The BEST Stuffed Peppers Recipe Ever (Made Easy With Rice & Ground Beef)

A crowd-pleasing appetizer that can serve as a meal. You get everything from your vegetables, starch, and protein to well-seasoned meat all in one bite.

These savory, delicious, stuffed bell peppers are for sure to whoah a crowd, making them the perfect choice for social gatherings like weddings, cocktail parties, and Superbowl events.

So, if you’ve been looking for a delicious and easy stuffed peppers recipe, look no further because this one right here will, without a doubt, be the one to amaze your tastebuds.

My crazy relationship with bell peppers

I don’t remember being very fond of green peppers as a kid… and that’s probably because they always looked so weird and unattractive to me. I mean, I think we can agree that bell peppers are kinda ugly looking. Lol!

After all, they are the one vegetable people probably use the most to insult someone’s physique because of how weirdly shaped they are. Lmbo! We would do it all the time when I was a kid in school. Haha!

Anyway, as a kid, I thought they were pretty ugly, and I wasn’t too fond of how they tasted, either. Well, as we get older, we tend to change, right? Well, so did my relationship with bell peppers. 🙂

Once I realized they weren’t all a funky forest green color and beautiful orange, bright yellow, and juicy red color ones existed, I started to see them in a more positive light. LMBO!

That was what first allowed me to even consider eating one again. I remember always seeing 4 to 5 in the bottom drawers of my Grandma’s refrigerator. One thing my grandmother loved was some green and red bell peppers.

I would always see her cutting and slicing them up every time she was cooking something in the kitchen, it seems. It was then I knew bell peppers had to be good or of some value because of how often she used them.

I just figured they made food taste better or something, which happens to be true. And remember, I was always up under my grandma Viola, Gwen, and Nana, watching them as they cooked. Lol!

And guess what… they ALL USED GREEN BELL PEPPERS! LMBBO! They used to slice them up and add them to things like potato salad, baked turkey wings, collard greens, cabbage, and even to a big pot of beans.

I then saw the difference peppers made in food, and over time, my taste buds evolved, and I grew in love with them. So it’s no surprise how often you see them listed in so many of my recipes now. 

The first time I tried stuffed peppers

The first time I tried stuffed bell peppers had to be sometime during my teens – because this is one thing my family didn’t make very often for us as kids. I remember wasting the first one I ever had.

I think I split it open, ate out all of the meat and rice, and threw the green pepper away… because, remember, I hated green bell peppers. But now… I eat the whole darn thing. Won’t God do it? LMBO!

It’s funny because my mom tried one the other day when I got done creating this recipe, and guess what? She did the very same thing… ate the meat and rice and threw out the pepper. Smh!

It’s like… what’s the point, right? Why even stuff the peppers? Why not just make some beef and rice? Lol! Now, in her defense, she can’t have acidic food, and she did eat some of the bell pepper.

But I’ve seen so many people do this over the years with stuffed bell peppers – eat everything inside and throw away the pepper like it’s a peeling or something undesirable. I tell you, bell peppers just don’t get any respect!

Well, they have my respect because they enhance so many of my dishes, so I’ve actually become a big fan of them. That’s why I decided to finally put some numbers to this tasty stuffed peppers recipe.

You can find the recipe below. I hope y’all enjoyed hearing about my childhood memories of bell peppers and my topsy-turvy relationship with them. It took a lot of time, but we’re in a very good place now, as you can see. Haha! 

Ok, so first things first, let me address one of the most important things, which is the cookware and utensils and the ingredients you’ll need to prepare this delicious recipe. Check out the next section…

How to cut peppers

• Carefully remove glands: When you cut out the glands inside the bell peppers, you want to cut out as much as possible, but make sure you don’t poke any holes in the bell peppers. Don’t want the filling oozing out! Lol!
• Remove the very top of the pepper head: Don’t cut too low when removing the head because you want the peppers to be tall enough to hold a lot of the filling. Lol! So make sure to move just the very top and not a lot of the head.
• Use a small knife: Cut the glands out using a small knife because it will be pretty different to get down in the pepper with a huge knife! 

How to pre-boil the peppers

• Pre-boil peppers: Pre-boiling them shortens the baking time. Make sure you use enough water to cover the peppers fully. That way, every part of the pepper gets pre-boiled.
• Don’t boil for long: It doesn’t take long for the peppers to get soft once you put them in that scorching hot water. You want the peppers to have some bite and not be super tender to where they can’t hold up, so a quick couple of minutes will do the job.
• How do we know when they’re done? You will know when they’re done because they will change in color and go from green to a dark forest green color. Plus, they will still be firm but fork-tender.

