Wash the peppers and cut off the top inch of the pepper and stem. Clean out the seeds and white membrane from the inside of the pepper.
Dice the cut tops of the peppers into small pieces.
Make the filling
Dice onion and fry it in some olive oil and a sprinkle of salt for about 3-5 minutes over low heat.
Turn up the heat to medium and add the diced pepper tops and Italian herb seasoning. Cook for about 3 more minutes.
Add the protein of choice, like "beef" crumbles, vegan Italian sausage, beans, or cooked lentils and saute for a few more minutes.
Add a grain of choice like rice, quinoa, or couscous and stir well.
Pour in a jar of spaghetti sauce to the cooked veggies and protein.
Add 1 cup of vegan cheese and stir well.
Arrange your peppers in a baking dish and fill with the mixture.
Top with the remaining 1/2 cup of vegan cheese.
Bake the peppers
Cover your dish with foil or a lid and bake covered for 35 minutes.
Take out of the oven and remove the foil. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes.
Video
Notes
Slow cooker method
Follow steps 1 -9 the same as you would for a traditional stuffed pepper.
Pour 1 cup of vegetable broth into the slow cooker.
Arrange your peppers in your crock-pot/slow cooker and fill yhe peppers with the stuffed pepper mixture.
Top with vegan cheese and set to low and cook for 4 1/2 - 5 1/2 hours until peppers are soft.
How to make mini stuffed peppersThis recipe works great for an appetizer too! To make a mini version of this recipe, cut the recipe in half (you will not need nearly as much filling) and use mini multi-colored peppers.
Cut the tops off of these small peppers then cut them in half and remove any seeds and white membrane.
Place on a cookie sheet and spoon on the pepper filling. Top with vegan cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove foil and bake again for about 8 minutes.
Allow cooling for about 15 minutes before serving as finger food.
Mexican-style stuffed peppersSwap the Italian seasoning for taco seasoning and the spaghetti sauce for 3 cups of salsa. You can also add corn, beans, and squash to the stuffing mix.