Charred Stuffed Bell Peppers
Need a high protein dinner that serves as a meal prep too? Or do you need a dish that will seriously impress your in-laws? These charred stuffed bell peppers are your sign that you need not go any further. I love this recipe because it incorporates so many different aspects of cooking like steaming grains, roasting veggies, and grilling peppers over an open flame. Recipes like this will help you become a better home cook, and will help refine your skills when it comes to timing and cooking. Not only will this dish be great for your cooking experience, but it will be a blast for your tastebuds and your belly also.
The best part about these? They are they are filled with an array of veggies from the salsa to the stuffing mixture, and they are packed with heart promoting spices like cumin, coriander, and paprika. Plus, this dish has lots of healthy, clean plant protein from the quinoa, black beans, and my new fav: Goodside Foods Meatless Crumbles. These meatless crumbles are gluten free, vegan and made from fermented shiitake mushrooms and peas, which is unlike many vegan meat alternatives which are usually a gluten seitan base made from wheat. I don’t know about you, but these are a winner in my book!
These stuffed bell peppers are:
vegan
dairy free
gluten free
oil free
great for dinner or meal prep
packed with clean plant based protein
Want to show off your skills?? Make this recipe and tag me over on IG @ chef_bai & I’ll repost your beautiful creation of charred stuffed bell peppers on my story!
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Makes 6 stuffed peppers:
The Goods:
For the quinoa:
1 cup quinoa
1 3/4 cup veggie broth
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/4 tsp salt
For the salsa:
1 green bell pepper, sliced and seeds removed
1 poblano pepper, sliced and seeds removed
6 tomatillos, skins removed and quartered
1 ancho chili pepper, sliced and seeds removed
1 medium yellow onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tsp salt
1 lime
1 cup cilantro
1 1/4 cup water
For the inside filling:
1 cup Goodside Foods meatless crumbles + 1/2 cup broth or water to activate
1 can black beans
cooked quinoa from above
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup cashew cream
For the stuffed bell peppers:
3 yellow, red, or orange bell peppers, roasted whole over the open flame for 3-4 minutes
cashew cream drizzle (made ahead of time, click here for the recipe)
cilantro leaves as garnish
The Method:
First, get your quinoa cooking. Grab a small sauce pan with a lid and toss in all your quinoa ingredients inside, and bring to a rolling boil. Once it’s boiling, cover with a lid, reduce heat to a low simmer, and cook for 16-18 minutes. When the timer goes off, turn off the heat and keep the lid on to allow the grains to finish steaming/cooking afterwards for about 10 minutes. (Tip: While the quinoa is cooking, never open the lid to peek inside, this allows the steam to release and will cause the grains to cook irregularly. Patience is your friend.)
Preheat your oven to 425. Now is the time to start roasting the veggies for the salsa verde. On a large baking sheet, add your green bell pepper, poblano, tomatillos, ancho chili pepper, onion, and garlic cloves. Sprinkle salt over all the veggies and then bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes, or until your veggies are fork tender. When they are done, remove from heat and set aside.
Next, take a small large mixing bowl and add your meatless crumbles and 1/2 cup water to activate the vegan meat. Set aside and let this sit for 10-15 minutes.
As your quinoa is cooking, the veggies are roasting, and meatless crumbles are activating, it’s time to lightly roast your three whole colorful bell peppers over an open flame. Turn on your stovetop burner on medium high, and with tongs place all three bell peppers on the closest edge near the center of the burner. Roasting peppers on an open flame is an authentic Mexican tradition, and take time to perfect. The key is to allow the peppers burn on one side from the flame for about 30 seconds, then to slowly rotate them around as they char. This should take about 3-4 minutes until you have a nice char around most of the edges of the bell peppers. (Tip: don’t over roast the bell peppers, this isn’t like Chili Rellenos where you roast the peppers until the skins fall off, instead you want the skin to be charred, but not fork tender.) When they are lightly roasted, set them aside.
When your quinoa has finished cooking and steaming for 10 minutes after removed from the heat, open the lid and fluffy the quinoa with a fork. Take all the fluffed quinoa and add it to your large bowl of your activated meals crumbles, along with the can of black beans. Sprinkle your spices of coriander, cumin, garlic, salt, paprika, and black pepper, and cashew cream over the top, then mix with a spatula. Taste for salt and add extra cashew cream if you want a thicker consistency.
Now it’s time to make the salsa verde. In a large high powered blender, add all your roasted veggies from the baking sheet pan, along with the juice of one lime, cilantro, water, and blend on high until you have a smooth consistency. You may need to add a little extra water to thin out the salsa if it’s too thick.
If your oven is still on, lower the heat to 400. Otherwise preheat oven to 400.
To build these stuffed peppers, grab a large cast iron pan or baking dish and pour in a few small splashes of salsa verde to coat the bottom of the pan. Use your hands to smooth out the bottom layer of salsa, because this step will help the bell peppers from sticking.
Take your lightly roasted bell peppers and slice them in half lengthwise. You’ll have 6 halves. Remove the seeds, but the stem is okay to leave on. Take 2-3 hefty spoonfuls of your meatless crumbles mixture and add it into each half of bell pepper. Don’t be shy to overly fill these! One by one, place each stuffed pepper evenly spaced out into the pan or cast iron.
Pour the rest of your salsa verde from the blender and smother it all over the peppers. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until everything is bubbling and hot! Garnish everything with a hefty drizzle of cashew cream and cilantro leaves.
Let them cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serve while still warm. These are pretty filling, so I suggest you start with one and go from there. Enjoy!
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