Ingredients you’ll need:

• Green Bell Peppers: Go for big bell peppers! The taller the better so there’s no filling left over.
• Ground Beef: As I always say, use 80/20 ground beef. It has the best taste because it has the perfect lean-to-fat ratio, which provides the perfect amount of fat for flavor and moisture. I like to use a 50/50 Ground Beef Sweet Italian sausage ratio.
• Sweet Italian Sausage: This sausage is so delicious mainly because of all that it’s made of; fatty pork, herbs, seasonings, and amazing aromatic spices. It’s packed with so much flavor, which is why it takes recipes to another level.
• Onions, Garlic, and Stewed Tomatoes: Onions and garlic are very necessary because they add depth of flavor. The onions are also used for the bed along with the stewed tomatoes which we sit the peppers on and place on top of the peppers.
• White Rice: White rice is the main ingredient for the filling. You can get fancy and use yellow or brown rice if you like but white rice is traditional. I use the 10 minutes success white rice because it cooks quick.
• Ketchup: I added ketchup not only to give the filling a saucy tomato flavor but to add a hint of sweetness to a dish that has a decent amount of acidity.
• Tomato paste: Tomato paste thickens the filling and gives it a nice reddish color and a rich tomato flavor.
• Worcestershire sauce: This adds depth of flavor and gives the filling a mild smoky flavor. I always use Worcestershire sauce when I’m creating a recipe that calls for ground beef.
• Parmesan Cheese: So Parmesan cheese is a MUST here. Use block parmesan cheese and shred it with a cheese grater. Block cheese melts better than pre-shredded parmesan cheese, which has a lot of preservatives on it.
• Cheddar Cheese: I like to use cheddar cheese because of it’s sharp flavor and color.
• Seasonings: I like to use Celery Salt for taste because it adds depth of flavor; Italian seasonings  and Oregano as a herb; Red Pepper Flakes for heat; black pepper, brown sugar to neutralize all the acidity, and Parsley flakes for decoration purposes.
• Beef Broth and water: The broth is for the bed to prevent the peppers from sticking and burning at the bottom of the baking dish/pan and we use water to preboil the peppers.

How to make stuffed peppers

1. Cut the peppers and onions: Slice and remove the head of the bell pepper, then carve out the inside of the pepper (pericarp), removing both the glands and seeds. And also, chop up the onions for the bed and filling
2. Pre-boil the peppers: Next, pre-boil the peppers in a large pot until semi-tender.
3. Create a bed: While the peppers are boiling, add the broth, chopped onions, and some of the stewed tomatoes to whatever casserole dish you’ll be cooking the stuffed bell peppers in.
   
4. Cooking the meat and boiling the rice: Place a large skillet over medium heat, then add the ground beef and sweet Italian sausage and let it cook while boiling the rice until tender.
   Chop it up as it cooks with two spatulas so the meat is as fine as possible.
   Cook until the meat is no longer pink and drain any excess fat.
   Then add in some chopped onions, garlic paste, celery salt, Italian seasoning, oregano, and black pepper, then toss well and continue cooking until the onions soften.
5. Preheat the oven: So this is probably the best time to preheat your oven while mixing the filling. Preheat the oven to 350 so it’s hot by the time you’re done making the filling and stuffing the peppers.
6. Make the filling: Add all the meat to a large mixing bowl, then shred the cheese, and add in the Worcestershire sauce, the ketchup, the tomato paste, half of the remaining stewed tomatoes, the rice, cheese, brown sugar, and crushed red pepper flakes, then stir well.
   
7. Stuffing the peppers: Fully stuff the bell peppers… don’t save any of the filling!!! If you have to press some down to make more room, do so! Lol! But fill and stuff these babies up with all that saucy cheesy rice-filled meat!
8. Garnish the top of the peppers. Top the peppers with the remaining stewed tomatoes, cheese, and parsley flakes, then place them in the oven.
   I used a combination of parmesan and cheddar cheese, but I only used parmesan cheese in the original recipe.
9. Bake the peppers: Place the stuffed bell peppers in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes!

The BEST Stuffed Peppers Recipe Ever Video

Tips for best results:

• Use tall peppers: The taller, the better! This way, you don’t have to worry about being left over with too much filling.
• Best time to give it a taste test: If you want to add more of anything, when you make the filling is the time to do it. You’re always free to add more of this or that and even add something to the filling that’s not a part of the recipe to make it yours…
• Stir well: Make sure when creating the filling that everything is well incorporated, like the paste, to ensure the filling is well-balanced in taste.

