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An easy Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers Recipe made with spinach and ricotta. This low carb version of my favorite spinach and ricotta stuffed shells recipe also makes a great meal prep recipe!
This easy vegetarian recipe is a meatless meal the whole family will love. It requires minimal prep time and will be on your dinner table in 30 minutes or less!
Easy Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers Recipe
I love stuffed peppers. I also love stuffed shells. Lately, I’ve been really craving spinach and ricotta stuffed shells but was looking for a low carb alternative. So here it is! Spinach and ricotta stuffed peppers.
This vegetarian stuffed peppers recipe has an Italian flair, less carbs, and more veggies! I’m mixing spinach, ricotta cheese (obviously), red pepper flakes for a little bit of heat, lemon zest for a little tang, among a few other delicious things.
It took me a few tries to get this one right because the ingredients in this recipe can expel lots of liquid, which can make everything watery. So, after lots of recipe testing I have finally nailed this one to perfection.
Stuffed Peppers Ingredients
Vegetables and herbs: bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, garlic, spinach, yellow onion, basil, lemon.
I used red bell peppers and orange bell peppers for this recipe, but you can use any color of peppers you like!
Dairy: for this recipe you will need ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese. I recommend using full fat ricotta cheese. If you’re looking to make these stuffed peppers vegan, you can substitute for vegan cheese.
Other ingredients: egg, red pepper flakes, and kosher salt.
How to make stuffed peppers
This took lots of testing in the kitchen to perfect! The flavor was there, but the consistency just wasn’t. So I played around with baking temps and time in order to produce the best results.
1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Roast tomatoes and peppers. Add cherry tomatoes, 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, salt, and pepper to a 9 x 11 inch oven safe baking dish. Toss them in the pan to combine. Place peppers in the pan and bake for 10 minutes. If you want more of a charred look and taste, broil them for about 3-4 minutes instead.
3. Sauté spinach. While the tomatoes and peppers are cooking, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat and sauté spinach, garlic, and onions until spinach has wilted.
Drain the spinach well (I like to use a fine mesh strainer) and set aside in a mixing bowl.
4. Make the ricotta filling. Add ricotta, red pepper flakes, egg, basil, and lemon zest to a large mixing bowl with the spinach and mix until fully combined.
5. Stuff the peppers. Remove the peppers from the oven and stuff with the spinach and ricotta mixture. Top each pepper with about half a tablespoon of shredded parmesan cheese.
6. Bake the stuffed peppers. Place the stuffed peppers in the oven and bake for about 5 minutes, just until the cheese on top has melted and the peppers are warm all the way through. Don’t bake them too long or they will become watery inside!
What to eat with stuffed peppers
You can serve stuffed peppers as a side or as a main dish. I love to serve mine with a side of farro because it’s a protein rich grain. There are six grams of protein in just 1/4 of a cup of farro. Wild rice also makes a delicious side dish.
If you’re diet is grain free or carb free, you can also eat them as a side dish to your favorite protein like chicken, shrimp, or scallops. Or you can have them as your main dish with a side of broccolini or spaghetti squash!
Healing superfoods
Bell peppers are one of many anti aging superfoods listed in this book. They recommend eating two cups a day but that’s a lot of peppers for me so as long as I get a few servings a week, I feel good!
For this recipe I used red and orange bell peppers, but you can use green peppers, too.
If you’re looking for new ways to incorporate bell peppers into your diet, try this Mushroom Bolognese or these Sheet Pan Chicken Fajita Lettuce Wraps. All of these recipes work well for meal prepping!
Make stuffed peppers ahead of time
Vegetarian stuffed peppers are perfect for serving at a party! You can prep them ahead of time by completing all the steps except the final 5 minute bake to melt the cheese. I like to serve them on a serving serving tray like this one.
Recipe Variations
For all my meat lovers, you might be interested in some of these variations:
Ground beef stuffed peppers – ground beef, black beans or pinto beans, brown rice, onion powder, and sour cream.
Taco stuffed peppers – ground chicken or beef, chili powder, garlic cloves, tomato paste, black beans, white rice.
Stuffed pepper meal prep
Stuffed peppers will keep in the fridge for several days, so they make an excellent meal prep option. This recipe yields 4 servings with a total of 8 stuffed peppers. I pack two in each meal prep container to eat for lunch every day.
These are my favorite meal prep containers, I like them so much I have two sets! I also love these meal prep containers because they have 3 compartments to keep everything separate which is great for things like salads, taco bowls, or chili lime pulled chicken bowls.
More Vegetarian Dinner Recipes
- Strawberry Spinach Salad
- Tomato Feta Baked Spaghetti Squash
- Baked Eggplant Steaks
- Zucchini Lasagna Rolls
- Wild Mushroom Beyond Meat Burgers
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Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- kosher salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
- 4 bell peppers, sliced in half lengthwise
- 2 cups spinach
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 25 ounces ricotta cheese, drained*
- 1/2 tablespoon red pepper flakes
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
- 1 lemon, zest
- parmesan cheese, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Add cherry tomatoes, 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, salt, and pepper to a 9 x 11 inch oven safe baking dish. Toss them in the pan to combine. Place peppers in the pan and bake for 10 minutes.*
- While the tomatoes and peppers are cooking, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat and sauté spinach, garlic, and onions until spinach has wilted. Drain the spinach well (I like to use a fine mesh strainer) and set aside in a mixing bowl.
