These quinoa stuffed peppers are loaded with plant-based protein, lean ground turkey and flavorful seasonings! It’s a healthy and delicious way to eat more veggies that your family will love.
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Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers
I absolutely love when I find easy and healthy dinner ideas that my whole family will eat. Quinoa stuffed peppers are a favorite, as well as unstuffed pepper casserole and chicken stuffed peppers. We love them!
I have seen several recipes for stuffed bell peppers with cooked quinoa online and never found one I’ve liked. I finally came up with my own version and love how they turned out. The kids even ate these easy stuffed bell peppers…everyone loved them!
How to Make Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
- Cook filling. Saute onion until translucent, then add meat and cook until browned. Drain any excess grease. Add in beans, tomatoes, green chiles, water, quinoa, cumin, taco seasoning, and S&P. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until quinoa is done about 10-15 minutes.
- Stuff. Line the sliced pepper halves in the bottom of a 9×13″ baking dish. Then evenly spoon the filling into the peppers and top with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake. Cover pan with foil, then bake at 375°F for about 40 minutes, or until peppers are soft (but not mushy).
Favorite Toppings
- Sour cream
- Salsa
- Sliced avocado
- Sliced olives
- Cilantro
- Red or green onions
- Lime juice
- Hot sauce
- Cilantro lime dressing
Cooking Tips
- Make these quinoa stuffed peppers a vegetarian dish by omitting the meat. You still get plenty of protein and fiber from the quinoa and beans!
- Feel free to swap the ground turkey with ground beef or even chicken.
- Don’t drain the canned tomatoes or chiles. The liquid helps to cook the quinoa.
- You could swap the quinoa for rice if preferred.
- Don’t forget to cover the pan with foil! This helps steam the peppers so they’re nice and tender.
Frequently Asked Questions
These easy bell peppers take about 40 minutes to cook through. You want the peppers to soften, but not be too mushy. Depending on your oven, the timing could be a little more or a little less. I’d plan on keeping an eye on them after about 30 minutes.
Instead of slicing off the tops, I like to cut my bell peppers in half. Then I’ll stuff each half with the filling mixture. It’s more of an “open-faced” approach and in my opinion, is easier to eat this way. Just make sure to remove the stem, seeds and ribs before stuffing.
These peppers will keep in the refrigerator for about 3 days. Make sure to store in an airtight container (preferably shallow). To reheat, I like to warm mine back up in the oven for about 5-10 minutes.
Pre-cooking or boiling the peppers before stuffing will make them more soft and tender. If you don’t have time, you can stuff them before precooking.
More Healthy Dinner Ideas
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Quinoa Stuffed Peppers Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 4 bell peppers , halved length wise, ribs removed
- ½ Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion
- ½ pound ground turkey (or ground beef)
- 1 (14-ounce) can black beans , drained and rinsed
- 1 (14-ounce) can fire roasted tomatoes , with liquids (plain is fine too)
- 1 (7-ounce) can diced green chiles , with liquids
- ¾ cup water
- ½ cup quinoa
- ½ Tablespoon cumin
- 1 Tablespoon taco seasoning
- Salt , to taste
- Ground black pepper , to taste
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
For serving: Sour cream or Salsa
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place pepper halves in a 9×13-inch baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes.
- In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook 3 minutes, or until translucent. Stir in meat and cook until browned. Drain any excess grease.
- Stir in black beans, tomatoes, green chiles, water, quinoa, cumin, and taco seasoning. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 to 15 minutes, or until quinoa is cooked.
- Spoon in filling and top with cheese. Cover pan with foil and cook 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and peppers are wilting.
- Remove from oven and serve with sour cream or salsa, if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
- Make it a vegetarian dish by omitting the meat. You still get plenty of protein and fiber from the quinoa and beans!
- Feel free to swap the ground turkey with ground beef or even chicken.
- You could swap the quinoa for rice if preferred.
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: Beef, Cinco De Mayo, Dinner, Mexican
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
I’m gonna make these, and leave the peppers whole and cut a little pumpkin face in each pepper
Great idea! I do something similar with making “pumpkin peppers” here: https://www.iheartnaptime.net/chicken-stuffed-peppers/ :)
Oh yummy!. these delicious looking bell peppers made me drool. Loved the recipe
Thanks! Hope you enjoy! :)
Wow! It’s literally tacos in a bell pepper! What a yummy, easy weeknight meal!
Hope you enjoy! :)
This looks like a perfect vegetarian treat. I would love to have these peppers for dinner tonight :)
It’s been so long since I’ve made anything with quinoa and now you have me craving it. This looks absolutely delicious and great for a healthy meal.
Hope you enjoy! Thanks for your comment and review Jenni!
I love, love, LOVE stuffed peppers but haven’t tried them with quinoa. I can’t wait to try it because these look AMAZING!
Hope you enjoy them as much as we do! :)
Don’t have black beans on hand but have pinto or Great Northern Beans! Would they be just as good or no? I love this recipe, make it all the time but forgot the beans today, whoops!
I’m glad you love this recipe! I think black beans would be best but you could definitely try pinto or great northern. Both should work great!
Thanks for sharing this tips with us. Great recipe for the healthy lifestyle
Thanks for sharing the recipe . My kids hate vegetable, gotta try it at home and hope they will like this dish.
Let us know how it goes! I’m sure they’ll love it!
I made the stuffed peppers for dinner tonight. They are delicious! Definitely a “have again”.
good recipe. :D Thanks Jamielyn. can’t wait to try it at weekend
Right on, I’m a fan of stuffed bell peppers too – they’re just so versatile! I made your recipe last night and loved it! I modified it a little to make it more Mexican. The toppings I used included sliced avocados, lime juice, hot sauce, cilantro, red onion, red salsa, and cilantro dressing. Turned out excellent too!
These peppers look so delicious! I wish I had one for lunch right now!
Paige
Can’t wait to try these! Love meatless entres!
I love stuffed peppers and these look super yummy! I need to get this recipe pinned so I can make this asap.
Sophie x | Essential Twenty
So many recipes for stuffed peppers and this is one of my favorites. It is so easy to put together, and really tasty. I am not a real fan of quinoa, so will try brown rice next time. Also very nice warmed up next day.
I am obsessed with these stuffed peppers. I made them on Sunday night and have been eating them for lunch and dinner ever since. I would probably eat them for breakfast too if I wasn’t trying to make them last the whole week! They’re so flavorful, and filling, and delicious! Thank you so much for the amazing recipe. I followed the recipe exactly and used grass fed beef. I added a little salt to the onions and a little more when I added the beef. Also, I used organic Mexican blend cheese instead of mozz. I also made a chipotle hummus and have been dolloping a bit on top to eat with these – it’s an amazing combo! (chickpeas, salt, olive oil, a chipotle pepper in adobo plus a tsp or 2 of the adobo sauce from the can!) Thanks again for this great recipe – I’ll be making these all the time from now on!!
Looks delicious! I’m making these tonight. Quick question…do I drain and rinse the canned tomatoes or cook with the juices? Thanks!
Do not drain! :) The juices make part of the cooking liquid to cook the quiona. :)