Variations for Stuffed Bell Peppers:

• Ground turkey: Got some ground turkey? Listen, it won’t taste the same, but it’ll still be good. If you’re a fan of ground turkey and WANT A HEALTHIER OPTION, go ahead and use ground turkey; it will taste very good.
• Ground chicken: Ground chicken or shredded chicken is another option. It will taste different, which is to be expected but just as good. This is another option for people who don’t eat red meat and or pork.
• Mozzarella Cheese:

Storage and reheating

• How do you store stuffed peppers? Wrap them in plastic wrap or keep them tightly sealed in a Tupperware bowl and sit them in the refrigerator.
• How to reheat stuffed peppers? I reheat them in the oven. I split them open and bake them on a baking sheet or aluminum foil until they’re nice and warm throughout.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can you use peppers of different colors, and what’s the difference? Green is the least ripe and the most bitter, so it’s not as sweet as the others – red peppers are the sweetest. So yes, you can use peppers in different colors, but definitely use green.
• What’s a bed? Just a pile or layer of food that food is placed over. I use broth, stewed tomatoes, and onions because that’s usually what I have remaining. All you actually need is a little liquid to prevent the peppers from sticking at the bottom.
• How long does stuffed peppers last? They’re best in my experience when eaten within 3 to 4 days tops.
• Do you cover them while baking? No! The peppers will get fork-tender by just baking them. Doesn’t require aluminum foil because they’re already done for the most part because we preboiled them.

Other ground beef and sausage recipes

• Easy Dirty Rice Recipe 
• Easy Spaghetti And Meat Sauce Recipe 
• World’s Best Classic Shepherds Pie Recipe

Cookware and utensils you’ll need:

• Sharp Knife: You need a knife to slice the pepper head open and remove all the glands inside the pepper.
• Big Spoon: Use a large spoon like the one in the photo below to stir in the filling.
• Large Pot: Use at least a 10 qt pot so it’s big enough to boil several peppers at once and big enough to hold a lot of water.
• Large Skillet: You need a large skillet to brown the meat.
• Cheese Grater: You’ll need this to shred the cheese.
• Large Mixing Bowls: Make sure you have a large mixing bowl to create and mix in the filling.
• Casserole Dish: At least an 8×10 baking dish to hold six bell peppers.

Ok, so that’s it, folks. Give this recipe a shot and leave a comment below letting me know how ya like it, and please don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more Fiya recipes.

Make sure you stay in touch and follow me on social media for updates on everything Philly Jay Cooking: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Enjoy, later!

PBJ~

The BEST Stuffed Peppers Recipe Ever (Made Easy With Rice & Ground Beef)

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 2 reviews

• Author: PhillyboyJay
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins
• Total Time: 1 Hr + 20 mins
• Yield: 6
• Category: Appetizer
• Method: American
• Cuisine: Soul Food

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Description

A delicious, easy, stuffed peppers recipe! A crowd pleasing appetizer that can serve as a meal.

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Ingredients

• 6 Green Bell Peppers
• 3 Qts Water for Peppers + 2 Qts Water for rice
• 1 Lb Ground Beef
• 1 Lb Sweet Italian Sausage
• 2–1/2 Cups 10 Minute Success White Rice, cooked
• 1–1/2 Cups Parmesan Cheese, shredded
• 1/2 Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
• 1–1/4 Cup Onion, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 Cup Beef Broth
• 30 oz Stewed Tomatoes
• 1/4 Cup Tomato Paste
• 3 Tbs Ketchup
• 2 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 Tbs Garlic Paste
• 2 Tbs Brown Sugar
• 2 Tsps Celery Salt
• 1 Tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 Tsp Oregano
• 1/2 Tsp Black Pepper
• Parsley Flakes

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Instructions

1. Place a large pot of cool water (3 qts) over high heat.
2. Meanwhile, slice head of peppers and remove the glands inside, then place them (3 at a time) in the pot of boiling water for 10 minutes.
3. While the peppers are pre boiling, chop up some onions.
4. Place 1/4 cup onions, 1/4 cup of beef broth, and 1 cup of stewed tomatoes at the bottom a baking dish to create the bed.
5. Once the peppers are done, remove from pot of water and sit them inside the baking dish.
6.  Get a skillet and place it over medium heat, then add in the ground beef, sweet Italian sausage, and 1 cup of onions and cook until brown.
7. Once the meat is almost done, add in the garlic paste, celery salt, Italian seasoning, oregano, and black pepper, then stir well. Once done drain the fat.
8. Get a medium size pot, add cool water (2 qts) and place over high heat. Once it comes to a boil, add 2 bags of success rice and boil for 10 minutes or until tender.
9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
10. Shred 2 cups worth of parmesan cheese with a grater.
11. Add the meat and 1 cup of cheese to a big mixing bowl.
12. Add in the Worcestershire, ketchup, Tomato paste, 2-1/2 cups of cooked rice, 1 cup of the stewed tomatoes, the brown sugar, and red pepper flakes, then stir everything in well.
13. With a spoon, scoop filling into the bell peppers and make sure to use all the filling.
14. Top the peppers with the remaining stewed tomatoes, the remaining 1 cup of cheese, and sprinkle some parsley on top.
15. Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.