This easy vegan Unstuffed Pepper Skillet has all the flavors we love in classic Stuffed Peppers, but is faster and simpler! Everything, including the rice, bakes up in one skillet for a healthy and tasty meal.
How to Make a Vegan Unstuffed Bell Pepper Skillet
We have the usual suspects in this vegan stuffed pepper casserole: bell peppers, rice, aromatics and spices, tomatoes, vegan ground beef and vegan cheese. If you’d like this meal to be more focused on whole-foods, you can switch out the vegan “beef” crumbles and use equal amounts of black beans, and omit the vegan cheese. To Make Gluten-Free: use a gluten-free Worcestershire Sauce and vegan beef crumble mixture (or reconstituted textured vegetable/soy protein, or black beans.)
Unlike making stuffed peppers which has numerous steps and dirties a few pots, this is a one-pot meal! Here’s how to do it:
- Sauté the onion and garlic
- Stir in the rest of the ingredients
- Bake!
- Sprinkle with vegan cheese, if desired, and let it melt
- Enjoy!
Tips for Cooking Rice in the Oven
If you’ve never baked rice in the oven before, then prepare yourself for a revelation. Baked rice cooks perfectly, doesn’t need to be babysat and becomes infused with the flavors of the other ingredients in this tasty vegan casserole.
When making a rice casserole like this Unstuffed Pepper Skillet, it’s important to use the right kind of bake-ware. A heavy, cast iron skillet or Dutch oven are your best options. They hold in the heat for even baking. The baking time will be longer with thinner bake-ware, and the rice won’t hydrate or cook as well. It’s also important to cover the skillet tightly either with tin foil or a fitted lid so that the steam remains trapped to cook your rice evenly.
Which brings me to my next tip: be patient. Enjoy those 35 minutes while your easy vegan dinner bakes! Resist the urge to peak on it because you’ll let the steam out (and the heat out of the oven.)
I’ve tested this vegan Unstuffed Pepper Skillet recipe using generic long grain white rice, white Basmati rice, and white Jasmine rice. I don’t recommend substituting other rice varieties as some cook in less time (minute rice) and will be over cooked/mushy, and others take longer and more liquid (e.g. brown rice, arborio etc.)
Love easy, vegan casseroles, one-pot meals or baked rice skillets like this? Then check out my One-Skillet Greek Lemon Chickpeas and Rice recipe, it’s one of my favorites!
If you make this Unstuffed Pepper Skillet, please give it a rating in the recipe card or let me know in the comments! I love connecting on Instagram where you can tag me in your creations using my recipes. You can also follow me on Pinterest and Facebook. Thank you for reading along!
Vegan Unstuffed Pepper Skillet with Gluten-Free Option
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium brown onion, diced
- 4 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp vegan Worcestershire Sauce*
- 3 cups vegan ground "beef"*, thawed if frozen
- 28 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes, not drained
- 3 bell peppers, seeded and chopped
- 1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice, rinsed in sieve until water runs clear
- 1 cup vegan soup stock, hot
- ½ tsp table salt
- ground black pepper to taste
- 1-3 cups vegan cheese, shredded, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- In a large cast-iron skillet (or Dutch-oven) over medium, heat the olive oil. Add the diced onion and cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, basil, and oregano, cooking for another 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
- Stir in the rest of the ingredients in order listed, except for the vegan cheese. Mix well. Cover tightly with tin foil (or fitted lid), and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the rice is cooked.
- Carefully remove the foil, and sprinkle the grated cheese over the top. Cover again and bake another couple of minutes so the cheese melts. Enjoy! Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.