Here’s a meatless, healthy dinner recipe for you: Quinoa Stuffed Peppers.
There are so many reasons to love today’s post. It’s Monday, and everyone is happy on Monday, right? Monday is known as “meatless Monday,” which is a nice stray away from your family’s usual meat-focused dinner, so I’ve got some beautiful quinoa stuffed peppers for you. And we’re celebrating the Skinnytaste Cookbook by my sweet and talented friend Gina Homolka.
This recipe comes from The Skinnytaste Cookbook by Gina Homolka, a New York Times best selling author.
Gina is so super talented at making skinny versions of delicious recipes. The book is very well written, and it’s filled with all kinds of “skinny” recipes you’re going to want to try.
I’m excited to try the following: Coconut Chicken Salad with Warm Honey-Mustard Vinaigrette, Pear and Brie Grilled Cheese, Baked Zucchini Sticks, Chicken Pot Pie Soup, Guiltless Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Mongolian Beef and Broccoli, Kiss My Shrimp and Grits, Vegetable Fried Brown Rice, Quinoa Tabbouleh and Silky Chocolate Cream Pie. There are so many good ideas in this book! All recipes contain nutritional information too!
These quinoa stuffed peppers are stuffed with a tomato-based, cheesy quinoa filling. They’re a delicious and filling main dish, and you can feel good that you’re not eating too much for dinner. My husband and I loved them. My kiddo happily ate the filling, but he pushed away the peppers. (Ignore him though… he’s a picky and opinionated 13-year old who is set in his ways, for the time being!)
Give these quinoa stuffed peppers a try for a meatless family dinner! And be sure to check out The Skinnytaste Cookbook. I think you’ll be very happy to have it in your collection!
If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you’ll find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.
Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
FILLING:
- ½ cup quinoa, rinsed thoroughly
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 medium garlic cloves, chopped
- ¾ cup canned crushed tomatoes
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- ½ cup chopped baby spinach
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- ¼ cup (1-ounce) shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese
PEPPERS:
- 2 large bell peppers (I used yellow and red)
- 4 tablespoons canned crushed tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- ¼ cup (1 ounce) shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese
- ⅓ cup vegetable broth
Instructions
MAKE THE FILLING:
- Place rinsed quinoa in a medium saucepan. Add the broth and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until the liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
- Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil and garlic and cook, stirring, until golden, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper to taste, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes to develop the flavors. Remove the pan from heat, add the cooked quinoa, Romano, spinach, basil and mozzarella.
STUFF THE PEPPERS AND BAKE:
- Preheat the oven to 350℉.
- Halve the peppers lengthwise and remove the core and seeds.
- Place the peppers cut-side-up in a baking dish. Fill each pepper with ½ cup of the filling. Top each with 1 tablespoon crushed tomatoes, ½ teaspoon Romano and 1 tablespoon mozzarella. Pour the broth into the bottom of the dish. Cover tightly with foil.
- Bake until the peppers are soft, about 50 minutes. Remove them from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
- If you are sharing this recipe as GLUTEN-FREE, just be sure to use brands of vegetable broth and tomatoes that are known to be GF.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is a really good recipe — nice flavors and you can tweak to make it suit your tastes (or what’s in you pantry!). I’m a vegetarian and I live with meat eaters. This one is nice because I can add ground beef to their peppers.
I bought this cookbook a couple of months ago, and this was the first recipe I tried. We have made it 3 or 4 times since. SO good. I will say that you end up with extra filling – so I’d suggest buying one extra pepper. There are only 2 of us, so I save the filling and just fill 2 new pepper halves the next night and bake it all again. I have lots of post-it flags on other pages in the book – I look forward to trying more of the recipes – if they are all as good as this one, I’ll be thrilled !
I agree, Gina’s book is great!
Love the idea of using quinoa in stuffed peppers; that was brilliant. And thanks for the shout-out for my stuffed peppers recipe.
Lori, thanks for the awesome review!!!! BIG HUGS!!!! So glad you and your husband liked the peppers, and I know what you mean about picky kids, I have them too : )