Naturally Gluten-Free Stuffed Peppers
Switching to a gluten-free diet often leads you to explore dishes that might have been overlooked before. Moreover, this dietary change frequently encourages a transition to whole, homemade meals—ensuring safety and avoiding harmful ingredients. Interestingly, many food allergies eventually reveal the diversity of available dishes, such as stuffed peppers.
This dish is a unique, stand-alone meal that doesn’t require a side. It can be made with meat or entirely vegetarian—the choice is yours. Just pick your filling.
For this dish, you’ll need sweet bell peppers (whole) and a good pot or casserole dish for simmering. I prefer to cook them in the oven, covered with a lid. This method makes the dish particularly tender and well-steamed.
Personally, I lean towards using smaller peppers—bite-sized. They’re easy to stuff and eat. However, larger peppers are more convenient to arrange in a pot or casserole.
For a meat filling (enough for 8 large peppers):
- 500g of ground meat of your choice
- 1 carrot
- 1 onion
- 1 tsp salt
- Spices to taste
Sauté the onion and carrot until golden and mix with the ground meat. Add salt and spices to the mixture.
For a mushroom filling:
- 1 cup of rice
- 500g of mushrooms
- 1 onion
- Salt and spices to taste
Cook the rice until half-done. Sauté the onion, then add chopped mushrooms and cook until they are half-cooked. Mix with the rice to create your filling.
Cut the tops off the peppers, removing the seeds and inner membranes. Stuff the peppers with your chosen filling and place them upright in a pot or casserole dish. Repeat this process with all the peppers.
In a bowl, mix half a can of tomato paste with 1 cup of vegan milk (I use homemade cashew milk), 1 tsp of salt, and spices to taste. Carefully stir and pour the sauce over the stuffed peppers. The sauce should cover the peppers entirely. If there isn’t enough, feel free to add water. Cover with a lid and bake in the oven at 180°C (350°F) for about an hour. You can also simmer them on the stovetop over very low heat for at least an hour, until the peppers become soft.
This dish is delicious on its own, but you can also enjoy it with a slice of fresh gluten-free bread, such as a sourdough loaf. There are endless variations for the stuffing: with buckwheat, rice and chickpeas, and many others. This dish can be adapted to suit any mood or diet!
