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These classic Stuffed Bell Peppers are filled with beef, rice, and tomatoes, and they taste better than you remember. Assemble them a day or two ahead for a quick 30-minute meal during the week.
I love a good Stuffed Peppers recipe because it functions like a complete meal in and of itself, wrapped up in a juicy bell pepper.
It’s also ripe for your personal customizations. Do you prefer ground turkey? Swap that in for the beef. Sitting on some extra quinoa? Cook that instead of the rice. You can also try other filling ingredients (different vegetables, nuts, dried, fruit, or spices) and really make this recipe your own.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Bell peppers: Try to buy peppers that are evenly sized and that can sit up on their own. If you can only find peppers that are lop-sided, don’t worry. Just trim off a thin layer of the bottom with a sharp knife to make them stand up.
- Tomatoes: If you prefer to drain the canned tomatoes, reserve ¼ cup of the juice and add it with the tomatoes in step 6.
Step-by-step instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot over high heat, bring 4 quarts water and 1 tablespoon salt to boil. Add the bell peppers and cook until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes.
- Remove the peppers from the water, allowing any excess water to drain back into the pot. Place the peppers, cut-side down, on a paper-towel lined plate.
- Return the water to a boil. Add the rice and cook uncovered until tender, about 13-15 minutes. Drain thoroughly and transfer to a large bowl.
- Meanwhile, in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil until shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in beef and cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes, breaking up clumps with a wooden spoon.
- Stir in the garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Transfer beef mixture to the bowl with rice. Add the tomatoes and their juice, ketchup, parsley, and 1 cup of the cheese and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper (I like ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper).
- Place the peppers, cut-side up, in a 9 by 9-inch baking dish. Divide the filling evenly among the peppers.
- Sprinkle them with the remaining ¼ cup cheese.
- Bake until the cheese is browned and the filling is heated through, about 30 minutes.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 4 hearty, colorful Stuffed Peppers filled with meat, rice, and spices. The recipe doubles or triples easily for larger gatherings.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: 2 or 3 days in advance, make the filling and stuff the peppers, but don’t sprinkle on the extra cheese. Wrap the baking dish with foil and refrigerate. When you’re ready for dinner, sprinkle on the cheese, re-wrap in foil, and bake covered 350 for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 10 minutes longer, until these cheese is bubbly and browning.
- Different grains: Make this recipe with cooked quinoa, brown rice, farro, or another whole grain in place of rice. Couscous would be good too.
- Mexican stuffed peppers: Use chorizo in place of ground beef (or ground beef and homemade taco seasoning) and crumbled queso fresco, tomatoes, chopped scallions, and cilantro in the filling.
- Vegetarian stuffed peppers. Chipotle peppers add a smoky, spicy kick to this meatless version.
- Greek-style stuffed peppers. Make the filling with ground lamb, golden raisins, oregano, mint, and lemon zest. Use crumbled feta cheese in place of Monterrey Jack.
- Italian-style. Crumbled Italian sausage, mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and garlic-butter bread crumbs.
Recipe FAQs
No, not technically, but I find the par-cooking step only takes a few extra minutes and is more than worth it. Some recipes have you pre-bake the peppers instead of boiling them which takes longer than the quick blanch we do here. If the peppers go in totally raw, they might come out a little crunchy (which isn’t a bad thing if you like that).
Serve extra sides that compliment the hearty, rustics flavors. Some of my favorite sides for stuffed peppers are:
• Roasted potatoes
• Roasted green beans
• Corn on the cob
• Potato wedges
• Rustic bread
• Dinner rolls
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Stuffed Bell Peppers
Ingredients
- 4 large bell peppers ½ inch trimmed off the top, stemmed, and seeded (see note 1)
- ½ cup long-grain white rice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 pound ground beef
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes undrained (see note 2)
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley minced, or 2 teaspoons dried, plus more for garnish
- 1 1/4 cups Monterey Jack cheese shredded
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot over high heat, bring 4 quarts water and 1 tablespoon salt to boil. Add the bell peppers and cook until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes.
- Remove the peppers from the water, allowing any excess water to drain back into the pot. Place the peppers, cut-side down, on a paper-towel lined plate.
- Return the water to a boil. Add the rice and cook uncovered until tender, about 13-15 minutes. Drain thoroughly and transfer to a large bowl.
- Meanwhile, in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil until shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in beef and cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes, breaking up clumps with a wooden spoon. Stir in the garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Transfer beef mixture to the bowl with rice. Add the tomatoes and their juice, ketchup, parsley, and 1 cup of the cheese and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper (I like ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper).
- Place the peppers, cut-side up, in a 9 by 9-inch baking dish. Divide the filling evenly among the peppers. Sprinkle them with the remaining ¼ cup cheese. Bake until the cheese is browned and the filling is heated through, about 30 minutes.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Bell peppers: Try to buy peppers that are evenly sized and that can sit up on their own. If you can only find peppers that are lop-sided, don’t worry. Just trim off a thin layer of the bottom with a sharp knife to make them stand up.
- Tomatoes: If you prefer to drain the canned tomatoes, reserve ¼ cup of the juice and add it with the tomatoes in step 6.
- Yield: This recipe makes 4 hearty, colorful Stuffed Peppers filled with meat, rice, and spices. The recipe doubles or triples easily for larger gatherings.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: 2 or 3 days in advance, make the filling and stuff the peppers, but don’t sprinkle on the extra cheese. Wrap the baking dish with foil and refrigerate. When you’re ready for dinner, sprinkle on the cheese, re-wrap in foil, and bake covered 350 for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 10 minutes longer, until these cheese is bubbly and browning.
Nutrition
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Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
This was such a good recipe. So flavorful and not super weird like some I have tried. Reminds me of my moms- but better! Shhh!! lol
This recipe makes perfect classic stuffed peppers. The only change I make is to cut the peppers in half and lay them on their sides. There is plenty of filling, you get twice as many with lots more surface for all that yummy cheese, and I could never get the peppers to stand up anyway!