Vegan Stuffed Peppers with Avocado “Sour Cream”

These are easy, healthy and make for great leftovers. What else could you ask for? If being vegan is not your thing feel free to add some spicy chorizo to the filling and melt some cheese on top. My mouth is watering.

Vegan Stuffed Peppers with Avocado “Sour Cream”

Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Yield: 12 stuffed peppers

INGREDIENTS

For the Stuffed Peppers

• 6 sweet bell peppers, halved and deseeded

• 200g dried quinoa

• 400ml tomato juice*

• 1 teaspoon avocado oil

• 1 white onion, diced

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 2-3 big handfuls of chopped kale

• ½ teaspoon chipotle chili powder

• ½ teaspoon paprika

• ½ teaspoon ground coriander

• 1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

• 1 small can of corn (8.75oz), drained and rinsed

• Juice and zest of 1 lime

• Salt and pepper to taste

For the Vegan Avocado “Sour Cream”

• 300g soft tofu

• 4 tablespoons lime juice

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

• 1 ripe avocado

• ½ teaspoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon garlic powder

DIRECTIONS

Place quinoa in a small saucepan with tomato juice. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Continue to cook until all juice is absorbed. Fluff quinoa with a fork and set aside, covered, until further instructions.

*I found that cooking the quinoa in tomato juice took much longer than what was recommended on the package (it said 15 minutes but it took me closer to 30 minutes). Make sure to continue to cook until all juice is absorbed or you could put less juice in to start.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Heat avocado oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add chopped onion and sauté until translucent, approximately 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add garlic, cooking until fragrant. Add chopped kale and cover until wilted. Now it’s time to add the cooked quinoa that had been set aside along with the beans, corn, lime juice and zest. Season with all remaining spices and mix thoroughly.

Lightly grease two large baking dishes. Stuff peppers generously with the quinoa filling, place in the baking dishes and cover with aluminum foil.  Bake for 30 minutes, then remove foil and increase heat to 400F. Bake for an additional 20 minutes until peppers are golden brown.

While the peppers are in the oven blend together all ingredients for the avocado cream sauce in a food processor or with an immersion blender. Place in refrigerator until ready to use. You can omit the sauce all together and opt to just slice avocado and place on top of each stuffed pepper instead.

Drizzle avocado sauce over top and serve with salsa, hot sauce and cilantro for garnish.