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The wonderful world of stuffed peppers is huge but our chickpea stuffed peppers are a celebration of the taste and texture. To create the best (vegan) filling we use crispy chickpeas and envelope them in a gloriously brave spicy yet sweet red pepper sauce flavoured with paprika and fresh green herbs. Full of taste, full of vibrancy, this will satisfy the eyes as well as the belly. This twist on a Spanish tapas classic, all encased in a whole baked sweet red pepper is totally plant-based, healthy and a tasty stuffed peppers recipe perfect to get your mouth watering.
Chickpea stuffed peppers that are big on flavour
Stuffed peppers are delicious and one of the many vegetarian meals that we don’t think about being vegetarian or even vegan. Even the most ardent meat eaters will yearn for a bowl of spicy penne arrabbiata, ratatouille or aubergine parmigiana without giving a second thought to it being vegetarian and stuffed peppers are in the same league. Of course here at Flavourise, when we want to vegetarianise or veganise a dish, it is important for us to share recipes that are big on flavour and texture and remain one of those fun taste experiences that you will want to create time and time again, without thinking that you are missing out on something.
Stuffed peppers are versatile
Classically, peppers are stuffed with everything from leftovers to rice or grains and wonderfully herby cheeses and there is something evidently pan-European cuisine and even American with stuffed peppers. You only need to Google it and your screen is filled with stuffed peppers with ground meat, Greek, Italian stuffed peppers or even taco stuffed peppers. You can put different cheese such as feta, goat's cheese (one of our all-time favourites) or mozzarella inside with either herbs or a tomato sauce. Make it spicy, make it crunchy, it is so versatile and easy - the list just goes on and on.
What’s more, this is so versatile in size too, you can make them for a light lunch or part as a tapas or antipasti selection or double up as a main course.
Inspired by Patatas Bravas
For this particular chickpea stuffed peppers recipe, we have focused on the sweet red peppers themselves for inspiration, specifically looking at where else these peppers are the star of the show. This led us straight into Spain and to one of their most iconic dishes - patatas bravas or brave potatoes as they are beautifully golden crispy roasted potato bites smothered in a sweet but spicy red pepper and tomato sauce with smoked paprika. You can of course use potatoes to fill the peppers with patatas bravas but just to add a little more of a protein hit to this dish we have substituted the potato for some flash-fried crispy chickpeas. The fiery pepper sauce just adds more oomph to what is essentially a celebration of everything red pepper.
Red peppers are matured green peppers and as such have more health benefits to offer. Eating vegan, which many of us are trying to do more of, helps us maximise our vegetable intake. For a start they are high in Vitamin C which is a powerful antioxidant that is needed for at least 300 metabolic reactions including the production of collagen which is a major structural protein in the body. Collagen is essential for the growth and repair of healthy skin, bones, teeth and reproduction.
Vitamin C not only regenerates other antioxidants such as Vitamin E it helps the absorption of iron and has numerous other benefits such as protecting cholesterol against oxidation as it is the oxidised cholesterol that is associated with the hardening and furring up of arteries.
Contained within red peppers is also a healthy balance of magnesium and Vitamin B6. This mix has been reported to aid anxiety, especially anxiety related to hormonal stress.
Why we love chickpeas
Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans are most commonly known as the ingredient in hummus and are high in dietary fibre. For our stuffed peppers recipe, we use them as a substitute for the potatoes used in patatas bravas, which obviously you could use as a substitute, however, they do not near require the amount of cooking required to make them satisfactorily crispy. Just a few minutes fried in some heart-healthy extra virgin olive oil and they are great. They can also be enjoyed exactly like this as a snack with a little added salt and spices. They are also a great source of omega-3 oils that predominantly come from oily fish and other plant sources such as flaxseed, walnuts and beans such as soy. They provide a large amount of protein too which for people who don’t consume animal products can be harder to obtain in your diet.
The fibre contained in chickpeas is also healthy as this binds onto toxins and helps maintain a healthy gut and digestive system. Eating fibre also aids in weight management by helping you feel fuller for longer, reducing the want of overeating.
How to make chickpea stuffed peppers
There are really only three stages to making this dish which is all very easy.
Step 1: make the Bravas sauce. For ease, just add chopped red onion, one chopped garlic clove and one cup of chopped roasted red peppers from a jar to a pan with some olive oil. Fry for about five minutes until the onions soften. Stir in some tomato puree, oregano, parsley, chilli, cumin and a good couple of teaspoons of paprika and simply blend together.
Step 2: drain a can of garbanzo/chickpeas and reserve the Aquafaba (leftover water) to use in other dishes as a replacement for egg. Pour some extra virgin olive oil into a pan and flash fry the chickpeas for up to ten minutes or until they go crispy. Add them to the sauce
Step 3: chop the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds. Simply stuff the peppers as full as you can with chickpea Bravas and put them under the grill/ broiler on the hottest heat for only ten minutes. Turn once in the middle and you will end up with the perfect texture and piping hot ready to serve.
Add onto some salad or alongside a tapas or antipasti selection or keep in the fridge ready to cook on a BBQ. Whatever you serve it with, we’re sure you will love our chickpea stuffed peppers.
More delicious recipes with chickpeas
Asian Chickpea Salad with Kale and Baby Sweetcorn (Warm Salad!)
Vegan Bean Salad Recipe with Jackfruit (Quick + Easy)
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Chickpea stuffed peppers recipe
Ingredients
- 400 g (1 drained tin) of garbanzo beans / chickpeas
- 4 fresh sweet red peppers, tops cut off and seeds removed
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
For the Bravas sauce
- 1 chopped red onion
- 1 cup or 120g of chopped roasted red peppers (you can get them in a jar)
- 1 chopped garlic clove
- 1 tablespoon of tomato puree (sundried tomato purée works well too)
- 1 teaspoon of oregano
- 1 teaspoon of parsley
- ½ teaspoon of chili flakes (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon of cumin
- 2 teaspoon of smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon of olive oil
Instructions
Make the chickpea stuffing
- Add the onion, roasted red peppers and garlic to a pan of olive oil. Fry for 5 minutes until the onions have softened. Add the tomato purée, oregano, parsley, chilli, cumin and paprika and stir in.
- Put the mixture into a beaker and use a hand blender to process until no large pieces remain. Set aside.
- Put a clean frying pan on the hob and add some olive oil. Add the drained garbanzo beans/chickpeas and fry tossing every so often for about 10 minutes until crispy. Add together in the sauce.
Stuff the peppers
- Stuff the peppers using a small spoon and place in a roasting pan/tin. Place under a hot grill/broiler for 10 minutes turning once for a nice slightly charred skin.
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