This Old Fashioned Stuffed Pepper dish is sure to transport you back in time. A nod to the original recipe; it is truly delicious, and a fabulous Whole Food Plant Based recipe. Oil free, sugar free, no highly processed ingredients, and gluten free.
Hi! Robin here.
When Chris was in kindergarten, his teacher, Mrs. C, gave his entire class a homework assignment, which was really an assignment for all the parents. She went around the room and each child shared their favorite food with the class and Mrs. C wrote it all down, then she sent the list home with the children to give to their parents, along with a homework assignment. Each parent had to write up their child’s favorite food recipe on a recipe index card and return it by the following Monday.
Christopher’s Favorite Food
I was looking down through the list of food favorites, smiling, noting Pizza Hut pizza, ice cream sundaes, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, macaroni & cheese, hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries, and then next to my son’s name, Christopher – Stuffed Peppers with Mashed Potatoes. I LOL’ed before LOLing was even invented. HAH!
While most parents got off pretty darn easy, I mean how do you write up a recipe for a franchise pizza? You can’t! You just order it and pick it up. I didn’t mind writing up the recipe at all, I found it quite hilarious because of Chris’s selection.
Cherished Memory Book
Chris went to school that Monday with my Stuffed Pepper recipe on the index card. A month later, all the recipes were photocopied and stapled-bound into a mini cookbook that the kids gave their moms for Christmas. It was so sweet; I loved it – a beautiful memory book.
At the next parent-teacher conference, I remember talking to Mrs. C about the recipe project. She shared with me that she enjoyed my stuffed pepper recipe herself, and that she got a huge kick out of my son’s favorite food as it was so unusual for a kindergartner to love stuffed peppers.
Christopher’s favorite recipe was turned into a fabulous Whole Food Plant Based recipe with a few changes. I swapped out the meat for lentils and made a few other tiny adjustments (leaving out the oil and butter), but honestly, it is pretty much the same recipe that I have been making for over 40 years!
Ameera here!
We all love Mom’s Stuffed Peppers and Mashed Potatoes; it was a staple in our home growing up. When she shared with me that she planned to WFPB it, I got super excited. She made it while I was working on editing some photos. After they were done cooking, she called me into the kitchen to take a look.
Oh my goodness, they looked soooo wonderful, just like the originals, minus the beef and other ingredients like oil, etc.
When we finally sat down to eat them, I was in heaven because we haven’t had stuffed peppers in forever, since we went WFPB. Stuffed peppers are comfort food times ten.
We like to serve our Stuffed Peppers with our Simple Mashed Potatoes, and then use the sauce that the peppers cook in as a tomato “gravy.” I think we like the tomato gravy a little too much – LOL. We typically double the tomato sauce mixture aka tomato gravy so we have extra. That way no one gets short changed on their mashed potatoes.
Products used:
- Large stock pot for blanching the green bell peppers
- Ceramic lined/enameled Dutch oven, deep skillet, or other large kitchen stock pot.
- Food Processor (to puree the petite diced tomatoes)
- Large or deep baking dish
Old Fashioned Stuffed Peppers
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 6 Stuffed Peppers 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Old Fashioned Stuffed Pepper dish is sure to transport you back in time. A nod to the original recipe, it is truly delicious. A fabulous Whole Food Plant Based recipe. Oil free, sugar free, no highly processed ingredients, and gluten free.
Ingredients
Sauce Ingredients:
- ¾ cup green bell peppers, fine mince (from the tops of 6 green bell peppers)
- 1 large onion, finely minced
- 1 large celery rib, finely minced
- 2 – [ 14.5 oz. cans ] petite diced tomatoes, pureed
- 1 – [ 8 oz. can ] tomato sauce
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper (+/-)
Filling Ingredients:
- 6 large green bell peppers, tops removed – par-boiled
- 4 cups cooked rice (rice of choice) *
- 4 cups cooked brown lentils *
- 2 teaspoons sea salt (+/-) *
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 cups of sauce – cooked (from above)
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Cook rice, set aside.
- Cook lentils, set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Bring to boil a large stock pot filled with water.
- Remove the tops of 6 green bell peppers. Place the tops aside (finely dice to use later). Clean the inside of the bell peppers carefully removing the seeds and interior pepper linings (white pith). Once all the green peppers have been cleaned, place them in boiling water for 7 minutes until slightly softened. Carefully remove the bell peppers from the water to stop the cooking process. Set aside to cool.
- In a large enamel/ceramic-lined skillet, Dutch oven or similar stock pot, add the finely minced onions, celery, and green bell peppers (from the pepper tops), sauté until softened, approx. 4 to 6 minutes.
- Add the pureed petite diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, basil, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, then immediately lower to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes over medium-low heat.
- In a large bowl, add the cooked rice, cooked lentils, 3 cups of the cooked sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt and pepper. Mix until well combined.
