We had a ton of leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving, so we made this dish! It’s both simple and delicious. Even my finicky son, who only eats 15 different things, had 5 pancakes! To add an extra flavorful splash, drizzle a little more sesame oil on top of the pancakes. An excellent substitute for potato latkes and a fantastic side dish for anything!
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 45 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 8 ounces whole wheat orzo pasta
- 12 large orange bell peppers
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 10 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 (8 ounce) package sliced fresh white mushrooms
- 1 (8 ounce) package sliced cremini mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 (28 ounce) can diced Italian paste tomatoes (such as San Marzano)
- 1 (14 ounce) can whole Italian paste tomatoes (such as San Marzano), drained and torn into large chunks
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 zucchini, shredded
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 8 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons torn fresh basil leaves
- 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook orzo in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain orzo and transfer to a large bowl.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Cut a 1-inch slice from tops of orange bell peppers, discard tops, and remove seeds from peppers. Set peppers upright into a roasting pan, fitting them tightly so they stay in place.
- Melt butter and olive oil over medium-low heat; cook and stir 10 cloves of garlic in the hot butter mixture until garlic is golden brown, about 8 minutes. Stir white and cremini mushrooms and balsamic vinegar into garlic. Cook and stir until mushrooms soften, about 10 minutes. Drain liquid and mix mushrooms and garlic into orzo.
- Mix diced tomatoes and their juice, torn whole tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, zucchini, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, 8 cloves garlic, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper into orzo mixture. Scoop into bell peppers. Pour vegetable broth into bottom of roasting pan and cover pan tightly with aluminum foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven until peppers are tender and filling is cooked through, about 50 minutes. Remove foil and sprinkle each pepper with 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese. Return to oven and bake uncovered until Parmesan cheese topping is golden and bubbly, about 15 more minutes.
- Use any combination of red, yellow, or orange peppers.
- These reheat or freeze very well. To freeze, wrap each pepper tightly in foil and store in plastic containers with tightly sealed lids. To reheat, place pepper in a cake pan (leave wrapped in foil) and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes. Then open foil so top is exposed and continue to bake for 15 more minutes. You can also just remove from foil and microwave, but re-baking makes the Parmesan on top bubbly again.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 232 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 30 g |
| Cholesterol | 18 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 13 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 508 mg |
| Sugars | 9 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Healthy and delicious! i followed the recipe except i used green and yellow bell pepper ( cant find orange bell peppers at the store). i also added spinach in it. my husband loved it. probably cook it again. thanks for the recipe.
This is a good base vegetarian stuffed pepper recipe, where you can add or remove whatever suites you. I used brown rice and quartered the recipe since there are two of us. To speed up baking time I boil my peppers before stuffing them. Because they were already cooked, rather than a soup base in the tray I surrounded the peppers with the extra stuffing. Great Flavours, love the balsamic flavour in the mushrooms and kudos for not being afraid of garlic. We love garlic!
Took more than twice as long than the recipe stated so kids ended up eating subway. Results were just okay and for as long as it took to make them it simply wasn’t worth it. I definitely didn’t think they were as good as the reviews suggested and my family didn’t like them either. Kids ended up having it for dinner the next night. They aren’t picky eaters and they were not amused and frankly I didn’t blame them. I made them just as directed.
Made this recipe but cut it in half. Added a lb of ground turkey, used Parnassians cheese instead of Mozzarella and didn’t add any salt or veg stock.. Came out great… Best stuffed peppers yet!!!
My family enjoyed this recipe and that includes my husband who is a big meat eater! I did use orange peppers as they were cheaper and I used white rice vs orzo because I had it on hand.
Very good, even my picky 5 year old ate them up. Will be making them again, but may add a little bit more spice, I had left out the crushed peppers the first time. This one would be good for a crowd because you can make large batches.
i made a few changes to the recipe,i didnt use any mushrooms(they aren’t really my thing) and instead i used grape tomatoes and sundried tomatoes with parmesan and mozarella cheese on top,put it in my toaster oven for about 2 minutes until the cheese was melted and took it back out,topped it with spinach,colby jack cheese,cheddar cheese and more parmesan and mozarella and put a few more tomatoes and about 5 black olives on top and it was delicious!I haad it with chips and salsa and the whole meal by itself had 27 grams of protien,and i know it is hard to get protien with a vegetarian diet!
excellent. have made these twice and everyone loves them
My pickiest eaters loved it. Thanks do much!
These are excellent! I halved the recipe. I only had ground Oregano so I only used about a teaspoon, maybe a tad more, but a whole tablespoon would have been way too much…otherwise I made it exactly as written. Oh, except my local Kroger didn’t have Cremini mushrooms so I just used extra buttons. The flavor is very good, both my husband and I couldn’t believe there was no meat. Next time I will make a full batch and freeze them for lunches. This recipe is a keeper! Oh, beware, these were a tad too spicy for my husband, so if you have a wimpy palette go easy on the crushed red pepper (half it, don’t omit it)…and use fresh basil, it really makes the flavors pop.
Made it exactly as directed and it was delicious!!!
Changed this up a bit, added spinach,gazebo beans and other veggies on hand. Used brown rice instead of orzo, everyone loved this including my teens!
These taste great! The recipe is easy to follow and you don’t need too many ingredients either.
Will make again