This Easy Stuffed Peppers Recipe is made by filling the peppers withthe most delicious beef rice filling, then cooked in a cream sauce. You’ll love this for dinner or leftovers!
My mom and dad were going to a vegetable farm, so they invited me to come along. This offer I could not pass up. I love picking my own vegetables when I can, because not only is this the cheapest, but it also allows you to get the best-tasting vegetables.
You just can’t compare a tomato or pepper that ripened in a box to the one that had the pleasure of doing so in the open air, under the sun.
Anyway, back to the peppers. I picked a ton of them. Seeing so many of them rotting because no one was picking them, I was trying to save them. You know me, always trying to save the world, one pepper at a time.
I tend to lose it when I see the abundance and the beauty of fresh vegetables just growing on the field or maybe it’s the fresh air that my hits my brain, I don’t know, but I always hoard more into my bags than I should. Every. Single. Time.
Coming home from my garden field trip, with bags full of huge, thick, ripe, juicy sweet Bell Peppers, my natural instinct was to go ahead and make Stuffed Bell Peppers.
Making the perfect Stuffed Peppers Recipe
When making this Stuffed Peppers Recipe you have to be careful with the meat to rice ratio for the stuffing! But rest assured, following my Stuffed Peppers Recipe you won’t have any problems. Now go ahead try it!
Can I make vegetarian Stuffed Peppers?
If you want this recipe to be vegetarian, all you have to do is omit the meat! It’s that easy!
Ingredients:
- bell peppers
- ground beef chuck
- ground chicken breast or turkey
- round rice or sushi rice
- carrots, grated
- onions, diced
- diced tomatoes, diced
- cloves garlic, peeled, pressed or finely chopped
- green scallions, chopped
- leaf parsley, chopped
- black pepper, ground
- salt
- olive oil
- Sriracha Sauce or any other Hot sauce (Optional)
Cooking Broth - heavy whipping cream
- bay leaves
- salt
How to make Easy Stuffed Peppers Recipe:
- Rinse rice under cold water. Add it to a medium sized pot and add boiling water, cover with a lid and cook on medium-high heat. Pre-cook the rice, don’t fully cook it. The rice will cook through when baking with the meat.
- Bring water to a boil, turn heat down to low and cook until all the water has evaporated. Once all liquid is gone, fluff up with a fork and allow to cool.
- If you grind your own meat do so while rice is cooking.
How to hollow peppers for Stuffed Peppers:
- Rinse peppers clean. With a knife cut off the top, and remove and clean the insides.
- Discard the stems and membranes, but keep the tops and bottoms of the pepper.
- Dice the reserved pepper tops for the filling. Set aside. Tip: when picking peppers always note that green peppers will be more bitter and red peppers will be sweeter.
Prep the vegetables.
- Dice the onion and tomatoes. Peel & grate the carrots. Chop the scallions & parsley. Mince the garlic.
Sauté the vegetables:
- In a skillet, heat oil on high heat. Once hot, add diced onions and brown them. Add carrots, cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Combine tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic, and hot sauce. Allow cooking for 10 minutes allowing all the moisture to evaporate. Cool mixture.
Bring the Stuffing together:
- In a large bowl, combine cooled rice & vegetable mix. Add meat & stir to distribute the meat evenly throughout. Then add the scallions, parsley, pepper & salt and mix again.
Fill the peppers:
- Fill peppers with the prepared mixture, making the peppers full, but not overflowing. The rice will further expand during cooking.
- Place the Stuffed Peppers into a baking dish that’s at least as tall as your peppers.
Make the cooking broth:
- Combine chicken broth with cream. If you don’t have chicken broth use chicken bullion cubes and water.
Fill the space around peppers:
- Pour the broth mixture outside the peppers, coming up about three-quarters up the pepper. Add bay leaves to the broth.
- Cover peppers with foil. Place peppers into a 425F preheated oven and bring the whole thing to a boil. Reduce heat to 350F and cook for another 30-50 minutes, until peppers are soft and rice is cooked through.
- Place in preheated oven of 425F and bring the peppers and broth mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to 350 and cook for another 30-50 minutes, until the pepper is soft and the rice is cooked through all the way in the middle.
To serve:
- When the peppers are cooked, remove them to a serving dish, and pour a spoon or two of the cooking liquid on top, then top with some grated cheese or a dollop of sour cream
Try these other Pepper Recipes:
- Stuffed Mini Peppers with Beef Rice – Another great Stuffed Peppers Recipe!
- Sweet Pepper Appetizer with Cheese – The perfect appetizer!
- Pickled Mini Bell Peppers Recipe – Roasted and marinated bell peppers.
Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe
5 from 2 votes
An Easy Stuffed Peppers Recipe. Soft flavorful Stuffed Bell Peppers with the most delicious beef rice filling, cooked in a cream sauce.
Author: Marina | Let the Baking Begin!