- In a deep oven-safe baking dish, add a couple tablespoons of the sauce to the bottom, then place the 6 par-boiled green pepper cups into the dish standing up.
- Fill each of the green pepper cups with the filling mixture, press down gently to pack it in. Fill each pepper to the very top; then continue to pile more of the filling mixture on top to create a gently rounded mixture on the top on each pepper.
- Once all the peppers are filled, then spoon the sauce mixture over top of each pepper and also in between. Pour the remaining sauce over the peppers and between the peppers. The sauce should come up the sides of the peppers.
- Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes.
- Remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
- Makes 6 large stuffed peppers.
Notes
*Lentils: You can use cooked or canned brown lentils, both work great!
*Cooked Rice: You can use freshly made and cooked rice or leftover refrigerated rice, both work great!
*Sauce: If you enjoy a lot of sauce, then double the sauce recipe ingredients. Use 7 green bell peppers. Use 6 bell peppers as the cup mixture holders, and then chop the 7th green bell pepper for the sauce along with the 6 tops. Also, you may wish to use a larger or deeper baking dish if you choose to make extra sauce. We love to make extra sauce and spoon it over our Simple Mashed Potatoes.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
*Storage: Refrigerate leftovers, use within 5 days. Freezes well.
Storage: Cool to warm, place in glass/plastic storage and refrigerate. Freezes well.
These stuffed peppers were really good. Thanks
Hi there Just Mic 🙂
Yaaaay! We are so thrilled that you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback!
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
If I waned to sub red pepper based sauce/paste for the tomato, how can I do this. I don’t cook and this will be a first attempt so as much detail would really be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi there Taleen 🙂
Thank you so much for reaching out to us! We have not substituted red pepper for the tomato base and not sure how it will turn out. You could try roasted red peppers, and puree them. However, we are not sure if that would be enough liquid or how the flavor will turn out. This would be something you’d have to play around with and adjust to fit your own personal taste and preferences. If you give it a try, we’d love to hear how it turns out, thank you so much.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
I am soooo making this!! When I was a kid my dad would make extra filling and bake it in a casserole dish for us kids (8 of us) that didn’t like peppers. Not a problem for me now that I’m a grown up 🙂 lol Thanks!!
Hi there Jane 🙂
Woo hoo! We are so glad you’ll be giving this dish a try! We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
Another recipe we enjoyed. My husband said “these are VERY good”…(emphasizing the word very)…he ate 2 peppers and I ate 1 (they are very filling)…asked if he’d be ok with the other 3 peppers for leftovers tomorrow night, and he said yes! I plan to make your yummy Simple Mashed Potatoes recipe to serve with the stuffed peppers tomorrow night.
Hi there Marlo 🙂
Awesome!!! We are so glad that you and your husband enjoyed these stuffed peppers! We hope you enjoy our Simple Mashed Potatoes as well! We are so thankful for your continued support! We appreciate you sharing your wonderful feedback with us – truly a joy for us to read! *hugs*
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
These were fab!!! Used half brown rice half basmati rice. Half brown and half black lentils and a bit less salt. Terrific recipe, so healthy and filling. Tasty too!! Did 6 red and 6 green peppers with doubling the recipe. Thanks for this one!!
Hi there Suzi 🙂
Yaaaayyy! We are so thrilled that you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome review with us. We appreciate you taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
So Delicious!! Great recipe to make in stages (one day cook the rice, lentils and sauce then the next day assemble).
Another recipe to add to my favourites!
Hi there Sandra 🙂
Awesome!!! We are so happy that you enjoyed this recipe and are adding it to your favorites list. We appreciate you sharing your wonderful review. Thank you so much for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
Delicious! Before I cook for others (I’m a WFPB personal chef), I always try new recipes first. I have to really love it or I won’t make it for anyone else. A new client told me one of her favorite dishes is stuffed peppers. I had a handful of recipes & while deciding which one to make, I chose this one & SO glad I did! I have liked stuffed peppers in the past, but not enough to put them in any kind of rotation. In fact I think it’s been over 2 years since I last made them. THIS… Read more »
Hi there Laura,
TOTALLY made our day! Thank you so much for having faith in us to try out this recipe! We are thrilled that you enjoyed it! We appreciate you taking time to leave us an awesome review! We sincerely appreciate it!
-Ameera and Robin
I,ve made these peppers for my family and everyone of us enjoyed them. They are a mix of tradition and “exotic” flavour. We have peppers from our own garden so these recipe is absolutely amazing if you want to enjoy the pure taste of vegetables.
Thank you for this healthy and tasty recipe!!!
Hi there Natalia,
YAYYYY!!! We are thrilled that you enjoyed these stuffed peppers. We appreciate you taking time to leave us an awesome review of this recipe. Thank YOU!
-Ameera and Robin