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!
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.
Make Chipotle Cheese Sauce
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
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.
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.
Related Recipes
Other Recipes for Mixed Groups
Other Mother Mix Recipes
Recipe Card
Mexican Stuffed Peppers - Three Ways {Vegan, Vegetarian, and Omnivore}
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.
- 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.
