These vegan stuffed red peppers are a plant-based version of a recipe from my childhood. The original recipe is a classic in Slovenian households; we call it ‘polnjene paprike’ or ‘filane paprike’ and it’s made with minced meat and rice. When I was growing up, my family ate a vegetarian version of this dish, filled with soya mince and rice, while egg was added to bind the filling together. In my vegan version, I use soya mince, lentils, and rice for the filling and leave out the egg. The filling is looser without the egg, but I actually prefer it that way.
These vegan stuffed red peppers have an amazing taste. The protein-rich and iron-rich filling inside soft cooked red peppers is accompanied by aromatic tomato sauce and traditionally served with mashed potatoes. Check out my incredible recipe for vegan mashed potatoes, which are already a star on any vegan table.
These vegan stuffed red peppers do take quite some time to make and there is quite an elaborate work needed to make them. But the end result will be SO worth it.
Have you made this recipe? Let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear your feedback.
More elaborate and veganised traditional Slovenian recipes:
- Sautéed Potatoes with Onion (veganski pražen krompir)
- Vegan Walnut Roll (veganska potica)
- Vegan Cottage Cheese Rolled Dumplings (veganski sirovi štruklji)
Vegan Stuffed Red Peppers (veganske polnjene paprike) (GF)
These absolutely delicious vegan stuffed red peppers are a plant-based version of a traditional Slovenian recipe called 'polnjene paprike' or 'filane paprike'. Minced meat in the filling is replaced with soya mince and lentils. Stuffed red peppers are cooked in aromatic tomato sauce until they soften. Serve them with my incredible vegan mashed potatoes.
Ingredients
- 6 small red bell peppers
Filling:
- 22.5 ml (1 1/2 tbsp) olive oil
- 100 g brown onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- heaped 1/3 tsp salt
- 100 g green lentils
- 40 g arborio rice
- 100 g soya mince
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley mostly the leaves part; measured after chopping
- 1/2 tbsp fresh thyme
- 1/2 tsp sweet paprika powder
- a pinch of black pepper
Tomato sauce:
- 45 ml (3 tbsp) olive oil
- 200 g brown onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp fresh oregano chopped; measured before chopping
- 4 leaves fresh sage chopped
- 800 g passata
- 400 ml (1 2/3 cups) water
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 4 bay leaves
- a pinch of black pepper
To serve:
Instructions
Filling:
- Put lentils and 500 ml of water into a medium pot over high heat. When they boil, lower the heat to low and cook for 5 min.
- After 5 min also add arborio rice to the pot, bring to boil again, then lower the heat to low and cook for another 20 min. After cooking pour out any leftover water from the pot.
- While lentils and rice are cooking, prepare all other ingredients for the filling.
- Chop onion and mince garlic cloves. Chop also parsley and prepare all other ingredients so they're easily reachable, when you start cooking.
- Heat olive oil in a medium pot and add onion, garlic, and salt. Lower the heat to low to medium and sauté until onion and garlic are quite brown. Don't finish too soon, you want brown bits of onion and garlic because that will give the dish its flavour. Mix often in between, especially around the edges of the dish, where the brown bits will appear first. It took me 9 min to get this result.
- After onion and garlic are browned, add lentils, rice, and soya mince. Mix together and turn off the heat.
- Add also parsley, thyme, sweet paprika, and pepper. Mix together well and set aside.
Red peppers:
- Prepare red peppers by first washing them and then removing the stalk. Cut just around the stalk and don't go too wide because the filling will stay inside red peppers more easily if the hole is not too big. Also remove the seeds and the soft walls inside the peppers.
- Divide the filling equally between 6 red peppers. Tap with your fingers so that the filling is flattened a little bit. Otherwise it can fall out of the peppers.
- Set stuffed red peppers aside.
Tomato sauce:
- Chop onions and mince garlic for the tomato sauce. Chop also oregano and sage. Prepare also all other ingredients for the tomato sauce, so they're easily reachable when you start cooking.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot (the largest that you have) and add onions, garlic and salt. Lower the heat to low to medium and sauté until onion and garlic are quite brown. Again you want brown bits of onion and garlic. Mix often in between, especially around the edges of the dish, where the brown bits will appear first. It took me 14 min to get this result.
- Add oregano and sage and sauté for about a minute.
- Add passata and water, mix together and turn the heat to high.
- Add also brown sugar, bay leaves, and pepper. Mix together, then cover the pot and wait for it to boil.
- Put the heat to low, then place stuffed red peppers inside the pot. Ideally they should be placed on their sides but if your red peppers are too large for that, you can also place them on their bottom side.
- Bring the pot to boil again, then put the heat to low and cook covered for 45 min.
Assemble:
- While stuffed red peppers are cooking prepare vegan mashed potatoes. You will need 6 servings of the recipe.
Serving:
- Put one portion of vegan mashed potatoes in a large bowl. Beside it place one stuffed red pepper and one portion of tomato sauce.
- Repeat the same for the rest of vegan mashed potatoes, stuffed red peppers, and tomato sauce.
- Serve warm.
Notes
*Make sure to use small red bell peppers because otherwise it can be hard to fit them all into the pot. The quantity of the filling is also written for small sized red bell peppers, so larger ones would look half empty.
*If you don’t have fresh herbs available, you can replace them with 1/2 tsp dried thyme and 2/3 tsp dried oregano. The taste will not be affected.
*Prep time and nutrition facts does not include vegan mashed potatoes.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 servingCalories: 331kcalCarbohydrates: 45gProtein: 18gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gSodium: 377mgFiber: 11gSugar: 17g
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