Stuffed bell peppers are awesome, but I always find them slightly awkward or difficult to eat. Can’t I just throw the ingredients in a bowl and eat it with a fork?! (I feel that way about a lot of food, TBH). So that’s what I ended up doing! These super simple unstuffed bell peppers are cooked in one skillet to make your (my) life super easy and delicious. #yesplease
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Can I Use Cauliflower Rice Instead of White Rice?
Unfortunately, you can not swap out cauliflower rice for the white rice in this recipe. Cauliflower rice releases liquid as it cooks, whereas white rice absorbs it, so you’ll end up with a stuffed bell pepper soup. :) But hey, that actually doesn’t sound so bad! You can also try using cauli rice and skipping the broth, but you’ll be missing a lot of flavor with that option.
Can I Freeze Unstuffed Bell Peppers?
Yes, this recipe freezes great! Make sure to divide the skillet into single serving portions just after cooking, and chill them completely in the refrigerator before transferring to the freezer. Once frozen, they’ll keep in the freezer for about three months and can be reheated in the microwave straight from the freezer (use the defrost setting first, then high until heated through).
Tips for Making One-Pot Rice Dishes
Even cooking plain rice on the stovetop can be a bit challenging for some folks, and when you add in other ingredients it can end up a little more tricky. To make sure your rice cooks thoroughly and evenly, keep these things in mind:
- Cookware: A really good quality (thick and heavy) skillet is really important for making this recipe work correctly. Heavy cookware conducts heat really evenly so the sides of your skillet will cook at the same rate as the part that is right above the flame. If it’s a thin skillet, it might scorch right in the center and leave the outer edges uncooked. If you don’t have a good skillet, a dutch oven or heavy soup pot would also work well.
- Heat level: Another key to cooking rice is making sure the water in the pot (or skillet) is simmering the whole time, but the heat is not so high that it burns on the bottom. So once you’ve got everything in the pot and have already brought everything up to a boil, turn the heat down to the lowest setting that still maintains a light simmer. Since this can vary from stove to stove and the type of cookware you’re using, you’ll need to adjust this based on what you’re hearing and seeing in the pot. Once you get the hang of it, though, it will be easy!
- Use a burner close in size to the bottom of your pot or skillet. If you’re using a wide bottomed pot or skillet over a very small burner, the outside edges of your pot or skillet may not receive enough heat to simmer and cook the rice through.
Love skillet meals? Check out my Chorizo Sweet Potato Skillet, Creamy Chicken and Rice Skillet, or One Pot Teriyaki Chicken and Rice.
Unstuffed Bell Peppers
Servings 6 1 ⅓ cups eachIngredients
- 1 clove garlic ($0.08)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 2 bell peppers ($1.53)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 1/2 lb. ground beef ($2.85)
- 1 15oz. can diced tomatoes ($1.00)
- 1 cup long grain white rice (uncooked) ($0.62)
- 1 tsp dried basil ($0.10)
- 1 tsp dried oregano ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 1.5 cups beef broth ($0.07)
- 1 8oz. can tomato sauce ($0.26)
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce ($0.01)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella ($0.85)
- 1 Tbsp chopped parsley (optional garnish) ($0.05)
Instructions
- Mince the garlic and dice the onion and bell pepper.
- Add the olive oil and ground beef to a deep skillet. Cook the beef over medium heat until it is fully browned.
- Add the diced onion, bell pepper, minced garlic, basil, oregano, and pepper to the skillet. Continue to cook and stir until the onions are soft.
- Next, add the diced tomatoes (with juices), uncooked rice, and beef broth. Give everything a brief stir to combine.
- Place a lid on the skillet and turn the heat up to medium-high. Allow the broth to come up to a full boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and let it continue to simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let it rest, lid still in place, for another five minutes.
- While the pot is simmering, combine the tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce.
- Once the rice has rested for 5 minutes, remove the lid and fluff it with a fork, gently folding the ingredients back together (peppers and tomatoes may float to the top while it simmers).
- Pour the prepared tomato sauce over top, then sprinkled the shredded mozzarella over the sauce. Place the lid back on top and let the heat from the skillet melt the mozzarella. Once melted, sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top and serve.
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Equipment
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Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Unstuffed Bell Peppers – Step by Step Photos
Mince one clove of garlic and dice a yellow onion and bell pepper. Add ½ lb. ground beef to a deep skillet with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Cook the ground beef over medium heat until it has fully browned. Add the diced bell pepper, onion, garlic, 1 tsp dried basil, 1 tsp dried oregano, and about ¼ tsp freshly ground pepper to the skillet. Continue to cook and stir until the onions are soft.
