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Take the classic stuffed peppers and turn them into a lasagna! Layered with familiar flavors, this vegan stuffed pepper lasagna is going to be a dinner favorite!
While there are plenty of recipes out there on how to make stuffed peppers, even some lasagna stuffed peppers where classic lasagna flavors are stuffed into the whole bell pepper, however, I have not found a lasagna with stuffed pepper flavors!
If I find different, I will update this to reflect my research!
This lasagna was so good and reminds me of my favorite vegan stuffed pepper soup, and it utilizes my super easy to make marinara sauce!
🥘Ingredients
These are the basic ingredients needed to make your lasagna, everything else is simply an addon.
If you want cheese, you can certainly use a vegan ricotta -I really like kite hill, it's also the only one I can find, haha-
I also like using potato starch to kind of bind the filling meat mixture. It just helps to hold it together better when cutting into and plating.
See recipe card for quantities.
🔪Instructions
Be sure to preheat your oven to 350 F before starting anything else
Step One - In a large enough pot, start boiling your water and add lasagna noodles and cook according to package directions.
Step Two - While your noodles are boiling, get the TVP soaking in water to soften it up.
Step Three - In a saute pan add diced up bell peppers and cook until starting to turn translucent.
Step Four - Turn heat down to medium low and add in all seasonings. If not on a gas stove, you may need to remove from heat for a few minutes.
Step Five - Mix everything well, it should look like the picture where the bell peppers are coated in spices and everything is dark brown.
Step Six - Add in the TVP and mix everything well. If things are starting to stick, add a tablespoon or two of water to deglaze the pan.
Step Seven - Allow the mixture to cook for a few minutes and brown a bit more.
Step Eight - Add in the rice.
Step Nine - Mix the rice into the mixture. If you are using a binder such as potato starch or otherwise, add it in now and mix well.
Step Ten - Add in your choice of cheese. For mine, I used Violife shreds as that's what I had available. You can do the same, or just use no cheese.
Step Eleven - Grease a 9x9 inch baking dish with oil or butter.
Step Twelve - layer pasta marinara sauce on the bottom of the glass baking dish. Not too much, just a thin layer is fine and it is okay if you still see the bottom of the dish.
Step Thirteen - Layer at least 4 pasta noodles long ways on top of the marinara sauce. The noodles may give you trouble when pulling them out of the water. Unless someone has a good method of doing this!
Step Fourteen - On top of the first layer of lasagna noodles, sprinkle some cheese (or spread if using a ricotta type cheese), but not too much.
Step Fifteen - Add a thin layer of the meat and bell pepper mixture. Try to cover the whole top of the noodles and leave as little visible as possible while making sure you have enough filling for the second layer.
Step Sixteen - To the meat and bell pepper mixture layer, add a little bit more cheese.
Step Seventeen - Add a layer of sauce once again. Don't go too heavy on it, just a thin layer that covers most of the mixture and cheese.
Step Eighteen - Next, add another layer of 4 noodles again, then cheese, and so on. Repeat all steps until you have the above photo with a layer of noodles and top layer of cheese shreds (or whichever cheese you choose.) If you're not using cheese, top with a layer of marinara sauce.
Finally, cover the baking dish with foil and place into the oven to bake.
See recipe card for exact steps and numbers.
👩🏻🍳Cook's Tip
If you find the cheese is not melting to your liking, depending on which type of cheese you're using, spray the top with some water before covering. The moisture should melt that cheese so much better!
📖Substitutions
There are so many other ways you can make this stuffed pepper lasagna even better!
- Spicy - Add in extra chili powder or even cayenne pepper or chopped up jalapenos for a spicy kick that everyone will surely enjoy!
- Add other veggies- if you enjoy onions, they would be a delicious addition to this lasagna, as well as carrots!
- Gluten free - Replace the lasagna noodles with a gluten free version and you've got a totally gf lasagna!
🍱Storage
Storage is pretty easy!
Refrigerator - Store in airtight container for up to 5 days.
