These Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers are made low carb by swapping regular rice for cauliflower rice! They’re so flavorful and delicious that no one will ever know!
Last week I posted all about how to make Cauliflower Rice, and this week we’re going to put it to use! Although, they are baked in the oven, I feel like these Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers are perfect for summer because they’re packed with fresh flavors and you can really throw anything into them!
I wasn’t kidding when I said that now that we’ve started eating cauliflower rice around here, I can’t remember the last time I’ve eaten regular rice. I do enjoy rice, but it can be kind of heavy and filling and I love that cauliflower rice adds the same texture but is much lighter.
How To Make Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers Recipe
Stuffed peppers are really easy to make! You just mix up a tasty filling, stuff it into some hollowed out peppers and then bake them in the oven until heated through. I do have a few tips to share on how to make the very best vegetarian stuffed peppers!
- Picking the right bell peppers: you can use any color of bell peppers you like. Green peppers are a little more bitter and the red, yellow and orange are sweeter. I chose to use the sweeter ones for this recipe because I thought they would be good for summer flavors.
- Do you need to cook the peppers first? This is really up to you. I’ve made stuffed peppers both ways and I think I prefer them if I blanche them for 30 seconds – 1 minute before stuffing them. If you boil them in some hot water (blanche) first they will be a little more tender and not so crunchy when you eat them. These are vegetarian stuffed peppers so you don’t need to bake them for a really long time because all the ingredients are already cooked so they might be a little tough if you don’t boil them first. It’s totally up to you though!
- Can I leave out the cheese? Yes! I don’t use a ton of cheese in my recipes but added it in because I thought it would be a nice binder for the filling since we’re using cauliflower rice instead of regular rice. If you like, you can leave it out altogether or substitute a vegan cheese of your choice.
One thing that I really love about vegetarian stuffed peppers is that your serving dish is edible! But, if you don’t like bell peppers you could always stuff the filling into a tomato or zucchini. Cooking time might change a little bit but probably not by much. And, if you don’t feel like stuffing anything you could just eat it in a bowl with a few chips on the side! The stuffing is so good and can be used for many different things 🙂
Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers For Meal Prep
These stuffed peppers can be used for meal prep! My husband actually took the leftovers for lunch all week and said he really enjoyed them. I would just recommend storing in an airtight container and re-heating before eating. I probably wouldn’t want to keep them for longer than 4 days.
These stuffed peppers are also great because you can make the filling ahead of time and then just stuff the peppers and bake them off before you’re ready to eat. These days I love any meal that has a component that can be made ahead of time. These are also kid friendly! My kid wouldn’t eat the actual bell pepper but he did really enjoying the filling and I’ll take what I can get 🙂
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Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers with Cauliflower Rice
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Description
These Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers with Cauliflower Rice are a great low carb dinner option!
Ingredients
- 3 cups riced cauliflower
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 6–8 bell peppers, any color you like
- 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 medium sized tomatoes, diced
- 1 1/4 cup grated cheese, divided
- 1/4 cup diced onion
- 1/2 cup enchilada sauce, or salsa
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the top off of each pepper and scoop out all the seeds and white membrane. If you prefer a softer pepper: bring a large pot of water to a boil and place peppers in for about 1 minute. Remove from water and place in a baking dish.
- Heat a large skillet and add olive oil and riced cauliflower. Sautee until cauliflower is tender, about 7 minutes.
- Add the cauliflower rice and all the remaining ingredients (except for 1/4 cup cheese) to a large bowl and mix until combined. Pack each pepper with the filling, how much filling will depend on the size of your pepper. Top with a little sprinkle of cheese. Pour about 1/3 cup of water in the bottom of the baking dish and bake peppers until mixture is heated through and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Dinner, Vegetarian
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Can I please have the nutrition details for this? I’ve made it before & lived it but im tracking my meals now & would love to have the details.
Wow im sorry! I skimmed right past the nutrition. Loved your recipe!
Looks good – can you freeze these uncooked and cook at a later date?
I would freeze uncooked
Delicious and easy! I didn’t have salsa so l substituted homemade pizza sauce. Yummy! And thank you for including the nutritional information. That’s important because l track everything l eat.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Very good. I’m making these again.
So glad to hear!
Just made these and added Gardein beefless ground and they were sooo good! Definitely prefer the blanched pepper version as well.
So glad you liked them!!
These two comments were must useful: pick the right bell pepper, yellow, orange, and red being sweeter and blanch the peppers for 30 seconds – 1 minute before stuffing them. Both suggestions made a huge difference in my meal. Thank you!
I will be trying this recipe soon.cos glad I found your website.
Thanks! I hope you enjoy!
I’d like to make this lower carb. Can you provide the nutritional information without the black beans, please?
Looking at a can of black beans and some math tells me the carbs lower to 4.6g per serving and protein to 5g.
Just skip the beans…I don’t see how it could be anymore low carb since thats’s the only carb….lol
You could use black soy beans which are low carb.
Loved this made a few adjustments for myself but it was so lovely nom nom nom
Yah!!
This is a super easy recipe to adjust based on what you have on hand. I used 2 bags of Steamfresh Cauliflower Rice, 1 can of diced tomatoes with green chiles, and added 1 cup of leftover taco meat. No fresh tomato, enchilada sauce or salsa. Turned out great, everyone enjoyed it.
So glad to hear it!!
I made this for my fiancé yesterday after recently discovering your amazing website! We have both turned to the vegie side of life over the last few months and your website is fantastic for dinner and meal prep ideas. You make everything really easy and simple; we are loving the recipes as I have made a few items from here this week already and I’m already a huge fan! Thank you 🙂
Thank you for such a nice comment!! <3
Once these are cooked, can you freeze them?
I would suggest maybe just freezing the filling and then stuffing it into fresh peppers just before baking. I’m thinking the peppers might get a strange texture if you freeze them.
Do you cover the peppers when you back them?
I don’t cover mine, they might cook a little faster if you want to cover them though!
I didnt cover mine n I also used brown rice n tortilla strips my husband eats them alone meaning without any sides they are a meal n they are delicious
Awesome!!
I will be making this for dinner tonight but I noticed that it has over 850 mg of sodium. Do you have any suggestions on how I can cut that down. I will be using “no salt” black beans even though it may not help any since you have to rinse them anyway. Thank you
Hi Patrice, I will double check the sodium calculation, there’s a chance it could be off because I don’t feel like there’s too much salt in the recipe.
Would it be possible to give us keto-vegetarians the nutritional breakdown?
I will work on getting that info posted in the next week or so!
What is the nutrition info for this recipe?
I will work on getting that info added asap!
Can you use frozen cauliflower rice
Yes! I’d just make sure to cook it long enough for all the liquid to evaporate since frozen cauliflower rice tends to have more liquid than fresh
Yummy!!! Made it for the first time today. Very easy had my granddaughter help make it too!!
Thanks for sharing this!!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it! And yah for your granddaughter helping!
Loved these! Even my carnivore husband thought they were tasty. Thanks for the recipe. I used vegetable stock to sauté instead of oil and used vegan Mexican grated cheese.\
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That is so great to hear!! And glad your husband enjoyed them too 🙂
What temperature did you use on your oven?
Sorry I left that out! Should be 400F 🙂