Stuffed red peppers, with rice, beans, chorizo, and chipotle cheese sauce, topped with cheese and sour cream. All on a white plate.
February 16, 2024

Mexican Stuffed Peppers for Vegans, Vegetarians, Meat-eaters

February 16, 2024

Mexican Stuffed Peppers for Vegans, Vegetarians, Meat-eaters

Stuffed red peppers, with rice, beans, chorizo, and chipotle cheese sauce, topped with cheese and sour cream. All on a white plate.

This oooey-gooey, make them anyway you want them, Mexican Stuffed Peppers recipe features a super simple mix of rice, black beans, and tomatoes all tied together with a mildly spicy chipotle cheese sauce, made from the Mother Mix. If you’re not on to the Mother Mix, it’s a simple DIY pantry staple made from almond flour, nutritional yeast, tapioca flour, and salt. If you don’t want to make the mix, you can just use the equivalent ingredients – it’s all detailed in the recipe.

You can make these Mexican Stuffed Peppers 100% plant-based, 100% vegetarian, or 100% omni-friendly, or of course you can make all three versions, and the recipe is simple enough that it’s very little extra work to do so.

Beyond being super flexible in terms of diet types, these stuffed peppers are easy to make ahead, taste even better reheated, and yes you can freeze them!

Three stuffed green peppers, with rice, beans, and chipotle cheese sauce, topped with cheese and sour cream, and cilantro. All on a light blue plate, sitting on the countertop.

Stuffed Peppers - Vegan Version

Preparing the Peppers

Halve Peppers and Remove Seeds

Get your peppers cleaned and ready. Slice them in half from top to bottom. Leaving the stem on is optional. Deseed the peppers and set aside. We colour-coded our peppers: green for vegan stuffing, orange or yellow for vegetarian, and red for meat-eaters. 

We colour-coded our peppers: green for vegan stuffing, orange or yellow for vegetarian, and red for meat-eaters. 
A top-down view of orange, red, yellow, and green pepper

Make Chipotle Cheese Sauce

  • If you’re making a version for vegetarians or vegetarians and omnivores, make our simple cheese sauce, adding the chipotle pepper to it.
  • If you’re making a version for vegans, or a group that includes vegans, make the Mother Mix, adding the chipotle pepper to it.
  • About the Mother Mix

    The Mother Mix is an all-natural, gluten-free dry mix that you can make in minutes and store in your pantry. 


    Use it to jumpstart over 16 different creamy and cheesy plant-based recipes - from Spinach Dip to Scalloped Potatoes and Veggie Pot Pie.


    You can also use it on its own -- just add water, blend, and heat -- to make a simple vegan cream sauce, delish over roasted veggies! 

    About the Mother Mix

    Measuring cup heaped full with the Mother Mix, made from almond flour, nutritional yeast, tapioca starch, and salt

    The Mother Mix is an all-natural, gluten-free dry mix that you can make in minutes and store in your pantry. 


    Use it to jumpstart over 16 different creamy and cheesy plant-based recipes - from Spinach Dip to Scalloped Potatoes and Veggie Pot Pie.


    You can also use it on its own -- just add water, blend, and heat -- to make a simple vegan cream sauce, delish over roasted veggies! 

    Prepare Base 

    Combine together the rice, tomatoes, and beans

    Cook Meat (if Using)

    if you want to add chorizo or other meat to all or some of the peppers, fry it up now and set it aside.

    Combine Cheese Sauce, Base, and Meat (if Using)

    If you are making multiple versions, you'll need a bowl for each version. For meat-versions, we used a ratio of 1/2 cup base/cheese sauce to 1/3 cup meat. 

    Stuff Peppers

    Now, it’s time to stuff the peppers. Peppers are obviously not uniform sizes, but assume about 1/2 cup of filling per pepper, as a starting point. If you have more sauce than peppers, you can keep it refrigerated for a day or two.

    Bake Peppers

    Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes, until the peppers are starting to get soft.

    Top with Cheese and Finish Baking 

    Remove from the oven and top with extra cheese. Bake until melted, about 5-10 minutes. 

    Topdown view of Chipotle Cheese Stuffed Peppers, green peppers with vegan cheese, orange peppers are vegetarian, and red peppers have meat.

    Etiquette note: In the image above, we put all versions of stuffed peppers on the same plate. Some eaters may prefer to have different versions on their own separate serving platter.

    Recipe Card

    Mexican Stuffed Peppers - Three Ways {Vegan, Vegetarian, and Omnivore}

    Prep Time 15 minutes
    Cook Time 40 minutes
    Total Time 55 minutes
    These Mexican Stuffed Peppers are easy to customize for vegan, vegetarian, and omnivore eaters. A simple base of black beans, rice, and tomatoes is combined with either vegan chipotle cheese sauce or a dairy version (see Recipe Notes). Optionally, for the meat eaters, add in some spicy chorizo. Uses the Mother Mix.
    Servings 12 1/2 peppers
    Calories 134 kcal
    Author Sylvia

    Ingredients

    • 6 peppers {See Recipe Notes}
    • 1 cup cooked rice
    • 2 cups cooked black beans
    • 2 cups diced tomatoes {Fresh or canned. If using canned, drain them first.}
    • 1 tsp garlic powder
    • 1-2 tablespoons chipotles in adobe sauce
    • 1 1/3 cups Mother Mix + 2 cups water {See Recipe Notes for link}

    Optionally, if you do not have Mother Mix

    • 1 cup almond flour {also known as super-fine almond meal, or ground blanched skinless almonds}
    • 2 cups water
    • 4 tablespoons tapioca starch
    • 2 tablespoons, plus 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast nutritional yeast
    • 1 teaspoon salt

    Optionally, if you want to make with dairy-based chipotle cheese sauce, see Recipe Notes (it's easy!)

