Stuffed Green Bell Peppers – easy to make side or main dish using minimal ingredients and is ready in no time. A filling and impressive way to serve peppers on regular weeknights or on special occasions!
Can you believe that it’s almost the holidays? And during the first month of the new year, people try to get into a post-holiday healthy-eating streak and burn off all of those holiday calories. And since I’m not a big fan of the gym, Yes I do exercise 4x weekly, but I try to compensate for the lack of healthy eating (sometimes.. 😉 )
Luckily, I found a good deal of green bell peppers at our local market. For the health-conscious folks, this Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers below is a better option.
How to Cook Stuffed Bell Peppers?
Stuffed Bell Peppers is one of the easiest and healthiest dish you’ll probably ever make in your lifetime. It’s versatile (in terms of the stuffing), nutritious and it cooks in no time. Not to mention how they can be a great family weeknight meal or for a dinner party.
It’s pretty simple to prepare this dish. All you have to do is brown the ground beef and aromatics, toss in the rest of the ingredients, and mix them up for the flavors to bloom well.
While I used green bell peppers for this recipe, any bell pepper color actually works fine.
You must remember though that green peppers are more like zesty and less sweet compared to red, yellow, and orange bell peppers. So while you let the meat mixture simmer, you can start preparing and cleaning up the bell peppers.
Once you’re done removing the seeds and membrane of the peppers, start scooping the beef mixture and fill each pepper with a hefty amount. Top with cheese and pop them in the oven and bake.
How Long to Cook Them?
Okay let me clarify, you DON’T need to pre-cook the peppers, BUT they do have that little crisp when you don’t pre-cook them which is what I like.
But if you want your stuffed green bell peppers to cook faster in the oven, you can blanch the bell pepper in a large pot of boiling water for about 2-3 minutes and let it dry on paper towels before stuffing it with the beef and rice mixture. Bake the stuffed green bell peppers in the oven at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until brown and bubbly on top.
What Goes with Stuffed Peppers?
You may serve stuffed green bell peppers with any of the following below:
- Scalloped Potatoes
- Crusty bread or toast
- Cucumber Tomato Salad
- Green leafy salad or some sort (like this Strawberry Spinach Salad)
- Green Beans and Bacon
Can You Freeze Stuffed Green Bell Peppers?
Oh yes, you can! Stuffed Green Bell Peppers are a great make-ahead meal. Simply bake them ahead and freeze them individually OR all together on a baking dish.
To reheat, simply thaw them in the fridge overnight and then bake in a 350 degrees F oven for 5-8 minutes or until heated through.
Now go grab a forkful of this healthy Stuffed Green Bell Peppers and serve this on regular weeknights or on special days. A fancy and healthy meal, what’s not to love?
Enjoy!
How to Make Stuffed Green Bell Peppers
Heat up a skillet with oil over medium-heat and cook ground beef until browned or no pink is visible. Add in garlic, onions, and thyme, stirring constantly, and cook for 1-2 minutes or until onions are wilted. Then add in diced tomatoes with juices. Bring it to a simmer for 4-5 minutes. Add about 1/4 cup water, if desired. Stir in cooked rice, drained corn kernels, spring onions, and Creole seasoning. Adjust taste with salt and pepper.
Mix them up. Remove from heat and set aside. Trim the tops off each bell pepper and remove seeds and membrane from inside and discard. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. To accelerate cooking time, blanch bell pepper in a large pot of boiling water for about 2-3 minutes; remove with a slotted spoon. Let it dry on paper towels or clean dish towel.
Grease the baking dish and place the hollowed green bell peppers in it. Scoop meat mixture into each bell peppers until full. Sprinkle with cheese on top, if desired. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and browned and peppers are tender. Serve with salad or toast.
Watch How To Make It
This post was originally published in January 2019 and has been updated with additional tips and a video.
Stuffed Green Bell Peppers
Ingredients
- 4-5 large green (or any color) peppers
- 3/4 pound (340.2g) lean ground beef
- 2 teaspoons (10g) minced garlic
- 1 medium onion , diced
- 1-2 teaspoons (1g-2g) minced thyme
- 1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1/4 cup (62.5ml) beef broth or water
- 1-1½ cup (250g-375g) cooked rice
- 1 cup (165g) frozen corn
- 1 green onion , diced
- 1 teaspoon (4g) Creole seasoning
- cheese
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat up a skillet with oil over medium-heat and cook ground beef until browned or no pink is visible.
