These Italian Stuffed Peppers are incredibly simple to make, with only 15 minute prep time, you’ll end up with a sinfully delicious and sophisticated dinner. Classic Italian comfort food that’s not only tasty but really healthy and good for you!
As you all are well aware, I grew up in a Romanian house hold – which means that we ate more than our fair share of stuffed peppers. It might even be the flavor soundtrack of my childhood! Perfectly tender pepper, fluffy and flavorful rice, perfectly seasoned juicy beef, and lots of rich tomato sauce for it all to swim in.
Does anyone else feel this same connection to their childhood foods? I find myself going back to this simple dish and trying out different spins and takes on it regularly. Which brings me to these Italian stuffed peppers.
Stuffed Peppers Italian Style
So what’s the big difference? Well I chocked these peppers full of Italian seasoning, fresh garlic, and hearty tomato sauce. Nix the sour cream, hold off on the ground pork, save the fresh dill for later – believe me you won’t miss them! Not tonight at least, once you’ve sunk your teeth into these meaty morsels. You can also top these with some Parmesan cheese or fresh mozzarella if you like for a cheesy stuffed pepper.
Ingredient Notes
- Veggies –Â Onions and carrots. Shred both!
- Bell peppers –Â You can use whatever color you like! Some varieties are sweeter, some are sharper, it’s up to you to choose your favorites. I actually used Hungarian sweet peppers in this recipe because I found them at the grocery store and I prefer these for stuffing. They’re a bit thinner than your usual bell pepper. However, use which ever pepper you like or have.
- Beef –Â Ground beef is what I used today check the FAQs for other protein options.
- Broth –Â Low sodium chicken broth to control the sodium content of our dish. You can use beef broth or vegetable broth as well.
- Rice –Â Uncooked is key! It will absorb all that delicious sauce that we’re going to be combining in our little peppers and be super flavorful.
- Garlic –Â Use as much or little as you like.
- Tomato –Â We’re using both tomato paste and tomato sauce for all that earthy, acidic flavor.
- Spices –Â Just Italian seasoning – that’s all you need!
- Seasoning –Â Salt and pepper to taste.
How To Make Italian Stuffed Peppers
- Prepare the oven: Arrange a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat to 375°F.
- Prepare the peppers: 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.
- Mix the meat and stuff the peppers: In a large bowl combine the ground beef, onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, rice, tomato paste, 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. Mix the chicken broth with the tomato sauce and pour over the peppers. Add more water if needed, there should be enough water to come about half way up the peppers.
- Bake: 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.
- Garnish and serve: Garnish with parsley, if preferred, and serve.
FAQs & Expert Tips
FAQs
There are lots of ways you can customize your stuffed peppers! Give these a try: Leaner meat such as ground turkey or chicken, ground pork, onion, mushrooms, chopped spinach, or hot peppers.
Absolutely! Follow this recipe instructions but instead of using a pot or dutch oven, place the peppers and sauce in your slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
Follow the directions as listed place your peppers on the trivet provided inside the pressure cooker, to prevent them from burning. Close the lid of your pressure cooker according to the manufacture instructions. Cook for 8 minutes on the manual setting and allow the pressure to release naturally when done.
Some Tips For Making The Best Stuffed Peppers
- To speed up the cooking process you can cut the peppers in half lengthwise and fill them up as instructed. They will cook in about half the time this way.
- To check for doneness, use an instant thermometer and inserted to the center of a stuffed pepper. When it shows 160°F, the peppers are done.
- Make sure you allow for the whole time to cook the peppers and have enough liquid in the pot because you want to make sure the rice gets cooked properly.
How To Serve Italian Stuffed Peppers
If you want some carbs to bulk up this meal and soak up all that rich and delicious sauce, I have a few suggestions.
- Try these peppers with an extra dollop of sour cream and some good crusty bread.
- Some soft dinner rolls.
- Spooned over Mashed Potatoes.
- Served over fluffy white rice to soak up all that delicious sauce.
- Creamy Polenta
Storing Leftovers
Fridge
These Italian stuffed peppers will keep for 3 – 5 days if stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
Freezer
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.
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Italian Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 medium onion chopped or shredded, I used shallots
- 1 large carrot shredded
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 cup rice uncooked
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon pepper or to taste
- 12 peppers
- 2 cups chicken broth or beef broth, low sodium
- 1 cup tomato sauce
Instructions
- Prepare the oven: Arrange a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat to 375°F.
- Prepare the peppers: 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.
- Mix the meat and stuff the peppers: In a large bowl combine the ground beef, onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, rice, tomato paste, 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. Mix the chicken broth with the tomato sauce and pour over the peppers. Add more water if needed, there should be enough water to come about half way up the peppers.
- Bake: 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.
- Garnish and serve: Garnish with parsley, if preferred, and serve.
Video
Recipe Notes
- To speed up the cooking process you can cut the peppers in half lengthwise and fill them up as instructed. They will cook in about half the time this way.
- To check for doneness, use an instant thermometer and inserted to the center of a stuffed pepper. When it shows 160°F, the peppers are done.
- Make sure you allow for the whole time to cook the peppers and have enough liquid in the pot because you want to make sure the rice gets cooked properly.
- 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.
The cook time sounds so long. Can you recheck this please.
Yep, the timing is correct. 🙂
Made this for company last night. Everyone loved them. I served the sauce on the side and wished we had more of it. The peppers were a tad dry. I kept them covered throughout the bake. The biggest issue I had was the number of peppers in the recipe. I used a scant over 1 pound and I could only get 8 peppers stuffed. Are you using really tiny peppers? I used standard sized peppers found at my store. We had plenty, but there is no way this makes 12 peppers on 1 lb of ground beef. Love all your recipes, Jo… just wanted you to know what I used here.
For this recipe I used Hungarian peppers which are a bit smaller.
Very easy to make and enjoyed by the family and want these again on the weekend.
I love your site and recipes and have been using it for quite some time. Recently, though, when I’m watching a video, an ad comes on and I never get to see the rest of the video showing the completed recipe. I really like watching how to prepare food and all these ads make it very frustrating. I understand you have sponsors, but would appreciate getting to see the video in its entirety. Keep posting great recipes.
You can still continue to watch the videos, two buttons appear on the video, next and stay, if you click on stay it’ll keep you on the video you’re watching.
What kind of rice do you use? I didn’t see it in the recipe or instructions but I fully admit I might have missed it 🙂
I used basmati rice but any white rice would work.
If I don’t have a Dutch oven pot can I use a glass dish instead? Also can I use mozzarella cheese as stuffing too? Thank you!!
You can absolutely use mozzarella cheese as stuffing! As for the glass dish – make sure there is enough room for the liquid to bubble over! Other than that you can use what you have at home 🙂
Made this for dinner this evening! Love it!!! Was wondering if the recipe can be made in the Instant Pot and if so, for how long should I set it on Manual? Thank you so much! Love your 30-min recipe book!
Yes you can! There are instructions for it right here in the post under How else can I cook Italian Stuffed Peppers?
Oh wow! Thank you! Will try Instant Pot too! These are great!
What size peppers do you use?
They’re a medium size.
The yellow and red bell peppers I got were pretty large. I made 6. It all fit snuggly in my 5 qt 10″ Dutch oven.