This classic stuffed peppers recipe features a rainbow of sweet redyellowand orange bell peppers filled with a rice and ground beef mixture. This is an easyfamily-friendly dinner idea any night of the week and can even be made in advance.
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“We reallyreally like this recipe. We’ve made it several times and tweak it a bit each timebased on our mood. We’ve used ground beefturkey and Italian sausage. I LOVE that you can change up the recipe to your liking and it still turns out terrific.” -GaryFoodieCrush reader
You Can Have These Weeknight-Friendly Stuffed Peppers on the Table in an Hour
Ever since I was a starry eyed pre-teenI’ve been a fan of drawing rainbows. Now I eat them.
But as a kidI wrinkled my nose at the sight those orbed vegetablesand when they showed up on my dinner plateI plotted how to ditch every single bite in a napkin that was slipped slyly to the dog anxiously waiting under the table. I was a kidand eating a whole bell pepper even if it was stuffed with ground beef was not my idea of dinner. Nowit’s my favorite part!
As an adulteating the food you hated as a kid suddenly becomes not. that. bad. and sometimes reallyreally good. So much so that I make these ground beef and rice stuffed peppers recipe on repeat pretty much all year long.
Enjoy!
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
Customize the filling using what you have on hand. This is one of those throw-what-you-have-in-the-fridge type of recipes. Use my portions as guidelines but definitely put on your experimental hat when choosing ingredients.
Blanch the peppers to shorten the bake time. I always blanch the peppers briefly in the microwave to get the cooking process started while I work on making the filling.
Keep your peppers from falling over! To prevent the stuffed peppers from falling overuse a baking dish that snugly fits the peppers. The peppers shrink as they cookso pack them in tightly when rawand they’ll soften and fall a bit with heat. Another surefire way to keep them standing up straight is to trim the bottom of the pepper. This gives the bell peppers a flat surface to stand on by evening out their rollicking bottoms.
The Main Ingredients
The full recipewith amountscan be found in the recipe card below.
- Bell peppers — Today’s selection of peppers comes from a mix of grocery store varieties (redyellow and orange) and ultra local farmer’s market (more yellows and purple) for a rainbow of sweetness begging to be stuffed. If you prefer green peppersfor sure go for it and use them instead.
- Lean ground beef — I choose 90% lean hamburger meat to prevent the filling from tasting greasy.
- Mushrooms — Use what you’ve gotbe it white buttoncreminior portobello.
- Cooked white rice — Mediumlong grain white rice or jasmine rice is the rice I use most often in stuffed peppers. But brown riceSpanish riceor other grains like farro or quinoa in these peppers are terrific options too.
- Diced tomatoes + tomato paste — Canned tomatoes are easy on the wallet and provide lots of moisture and flavor to the filling. Tomato paste lends the filling a been-simmering-for-hours flavor minus the time commitment.
- Cornceleryonion and garlic — Mix and match the veggies and aromatics to create different flavor and texture profiles.
- Cheese — I added some grated fontinabut you could use Monterey jack or mozzarella or whatever’s on hand.
- Spices — I raided my spice cabinet and wound up using tried and true Italian staples like dried basiloreganoand red pepper flakes to flavor the filling.
Recipe Variations
- Swap the white rice for cooked brown ricewild ricequinoafarroor another favorite grain.
- Omit the rice entirely for a high-proteinlow-carb variation of this dish.
- Replace the ground beef with ground Italian sausage (mild or spicy)ground chickenor ground pork will all work. If using a leaner ground meatlike chicken or turkeyyou might need to add extra spices and / or oil to the pan since they’re drier and less flavorful than beef.
- Use a different cheese or omit entirely. Shredded Parmesancrumbled fetamedium cheddaror Pepper Jack could all be substituted.
- Make them Mexican-inspired with this easy Mexican stuffed pepper recipe.
How to Make Stuffed Bell Peppers with Ground Beef and Rice
- Brown the ground beef. Adding juicybrowned meat adds loads of flavor to this dishso be sure not to skip this step. Brown the meat before adding the vegetableswhere they will soften and gain flavorand add the seasoning afterward to simmer and meld the flavors.
- Simmer the filling. Stir in the canned tomato products and spicesthen simmer for 15 to 20 minutes to give the flavors time to meld. Stir in the rice lastcooking just long enough to warm it up (but not so long that it turns mushy).
