or (also ugly)
unbound-host -C <(echo -e stubzone: example.com\\nstub-addr: 127.0.0.1 at 53)
In that case, a here-document document is more useful as in
unbound-host -C <<-!EOF-Config
# config stuff, shell variables possible as in
stubzone: $STUB_ZONE
!EOF-Config
jaap