Course: Main Entree
Cuisine: American, Russian, Ukrainian
Keyword: bell pepper, stuffed bell peppers
Calories: 430 kcal
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 6 stuffed peppers
Ingredients
- 3/4cupsround rice or sushi rice
- 3/4cupchicken stock or water
- 6medium-sized bell peppers
- 1/2lbsground beef chuck80% lean / 20% fat OR 70% lean / 30 % fat will work (Note 1)
- 1/2lbsground chicken breast or turkey
- 1/2cupscarrotsgrated
- 1/2cupsonionsdiced
- 1/2cupsdiced tomatoesdiced
- 3clovesgarlicpressed or finely chopped
- 1/4cupsgreen scallionschopped
- 1/4cupflat leaf parsleychopped
- 1tspblack pepperground
- 1Tbspkosher salt(use less if using table salt)
- 1/4cupolive oil
- 1tspSriracha Sauce or any other Hot sauceOptional
Cooking Liquid
- Broth or Water + Chicken Bullion Cubes
- 1/2cupheavy whipping cream
- 2bay leaves
- Salt
US Customary - Metric
Instructions
How to make Stuffed Peppers:
Parboil rice: Rinse 3/4 cups rice under cold water. In a medium saucepot combine rice and 3/4 cup chicken broth or water, cover with a lid and cook over low heat until all water is evaporated (~10-15 min). Once all liquid is evaporated, fluff up with a fork and allow to cool.
Grind meat: If you grind your own meat, do this while the rice is cooking.
How to hallow peppers for Stuffed Peppers:
Rinse 4 to 6 medium peppers, scrubbing well around the stem with a brush. With a knife, cut off the top, then remove the membrane and any seeds from inside the pepper. Discard everything but the pepper and the trimmed off top.
Dice the reserved pepper tops for the filling. Set aside.
Tip:when picking peppers always note that green peppers will be more bitter and red peppers will be sweeter. I stay away from green peppers.
Prep the vegetables.
Peel & dice 1/2 cups onion. Peel & grate 1/2 cup carrots. Dice 1/2 cup tomatoes. Chop 1/4 cup scallions & 1/4 cup parsley. Peel & press 3 garlic.
Sauté the vegetables:
Add oil to the pan and set it over high heat. Once the oil is hot, add diced onions and brown them. Add carrots, stir the mixture and cook it for5 more minutes, stirring often. Add tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic and the hot sauce (optional), sautee and allow to cook for about 10 minutes allowing the moisture to evaporate. Let the mixture cool.
Bring the Stuffing together:
Once both the rice & the vegetable mixture is cool, add them to a large bowl and stir everything together to combine (mixer comes in really handy here).
Add 1/2 lb ground beef and 1/2 lb groud chicken & stir to distribute the meat evenly throughout. Add 1/4 cup scallions, 1/4 cup parsley, 1 tsp ground black pepper & 1 Tbsp kosher salt and stir everything once again. To check the mixture for salt, take a teaspoon of mixture and fry it in a hot pan for a minute or two until cooked. Taste it, add more seasoning according to your taste.
Fill the peppers:
Fill peppers with the prepared mixture, making the peppers full but not packing the filling tightly. The rice will further expand during cooking.
Put the filled peppers into a baking dish that is at least as tall as your peppers. Ideally you would want to have a Dutch oven or a baking dish that is at least 2-3 inches taller than the peppers. Mine was a 12 inch round cake pan, not perfect but did fine. If using a shallow pan like mine, make sure to put it onto a rimmed baking pan when in the oven.
Make the cooking broth:
Combine 1 1/2 cups chicken broth, then add 1/2[/adjustable] cup heavy cream. Taste the mixture and make sure it’s seasoned to taste. Depending on your baking dish and the size of your peppers you will need more or less. Try to keep the 3:1 ratio of broth to cream. The liquid should come 3/4 up the height of the pepper. This mixture is the secret to flavorful pepper, instead of unseasoned, flavorlessrubber pepper.
Fill the space around peppers & Bake:
Pour the broth-cream mixture around the peppers, then add the bay leaves.
Cover with aluminum foil (or lid) and seal against edges. If using a shallow cooking pan place it onto a jelly roll pan first to catch any dripping. Place in the preheated to 425F oven and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to 350F and cook for another 30-50 minutes or until the peppers are soft and the rice is cooked through all the way in the middle.
To serve:
When the peppers are cooked, remove them to a serving dish and pour a spoon or two of the cooking liquid on top, then top with some grated cheese or a dollop of sour cream.
Vegetarian:
To make the peppers vegetarian just omit the meat.
Recipe Notes
Note 1:
Using leaner than indicated meat will produce tougher filling.
Nutrition Facts
Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 430Calories from Fat 225
% Daily Value*
Fat 25g38%
Saturated Fat 9g56%
Cholesterol 78mg26%
Sodium 1420mg62%
Potassium 648mg19%
Carbohydrates 31g10%
Fiber 4g17%
Sugar 7g8%
Protein 18g36%
Vitamin A 6149IU123%
Vitamin C 161mg195%
Calcium 54mg5%
Iron 2mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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