian (whole foods, plant based diet) so I just omit the cheese and it is excellent! Thank you for the recipe!
So glad I found this recipe! What a great recipe to kick off my Mexican Monday tradition, thank you
Thanks for this awesome recipe!! I would love to know where you found your beautiful baking dish!!
Dee – Thank you! I’m so glad you liked it. The dish is Le Cruset brand. I bought it on sale at Sur la Table. LOVE IT!!!
I have done this recipe twice and these are amazing… They are one of my families favorites as well…. Thanks for your blog!
Jennifer – I’m so glad you like them! Thanks for the happy comment. Made my day!
Those peppers look delicious. I bought some green bell peppers to make them SOON. Could you make ahead and freeze. I love doing that with recipes I make so my hubby can ‘make’ dinner (and its not just mac and cheese and hot dogs and corn).
Just made these today after finding them on pinterest – wow – amazing! We already like quinoa, but I really enjoyed it in this dish especially!
i loved this recipe , made it twice, once meatless & once with ground turkey. I made extra filling added eggs & some more cheese & made tex mex meatballs. My 16 year old son gave both 5 stars. awesome recipe thanks
I didn’t have fresh cilantro (used dried) or tomato so Isubbed HOT Rotel tomatoes in the can. Use Poblano peppers. Added garlic and some squirts of tomatoe paste. Added al ittle cheese in the mix, too. Top with some plain Greek yougurt with a squeeze of lime and cumin! FABO!
What a terrific idea using rotels. Going to try your variations next time!
Just made these tonite and they were delicious! We have never had quinoa before but I have been wanting to try it. My family loves anything Mexican inspired and I’ve also been wanting to make a stuffed pepper lately, so this was a perfect fit! Thanks for the recipe! The whole family loved it… Even had seconds!
Delish and super filling!
Just wondering, do you serve anything along side this?
Sounds sooo good. Is there a way to get the nutrional info. on this? I mainly would like to know the calorie and fiber count.
This is a great recipe and so healthy! I used vegan cheese and it worked very well!
Made this for us & LOVED it! New staple. I’m not too familiar w/ gluten free diets. Would love to make this for a new mom who is G-Free. Is this recipe G-free, including the sauce?
If you use a gluten-free flour for the sauce, the recipe IS gluten-free. Glad you liked it!
This looks delicious! Sorry if you answered this already, but do the peppers freeze well? I am all about make-ahead meals and would love to add this to my rotation. Thanks!
Katie – they freeze great!
I made this tonight, it was really good! I’ve never tried quinoa before and wasn’t sure how to make it so this was really helpful. Thank you!
Was thinking about red quinoa, what do you think? Maybe some other herbs.
Craig- it would be great and even more colorful!
DELICIOUS!!!!!
I made this yesterday for lunch…..my husband and I both loved it! Can’t wait for the leftovers tonight! Will be making this again……..and again! Thanks for posting it!!!
Just finished these and was very pleasantly surprised at how filling and delicious they were!! I made the sauce from scratch which is very easy and I think made a big difference!! Thank you for the awesome recipe and I will be sharing with my weight watchers group on Saturday !!
I made this recently for my family and we all LOVED it. Ate the entire dish up in one sitting. I would really like to make them again with softer peppers…..do you think I should just microwave them for longer? Bake the entire dish for longer? Do you have any suggestions?
This was really wonderful and so tasty, thank you!
Kacey – that’s exactly what I’d recommend! I think if you microwave them a bit longer to soften them up more, you shouldn’t have any trouble. There’s also no harm in baking the dish a little longer. The worst that will happen is your cheese will brown a bit more
Glad you like them!
These peppers were delicious!!! Made them for the second time tonight. Very easy to prepare.
These were delicious, thanks for the recipe!
these were super good . Carly made them
This was hands down, Ah-mazing! My boyfriend needed some extra protein for his 14=hr job days this week, so I ended up adding ground turkey to it as well for him to take to work for lunch. Used canned tomatoes since the fresh tomatoes at the store are not very good (not in season) Also made my own enchilada sauce. Thank you for sharing this recipe!! I am ready to make it without meat next time for Meatless Monday!
These were awesomely delish!!! Any idea of the nutritional content or calories in this dish?
Soooo yummy!! I wanted to try to incorporate more quinoa into our diets and this is absolutely delicious. I’m a newbie in the kitchen and I’m so glad I tried this out! The Enchilada sauce is so good too~ my favorite!
Fantastic recipe!!!! My family has been requesting I make this again!!! It tastes amazing and I love how I feel after eating such a delicious and healthy meal!!!
Instead of red enchilada sauce could green enchilada sauce work too or would I have to change up the ingredients?
Celina – Green should work, but it will give you a different flavor. It should still be very tasty
Made these tonight and they were DELICIOUS!!! Our company were not vegetarians, so we put in a little less quinoa and beans, and added turkey burger. So good!
I tried this recipe today and I really loved it! I used organic tri-color quinoa and Mexican 4-cheese blend! Fabulous! Will be making again and again!
Hello. By chance, do you have the nutritional details, as far as calories, carbs, etc? Thanks so much. The recipe looks great!!!!
Hello
I am super excited to make this next week
Is half a pepper normally a serving? (Filling enough for a meal?)
And also how would I prepare the peppers without using the microwave?
Thanks
Alisha <3
Alisha – yes, a pepper half is a serving
You could steam the peppers for a few minutes or just bake the dish a few minutes longer. Best of luck!!!
These were awesome! I’ve used your red enchilada sauce recipe for enchiladas as well and it’s so nice having an excellent and easy sauce to go to. Loved these, definitely making them again!
A+ easy enough for a guy to make. Reading through comments above, it’s hard to believe how many people think you need to add animal meat to this meatless Monday dish. The quinoa has lots of protien in it already. Read “Eat to Live” – this book has taught me how to eat more nutritiously and improve my health and fitness. This dish fits the diet plan.
Could you give me the recipe for the enchilada sauce? This looks delish and I would love to make it
I found it on a different link. Thanks!
Great recipe – I go back to it time and time again.
← Previous Comments