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Stuffed with a hearty lentil and rice filling and topped with a gooey layer of melted vegan cheese, these Vegan Stuffed Peppers are perfect for easy weeknight family dinners! Vegan and Gluten-Free.
Got a bunch of bell peppers lying around? Use them to make Vegan Stuffed Peppers! This easy and crowd-pleasing dinner stuffs colorful bell peppers with a meaty lentil and rice filling before they’re topped with dairy-free cheese and baked to gooey perfection. Have them on the table in about 1 hour for a family dinner to remember!
Table of Contents
A Meaty, Cheesy, and Healthy Weeknight Dinner
There are thousands of recipes for stuffed peppers all over the internet, and for good reason. Who can resist a meaty filling stuffed and baked inside hollowed-out bell peppers? It’s exactly why this classic family-friendly meal inspired my Healthy Stuffed Pepper Soup and my Vegan Stuffed Pepper Casserole recipes.
Typically, stuffed peppers recipes are made with a seasoned rice and ground beef mixture but my Vegan Stuffed Peppers Recipe is all about plant goodness. I seasoned cooked lentils and rice with everyday seasonings and sautéed aromatics to make the easy filling. After stuffing it into halved bell peppers and topping each one with vegan cheese, the peppers are baked until they’re steaming hot and super tender.
These stuffed peppers are perfect because (1) the healthy-ish filling is packed with flavor and totally irresistible, especially when paired with the roasted peppers, and (2) by par-cooking the bell peppers before stuffing them, they come out of the oven with the most soft and tender texture.
Ingredients for Vegan Stuffed Bell Peppers
This winning dinner recipe is easy to make with a handful of budget-friendly ingredients:
- Aromatics: sautéed onion, mushrooms, garlic, and tomato paste are responsible for the restaurant-quality flavors in the filling.
- Simple Seasonings: the filling is seasoned with a blend of ground cumin, Italian seasoning, and nutritional yeast. If a classic Southwestern flavor is what you’re after, you can replace the Italian seasoning blend with an equal amount of chili powder or smoked paprika.
- Lentils: cooked green or brown lentils are the main source of plant protein in the filling. Red lentils should work just as well here but will take less time to cook and be much softer.
- Rice: I used white rice but brown rice or even quinoa will bulk up the filling perfectly.
- Bell Peppers: obviously, you need a few bell peppers for this stuffed peppers recipe. Use a trio of different colors, like red peppers, orange peppers, and yellow peppers, for a fun and colorful presentation!
- Vegan Cheese: a gooey layer of melted vegan mozzarella cheese is like the cherry on top of this stuffed pepper recipe.
How to Make Vegan Stuffed Peppers
- Warm the oil in a large pan over medium heat, then add the onion and sauté until it’s starting to brown. Next, add the mushrooms and tomato paste and continue to cook. Add the garlic, cumin, Italian seasoning, and nutritional yeast, and sauté until fragrant.
- Add the tomatoes, lentils, rice, broth, and salt to the pan and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover with a lid, and simmer until the lentils are tender.
- Meanwhile, cut the peppers in half lengthwise and remove their cores and seeds. Place them skin-side-down in a baking dish with a thin layer of water on the bottom. Season the peppers with oil, salt, and pepper, then roast for 20 minutes.
- Take the peppers out of the oven and stuff them with the rice and lentil filling. Top each one with cheese.
- Bake the stuffed peppers again until the cheese is melted. Once done, serve them on plates and garnish with parsley.
Caitlin’s Cooking Tips
- Don’t skip the water in the baking dish: Par-cooking the bell peppers in a baking dish with a thin layer of water on the bottom helps the peppers almost cook through and prevents them from sticking to the bottom. If you skip this step, the peppers may cook unevenly or won’t soften as nicely.
- Make the filling ahead: If you’d like to get a headstart on these stuffed peppers, make the filling 1 or 2 days ahead of time and store it in a sealed container in the fridge. It’s a great way to save time for family dinners or meal prep!
Serving Suggestions
These stuffed peppers can be served as a satisfying weeknight dinner paired with simple side dishes. They’re delicious with these Garlic Green Beans, this Everyday Kale Salad, these Dijon Garlic Roasted Potatoes, and a bowl of this Roasted Tomato Soup. And for extra special meals, make a batch of my Pesto Star Bread to serve on the side.
If you’re looking for more vegan stuffed pepper recipes, you’ll also love these Kale & Quinoa Stuffed Peppers and these Curried Lentil Stuffed Peppers!