      If making omnivore version

      • 1/3 cup chorizo sausage meat, per carnivore

      For topping

      • 2 tablespoons cheese/cheeze of choice, per each pepper
      • sour cream
      • cilantro

      Instructions

      • Preheat the oven to 350F.
      • Slice the peppers in half from stem to bottom. Remove the seeds and lay the peppers cut side up on a baking sheet or pan. 
      • Make the base mixture by combining the rice, black beans, tomatoes, and garlic powder in a large bowl.
      • See the Recipe notes if you want to make this using my dairy-based cheese sauce.
        Otherwise, make the chipotle cheese sauce, by combining either the Mother Mix plus water and chipotles OR the individual cheese sauce ingredients plus chipotles in the blender.
        Blend on high for one minute.
        Transfer to a medium saucepan and cook and stir over medium heat until cheese sauce is thick and stretchy, 6-7 minutes. 
      • Stir the chipotle cheese sauce into the base mixture. 

      If making the omnivore version:

      • Pan fry the sausage meat, breaking up any large chunks. Drain off the excess oil. 
      • If you want all of the peppers to have meat, then just add the meat to the cheese/bean/tomato mixture and then stuff the peppers. 
      • If you want to make some stuffed peppers omni-friendly and some not, then separate out about about 1/2 cup of base mixture per 1/3rd cup meat. 

      For all versions:

      • Spoon the mixture into the peppers so it's level with the edge of the pepper. 
        Green, red, and yellow peppers, cut from stem to tip, and stuffed with rice, beans, tomatoes, and chipotle cheese sauce mix.
      • Cook at 350F for 30-40 minutes, until the pepper is starting to get soft. 
        Remove from oven and top each pepper with about 2 tablespoons of cheese. 
        Return to oven until cheese is melted, 5-10 minutes. 
      • Serve with a big dollop of {vegan} sour cream, and garnish with cilantro if desired. 

      Notes

      Pepper Quantity 
      Obviously, peppers are not all uniform in size. For this recipe, I am allowing about 1/2 cup of filling per 1/2 pepper. Your mileage may vary. If you end up having filling left over, you can freeze it until you have more peppers. 
      Choosing Peppers
      Typically, I just use bell peppers for this recipe, but if you like Poblano peppers this make another good option. Poblano peppers, also known as Ancho peppers, have a little bit of heat to them, so keep that in mind if you are choosing to add more spices to the stuffing mix. 
      Tip for Feeding Mixed Groups
      I usually buy 3 different coloured peppers. I use the green peppers for the vegan version, orange or yellow for vegetarian, and red for the version with meat in it. 
      Option to Use Dairy-Based Chipotle Cheese Sauce 
      If you are vegetarian or omnivore, you can swap out the Mother Mix cheese sauce with dairy-based cheese sauce. Follow the Simple Cheese Sauce recipe, but before you add the milk to the pot, first blend the milk with the chipotle peppers, and then stir it into the flour/butter mixture. 
      Storage, Reheating, and Freezing 
      You can make these a couple of hours ahead of time, either up to the point of baking them, or up to the point where you are about to add the final cheese/cheeze topping. Refrigerate them until you are ready to do the final cooking. 
      These are really good reheated. I actually like them better the next day as the pepper gets really nice and soft.
      You can freeze the cooked versions. Ideally freeze them without the final cheese topping, defrost them, heat them in a 250F oven for about 20 minutes until hot, and then add the final cheese topping. 

      About the Mother Mix

      The Mother Mix is a simple DIY dry mix that gives you a jumpstart on a number of recipes on this site. It’s vegan and gluten-free and made from all-natural ingredients. You can find the recipe for this awesome pantry staple here. 
      Amp it Up a Notch
      I purposely made this recipe super simple so that it would be fairly fast to make if you are making all three variations. If you aren't in a hurry, you could use fresh garlic instead of dried, fry up some onions to go into the mix, and/or add in other vegetables like corn or roasted red peppers. If you are vegan/vegetarian but want it be more meaty, you could add in some veggie ground round, mock sausage, or TVP (aka soy mince.) 
      Nutritional Information
      Nutrition information is an estimate based on the vegan version of the recipe, without cheese topping or garnishes. 

      Nutrition

      Serving: 0g | Calories: 134kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 221mg | Potassium: 233mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 95IU | Vitamin C: 3.9mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 1.6mg

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      Hello!


      We're creating a course: Baby Steps to Plant-Based Eating

      Yes, seriously. Trying a plant-based diet can be overwhelming and we'd like to help. 

      This course is for you if: 

      • you're curious about plant-based eating, but don't know where to start 
      • you have family or friends who eat plant-based and you'd like to be able to cook for them
      • you've dabbled with plant-based cooking, but would like to expand your repertoire 

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      • answer your pressing questions
      • cultivate your confidence 
      • arm you with recipes

      Want to learn more?  

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