Stuffed Bell Peppers

Our easy stuffed green peppers with rice, ground beef and spaghetti sauce are great. An inexpensive and healthy meal, we will explain how to blanch bell peppers first, stuff, top with mozzarella cheese and bake to tender.

You can use any color of peppers too, I have tried them all and each has a bit different flavor. 😉 I usually buy double so I can make these for dinner one night and our stuffed pepper casserole in another.

There really are very few ingredients to this one, which I love, and you can alter it according to your own taste buds along the way. I have used Jimmy Dean spicy ground sausage when I want a kick of heat, brown rice for a bit more texture, and any cheeses go (and lots of it).

Ingredient Notes

As for meat I use what is on hand. If I only have a roll of sausage I would use that instead of ground beef. The spicy type is great to use half and half if you ask me. There is usually more mixture left than will fill 4 peppers so I fill the last 2 holes of my muffin pan with the mixture, top with cheese and it is a good meal for the next day.

Any color of bell peppers will work for this. I do choose the ones with 4 bumps at the bottom though as they will stand up easier and not want to fall over.

In this case we did add some cooked white Ninja foodi rice, since it is cooked beforehand feel free to use cooked brown rice if you prefer. Heck we have even made this with some pressure cooker quinoa instead for more protein.

We use and like quite a bit of cheese. If you do need a dairy free alternative I have found that Daiya has a wonderful shredded one. My husband needs this so we have tested quite a few.

I will use a rich tomato sauce with some softened and diced onions inside. You could use spaghetti sauce, or diced tomatoes but that won’t make it as rich and thick so it isn’t my favorite choice. You can integrate some sliced mushrooms into the mix too if you like.

If you don’t have a muffin tin so they don’t fall over you could use a regular pan, just large enough so they fit snug with high sides.

Do you need to brown ground beef for stuffed peppers?

Yes, you will need a little prep at the beginning. You’ll want to precook the beef or ground turkey with diced onions if you want to add those with it. I have heard some leave it raw but I like to ensure that it is at a safe temperature initially. I think the flavors of the sauce soaks in better when it is browned when incorporating too.

What does it mean to blanch bell peppers?

Blanching means that you are cooking it just a bit, just long enough to soften the outsides a bit and tame the bitter flavor as well. You will do this by submerging each one (with the top removed) into a large pot of boiling water. You don’t really want to submerge the peppers for much longer than about 8 min. or they will get too soft.

Best Rice to Use

For years I only used white rice, made in a rice cooker (this is my favorite rice cooker) Over the years, when my kids got older, I have tried others like brown rice and even quinoa and all of them work great. Since it is precooked to fluffy before folding in with the rest of your ingredients the sky is the limit. Want super healthy? Do half brown and half wild rice!!

Tips for Making Stuffed Peppers

While the rice is cooking, cook ground beef in oven or in a skillet JUST to remove the pink on the outside (no longer). Remember that they will bake again in the oven so you don’t need it all to be completely browned at this point. You can put some dehydrated onion or diced onion in as well as some Lawry’s to taste at this time.

I like to keep the tops of the peppers that I remove before blanching just to sit on top when they are baking so the tops (with cheese) don’t get too too brown.

The easiest way to keep peppers from falling over is to set each one inside of the hole in a muffin tin!! If you have extra filling don’t get rid of it. You can line a few of the holes with parchment paper and fill that way for family members that like the filling but not the veggies.

Made with Mini Peppers

If you wanted to make more of a finger food size you could make stuffed mini peppers. Bake time would reduce by about half but you’d use the same recipe. Just slice in half lengthwise, remove seeds and membranes and fill. Set on a baking sheet and bake this way.

Other stuffed peppers recipes you’ll love

We have instructions here on baked stuffed peppers recipe too. If you love these you should try our air fryer breakfast stuffed peppers too! Want to skip blanching all together? Try crockpot stuffed bell peppers recipe here.