These bite-sized Quinoa Mini Stuffed Peppers make perfect party appetizers that are packed full of veggies, have tons of flavor and taste super delicious!
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Confession.
I am utterly obsessed with quinoa
. Seriously this stuff can be thrown into almost any dish, spiced up with so many flavors and it is ridiculously healthy for you! As I said before in my last post, I’m still swooning over our gorgeous honeymoon in Mexico where we had some of the most amazing food (probably why I need to get my booty back in the gym) so I’ve been really inspired to make some new recipes.
Now I’ve made a lot of stuffed pepper recipes in my lifetime which I LOVE because peppers baked in the oven have so much flavor and the entire meal is hearty, filling and really healthy, so I figured why not try using mini sweet peppers? I like these because they don’t take as long to cook and you get more crunch with each bite. They also make great appetizers when you have people over or are throwing a party! I mean they’re so cute and colorful, what’s not to love??
Start off by cutting about a third of each pepper, choosing the more bumpy side to cut off so the flat side lays nicely when baking. Oh and don’t worry about wasting all those colorful tops you have set aside, chop those up and throw them in your quinoa mixture! This gives you even more crunch and added flavor. I also love that the quinoa cooks right in the pan which saves you time from boiling it beforehand, but also gives it so much extra flavor as the quinoa absorbs all those yummy ingredients. Then once the quinoa is cooked, stuff your peppers as much as you can, throw them in the oven for about 13 minutes, sprinkle them with a little cheese and let them bake for a couple more minutes, until the cheese has melted.
…..voila!
And for all you Weight Watchers readers, these peppers are only 1 point per stuffed pepper!
Oh and if you’re not a fan of peppers? Well this quinoa mixture tastes AMAZING all on its own and makes for a delicious side dish! Seriously….I may or may not have kept eating it with a spoon right out of the pan. Hope you all love this recipe as much as we did!
Quinoa Mini Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 36 mini sweet peppers, about 1-1/2 lb bag
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 jalapeno, minced
- 3/4 cup reserved sweet peppers, diced
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 10 oz can Rotel tomatoes
- 3/4 cup quinoa
- 1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 3/4 cup frozen corn
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1/2 tsp. cumin
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- Handful cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup shredded Mexican 4 cheese blend
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Begin slicing sweet peppers 1/3 lengthwise on the curved side, reserving for later use. De-seed the inside of the peppers so that you have a nice hollow middle. Set aside.
- Dice reserved peppers until you have about 3/4 a cup and set aside.
- In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, jalapeno and reserved peppers and cook about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add vegetable broth and tomatoes, stirring until combined, then add in quinoa, black beans, corn, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.
- Bring mixture to a boil then cover, reduce heat and allow quinoa to simmer until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Note: you'll know quinoa is done when you see what looks like a little tail pop out!
- Stir in chopped cilantro and begin spooning your quinoa mixture into your peppers, filling as much as you can, and place on a baking sheet.
- Bake peppers at 350 for about 13 minutes then remove from oven and top peppers with a sprinkle of cheese. Bake for an additional 2 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These are so tasty! I made them to use up a bag of babies. I stored them in the fridge, uncooked, and popped a six-pack in the oven at snack time. The leftovers will stuff a bell pepper or be used for a side or salad. I accidentally used cooked quinoa but threw in some dry grains really quick and all was well. Fantastic healthy snack.
I am making this now! It looks sooo good!!
This recipe looks delicious! I was wondering if you could add ground turkey to the pepper mixture?
Absolutely!
Definitely putting these on the menu! Thank you for sharing!