Next, add one 15oz. can of diced tomatoes (with juices), 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice, and 1.5 cups beef broth to the skillet.
Give everything a brief stir to combine. Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to medium-high and allow the broth to come up to a full boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and let it continue to simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let it rest, lid still in place, for an additional 5 minutes.
While the rice is simmering, prepare the tomato sauce. Combine one 8oz. can of tomato sauce with 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce. Set the sauce aside.
After the rice has rested for five minutes, remove the lid and fluff it with a fork, gently folding the tomatoes and peppers back into the rice.
Pour the prepared tomato sauce over the rice in the skillet, then top with 1 cup shredded mozzarella. Place the lid back on the skillet and let the residual heat melt the cheese.
Top with chopped parsley, if desired, and serve!
I’m a HUGE fan of stuffed bell peppers, but this recipe is UNSTUFFED!!! Unfortunately, I didn’t have any beef broth, but used two cups of chicken broth to stretch the recipe (I LOVE leftovers!). Also, I forgot to purchase canned tomatoes, but I did use fresh tomatoes. I used spaghetti sauce to finish the dish, along with some shredded cheddar cheese (my sister’s suggestion). I absolutely enjoy preparing these dishes from this blog, and best of all, I can prepare a scrumptious meal on a budget. Thank you for this awesome recipe, Beth. :-)
making this now, except I used ground turkey instead of beef. I also didn’t have diced tomatoes so I used a can of Rotel tomatoes with chopped chilies. Also added a 1/2 tsp. of cayenne pepper… I like things with a kick! Also used brown rice instead of white……we’ll see what all these changes does to the recipe. I had to work with what I had on hand!
Amazing as usual Beth, thanks :)
How can I sub fresh tomatoes in this recipes instead of the canned?
I would use about 2 cups of diced tomatoes. You’ll likely need to add more salt to the recipe as well. Canned tomatoes usually contain salt.
Awesome thanks. :)
I love this recipe as I do not have to prepare the meal inside the pepper itself. What I love most is the ease of the recipe with such fantastic results.
It was a delightfully filing meal without busting the bank. How can it get any better than that?
I am so excited to try your recipes, they sounds fantastic. Tonight i am going to prep the chicken taco bowl, but the stuffing muffins sound good to. thank you for sharing.
Very good quick dinner! I didn’t have ground beef, I used some leftover shredded beef (made with your recipe a few weeks ago.) Still worked great. I always have issues with the rice not completely cooking in various recipes, so I just increased the broth to 2 cups and didn’t set a timer. This time the rice was perfect!
Made this tonight and it was awesome! Will be making it again soon for sure.
Another amazing recipe :) Loved this! I cooked it in a big pot and turned out just perfect! Also I didn’t have beef stock so used chicken and is still fine.
At the chance of sounding like an idiot, what exactly is tomato sauce? I live in Denmark and here we have diced tomatoes, pizza and pasta sauce, ketchup, tomato paste and tomato soup but not tomato sauce (yep, im generally a bit handicapped when it comes to some of the ingredients). I thought i’ll just do it myself then and googled it and it seems a bit like pizza sauce from what i could find – would that be a correct assumption?
I have tried a few of your other recipes and they were delicious so i would really like to do this one properly too :)
You’re not an idiot at all! That does happen to be a product that is fairly unique to the U.S. The closest product in texture that you can usually find in other parts of the world is strained tomatoes, although our tomato sauce has a little salt and a couple other very mild spices (it’s not nearly as heavily spiced as pizza sauce). So I’d try to find some strained tomatoes and add some salt and maybe a pinch of garlic or onion powder and you’ll be good.
Second time I’m making this and I’ve used quinoa both times. Adds protein and you don’t have to cook it as long. I use the same amount of everything I just do a cup of quinoa instead of rice. Then I bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer, covered for 15-20 minutes until quinoa is done. Also, I sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese on the top. Tastes like a healthier version of a Philly cheese steak!
oh, I should add I actually use a pound of ground beef, but everything else is the same amounts as your recipe.
I used instant brown rice in this and reduced the simmer time accordingly. A dollop of Greek yogurt on top really brought it together! This is one of our new favorite dishes!
This is delicious!
I must admit that I was on the phone with my boyfriend while shopping at the grocery store. I accidently bought ground lamb instead of ground beef. Oops. And way more expensive, obviously. But sooooo good!
Either way, throw some shredded cheddar on the whole thing a few minutes before taking it off the heat and this is a perfect comfort dish.
Can I cook this in a pot??
It would probably work in a wide pot, yes. :)
I’ve decided this is a forever recipe and that I’ll probably still be making it 20 years from now.