Stuffed bell peppers recipe

Making stuffed peppers has never been more delicious with these roasted stuffed peppers! Meat stuffed peppers is an easy recipe, inexpensive, versatile and makes a great weekend meal! Heavenly deliciousness at its best!

Stuffed peppers with meat and rice

Roasted stuffed peppers made with red and yellow bell peppers, filled meat and rice
These roasted stuffed peppers is a favorite recipe in my family! My mom used to make it pretty often when we were kids because it’s so delicious and insanely easy to make! Like all moms, mine never had enough time on hand to play with sophisticated recipes but wanted to make the best meals for her family. This recipe for stuffed bell peppers with rice is truly one of the best!

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Making stuffed peppers

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Stuffed bell peppers
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Stuffed bell peppers recipe

Author: Petro Neagu

Ingredients

  • 99-10 medium large bell peppers I like to use bright colored ones, like orange, yellow and red
  • 2 lbs ground meat of choice I used 1/4 pork and 3/4 beef
  • 3 medium onions finely diced
  • 2/3 cup rice
  • 1/2 bunch fresh dill finely chopped
  • 1/2 bunch fresh parsley finely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 medium eggs
  • 8 oz tomato sauce 
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon peppercorns
  • 2 large pots

Instructions

  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat.
  • While the water boils, cut the top off of peppers, about 1/2" from the stem end, and remove seeds. Wash peppers.
  • Heat a stove grill and add peppers. Slightly roast on all sides. Remove from the stove and allow to cool a little. (a little tip on roasting: feel free to use the stove top if you don't have a stove grill; heat a large non stick skillet and roast the peppers about 2 minutes on each side). Once roasted, you may choose to peel the peppers; I personally don't; as I mentioned,, I like it when the smoke from the roasted peppers transfers into the recipe through cooking. I never found that keeping the peel is an inconvenience
  • Meanwhile mix onions, ground meat, rice, dill, parsley, ground pepper, salt, eggs and 1/2 the tomato sauce until very well combined.
  • Stuff about 3/4 of each pepper with the meat mixture then layer in circles in a large pot (only one layer of peppers don't stack them). The pot should also be tall enough to fit the peppers covered in water.
  • Pour the boiling water over the peppers just enough to cover them, add bay leaves, peppercorns and the remaining tomato sauce. 
  • Cover with a large plate which should sit directly on the peppers then add a lid to your pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to lowest and keep simmering.
  • Simmer for 2 hours, making sure the water has not evaporated completely (add a little more if you notice is gone, so check every once in a while). When the time expires you should have a thick sauce covering the peppers about half way.
  • Enjoy your stuffed bell peppers with yogurt or sour cream and/or pickled hot chili peppers.
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Roasted stuffed peppers

On top of being easy peasy, these roasted stuffed peppers are also pretty versatile. Mom used to stuff the peppers with ground pork meat while I like a combination of beef and pork (more beef if possible) or even ground turkey when I want to go super healthy. I make these yummy easy stuffed peppers with turkey for my husband since he’s such a big fan of healthy food but loves savory meals too. And I honestly believe this is the best stuffed pepper recipe ever!

There’s also room for swapping or playing around with the other ingredients too. For example, we use rice to mix with the ground meat and fill these awesome roasted stuffed peppers while other people like to use bread crumbs or semolina. I am also a big fan of roasting the bell peppers, I think roasting gives these meat stuffed peppers so much more flavor! I love that subtle smokey taste it gives to the recipe.

Meat stuffed peppers

We also like to keep this recipe simple and only add finely diced onion, while you may like to use some other veggies in the mix. We love adding all sorts of fresh herbs though, but some people might not be so keen on herbs and opt for skipping them. How do I know all these? Because everyone in my extended family cooks the stuffed peppers differently! I’d say play around with this recipe as much as you like to make it truly yours and match your taste! Just don’t over do it cause, you know, less is more, right?

Before proceeding to the recipe, I’d like to give you one more tip I found through experimenting with this recipe. I personally like to use just yellow, orange and red bell peppers and not the green ones which I find a bit bitter. My taste buds are not happy with that (otherwise subtle) bitterness, they’re simply big fans of the sweetness in the red, yellow and orange peppers so we’re practically banning the green bell peppers from our stuffed bell peppers recipe.

Make the recipe 

Roasted stuffed peppers

Stuffed bell peppers

Ingredients:

  • 9-10 medium large bell peppers (I like to use bright colored ones, like orange, yellow and red)
  • 2 lbs ground meat of choice (I used 1/4 pork and 3/4 beef)
  • 3 medium onions, finely diced
  • 2/3 cup rice
  • 1/2 bunch fresh dill, finely chopped
  • half a bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 medium eggs
  • 8 oz tomato sauce
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon peppercorns
  • 2 large pots

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Directions:

  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat.
  • While the water boils, cut the top off of peppers, about 1/2″ from the stem end, and remove seeds. Wash peppers.
  • Heat a stove grill and add peppers. Slightly roast on all sides. Remove from the stove and allow to cool a little. (a little tip on roasting: feel free to use the stove top if you don’t have a stove grill; heat a large non stick skillet and roast the peppers about 2 minutes on each side). Once roasted, you may choose to peel the peppers; I personally don’t; as I mentioned,, I like it when the smoke from the roasted peppers transfers into the recipe through cooking. I never found that keeping the peel is an inconvenience
  • Meanwhile mix onions, ground meat, rice, dill, parsley, ground pepper, salt, eggs and 1/2 the tomato sauce until very well combined.
  • Stuff about 3/4 of each pepper with the meat mixture then layer in circles in a large pot (only one layer of peppers don’t stack them). The pot should also be tall enough to fit the peppers covered in water.
  • Pour the boiling water over the peppers just enough to cover them, add bay leaves, peppercorns and the remaining tomato sauce.
  • Cover with a large plate which should sit directly on the peppers then add a lid to your pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to lowest and keep simmering.
  • Simmer for 2 hours, making sure the water has not evaporated completely (add a little more if you notice is gone, so check every once in a while). When the time expires you should have a thick sauce covering the peppers about half way.
  • Enjoy your stuffed bell peppers with yogurt or sour cream and/or pickled hot chili peppers.

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about petro

ABOUT PETRO

Hi, I’m Petro, author and founder of Easy Peasy Creative Ideas. Sewist, crafter, avid DIY-er, foodie, photographer, homemaker and mommy to one. I’m an expert at coming up with quick, clever sewing tips, recycling crafts and simple, easy recipes! You can find my ideas featured in reputable publications such as Country Living, Good House Keeping, Yahoo News, WikiHow, Shutterfly, Parade, Brit & Co and more. Thanks for stopping by and hope you’ll stay for a while, get to know me better and come back another time. Stick around for real fun projects! Read more…

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5 Comments

  1. Ashley Diana says:

    This recipe looks super yummy Petro! The bright peppers definitely caught my attention! Your photos are really detailed and up close which I love- so useful for when i try this out! ????

    1. Aww, thanks so much! Have a wonderful week!

  2. swathiiyer says:

    Looks delicious thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop, pinning. and tweeting.

  3. My mom and grandma made stuffed peppers all the time too. Yours look wonderful! Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday!

  4. Wow…this is a dish I haven’t had in ages! It looks so good, too, with your bright peppers. The yellow and orange are my absolute favorite! I’ll be pinning this recipe…I can’t wait to make it!