Stuffed Bell Peppers
These stuffed bell peppers are comfort food at its finest — tender peppers filled with seasoned ground beef, rice, and tomatoes, all baked until bubbling and delicious. They're hearty enough to be a full meal on their own, and folks always come back for seconds. This is the kind of dish that makes your kitchen smell like home.
Cooking tutorial
Browse more on YouTubeIngredients
- 6 large bell peppers (any color you like)
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef (80/20 is good)
- 1 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped fine
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, with juice
- 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth
- 2 tsp seasoned salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
Instructions
- 1
Preheat your oven to 375°F. Cut the tops off the bell peppers and pull out all the seeds and white membranes inside, then rinse them out good and set them in a 9x13 baking dish standing upright.
- 2
Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and brown the ground beef, breaking it up with your spoon as it cooks, about 6 to 8 minutes until no pink remains.
- 3
Add the chopped onion and garlic to the beef and cook another 3 to 4 minutes until the onion gets soft and see-through.
- 4
Stir in the uncooked rice, diced tomatoes with their juice, half the tomato sauce (save the rest), beef broth, seasoned salt, black pepper, paprika, and oregano. Bring it all to a boil, then turn the heat down to low, cover, and let it simmer for 15 minutes until the rice is mostly tender.
- 5
Take the skillet off the heat and stir in 1 cup of the shredded cheese until it melts into the filling.
- 6
Spoon the beef and rice mixture into each pepper, packing it down gently and mounding it up on top. Pour the remaining tomato sauce over the tops of the peppers.
- 7
Cover the baking dish tight with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes.
- 8
Take off the foil, sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese on top of each pepper, dot with the butter pieces, and bake uncovered another 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- 9
Let the peppers rest for 5 minutes before serving so they don't burn anybody's mouth.
Pro Tips
- ★If your peppers won't stand up straight in the pan, slice just a tiny bit off the bottom to make them flat — just don't cut through to the inside.
- ★Leftover stuffed peppers freeze real well — wrap them individually in foil and they'll keep for up to 3 months.