Stuffed peppers are one of our go-to recipes to make when we have a lot of veggies to use up and want something delicious for dinner.
You can use any veggies you want and any grain that you like to stuff these peppers, so the possibilities are endless!
We opted for a few basics (carrots, onions, celery & garlic), fiber-filled and gluten-free brown rice and chickpeas, and some chunky tomato sauce to bring it all together.
This is a meal you will make again and again. It’s filling, delicious, comforting, and is a great alternative to meat as a meal. Try it for a Meatless Monday (or Tuesday!) meal. Believe it or not, something like this will often be cheaper than giving everyone at the table a full portion of meat!
I’m not a vegetarian but over the past few years have used meat more as the side dish and the veggies more as the star of the show. I eat high-quality (local, humanely raised, grass-fed/pasture-raised) animal-based foods (eggs, chicken, meat, seafood) a couple of times a week.
On the other days, I get my protein from vegetables, beans and lentils, grains like quinoa, and nuts and seeds. Despite what many of us have been led to believe, meat is not the only quality source of protein, so change up your proteins and try something new!
Veggie-Stuffed Rainbow Peppers
Ingredients
- 1/4-1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 2-3 cups water (enough to fill the bottom of the pot you’re using for steaming – see instructions below)
- 4 bell peppers, top cut off & seeds removed
- 1 cup cooked brown rice (we use the steamable bags in the frozen aisle of the grocery store for convenience)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 medium carrots, chopped
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, no salt added
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (We use the Eden Organics brand)
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking pan with aluminum foil.
- Fill a pot with enough water to steam the peppers and put the seeded peppers on top of a steamer basket. Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot with a lid and steam the peppers for 10 minutes. You want them to still be a bit firm so they stand up on their own. Steaming helps to partially cook them and make them easier to fill with the stuffing.
- Place peppers in the foil-lined baking dish. Do not leave them in the covered pot after steaming or they will overcook.
- While the peppers are steaming, saute the onions, garlic, carrots and celery in a few tablespoons of vegetable broth, adding more broth to prevent the onions from sticking.
- After about 10 minutes, add the diced tomatoes (with their juices!), brown rice, chickpeas, chili powder, garlic powder, cinnamon, and salt, stirring until everything is combined.
- Fill each pepper with the rice mixture, reserving about 1/2 cup of the mixture to top off the peppers. Roast peppers in the oven for 20 minutes. We roasted ours in the toaster oven.
- Remove from oven and top with 1-2 spoons of the extra rice mixture. Serve and enjoy!
We like to top ours with a few shakes of paleo parmesan cheeze!