Easiest Stuffed Peppers: $7 Vegan Meal For Three

It can often be hard to shop inexpensively as a vegan (especially in this economy…)

But the good news is that, with a little ingenuity and a little research, we can come up with some great vegan meals on the cheap.

What’s great about today’s meal is that not only is it only $7 for three servings, it also whips up in less than an hour.

There’s not a whole lot of hands-on work for this recipe either. Cooking the rice is the most involved part of this, which is even further simplified if you happen to have a rice cooker.

The Haul

The total for this recipe came to $7.37, and it will feed three people with pretty hearty servings.

We picked up just four ingredients: 3 green bell peppers, a bag of brown rice, a can of chili beans, and a jar of plain panko breadcrumbs.

We won’t use all of the rice or the breadcrumbs, so you will have some leftover too for another dish.

The Prep

We’ll get started by rinsing and cooking our rice. In the image above, I’ve highlighted which instructions to follow to get the correct amount of rice for this recipe.

Having a rice cooker greatly simplifies this step, but you can also cook it on the stove by following the directions on the bag.

Using a vegan butter substitute is optional as per the package, as is the use of salt. If you have salt in your pantry I would recommend using it.

While our rice cooks, we can wash and hollow out our peppers. You will end up with six halves, enough for each person to have two halves for their meal.

Place your pepper halves in a baking dish as shown in the image above. Oiling the pan is not necessary.

Once the rice is done cooking, add it to a bowl and mix in your chili beans.

If you happen to have some spices in your cupboard (like garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder and MSG, to name a few) they will go a long way if you add them. Just use what you have!

Use this filling to evenly fill your peppers (there should be a nice amount of filling for each pepper) and top with panko breadcrumbs for a little crunch.

If you have a small amount of cooking oil, it would be ideal to spray a little on top of the breadcrumbs to help them crisp up. Totally optional, though!

Bake the peppers at 350F for 20 minutes covered (I used aluminum foil) and 20 minutes uncovered. Then, dinner is served!

The Meal

These peppers are the perfect hearty meal for three (or side dish for six)! Seasoning (if possible) goes a long way on these.

I also like to serve my stuffed peppers with a drizzle of hot sauce, it’s my favorite way to eat them.

These come out to just $2.45 a serving and it serves three. They’re filling and cost-effective!

I hope you like this meal, and that it finds you doing well. From my kitchen to yours, enjoy!

Until next time, peace 🙂