- Add ricotta, red pepper flakes, egg, basil, and lemon zest to the mixing bowl with the spinach and mix until fully combined.
- Remove the peppers from the oven and stuff with the spinach and ricotta mixture. Top each pepper with about half a tablespoon of shredded parmesan cheese.
- Place the stuffed peppers in the oven and bake for about 5 minutes, just until the cheese on top has melted and the peppers are warm all the way through. Don't bake them too long or they will become watery inside!
Video
Notes
- To drain the ricotta, line a fine mesh sieve with cheesecloth and push out any excess liquid.*
- If you want more of a charred look and taste, broil the tomatoes and peppers for about 3-4 minutes before stuffing them instead of baking for 10 minutes.
Oh my, these look so delicious. I want them for dinner tonight!
Let me know if you make them!
These look so good! I love stuffed peppers and can’t wait to try this!
I love this recipe 🙂 It is such a delicious meal in itself, or perfect with a side salad!
Question……ingredients says 4 peppers, video shows 3. Which is it, please?
Follow the recipe in the post, the video looked better with less peppers 😉
Looks so delicious and balanced! Perfect for a healthy dinner or brunch!
I love Stuffed Peppers, but I love that you’ve used Spinach and Ricotta which looks so creamy and delish!
What a perfectly delicious recipe and so healthy too.
Thanks for sharing
Julie
So colorful and delicious looking! Looks perfect to serve for summer gatherings!
Looks delish. Is the egg necessary?
Thank you! The egg acts as a binding agent and I haven’t made them without it, however, you could probably replace them with arrowroot powder – a mixture of 1 tablespoon arrowroot, 1 tablespoon oil and 1/4 cup water for each egg. You can also try adding about 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese to the ricotta mixture.
I am making this recipe right now! It is in the oven, and I cannot wait to try it!
Yay! I can’t wait to hear how they turned out 🙂
I made these and they were sooooo good! I was a bit apprehensive about the egg, especially because the peppers only baked for ~5 minutes in the oven with the filling in it. Everything tasted great though! I will definitely be making these again 🙂
I’m so glad to hear you loved it! As long as the inside heats to about 140F, the eggs are safe 🙂
Absolutely perfect for adding to my collection of new late spring / summer recipes to try out (if we ever exit lockdown in the UK!). Thank you so much!!
Thank you!
What is the serving size?
The recipe makes 8 peppers, and the nutrition facts are based on 1 stuffed pepper. Please keep in mind that the nutrition facts are approximate.
Hello!! I just wanted some clarification on this. When you say one pepper, do you mean one full pepper (as in 2 halves) or 1 of the stuffed peppers (1/2 pepper)?? Thanks!
Hi! You will need 4 peppers, sliced in half to make 8 stuffed peppers.
Even with the garlic, chilli, plenty of seasoning they were lacking some flavor. Overall, they were pretty good and I would make them again but maybe with ground chicken too.
So delicious! I love the addition of the lemon zest — it makes it so bright and flavorful!
Stuffed peppers are so good and the ricotta spinach combo makes this a great comfort food.
It’s the beautiful colours that catch the eye first. These look absolutely delicious.
I always stuff my peppers with lentils and quinoa, so looking forward to trying your recipe.
I love stuffed peppers too and yours are cheesy delicious!! Can’t wait to give this a go, it looks so healthy!!
I don’t usually eat peppers but I want to try this!
Such a deliciously simple and tasty vegetarian dish. I like to make ahead for the week. Thanks for such a great recipe.
I love stuffed peppers recipes of all kinds – it makes such an easy dinner! Usually I stuff them with Mexican inspired ingredients, so I loved your twist on this recipe! The spinach + ricotta added such a nice creaminess – kind of reminded me of lasagna but in a pepper! 🙂
What a great protein packed dish. So many ways to adapt it too.
Very bland even with hot sauce.
Actually turned out good
Are the cherry tomatoes used just as a side or diced and mixed in with the cheese and spinach mixture?
Hi! They’re more of a side to the stuffed peppers. I wouldn’t recommend mixing them in because they will make the stuffed peppers watery, you could mix in sun dried tomatoes though.
Disappointed. The peppers were still hard after 25 minutes of roasting and the ricotta filling was too bland. With 15oz container of ricotta at $7, this was an expensive mistake.
The peppers should still have some crunch to them/shouldn’t be completely mushy.
I found this recipe to be a bit bland like others mentioned. It’s also too easy to get a watery ricotta mixture in this recipe, which isn’t very good.
Hi Dani – sorry to hear you felt that way, I did note in the ingredient list that the ricotta should be drained before using. This helps eliminate the excess liquid when cooking.
Me and my GF love this! We’ve made it at least 10 times in the past month. Thanks for sharing!
WOW! That makes me so happy 🙂
Delicious recipe
Perfection to the definition! These were wonderful!
You can’t go wrong with stuffed peppers. Add in some ricotta? Game changer!
I’ve always had stuffed peppers with a meat filling, so this vegetarian version was a nice change! Spinach is definitely a nutrient-packed ingredient and so healthy to add to the filling ingredients.
This recipe was great! I’m making it again next week 🙂
Have not made this yet. I’m thinking of using the mini peppers and doing this as an appetizer. I often bring something to a class for everyone to snack on. I would have to cut the recipe in half.