Roasted Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers (Printable)
Creamy goat cheese stuffed into sweet mini peppers and roasted until golden, a perfect Mediterranean appetizer.
# What You'll Need:
→ Vegetables
01 - 16 mini sweet peppers
→ Filling
02 - 6 oz fresh goat cheese (chèvre)
03 - 2 tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped
04 - 2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
05 - 1 garlic clove, minced
06 - 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
07 - 1 tsp lemon zest
08 - 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
09 - 1/4 tsp sea salt
→ Garnish
10 - 1 tbsp pine nuts, toasted (optional)
11 - Fresh herbs, to serve
# How To Make:
01 - Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
02 - Wash the mini peppers. Slice each pepper lengthwise and carefully remove the seeds and membranes, keeping the halves intact.
03 - In a mixing bowl, combine the goat cheese, chives, parsley, garlic, olive oil, lemon zest, black pepper, and salt. Stir until smooth and well blended.
04 - Generously fill each pepper half with the goat cheese mixture using a spoon or piping bag.
05 - Place the stuffed peppers on the prepared baking sheet, spaced evenly apart.
06 - Roast in the preheated oven for 18–20 minutes until the peppers are tender and the cheese is lightly golden on top.
07 - Remove from the oven. Garnish with toasted pine nuts and additional fresh herbs if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature.
# Expert Tips:
01 -
- They look impossibly elegant but take almost no effort, which makes you feel like a genius at gatherings.
- The contrast between the charred sweet pepper and the creamy tangy filling is the kind of flavor combination that makes people close their eyes when they bite in.
02 -
- Do not skip lining the baking sheet because melted goat cheese will stick stubbornly to bare metal and you will lose half your filling when you try to lift the peppers off.
- Overfilling the peppers causes the cheese to spill over the sides during roasting, so aim for a gentle mound rather than a towering heap.
03 -
- A piping bag with a wide tip makes filling the pepper halves dramatically faster and cleaner than using a spoon, and a zip top bag with the corner snipped off works just as well in a pinch.
- Toasting the pine nuts in a dry skillet over low heat with constant attention prevents them from burning, and they go from golden to bitter in seconds so never walk away from the pan.