How to Store Leftover Stuffed Peppers
The leftover stuffed peppers will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator and up to 2 months in the freezer. Remember to let them cool completely before transferring them to an airtight container or freezer-safe bag.
To reheat, place the peppers in a baking dish and warm them in a 350ºF oven for 15 minutes (or a little longer if frozen) or until heated through. You can also reheat them in the microwave for about 1 to 2 minutes.
Substitutions and Variations
- Oil-Free: Omit the oil and sauté the vegetables with water or vegetable broth instead. Add more liquid to the pan as needed if the filling looks dry at any point.
- Dry Lentil Substitute: Make this with 1 to 1 1/4 cups of pre-cooked or canned lentils instead of dry lentils. Add the lentils to the pan in step 3 of the recipe and reduce the vegetable broth to only 3/4 cup.
- Lentil Substitute: Or, if you don’t want to use lentils, substitute them with an equal amount of canned white beans, black beans, or store-bought vegan beef instead. Sauté the “beef” in the pan with the onions and mushrooms until it’s browned and simmer the filling for about 15 minutes or until the rice is tender.
- Topping Ideas: Feel free to top the roasted peppers with basil leaves, a drizzle of vegan pesto, diced avocado, a dollop of vegan sour cream, or a sprinkle of vegan parmesan cheese.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! Par-cooking the peppers in the oven for 20 minutes helps them soften so the final bake time can be as speedy as possible.
This can happen when you roast the peppers for too long or if there is too much water in the baking dish.
Yes, you can make this with day-old cooked rice or quinoa instead. Add it to the filling after the lentils are cooked.
Yes, the filling in this stuffed peppers recipe is inherently gluten-free.
Enjoy! If you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I would also love it if you could leave a comment below with a recipe rating! Thank you for the support 😊
Vegan Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for brushing
- 1/2 yellow onion fine dice
- 4 ounces mushrooms fine dice
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 to 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning blend
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast optional
- 1 15 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup dry lentils sorted and rinsed
- 1/2 cup white rice rinsed or sub quinoa
- 1 1/4 cup ml low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 bell peppers cut in half lengthwise and cored
- 1/2 cup vegan mozzarella cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 400F and set a 9×13” baking dish aside.
- Filling: Warm the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 3 minutes, until translucent and beginning to brown. Add mushrooms and tomato paste and sauté for an additional 3 to 5 minutes. Finally, add the garlic, cumin, Italian seasoning, and nutritional yeast (if using). Sauté for 1 to 2 more minutes, until fragrant.
- Simmer: Add the tomatoes, lentils, rice, broth, and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low; cover and simmer for 28 to 30 minutes, until the lentils are tender.
- Roast the Peppers: In the meantime, cut the peppers in half lengthwise and remove their cores and seeds. Add 1/2 cup of water to the baking dish so there is a thin layer of water across the bottom. Arrange the pepper halves skin-side-down in the baking dish; brush or spray with oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast peppers in the middle rack of the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.
- Stuff: Remove the peppers from the oven; if any of the peppers have liquid in their centers I like to dump it out. Generously stuff each pepper with the cooked lentil and rice filling, creating a mound on the top of each pepper half. Sprinkle the peppers with cheese.
- Final Bake: Return the baking dish to the top rack of the oven and bake for 10 more minutes. If the cheese is still not melted, you can broil the peppers for 1-2 additional minutes until they reach your desired doneness.
- Serve & Store: Sprinkle the peppers with chopped parsley, then serve warm. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or you can freeze these vegan stuffed peppers for up to 2 months.
Recipe Notes
- Gluten-Free: This recipe is gluten-free as written!
- Oil-Free: Omit the oil and sauté the vegetables in step 2 with water or vegetable broth.
- Cooked Lentils: You can also make this recipe with pre-cooked or canned lentils. Add 1-1 1/4 cups of cooked lentils to the sauté pan along with the other ingredients in step 3. Reduce the vegetable broth to only 3/4 cup.
This was amazing!
Happy to hear that, Olivia!
So delicious! 😍
So glad!
Made this with Beyond Beef instead of lentils as the protein source, was super good!
I’m so glad, Sydney!
Unfassbar lecker! 😍
I wounder how this would come out in the sirfryer!?crispy on top i guess …..love stuffed bellpeppers and zuchini and eggplant! Thank you for all great recepies!🥰
Hi Malin! I think you could easily make this recipe in the airfryer, but I’m not sure all 6 pepper halves would fit in at once. The air fryer crisps food up a little faster at the same temp, so I’d recommend reducing the temp to 390 and start to check for doneness after the 15 minute mark