Vegetarian Italian Stuffed Peppers
These vegetarian Italian stuffed peppers are a hearty, delicious dinner ready in just over an hour. Filled with rice, beans, veggies, and melty cheese, they’re the perfect meatless meal for any day of the week!
Servings 8 servings
Calories 199kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion
- 8 ounces mushrooms, diced
- 3 large cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper,
- ¼ teaspoon Crushed red pepper (optional)
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 3 Tablespoons grated Romano cheese (or Parmesan cheese)
- 1 cup Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
- 14 ounces Great Northern beans drained and rinsed
- 8 ounces Tomato sauce
- 4 ounces water (fill empty sauce can half way to get out residual sauce)
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 1 cup roughly shopped fresh spinach.
- 4-5 bell peppers sliced in half down the middle and hollowed out
- 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat until shimmering.
- Add onion and cook for 3 minutes to soften, stirring often.
- Add mushrooms and and saute for 3 minutes, stirring often.
- Add garlic and saute for another minute until fragrant.
- Combine salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper (if using), Italian seasoning, Romano cheese, tomatoes, beans, tomato sauce and water. Cook for 5-7 minutes until well combined, stirring periodically.
- Stir in rice and spinach and cook for 2 minutes until spinach is wilted and rice is heated through.
- Stuff the filling into the pepper halves, gently pressing in so they're nice and full (the peppers should be snug in the pan).
- Cover and bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove cover and sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese.
- Return to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes to melt the cheese. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- The number of peppers you’ll need depends on their size. Just make sure they fit snugly in your baking dish.
- Instead of cutting off the tops, slice them in half from stem to bottom. They’re easier to fill and even easier to eat this way.
- Don’t forget to scoop out the seeds and ribs inside each pepper so they’re ready for filling.
- Don’t skimp on the filling. When you spoon it in, press it down gently before adding more to really fill those peppers up.
- You can use leftover rice! This vegetarian stuffed peppers recipe is perfect if you’ve got some cooked rice sitting in the fridge.
- Got extra stuffing? Spread it on the bottom of the pan before placing the peppers inside.
- Ingredients to prep ahead- Dice the onions and mushrooms, cook the rice, and shred the cheese.
- Leftovers and storage- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven or microwave. You can also freeze the stuffed (but unbaked) peppers for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 199kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 17mg | Sodium: 711mg | Potassium: 597mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 2398IU | Vitamin C: 84mg | Calcium: 161mg | Iron: 2mg