Stuffed Bell Peppers
Stuffed Bell Peppers are a beautiful serving vessel for the most simple comfort food. I like to use a variety of yellow, orange, and red bell peppers, but I recently found green bell peppers at a crazy low price. So, with my overstock of bell peppers, some leftover rice, and pantry staples, stuffed bell peppers were a great dinner solution.
I’ve been making these or variations of this recipe for many years and they’re a little different every time depending on what I might have on hand. This is the basic recipe but if we have a bit of marinara sauce I’ll throw that in or, if we don’t have sausage I’ll use only ground beef. I’ve specified pepper jack cheese here, but fontina, mozzarella, or even cream cheese are all acceptable. We usually have a bit of leftover rice on hand but you can certainly cook some up just for this dish. Or, if you’re on a low carb diet, skip it! Use whatever is on hand. And, if there are leftovers from this recipe, it’s great in soup or pasta sauce. Just chop it up and add it to the pan!
For some reason, stuffing a vegetable automatically makes me feel like the dish is extremely healthy. It’s not much more or less healthy than anything else we make, but it makes me feel healthier. I like to serve them with some homemade bread and salad or roasted vegetables. But, these are really a complete meal by themselves.
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Equipment
- 9×9 baking dish
Ingredients
- 3 Bell Peppers, cut in half, top to bottom, remove stem, seeds, and membrane
- 1 cup cooked long grain white rice leftover rice works great
- 1½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 med onion, minced
- 6 oz ground beef
- 6 oz Italian sausage
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 14oz can diced tomatoes, drained, 1/4 cup tomato juice reserved
- 5 oz Pepper jack cheese about 1¼ cup
- 2 tbsp parsley, chopped
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 1-2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon salt, add bell peppers and cook for about 3 minutes until slightly softened.
- Remove peppers from water with a spider or slotted spoon drain on paper towels
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and adjust rack to middle position
- Heat oil in a 12 inch skillet over med-high heat. Add onion and cook until softened and slightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add ground beef and sausage. Cook until no longer pink, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Remove from heat, stir in rice, tomatoes, 1 cup of cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper to taste.
- Mix together ketchup and reserved tomato juice in a small bowl.
- Spray baking dish and place peppers, cut sides up in baking dish. Divide the filling evenly between the peppers. Spoon 2 tablespoons of ketchup mixture over filling and sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon of the remaining cheese.
- Bake until the cheese is browned and the filling is heated through, 25-30 minutes. Serve immediately.
