Stuffed Pepper Soup
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With tender ground beef, perfectly cooked rice, bell peppers, and a tomato base, this delicious chunky Stuffed Pepper Soup is what you get when you take yummy traditional stuffed peppers and transform them into a soup! It’s a simple one-pot recipe that is perfect for a cold winter night any day of the week!
What Is Stuffed Pepper Soup?
If you’ve browsed my collection of recipes, then it’s no surprise that I’m a big fan of stuffed bell peppers. Being from Eastern Europe, I had them often as a kid and for good reason, they are amazing! So over the years, I’ve made a lot of recipes that have been inspired by my love of them from my Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers to my Deconstructed Stuffed Pepper Casserole.
Yet, this recipe is pretty much just a take on classic Stuffed Peppers that have been turned into soup form! It’s got a super flavorful tomato beef broth with lots of chunky vegetables, tender rice, and savory beef with a sprinkle of freshly grated salty Parmesan cheese to finish.
I like to think of this easy Stuffed Pepper Soup recipe as the lazy way to enjoy stuffed peppers without actually making them. You get all the same amazing flavors with a little less work in under an hour!
Why You’ll Love This Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Simple Recipe! This easy one-pot recipe only requires very basic ingredients and is ready in under an hour with very little cleanup.
- Healthy Stuffed Peppers! Made with fresh vegetables, rice, and protein this soup is not only tasty but a wholesome complete meal in a bowl.
- Make Ahead Meal! Stuffed pepper soup is even better the next day, which means it’s a fantastic recipe that you can make ahead of time to store in the fridge or freezer.
- Olive Oil – I like to use olive oil for its flavor, but you can use any type of vegetable oil you like to sauté the veggies.
- Butter – Always use unsalted butter to control the amount of added salt.
- Ground Beef – You’ll need ground beef for this recipe. You can use regular or extra lean if you like. Feel free to sub this with ground chicken or ground turkey for a healthier alternative.
- Mirepoix – It’s basically a French culinary term that refers to a mixture of celery, carrots, and onions. I always use brown or yellow onion for the most flavor.
- Bell Peppers – You’ll need a green bell pepper and a red bell pepper for the soup. You can also use yellow peppers too.
- Garlic – Freshly minced garlic adds the best flavor.
- Tomato Paste – It’s mixed with the beef broth to make the base of the soup. Double the amount of canned tomato sauce also works if you don’t have any tomato paste on hand.
- Rice – I like to use uncooked long grain rice and find that it works the best.
- Diced Tomatoes – Any kind will do, but I like to use San Marzano canned tomatoes for lots of great flavor.
- Herbs – Dried oregano and dried basil add a bit of herby flavor to the soup.
- Seasoning – Salt and pepper are used as seasonings.
- Beef Bouillon – Adds depth to the broth and an extra touch of salt.
- Beef Broth – I use low sodium broth to control the level of added salt. Chicken broth will also work.
- Parmesan Cheese – Freshly grated Parmesan cheese is used to give the soup a lovely savory finish. Cheddar is a good option as well.
I love making soup and it’s so easy to do! This simple recipe has just 4 steps, takes very little effort, and the leftovers are even better the next day!
Brown The Beef
To start, you’ll need to brown your beef well, which creates a lot of flavor. Add the olive oil and butter to a large Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Then once the butter is melted, add the ground beef and cook it for about 3 to 5 minutes or until the meat is browned. It’s also important that you break the meat up as it cooks. If your ground beef was too fatty and there’s too much fat in your pot, feel free to drain the fat.
Sauté The Veggies
Next, add the veggies, which is your onions, carrots, celery and bell peppers to the pot. Then cook it with the beef for another 3 minutes or until the onions are soft. Now, add the garlic and cook everything for one last 30 seconds until it’s aromatic.
Add The Rice And Broth To Cook
Mix the tomato paste and rice together with the sautéed veggies. Then add the oregano, basil, salt, black pepper, and beef bouillon to the pot along with the beef broth, diced tomatoes and stir to combine. Now, bring the soup to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes while stirring occasionally.
Finish The Soup
After cooking for 30 minutes the rice should be done. So at this point, taste for salt and season if needed. But if it’s not quite done, you’ll need to cook the soup for a bit more and add more broth or water as needed.
Serve And Enjoy
To serve, ladle some of the stuffed pepper soup into your favorite bowls and top it with some grated Parmesan cheese. You can also garnish with chopped fresh parsley or some red pepper flakes for spice if you like. I like to serve my stuffed pepper soup with some fresh Air Fryer No Knead Bread to sop up all the delicious broth.
Can I Use Brown Rice?
Yes! But it’s going to take the brown rice longer to cook, which means you’ll need to check it and add more broth as needed.
Can I Use Other Type Of Ground Meat?
Yes, of course! You can use ground turkey, ground chicken, ground pork, Italian sausage removed from the casing, or a combination of all of them. What type of ground meat you use in this stuffed bell pepper soup is totally up to you.
Expert Tips
- Brown the meat well. Make sure you cook the meat well and break it up as it cooks so that it browns evenly. This will lead to a more flavorful soup with a better texture too.
- Season at the very end. Soup reduces as it simmers. If you add extra salt too early on in the cooking process there is a good chance you will end up with oversalted soup.
- Make it plant based. First, omit the butter and Parmesan cheese. Then replace the meat with a vegan ground beef option or lentils and use vegetable broth. All the remaining ingredients are already plant based.
Storage
Leftover stuffed pepper soup will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months in an airtight container. To reheat, just put it in the microwave for a few minutes on medium power or reheat it in a saucepan on the stove.
However if frozen, you can either let it thaw out first overnight in the fridge or reheat it from frozen in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Other Delicious Soups To Try
- Chicken Barley Soup
- Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
- Beef Barley Soup
- Cream Of Mushroom Soup
- Instant Pot Creamy Potato Sausage Soup
- Vegetable Tortellini Soup
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Stuffed Pepper Soup
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter (unsalted)
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 1 medium carrot (chopped)
- 2 stalks celery (chopped)
- 1 medium green bell pepper (chopped)
- 1 medium red bell pepper (chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ¾ cup long grain rice (uncooked)
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- salt and pepper (to taste)
- 1 cube beef bouillon
- 6 cups beef broth (low sodium)
- 28 ounces diced tomatoes (1 can)
- Parmesan cheese (grated, for serving)
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven add the olive oil and butter and melt over medium heat. Add the ground beef and cook for about 3-5 minutes until the meat is browned, breaking it up as you cook.
- Stir in the onion, carrots, celery, and bell peppers to the pot and cook for another 3 minutes until the onion softens. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds until aromatic.
- Stir in the tomato paste and then the rice. Add in the dried oregano, basil, salt, pepper and beef bouillon. Pour in the beef broth, diced tomatoes and stir. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The soup will thicken as the rice cooks.
- Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary with salt and pepper. If the soup is too thick, add more broth as necessary.
- Ladle into bowls and serve with grated Parmesan cheese.
Equipment
Notes
- Brown the meat well. Make sure you cook the meat well and break it up as it cooks so that it browns evenly. This will lead to a more flavorful soup with a better texture too.
- Season at the very end. Soup reduces as it simmers. If you add extra salt too early on in the cooking process there is a good chance you will end up with oversalted soup.
- Make it plant based. First, omit the butter and Parmesan cheese. Then replace the meat with a vegan ground beef option or lentils and use vegetable broth. All the remaining ingredients are already plant based.
- Leftover stuffed pepper soup will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months in an airtight container.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
