Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa

We tweaked this from several stuffed pepper recipes to come up with a yummy version that tastes even better reheated for lunch the next day. This is a great side dish with fish. You could use vegetable broth to make it vegetarian.

• Preparation Time: 20 mins
• Cooking Time: 1 hr 5 mins
• Total Time: 1 hr 25 mins
• Calories: 258 Calories

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• ¾ cup quinoa
• ½ carrot, grated
• ½ cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
• 1 (14 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 red bell peppers, sliced lengthwise
• 1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained and juice reserved
• 1 (6 ounce) package fresh spinach, or more to taste

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish and arrange red bell peppers in dish.

Step 2

Roast peppers in the preheated oven until tender, about 30 minutes.

Step 3

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir onion until softened, 5 to 10 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, salt, and black pepper to onion; cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute more.

Step 4

Mix tomatoes, chicken broth, quinoa, and carrot into onion mixture; cook until quinoa is tender, about 12 minutes. Stir black beans and spinach into quinoa mixture, adding reserved tomato juice if mixture is dry. Spoon quinoa mixture into roasted red peppers and top with Mexican cheese blend.

Step 5

Bake in the oven until cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.