Vegetarian Rice & Bean Casserole Easy Recipe

This Vegetarian Rice & Bean Casserole is an easy and healthy solution for getting dinner on the table. It can be made ahead and frozen so it's extremely quick to throw together.

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• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Storage
• Top Tip
• Recipe
• FAQ

If you need a fast, easy, vegetarian dinner idea, this Vegetarian Rice & Bean Casserole is perfect. It's delicious and satisfying, reheats like a dream and is hardy enough to win over meat eaters.

Vegetarian meals in my house have to be amazing because I live with a bunch of men who like protein. I mean, I like protein too, but do try to eat vegetarian regularly. If you are here looking for easy vegetarian recipes, try these other Make Healthy Easy meatless meals: Vegetarian Beans and Rice Dinner, Instant Pot Tomato Soup, Quick Chickpea Curry, and Vegan Refried Beans.

Ingredients

This recipe is made from common pantry staples found at your local grocery store. Here's what you'll need: 

• Green pepper - use 1-2 depending on how much vegetable you want in this. I personally like 2 bell peppers.
• 1 onion
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can whole kernel corn
• Cooked brown rice - I highly recommend using short grain brown rice because the texture is WAY better than long grain. See "tips" below for how to cook brown rice in the Instant Pot.
• Tomato paste - the kind in the tube is the only way to go.
• Cumin
• Salt and pepper
• Vegetable broth or stock
• Shredded cheese
• Green onions (optional)
• Toppings of choice

Instructions

Cook 1 cup of brown rice in 1 ¾ cups of liquid. Or use, precooked rice.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and sauté for 3 minutes, until mostly soft.

Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring continually. Remove skillet from heat.

In a large bowl add cooked rice, both beans, cooked peppers and onions, corn, spices and tomato paste. Gently fold ingredients to combine.

Pour in the vegetable broth and cheese. Fold to combine.

Pour the mixture in an even layer into a casserole dish or 9 x 13 pan. Bake recipe for 25 minutes at 375 degrees F. Enjoy.

Substitutions

• Green Peppers - Use any color of pepper you like for this vegetarian casserole, such as red bell pepper. If you want some heat in this dish, try one poblano or add a minced jalapeño pepper in when sautéing the peppers and onions.
• Brown Rice - You can use any type of rice or grain you like, such as white rice, but it does need to be pre-cooked. Boil in a bag or microwaveable rice will work just fine.
• Black or Pinto Beans - Other types of beans will work in this recipe, such as white beans or great northern beans. Just use 2 cans total, or add more if you like.
• Vegetable Stock/Broth - Chicken broth can be used in this recipe instead of veggie broth. It will change the "vegetarian" status however.
• Canned Corn - This can be substituted with about 1 cup of fresh, cooked corn or eliminated all together.
• Cheese - You can use any type of shredded cheese you like but I recommend cheddar, taco blend, or Monterey Jack cheese.

Variations

As is, this perfect comfort food recipe is vegetarian, but not vegan.

• Vegan - Eliminate the cheese or use a vegan cheese to make this recipe vegan.
• Dairy-free - Eliminate the cheese or use a vegan cheese.
• Non-vegetarian - Almost any meat can be added to this but I would suggest diced cooked chicken, any crumbled cooked meat (such as ground beef), or kielbasa.

Storage

This easy dinner recipe can be made ahead up until baking and stored in the fridge for 24 hours. To freeze, pour the contents from the mixing bowl in step 3 into a freezer safe container or sealed bag. You can bake the contents from frozen (although it may not fit in the baking dish correctly at first), or defrost for several hours in the fridge first before baking.

Top Tip

Any time you have leftover rice from another recipe, store it in the freezer for this great recipe. You can also cook the peppers and onions ahead of time and freeze that so that this really comes together quickly.

If you prefer cooking rice in the pressure cooker, combine one cup of dry rice and 1 ¾ cup water in the IP. Cook on manual pressure for 25 minutes. Let it naturally release steam if able but it is OK to manually release it if needed.

This is one of my favorite recipes for meal prep because it reheats so well. The next time you need an easy meal, I hope you'll remember this vegetarian casserole recipe.

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