Romanian Stuffed Peppers (Ardei Umpluti)

4.64 from 72 votes

Romanian Stuffed Peppers (Ardei Umpluti)

I grew up with these Romanian Stuffed Peppers (Ardei Umpluti) and to this day it's one of my favorite dishes ever. Using sweet yellow Hungarian peppers, stuffed with a mixture of ground pork, rice and herbs and slowly cooked in a simple tomato sauce with sour cream.

Prep Time15

Cook Time2 30

Total Time2 45

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: Romanian

Keyword: ardei umpluti, romanian stuffed peppers, stuffed peppers

Servings:

Calories: 291kcal

Author: Joanna Cismaru

Ingredients

For Peppers

10 medium peppers
1½ pound ground pork
½ cup rice uncooked
1 onion chopped
1 egg
¼ cup fresh dill chopped
¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

For Sauce

2 cups tomato puree or passata
½ cup sour cream
2 cups water
½ teaspoon salt or to taste
¼ teaspoon pepper or to taste

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Arrange a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat to 375℉.
Prepare the peppers by cutting off the tops of the peppers. Remove and discard any seeds and membranes from the insides of the peppers. To keep the peppers from falling over while cooking, cut a small flat piece off the bottom of the pepper so that it has a more even bottom.
In a large bowl combine the ground pork, rice, onion, egg, dill, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix well. Stuff each pepper really well and arrange them in a big pot standing up. I used a large 5 quart oval Dutch Oven with a lid.
To make the sauce whisk together the tomato puree with the sour cream, water, salt and pepper. Pour this over the peppers. Add more water if needed, there should be enough water to come about half way up the peppers.
Cover the pot with a lid or aluminum foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours covered. Remove the lid and continue baking for another 45 minutes to an hour uncovered. The peppers are ready when you insert a fork in a pepper and it goes easy through the skin of the pepper and meat, and the rice is cooked.
Serve these hot with lots of sauce and a dollop of sour cream on top, along side some crusty bread for dipping in the sauce.

Video

Notes

These stuffed peppers are best when made with sweet yellow Hungarian peppers or sweet yellow dove bell peppers.
If you do not have tomato puree or passata you can also use tomato paste instead, about 3 or 4 tbsp and just whisk it with enough water to cover the peppers about half way through.
These peppers will keep for 3 - 5 days if stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
Be sure the meat is cooked all the way through and that the peppers are entirely cool before placing in the freezer. Put the peppers in a freezer safe container or wrap them individually with plastic wrap before placing in a freezer bag. This will keep for 6 - 8 months. Allow the dish to thaw completely in the fridge before allowing to warm back up to temperature in the oven.

Nutrition