Stuffed Bell Peppers have been a huge favorite of mine since my aunt first made them for me many many years ago. At the time it seemed like such an elaborate, fancy recipe, but who knew they were really this simple to make! It’s a classic comfort food recipe that’s hearty, filling, easy to customize, and can feed a large family. Plus the flavors in this version are incredibly delicious! So much so that we’re still talking about it over a month later! ;)
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What’s in Stuffed Bell Peppers?
There are several versions of stuffed bell peppers out there and most usually include ground beef, rice, tomatoes, and cheese. I got a little creative with this recipe as I wanted it to be simple to make, but still have tons of flavor! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Bell Peppers: I used different colors of bell peppers because I love how colorful and vibrant they look, but if you’re working with a tight budget you can certainly just use all green bell peppers instead.
- Italian Sausage: Italian sausage instead of ground beef for an extra boost of flavor. But you can use ground beef, ground turkey or even Italian turkey sausage if you like.
- Onion and garlic: These two ingredients produce a great combination of aromatics to help flavor the sausage and rice.
- Seasoning: A simple mix of Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and garlic powder is all you’ll need. If you want an extra kick, you can also add a pinch of red pepper flakes too!
- Marinara sauce: Instead of adding a can of tomatoes or tomato sauce, I used marinara sauce. It’s tomatoes with extra herbs & spices all in one…aka more flavor!
- Long grain white rice: The rice helps bulk up the filling for the bell peppers. In this recipe the rice is cooked in the same skillet as the meat filling. It gives the rice a ton of flavor and let’s be honest…who wants to clean more dishes by cooking a separate pot of rice? Not me!
- Chicken broth: Broth is used to help cook the rice and it provides even more flavor of course!
- Shredded Mozzarella: And mozzarella cheese sprinkled on top for a gooey, tasty finish!
Should I cook the bell peppers first?
I definitely suggest par-cooking the bell peppers first, just a little bit before stuffing them. Not only does this help to soften the bell peppers, but it also cuts down on your cook time. As the bell peppers are cooking you can make the filling, shaving off about 20 minutes from your total cook time.
Budget Saving Tips!
Here are a few tips to help you stretch your money when making Stuffed Bell Peppers:
- Use the green bell peppers! Although it makes for a colorful final dish when you use red, yellow or orange bell peppers, these colors often cost a little bit more. You can just buy all green bell peppers instead and save some coins.
- Cut a 4th bell pepper in half and stretch the filling out to make 8 servings instead of 6. Trust me..we stuffed these bell peppers quite a bit, but you could totally stretch the filling if you wanted to.
- If you want to just use 1/2 a pound of sausage, that works too! Just add an additional 1/2 cup of rice and 3/4 cup of broth to what is listed in the recipe below, to increase the filling and make up the difference.
- Feel free to use ground beef instead if it’s cheaper than the Italian sausage at your local store. You may need to add a bit more seasoning to make up for the flavor you would get in the sausage though.
What to serve with Stuffed Bell Peppers
The filling inside each of these stuffed bell peppers are pretty hearty by themselves, but if you want to serve something with it on the side, they would also be great with a simple salad or some crusty garlic bread. If you want to double down on the veggies, you can also serve these with some roasted broccoli, roasted Brussels sprouts, or a side of simple sautéed vegetables.
Storing & Reheating
Got leftovers? No problem! These stuffed bell peppers hold up very well in the refrigerator stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days. They can be reheated in the microwave or the oven and the leftovers taste just as good the next day, making them perfect for meal prep!
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Servings 6 servingsIngredients
- 3 bell peppers ($3.97)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil, divided ($0.08)
- 1 lb Italian sausage ($4.99)
- 1 yellow onion, diced ($0.38)
- 3 garlic cloves, minced ($0.24)
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder ($0.05)
- 1 1/4 tsp salt, divided ($0.06)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 1 cup marinara sauce ($0.71)
- 1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice ($0.21)
- 3/4 cup chicken broth ($0.15)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella ($1.25)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Wash and dry each bell pepper, then cut the bell peppers in half horizontally. Make sure to cut them as evenly as possible. Using a sharp paring knife carefully cut and remove the stem from the top half of each bell pepper (see picture below). It's okay if there is a small hole left where the stem was removed.
- Place each bell pepper half in a 9×13-inch casserole dish. Brush the bell peppers with 1 Tbsp oil and season with ¼ tsp of salt and ¼ tsp cracked black pepper. Bake the bell peppers in a preheated oven for 20 minutes to soften. After 20 minutes remove the bell peppers from the oven and set aside.
- While the bell peppers are baking, make the filling. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 1 Tbsp of oil. Brown the Italian sausage.
- Once the sausage has browned, add the diced onion and minced garlic to the skillet. Continue to sauté over medium heat until the onion is translucent and the garlic is fragrant.
- Next add the uncooked rice, marinara sauce, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, 1 tsp of salt, and chicken broth to the skillet. Stir to combine.
- Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to medium-high, and allow the mixture to come to a full boil. Once boiling, immediately reduce the heat to medium-low and allow the mixture to simmer, without lifting the lid or stirring, for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn the heat off and let it rest, without lifting the lid, for an additional 5 minutes.
- Next remove the lid, fluff the rice, and stir the mixture again to redistribute the ingredients. Begin to fill each bell pepper with the meat filling. Stuff as much filling as you can into each, filling them all the way to the top.
- Top each bell pepper evenly with shredded mozzarella cheese. Loosely place some tented aluminum foil over the top of the casserole dish and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes the bell peppers should be tender but not mushy.
