This week, I was inspired by the farmers market to make these vegetarian quinoa stuffed poblano peppers! I love poblano peppers, but rarely use them as stuffed peppers because they are more expensive at the grocery store than bell peppers.
I found a HUGE box of poblanos at my local farmers market for only $1!! Seriously, the farmers market is the best. My peppers came home and I and stuffed them full of pantry staples to make a delicious meal!
I keep a lot of different pantry staples, which makes it easy to whip up meals on the fly. I also cook. Every. Single. Day. Because I love it! Cooking a lot also makes it easier to have a diversity of ingredients in the pantry.
What are your favorite pantry staples? I used quinoa, lentils, and salsa in this recipe, along with some cheddar cheese. You could easily switch this recipe up based on what you have. Below are some of my suggestions!
Variations to the Vegetarian Quinoa Stuffed Poblano Peppers recipe:
- Swap out the grain. Brown rice, bulgar, or millet would all be great choices!
- Swap out the protein. Black beans would be my first choice for a swap, but you could try pinto beans, or crumbled tempeh as well!
- Swap out the veggies. I used onion, carrots and corn. You could also try spinach, zucchini, or eggplant! Really the possibilities are endless!
- ½ cup quinoa
- ½ cup brown lentils
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 large or 3 small carrots, diced
- Splash olive oil
- 1¼ cups red salsa, divided
- ½ cup corn kernels
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ tsp each: black pepper, salt, and cumin
- 4 oz shredded cheddar cheese, divided
- 8 medium poblano peppers
- Separately, cook quinoa and lentils according to their package directions. Drain well. (I like to use a rice cooker for the quinoa.)
- Meanwhile, combine onion, carrots, and a splash of olive oil in a large skillet. Saute for 10 minutes, or until carrots are tender.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Combine quinoa, lentils, onion, and carrots with ¾ cup red salsa, corn, garlic, black pepper, salt, cumin, and 3 oz cheese.
- Cut a slit down the center of each pepper and remove the seeds. Stuff each pepper with enough quinoa mixture so that the seam opens up a little.
- Spread remaining salsa into the bottom of a 9x13 inch glass backing pan. Place all the stuffed peppers into the pan on top of the salsa and cover with foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. Remove the foil. Top with the remaining 1 oz cheese and bake another 15 minutes.
- Let cool at least 5 minutes before serving.
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