Black Bean and Brown Rice Stuffed Peppers

Assorted peppers are abundant at this time of year and I love to put them to good use. As a kid I wasn’t a huge fan of stuffed peppers but as an adult I realized I liked this dish better if the peppers weren’t cooked too long. I prefer to serve a vegetable, rice and bean stuffed pepper with a grilled meat on the side instead of cooking ground meat in the pepper.

The list of ingredients and amounts for this batch are at the bottom of the page. This dish is so versatile. Each batch is different because I use whatever veggies, beans and spices I have on hand. The cooking time and temperature is always the same with this type of stuffing.

When I’m rooting through my refrigerator and finding a lot of odds and ends, I put this dish together. I use whatever vegetables I have on hand. Cooked rice is a staple in my refrigerator and canned beans are always in the cupboard. 

For this batch I chopped one large carrot and half of a purple onion and began by sauteing them in 2-3 Tbsp. of olive oil until softened, approximately 10 minutes. I added a small splash of vegetable broth during this time so they wouldn’t brown.

Once they were cooked to my liking, I added 1 cup of frozen corn and 1 15oz. can of drained and rinsed black beans. 

TIP: Drain and rinse whatever canned beans you’re using very to clean the canning brine off.

  

TIP: Altogether I used about a half cup of broth which I think adds great flavor and keeps the veggies steaming instead of burning while the corn and beans are heating through.

I knew I was going to used cumin and oregano. They compliment black beans very nicely. I also included smoked paprika and salt and pepper. Amounts and spices can always be adjusted to you and your family’s liking. For this I used: 1 Tsp. oregano, 1/2 Tsp. cumin, 1/2 Tsp. smoked paprika, 1/2-1 Tsp. salt and 1/2 Tsp. of back pepper. I had a small amount of fresh basil on hand so that was chopped and thrown in later.

The spices were added with the beans and corn. All of this simmered together for 10 minutes. Basically until it smelled really good.

At this stage I added 3 cups of cooked rice I had in my refrigerator. (Sorry no picture):()

While that was heating through for 5 minutes, I chopped my fresh basil and added it to the pan. I put this pan aside to cool while I prepared the peppers.

Types and colors of peppers are up to you. Just cut the tops off and clean out the seeds. I cook and eat the tops. 

These peppers are more forgiving. You don’t have to worry about over stuffing them and the meat mixture not cooking all the way through. I know many people who cook the meat in the peppers. If I’m serving meat with these I usually have something like grilled steak or shrimp on the side.

Sometimes I add salsa to the tops but today I had leftover tomato sauce. I had a bit of a Tex-Mex flavor going on so I added 1Tsp. of chili power to the  sauce. (completely optional). There was a little over 1 cup that I poured over the peppers. You can omit that step completely and just throw some cheese of your choice on top. I used some cheddar .

I put the tops on the peppers, poured 1/2 cup of water into the bottom of the dish, put a layer of parchment paper on the pepper tops and then sealed my dish with foil. 

This dish cooks at 400 degrees for 50 minutes. This time and temperature never lets me down in my oven. The peppers cook through perfectly and no pre-steaming them. I always found that step a pain and I like to use as few pots and pans as possible.

They don’t take the prettiest picture but they were great:)

This batch of stuffed peppers included:

• 5 assorted bell peppers
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 1 15 oz. can black beans
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 3 cups precooked brown rice
• 1 1/2 cup tomato sauce ( 1 tsp. chili powder added)
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• cheddar cheese on top
• a few chopped fresh basil leaves

Thanks for stopping by:)

Roni