- Now remove the foil and turn the heat on to broil. Broil the stuffed bell peppers for 2-3 minutes or just until the cheese gets a little brown on top. Be sure to watch the bell peppers closely at this step to prevent the cheese from over browning. Garnish with parsley, if desired, and enjoy!
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Equipment
- Deep Stainless Steel Skillet
- Glass Casserole Dish
Nutrition
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Also try our Chorizo Stuffed Bell Peppers!
How to Make STUFFED BELL PEPPERS – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 350°F then wash and dry 3 bell peppers. Cut the bell peppers in half horizontally, yes horizontally. Most stuffed bell pepper recipes either keep the bell peppers whole or cut them vertically, but by cutting them horizontally you end up with a flatter bottom service and it’s easier to stuff. Trust me! Make sure to cut them as evenly as possible. Using a sharp pairing knife carefully cut and remove the stem from the top half of each bell pepper. It’s okay if there is a small hole left where the stem was removed.
Place each bell pepper half in a 9×13-inch casserole dish. Brush the bell peppers with 1 Tbsp cooking oil, divided between all 6 halves, and season with ¼ tsp of salt and ¼ tsp cracked black pepper, also divided between all 6 halves. Bake the bell peppers in a preheated oven for 20 minutes to soften. After 20 minutes remove them from the oven and set aside.
While the bell peppers are baking, make the filling. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 1 Tbsp of oil. Add 1 lb Italian sausage and cook until brown.
Once the sausage has browned, add the 1 diced yellow onion and 3 minced garlic cloves to the skillet. Continue to sauté over medium heat until the onion is translucent and the garlic is fragrant.
Next add ½ cup uncooked white rice, 1 cup of marinara sauce, 1 tsp Italian seasoning, ½ tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp of salt, and ¾ cups chicken broth to the skillet. Stir to combine. Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to medium-high, and allow the mixture to come to a full boil. Once boiling, immediately reduce the heat to medium-low and allow the mixture to simmer, without lifting the lid or stirring, for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn the heat off and let it rest, without lifting the lid, for an additional 5 minutes.
Next remove the lid, fluff the rice, and stir the mixture again to redistribute the ingredients. Begin to fill each bell pepper with the sausage and rice mixture. Stuff as much filling as you can into each, filling them all the way to the top.
Divide 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of each bell pepper evenly. Loosely place some tented aluminum foil over the top of the casserole dish and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, remove the foil and turn the heat to broil. Broil the stuffed bell peppers for 2-3 minutes or just until the cheese gets a little brown on top. Be sure to watch the bell peppers closely at this step to prevent the cheese from getting too brown. Garnish with parsley, if desired, and enjoy!
I made the recipe as written. It was good. It turned out salty, but not inedible. Next time I’ll omit added salt. I’m sure the marinara, broth, and sausage pushed the salt levels too high.
The preparation was different than my usual family method, not blanching full size peppers was a big improvement. I think an added textural element to the rice/meat mixture would be a good addition. I don’t have an idea what it should be. There is just a very fine line in hitting the rice cook perfectly vs having mush filling.
this is a smart way to stretch your peppers. I would also suggest making the tomato sauce from tomato paste, very economical. you can use chicken boullion to flavor it, with a splash of vinegar and sugar, salt pepper and italian seasoning. use it for the filling and I like to put some in the pan with the peppers. to stretch it further you can definitely add beans to the meat! black beans or white beans work.
I do not cook my rice and sauce together, I definitely do them separate. it’s more time intensive but my rice is always fully cooked.
blanch the peppers first! very important.
literally followed it exactly and my filling got burnt you’re gonna need to either gonna need more broth, add water, or stir it while it’s cooking. I wasted my ingredients and time on this and i don’t recommend it to anyone.
Made this for my family and we all LOVED it! Very delicious! The sausage was salty enough so I didn’t add any more salt, and I used a no sodium broth. Very tasty!
Very time consuming for something so basic. It came out salty, even with less salt than called for, and the peppers were overcooked. Too much sausage, not enough rice.
Nice easy recipe i’m going to cook today! Albertson’s has their red bell peppers on sale, & i was thinking how nice the red & green peppers would look for a Christmas season dinner or two :-)
Too salty for us! Will probably adjust due to full sodium chicken broth. Otherwise so promising!
The filling was overly salty and the rice took an additional 10 minutes and another cup of water to cook fully. I’ll probably look for a different stuffed pepper recipe next time.
Probably the chicken broth you used was salty enough that no additional salt was needed! I’ve found it safest not to add any salt to anything these days, because each person has their own taste – and also, because i’m actually a vegetarian, & am unable to sample the foods I’m preparing if they have meat in them! The rice needing more water suggests that you might’ve had the lid off the pan while it was cooking! Or, your stove might be like mine, where it’s just about impossible to simmer anything, because the flame goes out if the burner’s turned too low!
Excellent recipe! Easy to make and really delicious.
The filling was delicious, but the bell peppers didn’t cook enough to be able to eat them.
I live in colorado, and I didn’t see a variation for high altitude. This recipe didn’t turn out well for me): sounded delicious. But the rice wasn’t cooked through and burned to the pan too. Bummer. Any recipe suggestions for high altitude?
Hi Kitty! We’re in Nashville, TN so we don’t have much experience adapting recipes for high altitude! That’s not something we provide with any of our recipes. :)
This was very helpful! I just need to make it a bit more moist but it was sooo delicious!