TL/DR – Easy Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers. A super easy weeknight meal with legumes, rice, some veggies and cheese, of course. Takes about 45 minutes to make. –
Years ago I discovered this product: Tasty Bite Madras Lentils. My local Costco and Kroger store carry it. We don’t do a lot of pre-fabricated foods at our house, but sometimes it’s OK to use your resources, right? These Easy Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers take about 45 total minutes to make. Most of the time is spent in the oven with few actual prep minutes.
While it does use two store-bought products, this recipe incorporates fresh vegetables and is has a nice amount of plant protein and fiber.
Halve two bell peppers and discard the seeds, then coat them in olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. This softens them up a bit before the filling is added.
While they bake the first time, quickly sauté some diced zucchini, onions and garlic and then add the Ready Rice and the Madras Lentils to the skillet. Add the lentil-rice-zucchini filling to the peppers, sprinkle shredded cheese on top and bake for another 15 – 20 minutes. I like my peppers a little bit crunchy, so I stick with 15.
For something hearty and vegetarian with Asian flavors, try Kale White Bean Ramen.
Easy Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
This is a great weeknight go-to that is nutritious and hearty. Even picky eaters will like it.
Ingredients
- 2 bell peppers: red, yellow or orange
- 2 T extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1/2 t kosher salt
- 1/4t ground black pepper
- 1 small zucchini, diced small
- 1/2 small yellow onion, diced small
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 t salt
- 1/4 t pepper
- 1 packet Tasty Bite Madras Lentils
- 1 packet Uncle Ben's Ready Rice - Plain Brown Rice
- 1 c shredded cheddar cheese
Directions
- Step 1 Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Step 2 Halve peppers and clean out seeds. Coat in 1 T of olive oil, sprinkle with 1/2 t of kosher salt and 1/4 t pepper and place in a round pie dish. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Step 3 While peppers bake, sauté onion, garlic, zucchini, salt and pepper for 5 minutes in a large skillet.
- Step 4 Add the rice and lentils to the skillet and stir until combined.
- Step 5 After 15 minutes, remove the peppers from the oven and spoon the mixture evenly into each pepper.
- Step 6 Sprinkle each pepper with 1/4 c of the shredded cheese.
- Step 7 Place back in the oven and bake for 15 – 20 more minutes.
