In all honesty, I made this delicious slightly spicy, perfectly parmesan-y, and somewhat healthy (hi, Quinoa!) dish for myself, knowing full well, I’d be the only one who ate the peppers. I now have a good understanding of what everyone in my family will eat (for the most part), and I’m completely okay with it, but sometimes you just have to look out for number one. This girl wanted peppers.
Since we’re speaking honestly. What’s not to love about a slightly softened roasted pepper piled with a mountain of spiced pork sausage, mixed together with fire roasted tomatoes, and melted parmesan cheese holding it all together? Maybe the somewhat taste-less quinoa (hold up quinoa lovers, I’m not a hater), however with its health benefits it’s hard not to love. See for yourself.
- high in fiber
- gluten-free
- high in protein with all the essential amino acids
- low on the glycemic index
- high in antioxidants
Cue the heart-eye emojis.
For my family, it was what’s on the inside that counted when we gobbled this dinner down and gobble they did, just not the bell peppers. I served this stuffing with a side of Mars family favorite veggies for everyone else, but for this veggie lover I enjoyed my peppers fully filled and spilling over the edges.
There’s something to be said for the simple dinner that allows you to toss all the ingredients into a skillet, do a couple of stirs and tosses, and then stuff it all into a vegetable for a short amount of roasting.
It’s easy and I guess you don’t have to stuff the stuffing into a pepper, but oh really you must! It’s the perfect combination unless of course, you wanted to make it into some sort of a lettuce wrap, maybe a taco even, and then we’d have an entirely new post ahead of us.
As in life it all comes down to what’s on the inside counting the most and this Sausage and Quinoa Stuffed Pepper recipe is no exception, just do me a favor and stuff the peppers.
Sausage and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Equipment
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Medium-Sized Skillet
- Rimmed Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Sausage
- 1 medium Yellow Onion diced
- 4 Garlic Cloves minced
- 1 cup Cooked Quinoa
- 14 ounce can Fire Roasted Tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons Onion Powder
- 2 teaspoons Oregano
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Grated Parmesan
- 4 Bell Peppers seeded and sliced in half
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. In a large skillet over medium-high heat brown the ground sausage by breaking it up into bits. Once browned add the chopped onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes more. Remove from heat.
- Stir in the cooked quinoa, fire-roasted tomatoes, onion powder, oregano, salt, and 1/2 cup of the parmesan cheese.
- Slice the bell peppers in half and scrape out the seeds using a spoon. Place peppers on a lightly greased baking sheet. Spoon the sausage mixture into each half of the peppers and top with the remaining parmesan cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the peppers become tender.