Freezer - You can freeze this lasagna for up to 3 months. I would portion the sizes and wrap for individual servings.
Reheat - Reheat in the oven at 400 F, 200 C for 10 minutes or in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.
Need more dinner ideas? I've got you covered!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Stuffed Pepper Lasagna
Equipment
- 1 9x9 glass baking dish
- 1 saute pan
- 1 large pot
- 1 spoon or spatula
- 1 pair of grabbers optional for pulling noodles out of hot water.
- 1 Knife
Ingredients
- 8 lasagna noodles amount is for 3 layers in 9x9 dish; see notes
- 6 cups water divided 4:2; see notes
- 1 cup cooked white rice can sub brown
- 1 cup TVP dry
- 1 tablespoon sugar more or less for your tastes
- 1 cup diced bell pepper should be one whole bell pepper
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon salt more or less to taste
- ½ tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups shredded cheese optional; divided; see notes
- 1 tablespoon potato starch optional
- 1 ½ cups homemade marinara recipe optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F 180 °C
- In a large pot, bring 4 cups of water to boil. If you need more water, add more.6 cups water
- While waiting on the water to boil, dice up a whole bell pepper as well as placing the TVP into a bowl and covering with 1 ½ cups water. Allow to sit and absorb the water.1 cup TVP, 1 cup diced bell pepper, 6 cups water
- Once water is boiling, add lasagna noodles and cook according to package directions.8 lasagna noodles
- While the noodles are boiling, start sauteing your bell peppers in a frying pan on medium high heat. If using a pan that is not non-stick, add a little oil.1 cup diced bell pepper
- Cook bell peppers until just starting to become translucent, and add all seasonings/spices/etc. Mix well.1 tablespoon sugar, 1 cup diced bell pepper, 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 tablespoon cumin, 1 teaspoon paprika, ⅛ teaspoon salt, ½ tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon potato starch
- Turn down the heat to medium low and add in TVP granuals that should have absorbed all of the water and become softened. It is okay if there are still some hard pieces. Mix the bell peppers, seasonings and TVP together well and allow to cook for a few minutes.1 cup TVP
- Next, add in the rice and mix around.1 cup cooked white rice
- Once everything is well combined, add in a small handful of cheese shreds (if using) and the potato starch (if using) and mix everything together once more.2 cups shredded cheese
- At this time your lasagna noodles should be cooked or very close. Go ahead and cut the heat to them and start assembling your lasagna.8 lasagna noodles
- In a 9x9 dish, grease or butter the bottom, then add a light layer of marinara. Do not be concerned with covering the bottom of the dish.1 ½ cups homemade marinara recipe
- Lay 4 lasagna noodles long ways in the dish. It is okay if you need to overlap just a little.8 lasagna noodles
- Add a sprinkle of cheese if using.2 cups shredded cheese
- Spread a thin layer of the meat mixture on top of the cheese (or noodles if skipping cheese).1 cup cooked white rice, 1 cup TVP, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 cup diced bell pepper, 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 tablespoon cumin, 1 teaspoon paprika, ½ tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon potato starch
- Next spread a little more cheese and then some marinara. Again, this does not have to be perfect.2 cups shredded cheese, 1 ½ cups homemade marinara recipe
- To that, add another layer of 4 lasagna noodles and repeat the process again until you have 4 more noodles as the top layer, top with either cheese and sauce, or just sauce.8 lasagna noodles, 2 cups shredded cheese, 1 ½ cups homemade marinara recipe
- Bake for 30 minutes and serve!
Notes
- If you think you will need more noodles, definitely cook more. I could have added another layer to this lasagna, so depending on how big you want yours, this is up to you!
- Water will be divided slightly with 6 cups going for the lasagna noodles and up to 2 cups for the TVP rehydrating. You may not use all of the water or you may need more. This is a general baseline.
- If you are using violife shredded mozzarella cheese, you will end up using the whole bag for this recipe. I only did a small handful into the meat mixture and sprinkled an even sprinkle throughout the layers and had just enough to spread over the top.
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