Easy Plant Based Stuffed Bell Peppers
All you need is a bell pepper, quinoa, black bean burger (or just black beans), onion, garlic, plant based provolone cheese and sea salt!
Ingredients
Main Dish
- 4 Large Bell Peppers
- 1 cup Dry Quinoa
- 1 package Gardein Black Bean Burger Patties May sub with black beans with 1 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1/2 Onion (diced) Sub 1 tbsp onion powder
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 8 slices Follow Your Heart Provolone Cheese
- 1 tsp Sea salt
- 1 tbsp Avocado Oil May sub olive, safflower, etc.
- 1/4 cup Tofutti Sour Cream OPTIONAL
Side Dish
- 4 cup Spinach
- 1 tsp Sea salt
- 1 tsp Garlic powder or real garlic
- 1 tbsp Earth Balance Butter
- 1 tbsp Water
Optional Salsa
- 1/4 cup Cilantro
- 1/4 cup Onion
- 1 whole Tomato
- 1 whole Jalapeno
Instructions
Main Dish
- Place quinoa into 2 cups of water and let boil on medium high heat (at 7/8 on the stove) for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes cover on low heat and let the quinoa steam for 6 minutes. Dice the onion and garlic, do not add to the mixture at this time.
- While the quinoa is cooking cut the bell peppers in half. Remove stem, white center, and seeds. Place 1 tbsp avocado oil or nonstick spray in a pan on medium heat (level 5). Place bell peppers in the pan. Cook on one side for 1 minute then flip and cook for another minute. Cover the pan for 3 minutes. Then flip and cover for 3 minutes. Then turn off and leave covered.
- Take quinoa off the heat. Add diced onion, diced garlic and sea salt. Mix together well. Cover and let the mixture sit.
- Place 4 gardein black bean corn patties into a nonstick pan. (Or use nonstick spray or 1 tbsp oil to prevent sticking) Let the patties cook on each side for about 3 minutes until no longer frozen.
- Use the spatula to start breaking the patties into small pieces. As you would do with ground beef. Turn off the heat and let sit.
- Uncover the bell peppers and fill the bell peppers halfway with the quinoa mixture. Then fill the other half with the bean mixture.
- Cover each filled bell pepper with the provolone cheese.
- Place in the oven and broil for 5-6 minutes. (If slightly charred black or brown that is okay)
- Optional: Place sour cream and salsa on top of the bell pepper and serve with Spinach.
Side Dish
- Add spinach to the pan that was used for the bell peppers. Increase temperature to medium heat.
- Add 1tsp salt, garlic to taste, 1 tbsp water.
- As it cooks on medium heat for 30 seconds flip, then wait another 30 seconds and flip. Repeat until leaves are withered.
- Add 1 tbsp butter. Flip spinach in the butter until dissolved.
- Remove from heat and serve.
Optional Salsa
- Add cilantro, onion, tomato and jalapeno to the blender. Then serve. Feel free to dice all ingredients and mix for a pico de gallo rather than a blended salsa.
Notes
Substitutions:
Feel free to substitute brown rice, or potatoes for the quinoa.
If you want to substitute black beans consider adding taco seasoning to black beans for a similar flavor.
Two halves of the stuffed bell peppers are about 440 calories, therefore 1 half is about 220 calories. Calories include optional salsa and plant based sour cream.