Classic Stuffed Peppers
What is it about the smell of classic stuffed peppers that gets you right in the feels? It’s the best of simple ingredients–fresh beef, onions, tomatoes, and seasonings that come together in their own little portable, edible bowls.
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But here’s my secret:
While these classic stuffed peppers are really tasty, I’ve been ruined on them.
We ate them alot as a kid but with their basic ingredients, no fuss and no frills, they really are the best slate for you to experiment with.
I know you will enjoy them.
How to make these classic stuffed peppers
- Make these stuffed peppers with any rice you like. I prefer brown but I only had white on hand so I went with it. It does need to be cooked before you put it in the peppers.
- Ground turkey would also work well in place of the beef if you want a healthier stuffed pepper recipe. They are already fairly healthy, but you can lighten them further by changing the meat you use.
- Remember that if your peppers won’t stand up in the dish, just cut a little bit off the bottom. Try not to cut into the pepper though. You don’t want to lose your filling. I used three very large peppers in this recipe. If your peppers are smaller you can probably fill 5-6 easily.
- Swap the tomato sauce for pasta sauce and some fancy parmesan cheese for an Italian flare.
- If you’re in to Mexican flavors, use salsa and pepper jack cheese mixed in. So many options! I have a great post on how to use leftover taco meat any extra filling would work great in.
Why do you boil stuffed peppers?
Bell peppers are quite firm and may take longer to cook properly if they don’t get a bit of a jump start.
Cut off the tops and remove the seeds and any large ribs but try not to break the pepper. Place the pepper into boiling water for a minute or so then turn upside down to drain before filling.
The goal isn’t to cook them to the point of being totally soft–just softer than what they were so that they will finish cooking in the oven with the filling.
You could also pre-bake the empty peppers for 5 to 7 minutes before adding the stuffed pepper recipe filling, then finish baking for the full time in the recipe.
Save time and skip cooking rice with this trick
Unless you keep cooked rice on hand, waiting 20 minutes or more for a batch to cook can feel like one extra step in your day you just don’t have time for. Instead, cut right to the chase with Thrive Life freeze dried brown or white rice. Simply refresh the cooked rice by pouring over a bit of warm water and in just a few minutes it’s ready to go in your next recipe.
To make these stuffed peppers ahead:
Cook the filling, stuff the peppers and place them in a baking dish. Wrap them in plastic wrap and place them in the fridge till ready to bake, up to 2 days ahead.
A note on freezing: Don’t freeze the peppers stuffed or they will go soggy on you when they thaw. The filling freezes great though!
To reheat: You may need to cover them loosely with some foil for the first half of their bake time to keep them from drying out, then uncover them for the last half or until they are hot all the way through.
Can I pack the meat in raw?
I’ve had a few readers who have done this over the years and I just can’t support it. Where is all that grease from the beef going to go? And the cook time is going to be much longer while the dense filling cooks through. This isn’t a method I would recommend.
How to make stuffed peppers in one pan
You could also deconstruct this and brown the beef, drain and add the remaining ingredients. Dice the peppers and add them to the skillet then bake it up in in the oven. Easy stuff! And it would make ahead like a dream. Even better for busy nights.
What to serve with stuffed peppers
This stuffed pepper recipe is basically a meal in one but try these sides to round out your meal:
Classic Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 4 very large green bell peppers or about 5 small ones
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1/2 pound ground beef or turkey
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup cooked brown or white rice
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds. Place the peppers in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a simmer and cook 3 minutes, just until the peppers are slightly soft. Drain, rinse with cool water and set aside on paper towels to drain.
- In a skillet, heat the ground beef and onion and cook until no pink remains. Drain.
- Add the salt, pepper, rice, garlic powder and half of the tomato sauce.
- Stir well and spoon into the peppers.
- Top with the other half of the tomato sauce.
- Bake in an ungreased dish at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Serve warm.
Making now I never cook my peppers and I do make a lot and then freeze them don’t thaw very good Thank you for this Recipe
Right Lou–any vegetable that you freeze won’t thaw well. All the water is forced out of the cells of the peppers and then you end up with mush. That’s why I recommend only freezing the filling. I hope you enjoy them. –Rachel
I made these with turkey sausage & cauliflower rice, onions, celery, Mrs Dash onion/garlic powder. I didn’t simmer peppers in water beforehand, as I prefer them a lil more firm.
Topped w/mozzarella cheese!
Delicious!!!
I made these twice in the last week. The first time I made them as directed and they were very, very good. The second time I changed the tomato sauce by using to small cans of tomato paste (5.5 oz.each) and adding V8 juice to thin (about 6 oz.), doubled the garlic, because I like garlic, and added 1/8 tsp Italian Seasoning and 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper. Both times I topped with grated parmesan. Excellent results.
An excellent inexpensive and easy recipe, thanks for posting it.
That sounds great Don!
I doubled the recipe and used two 24 oz cans of pasta sauce. Also, I used leftover white rice from Chinese take-out. They turned out delicious although I would have preferred a little extra sauce. Also, I had to increase the bake time by 10 minutes.
Hey Lisa, bake times will be dictated by the size of the peppers and any variations in oven temperature (all ovens are different). Glad you enjoyed them! –Rachel
I am going to make this in a few minutes using fresh garden ingredients. Do you recommend freezing stuffed peppers? I would like to make a large batch.
Hey Elizabeth, I recommend freezing the filling but not the stuffed peppers themselves. Anytime you freeze a vegetable it forces the water out of the cell membrane and when they thaw they release all that water leaving your peppers mushy and soft. If you don’t mind that, give it a go but I wouldn’t risk it. –Rachel
These are wonderful!!! I made them with my garden peppers and homemade tomato sauce for dinner with my mom!!!
Wonderful Tammy! I’m so glad you liked them. –Rachel
I stuff mine with uncooked rice and raw ground beef. I cook them in a pot in tomato side. Why do I cook the rice?
Hey Robin, I assume you’re asking me why I cook my rice? I like to control the amount of grease that’s going to be produced if I were to stuff the peppers with raw ground beef. Yes, the rice would soak it up but I just like being able to control how much of that fat is in the final recipe. –Rachel
I made these for my 85 year old dad who was missing my mother’s home cooking. He absolutely loved them! I’m making him another double batch for his freezer. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Oh that makes my heart happy Sheryl. I’m so glad they were good for his heart and his body! –Rachel
It was a very easy recipe to follow and the results were perfect. My family loved them and I will pass the recipe on to others!
I was all excited about your recipe until I saw the about of sodium and potassium amounts. My husband is on a restricted diet and cannot consume height amounts of sodium and potassium. Is the amount of these elements for your whole recipe or per serving. I would love to try this recipe depending on your response. Thank you.
Hey Cheryl, I went in and took a look at the software that auto generates the nutritional information and did find one small error with the sodium so that’s come way down. However, the potassium is still high because of the can of tomato sauce (not pasta sauce, but tomato sauce) that is needed. Now the trouble is that the nutritional info is very, very approximate because the size of your peppers may vary widely from the size of mine. The amounts you see in the information are the whole filling recipe values divided by 4. What I would recommend is to make the whole batch of filling, divide it in fourths, then fill his pepper and see if it takes all of it, or just fill it half way and you can cut the sodium and potassium numbers in half again. I hope that helps some. –Rachel