Heidi’s Tip: This is a great recipe to use up leftover cooked rice. Orwhile the meat is cookingprepare the white rice or other grain you’re adding to the pepper mixtureand stir it into the meat and vegetables just before filling the peppers.
- Blanch the peppers (my secret time saver!). I always pre-cook my peppers by adding them to a microwave-safe baking dish and sprinkling the interior of the peppers with a bit of kosher saltthen adding ¼ cup water to the bottom of the dish. Cover the peppers and give them a 5 minute blast in the microwave to pre-cook and soften them.
Heidi’s Tip: Cut the tops off of the peppers to stuff the whole thing with beefy goodness. Orif you prefer smaller portionscut the peppers in half and serve open faced.
- Stuffthen bake. Pack those peppers with the hot fillingsprinkle liberally with cheesethen bake until the cheese is golden and the bell peppers are soft.
Make-Ahead Option
You can assemble these ground beef stuffed bell peppers in advance by blanching and filling themthen refrigerating for up to 2 days. When ready to bakeset on the counter while the oven preheats so they don’t go in fridge-cold.
Once bakedthe peppers will last up to 4 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer. Frozen stuffed peppers can be reheated in the microwave or oven from frozenno need to thaw first!
If you make this recipeplease let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating belowleave a comment to tell us what you thinkand tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
THE BEST Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound 90% lean ground beef
- 4 mushrooms chopped
- 3 ears fresh corn kernals (or 1 ½ cups frozen corn)
- 2 ribs celery chopped thinly
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 (14.5 ounce) cans petite diced tomatoes with juice
- 2 tablespoons concentrated tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons basil
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 ½ cups cooked long grain white rice
- ¼ cup chopped Italian parsley
- 6 bell peppers
- 1 cup shredded fontina cheese or monterey jack cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Prepare the filling. Brown the ground beef in a large fry pan over medium high heat for 5 minutes or until cooked almost through. Add the mushroomscorn kernelschopped celeryonion and garlic and cook until vegetables are softened. Stir in the diced tomatoestomato pastebasiloregano and red pepper flakes.
- Simmer. Season with kosher salt and ground pepper to taste and cook for 15-20 minutes.
- Add the cooked rice. Stir in cooked rice and chopped parsley and cook for another 5 minutes or until the rice is warmed through.
- Prepare the peppers. Meanwhilecut off the tops of the peppers and spoon out the ribs and seedsthen rinse. Lightly sprinkle the inside of the peppers with kosher salt and place in a microwave safe dish with ¼ cup water. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 5 minutes or until they start to soften.
- Bake. Transfer to a 3 quart baking dish and fill the peppers with the hot meat and rice mixture. Sprinkle the tops with cheese and bake for 20 minutes or until peppers are tender and cheese is browned. Serve hot.
Notes
Nutrition
FAQs
If you blanch the bell peppers first as instructedyou can then stuff them with the warm filling and cook in the oven for 20 minutes or until fork-tender and the cheese begins to bubble.
Absolutely! Freeze stuffed peppers after cooking them in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. I like to freeze them in individual servings for lunch or pull out for a quick-to-heat dinner.
To reheat frozen stuffed peppersmicrowave in a microwave-safe container for 20 minutes on HIGH heat or until warmed inside. To cook in the ovenpreheat to 375°F and cook for 1 hour.
Simple: you overcooked them! If you know your oven runs hotstart checking the stuffed peppers at the 15-minute mark to be safe.
What to Serve With Stuffed Peppers
More Easy Stuffed Pepper Recipes
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Tricia
I followed this recipe exactly and I really wanted to love itbut we just didn’t. It was just OK but not something I will ever make again.
Sorry it didn’t meet your expectations Tricia. Maybe you’d like to try my Mexican Stuffed Peppers next time instead?
Robin Byrd
Easy and delicious! Did not microwave the bell peppers as we prefer them kind of crunchy so filled and placed directly in oven. Thanks for yet another terrific food experience. :-)
Sounds delicious Robin!
DYAN
I love this recipe! I have used itailan sausage when I didn’t have beef on hand. I have cut up a zucchini or yellow sqaush when I needed to use them up. It always turns out with so much flavor! Thank you so much for sharing!
Love that you add what you have on hand Dyan! THanks for the comment and 5 star rating!
Lisa w.
Can you freeze the left-over ground beef mixture??
Hayley
Hi Lisa! Absolutely. We hope you enjoy these!