These vegan Vegetable Stuffed Peppers are made with a delicious (and nutrient-packed) mixture of hearty black beans, quinoa, spinach, and colorful vegetables. They are also fun to make and the leftovers re-heat great!
These black bean quinoa stuffed peppers with spinach are a comfort food classic but made healthier.
Each pepper half is generously filled with a flavorful, hearty mixture of black beans, fluffy quinoa, and colorful vegetables.
Plus they are fun to make and look so festive!
Ingredients for Stuffed Peppers
For this recipe you will need:
- White quinoa
- Yellow onion
- Garlic cloves
- Carrot
- Bell peppers: Be sure to find 4 large bell peppers that have plenty of space for stuffing. Otherwise, opt for 5-6 smaller/medium bell peppers.
- Fresh baby spinach
- Diced tomatoes: Either regular or fire-roasted.
- Black beans: Or substitute another bean such as pinto beans or red kidney beans.
- Ground cumin: Or you can try it with your own favorite seasoning. (Italian seasoning, smoked paprika, dried basil, dried oregano, etc.)
You can also add vegan cheese shreds or nutritional yeast for a cheesy version.
Serving
Here are a few suggestions for toppings and garnish before serving:
- Avocado or guacamole
- Restaurant-Style Blender Salsa (or your own favorite salsa)
- Hot sauce
- Fresh cilantro
- Sliced green onions
- Vegan cheese shreds or nutritional yeast
Storage
This recipe makes a large batch, so store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. We find they keep for about 3-4 days.
The leftovers reheat great in the microwave. (We think they taste even better the next day after the flavors combine even further.)
For more inspiration, browse all black bean recipes or quinoa recipes.
Vegetable Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup white quinoa (uncooked)
- 1 yellow onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 medium carrots
- 4 large bell peppers* (I use one of each color)
- 4 oz. fresh baby spinach
- 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (or fire-roasted)
- 15 oz. can black beans
- 1 Tbsp. ground cumin (or other seasoning)
Optional:
- 1 cup vegan cheese shreds (or nutritional yeast to taste)
- Guacamole/avocado, cilantro, salsa for serving
Instructions
- Cook quinoa: place 1/2 cup quinoa (rinsed and drained) in a small saucepan with 3/4 cup water or vegetable broth. Bring to a light boil over medium-high heat. Then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare veggies: dice onion, mince garlic, and grate/shred carrots.
- Drain canned tomatoes, adding the tomato liquid to the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking dish. Set remaining diced tomatoes aside.
- In an extra-large skillet over medium-high heat, sauté onion for 6-7 minutes. (I use 3 tablespoons water/broth for no-oil sauté method, adding more as needed.)
- Add minced garlic and cumin. Stir and sauté 1 minute.
- Add spinach (roughly chopped) and drained tomatoes. Stir.
- When spinach is wilted, add black beans (rinsed and drained), cooked quinoa, and grated carrot. Stir and heat for 2 minutes. Salt/pepper if desired. (Optional: stir in 2/3 cup vegan cheese shreds to quinoa mixture, or nutritional yeast to taste.)
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).
- Cut bell peppers in half lengthwise. Remove stems, seeds, and inner ribs. Fill each pepper half with a heaping amount of quinoa mixture. Pack it down well with a spoon to fill all the crevices*. Place filled peppers in baking dish on top of the tomato liquid.
- Cover the dish with foil. Bake for 75 minutes. (Or if topping with cheese: after 1 hour of baking, uncover foil and sprinkle peppers with remaining 1/3 cup cheese. Return to oven and bake uncovered 15 minutes.)
- Drizzle with pan juices before serving. Serve with guacamole/avocado, salsa, nutritional yeast, etc. if desired.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving (Estimate)
If you are enjoying these vegan vegetable stuffed peppers with spinach, also check out:
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Alexis
These are so good! We topped ours with fresh homemade guacamole.
Kaitlin
That sounds perfect! Thanks so much for sharing!
Sister Sue
Just had to post again to say how delicious and awesome this recipe is. It's one of my go-to recipes when I have time to spend a little extra prep making dinner, and I've served it to a few dinner guests and everyone always raves about the recipe. Got my sister hooked on these too. Often what I do is making the filling a day ahead of time (or couple days), refrigerate (could also freeze the filling for longer saving), then fill the peppers and bake whenever I'm ready to have them. Made the filling last night and I plan to bake them this weekend for dinner.
Kaitlin | The Garden Grazer
Great to hear from you again, Sue! What a fantastic idea making the filling ahead of time. Thanks for sharing your helpful feedback!
Sister Sue
I froze them for over a month and they still cooked up deliciously once defrosted! SO YUMMY!
Kaitlin | The Garden Grazer
That's great to hear. Thanks for the helpful feedback!
Anonymous
Made these and they were great! Think you could freeze them?
Kaitlin | The Garden Grazer
Awesome! I've never tried freezing but my best guess is they'd hold up well! Would love to hear if you try it out.
Anonymous
I made them today and they were so good! I somehow ended up with 2 pans with 4 bell pepper halves in each pan. I was able to send one of the pans over to my kids for their dinner. They are vegetarians and live near me. They LOVED it and were so thankful they didn't have to cook when they got home from work. Thanks again! Great recipe. This will become a regular in my menu rotation.
Kaitlin | The Garden Grazer
So sweet of you to send some to your kids! Thanks for sharing!
Elle Rickman
All I can say is "I made these, ate these and they're fabulous!" Oh, and thank you for sharing!
Kaitlin | The Garden Grazer
That's wonderful!
Jeanne
I just did those and they are AMAZING! Thanks again.
Kaitlin McGinn
Great to hear!