Quinoa Bell Peppers

I am thrilled to share this recipe with you guys. I initially tried this meal at my sister-in-law’s house and I loved it! After trying it a few times I started making it mine with a few adjustments. I love how you can personalize a meal to match your style and preferences.

Now after making it a couple of times myself I have acquired two different variations. One is more of a sweet taste and the other is more Mexican style. Both are excellent and I prefer the taste of Quinoa on bell pepper way more than rice with the bell pepper.

For this recipe, you can choose whatever color of Bell Peppers that you would like. In my experience, I have enjoyed eating the yellow and red bell peppers over the green bell peppers. For some reason, those two colors taste more satisfying to me. However, the winning factor for you might be the price. The green bell peppers are known for being WAY cheaper at grocery stores.

Sweet Style

To make the Quinoa Bell Pepper have a sweet taste all you have to do is add this sweet Tahini dressing that you drizzle across the top. My husband and I loved the flavor of the dressing and we thought it added a perfect balance to the meal. The sweet dressing has Tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, honey, and garlic. The dressing is easy, but you can make it as sweet or tart as you want.

Mexican Style

Now for the Mexican Style directions. These directions largely depend on what you want to add to get the taste you want. If you want it to be spicier then you could add some crushed red pepper flakes. If you want just a subtle taste change then just adding cumin might be enough. Before you put the meal into the oven to cook you can choose to add Vegan cheese (or regular cheese) to melt on top. And for the final variation on this style, you can choose to add Vegan sour cream (or regular sour cream), salsa, and more salt and pepper to taste.

Whether you are craving Sweet Style or Mexican style it will be pretty easy to achieve. The main steps of this recipe are the same and very easy to follow. It might be a little more time-consuming the first time you make the recipe since you aren’t used to the extra steps.

WHY QUINOA?

You may wonder why you would want to add Quinoa when you could just cook this meal with rice since rice is cheaper? Well, there are a few reasons to choose Quinoa over rice. Quinoa is very nutritious, it has protein, fiber, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, folate, copper, iron, zinc, and Potassium. And to promote it just a little more it also has Vitamin B1, B2, B6, calcium, and Vitamin E.

This Quinoa seed is not only considered a complete protein with all nine essential amino acids, but it’s also high in plant antioxidants that fight aging and diseases. The best part is that it tastes excellent in almost any meal.

How to make Quinoa Bell Peppers

First, get five bell peppers and cut them in half, gut them, and then rinse them off and put them in a pot with boiling water. Cook until tender and then drain the water and let them cool. (Be careful not to overcook them at this point, you don’t want them falling apart just yet.)

Meanwhile, cook the Quinoa according to the packaged directions. You may want to cook the Quinoa in a bigger pot so that the next step will be easy. (To add extra flavor you can choose to cook the Quinoa in Vegetable broth).

After, the Quinoa is cooked add the diced tomatoes, onion, black beans, corn, salt, and pepper. You can also add cumin, crushed red peppers, or better than bouillon to get more flavor on this step.

Next, fill up each halved bell pepper with the quinoa and veggie mixture. Once they are filled up you can either choose to heat them in the oven or serve them. (If you are planning on adding cheese you may want to heat them lightly in the oven at 350 degrees for 5-6 mins. Make sure they are evenly spaced on a cooking tray covered with either tin foil or nonstick heat-resistant parchment paper).

Finally, add your toppings of choice. You can either drizzle the sweet tahini dressing or the spicy Mexican toppings. This dish is so fun to change up and I’m excited to hear how you would change it.

Here is the Recipe:

Keep me updated on how this recipe works for you. Tag me in your finished product photo @cometothe_plantside. I’m so happy that you are coming to the plant side one Quinoa recipe at a time.

Sincerely,

Chantel