These easy vegetarian stuffed tomatoes require few ingredients and are so delicious in the summertime when tomatoes, peppers and zucchini are at their peak.
This stuffed tomato recipe is great to prepare as a vegetarian or vegan side dish, starter or main dish and make a filling and delicious full meal when accompanied by a vegan Niçoise salad.
My husband, being Spanish, loves to tell me (proudly) how “Mediterranean” it is to stuff vegetables. Anytime I stuff anything, be it eggplant, peppers or tomatoes, I’m reminded of how Mediterranean it is.
Me, being vegetarian, I know how stuffed vegetables are an easy go-to when preparing a plant-based dish for a vegetarian or vegan guest.
Many, many a time I’ve been served stuffed vegetables of some sort when invited to an omni’s place for lunch or dinner.
Of course this is more than fine by me since I’ve never had a vegetable stuffed the same way more than once. I mean, what couldn’t you stuff into a vegetable? And depending on your choice of herbs and spices you could take any number of different directions.
These Mexican-spiced stuffed peppers are one of my easy Sunday lunch go-to’s and with this easy vegetarian stuffed tomatoes recipe I’ve gone in a more French Provencal direction with Mediterranean vegetables and fresh basil and parsley.
Since we’re going in a French direction here, why not make it a meal and serve these stuffed tomatoes as a side to vegan quiche Lorraine or this summertime French vegetable soup? Today I chose to prepare a vegan Niçoise salad to go along with my stuffed tomatoes.
Niçoise salad traditionally contains tuna but since there are so many other fresh and hearty elements to this salad, replacing the tuna with something else hardly seems necessary.
Furthermore, I chose to toss my salad rather than “compose” it, i.e. artfully arrange each element on the plate as one would do if one was in Nice.
So perhaps this salad is better entitles Niçoise-style or Niçoise-inspired, but it makes a great addition to a French-themed meal or even served on it’s own for a hearty, filling lunch!
Yield: Serves 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
This stuffed tomato recipe is great to prepare as a vegetarian or vegan side dish, starter or main dish and make a filling and delicious full meal when accompanied by a vegan Niçoise salad.
Ingredients
For the stuffed tomatoes
- 300 grams (10.5 oz) potatoes
- 8 medium-sized tomatoes
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 zucchini, diced
- Half a red pepper, diced
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Pepper, to taste
- Olive oil
For the vegan Niçoise salad
- 6 new potatoes
- 165 grams (6 oz) green beans, trimmed
- A head of romaine lettuce, chopped
- 230 grams (8 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- Half a red pepper, sliced
- 2 canned artichoke hearts, quartered
- 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
- A handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered
- A handful of olives, kalamata or something similar
For the dressing
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoons Dijon vinegar
- 1 shallot, diced
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoons salt
- Pepper, to taste
Instructions
For the easy vegetarian stuffed tomatoes
- Boil the potatoes until tender. Once drained and cooled, dice them.
- While the potatoes are boiling, cut the tops off the tomatoes and scrape out the insides with a spoon. Dice the flesh.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Heat a large pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil and the onion. Fry until soft and fragrant then add the garlic. Fry until fragrant and add the diced zucchini, red pepper and tomato flesh. Cook, stirring from time to time, for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Finally, stir through the diced potatoes, basil, parsley, salt and pepper.
- Arrange the tomatoes in a lightly-greased oven-proof dish. Sprinkle salt and pepper inside each tomato and fill them with spoonfuls of the vegetable filling. Put the tops of the tomatoes back on and drizzle a bit of olive oil over each tomato. Bake, uncovered, for 20 – 25 minutes.
For the vegan Niçoise salad
- Boil the potatoes until soft. Drain and cool. Slice in half.
- Boil the green beans until crisp-tender. Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Toss all the salad ingredients together. Combine all the dressing ingredients and drizzle over the salad.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 630Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 947mgCarbohydrates: 106gFiber: 22gSugar: 21gProtein: 20g
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