Lebanese stuffed peppers are a comforting dish of tender bell peppers filled with aromatic rice, lentils, and fragrant spices, then baked in a rich tomato sauce.
Every time I think of this dish, I can vividly picture my childhood oven with my mom placing the prepared stuffed bell peppers inside. The aromas that filled the air while they were baking were divine. She would stuff them with a meat and rice filling, and I’ve taken her amazing recipe and adapted it to make it vegan to fit my plant-based diet.
Lebanese stuffed vegetables, known as mahshi, include stuffed silverbeet (mahshi silik), vegetarian cabbage rolls, stuffed eggplant, and rice filled zucchini. Vegan Lebanese stuffed peppers, or flayfleh mahshiyeh, are one of my favorite variations and I know you're going to love the flavors of this recipe too.

Ingredients
The complete list of ingredients with measurements, can be found in the full recipe card below.
Bell peppers (capsicum) should be firm when touched. As these are being cut to form a base and lid, it’s best to buy taller ones - I usually go for the extra large size too. You can opt for any colored capsicums you like, I like using different colors too and find it interesting the difference in flavors between them.
Rice, I tend to stick to basmati as it cooks the quickest.
Brown lentils either dry or canned can be used. If using dry lentils, be sure to cook them prior to using them in this vegan / vegetarian stuffed capsicum recipe. The brown lentils will replace the minced/ground meat normally used in Lebanese capsicums.
Olive oil will help keep the stuffing from drying out.
Pine nuts can be swapped with slivered almonds if desired.
Instructions
Preparing the Peppers
Cut the tops off the bell peppers in line with the core, keeping the tops as lids. Remove seeds and membranes, then finely dice the core to mix into the stuffing later. Arrange the peppers snugly in a deep casserole dish.
Making the Filling
In a dry pan over medium-high heat, toast the pine nuts until golden and set aside. In a saucepan, heat oil and sauté onion, carrot, and garlic until soft. Stir in lentils, then add rice, cilantro, mint, parsley, salt, and pepper. Pour in water, cover, and cook for about 6 minutes until the rice is parboiled. Let it rest for 2 minutes before straining, reserving the cooking liquid for the sauce (this boosts the flavors). Mix the diced pepper cores (I like to minimize waste where possible) and toasted pine nuts into the rice.
Preparing the Sauce
Whisk together the reserved rice liquid, tomato paste, olive oil, ground coriander, water, salt, and pepper. Adjust the consistency if needed.
Stuffing & Baking
Loosely fill each pepper with the rice mixture, leaving about 1 cm from the rim. Avoid packing it too tightly—this helps the rice cook evenly.
Pour sauce into each pepper until just below the rice, then add the remaining sauce to the casserole dish, ensuring a 1 cm depth to create steam and prevent burning. Place the tops back on.
Cover and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (360°F) for 45–60 minutes, checking at 45 minutes. If the peppers are tender and the rice is fully cooked, they’re ready. Let them rest for 10–15 minutes before serving with extra sauce from the dish.
Janelle's Tips
- Use a paring knife to cut the tops off cleanly, ensuring a snug fit when placing them back on.
- A deep casserole dish with a lid (or foil cover) is essential for steaming.
- If there’s extra space, fill gaps with stuffed tomatoes for variety, this recipe will have extra stuffing to accommodate this.
- Leftover rice filling can be cooked and enjoyed separately.
Other stuffed foods to try are stuffed acorn squash or this vegan stuffed spaghetti squash.
Storage
Vegan Lebanese stuffed peppers freeze well. Once they’ve cooled completely, place each one upright in a snap-lock bag and freeze individually for up to three months. When you’re ready to eat, just thaw and reheat.
For short-term storage, keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days. Make sure they’ve fully cooled before refrigerating to maintain the best texture.
Did you make this? I'd love to know! Leave me a comment below with a ★★★★★ star rating or tag @plantbasedfolk on social media.
Recipe
Lebanese Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 8 large Bell peppers (capsicum)
Stuffing
- ½ cup Pine nuts dry roasted
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- ½ small Onion finely diced
- ½ small Carrot finely diced
- 2 cloves Garlic crushed
- 1 cup Brown lentils cooked and drained
- 1½ cups Basmati rice
- 2 tablespoon Cilantro (Coriander) finely sliced
- 1 tablespoon Mint fresh (finely sliced) or ground
- 2½ tablespoon Parsley finely sliced
- 1 med Tomato finely diced
- ½ tablespoon Salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon Cracked black pepper
- 3 cups Water
Sauce
- 4 tablespoon Tomato paste heaping
- 4 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Ground coriander
- 2 cups water use leftover rice juice, if more is needed to make 2 cups, add water
- ½ teaspoon Cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Salt or to taste
Optional Sauce for Dish
- 1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
- 1 cup Water
Instructions
Preparing capsicum for stuffing
- Cut the bell pepper tops off, in line with where the middle of the core would be. Deseed and take out any membrane. The tops will be used as lids. Finely dice the membrane/core to combine this into the rice stuffing in step 4.
Stuffing
- Over medium - high heat, dry toast pine nuts until golden brown. Set aside.
- In a saucepan add oil, onion, carrot, garlic and sweat until the onion is translucent. Add lentils and stir through well. Add rice, sliced cilantro (coriander), mint, parsley, tomato and salt and pepper, combined well. Add water and cook until rice is parboiled, approx. 6 minutes. Do not open the lid for another 2 minutes.
- Strain rice into a bowl and keep the leftover juice. Combine pine nuts and bell pepper membrane through the rice. Set both rice and juice aside.
Sauce
- Whisk together tomato paste, olive oil, ground coriander, water (use leftover rice juice to make up the 2 cups, if more is needed use water), salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Place the bell peppers snugly into a casserole dish. Loosely fill them up with the filling leaving a 1cm (⅓") gap from the rim to allow the rice to swell whilst baking.
- Pour sauce into each bell pepper (capsicum) until it is just under the top of the rice. Pour the rest into the casserole dish. Ensuring it is at least 1cm (⅓") deep. If required top-up with a mixture of water and tomato paste. Place the lids onto each pepper.
- Cover the casserole dish and bake in a preheated oven 180C (360F) for 45-60 minutes, until rice and peppers are cooked. Let it stand for 10-15 minutes with the lid on before serving warm. Serve each portion individually with some of the sauce from the bottom of the casserole dish.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
N.B., nutrition info is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. This will vary based on the specific ingredients you use.
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CK
Absolutely delicious, thank you! Only change I made was to add a tablespoon of pomegranate molasses to the sauce (love that tang against the unctuous vegetables)
Jon
These capsicums turned out really good. Had some extra rice from the stuffing, cooked it like I would for normal rice, really good. Everyone complimented this dish
Michelle
Stuffed bell peppers are always perfect for a quick weeknight dinner. Love how easy and flavorful of a recipe this is! I did cook my rice a little longer and still amazing!
Georgia
very rich! just had these beauties for lunch! Outstanding recipe!
Melanie
I love the fresh (and delicious) ingredients AND colorful presentation!! Thanks so much for this fantastic recipe!
Kareena
These stuffed peppers are incredible! Just saying...
Natalie
Oh, my mother used to make me this amazing meal. So glad I can make it myself, thanks!
Di
These stuffed bell peppers were so delicious! I loved how easy they were and the spices were bold! nnever had the Lebanese version, so glad I tried something new
Lee
The flavors of the stuffed peppers are delicious. Will be making these again. Thanks.
Zena
i really enjoyed how tender each pepper was. It held up cooking and kept the meal neat