- Add in garlic, onions and thyme , stirring constantly and cook for 1-2 minutes or until onions are wilted.
- Then add in diced tomatoes with juice. Bring to a simmer for 4-5 minutes. Add about 1/4 water, if desired.
- Stir in cooked rice, drained corn kernels, spring onions and Creole seasoning. Adjust taste with salt and pepper. Mix them up. Remove from heat and set aside.
Stuffed Green Bell Pepper Assembly
- Trim the tops off each bell pepper and remove seeds and membrane from inside and discard. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- To accelerate cooking time Blanch bell pepper in a large pot of boiling water for about 2-3 minutes; remove with a slotted spoon and let it dry on paper towels or clean dish, towel.
- Grease the baking dish and place the hollowed green bell peppers in it. Scoop meat mixture into each bell peppers until full. Sprinkle with cheese on top, if desired.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and browned and peppers are tender. Serve with salad or toast.
Tips & Notes:
- Feel free to substitute ground beef with ground turkey, chicken, or lean pork.
- No need to drain off the beef fat after browning it;
- To make ahead, bake them and freeze them individually OR all together in a baking dish. To reheat, simply thaw them in the fridge overnight and then bake in a 350 degrees F oven for 5-8 minutes or until heated through.
- If you don't want that crispy texture in your bell peppers, you may blanch the bell pepper in a large pot of boiling water for about 2-3 minutes and let it dry on paper towels before stuffing it in with the beef and rice mixture.
- To avoid bell peppers draining so much liquid, I recommend parboiling the bell peppers for a few minutes before stuffing it in. Or add a little bit of panko breadcrumbs just like what one of our readers did.
- Any bell pepper color actually works fine. You must remember though that green peppers are zestier and less sweet compared to red, yellow, and orange bell peppers.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information:
Stacey Crump says
If u dont like rice what is a good substitute for it
Imma says
That depends on your dietary choices. Quinoa makes a great substitute for rice, and so does barley. But if you want low-carb, riced cauliflower works. Please let me know what you decide to use
Nicole Plemmons says
The best stuffed peppers I’ve ever made, and I’ve made a lot -it’s my husbands favorite meal. I tried the quinoa method vs cauliflower or rice and didn’t have tomato sauce from the can so added marinara from the jar and about 1-2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast. I’m unable to use parsley and only had dried basil so I placed 4 tablespoons in my 1.5 lbs of beef. Absolutley delicious.
Imma says
Great to hear about your customization and you did it great 🙂 Thank you for trying this and sharing your feedback. Much Love!
SJ says
First time making thus dish as my husband and I both have similar memories of this as a family dish. It was delish! And easy. Makes great leftovers too
Imma says
Glad to hear you, Thank you for sharing your love for the recipe. Try some other recipes to have more go-to recipe list:)
Millie A. says
Very delicious!! I didn’t have creole seasoning, but still came out delicious. Will definitely make it again. Thanks for sharing this great recipe. We had leftover of the meat stuffing and my son came up with a great idea to use it on a flour tortilla (burrito style)! And will definitely do it!
Amina says
Great to hear about your son’s interest in cooking. Thank you for your love and feedback, stay tuned for more amazing recipes.
Kathleen says
Can I make the stuffing 2 days in advance. And then add to the peppers and cook?
Amina says
Yes, you can. However, cooked rice and corn tend to dry out, so I would add a little broth right before assembling if the stuffing looks dry.
Kathy says
This was the best stuffed pepper recipe I have ever made
ImmaculateBites says
YES! Thanks so much , Kathy!
Glenda Pulcifer says
I loved this one with Italian sausage instead of ground beef. So good!
Laura says
Thanks for the great recipe I will make this one again!! Yum!
imma africanbites says
Awesome! I’m glad you like it, Laura!
Harlene Wilson says
Wow; this recipe was so easy to make and it was delicious. I love watching your “how to video” because I am a visual person and things come together faster.
Capriana says
This is such a yummy recipe! My family is finicky about onions, so I substituted them by chopping up the tops of the bell peppers. It worked out deliciously! Definitely worth a bookmark!!!
imma africanbites says
Yaaay! Thank you for trying this one out and for sharing that tip. So happy your family love this.
Lori says
Yummy. I added a little panko bread crumbs because my ground beef gave off a bit too much liquid. Would definitely make again!. Thanks!
imma africanbites says
That’s a brilliant addition, Lori. Thanks for stopping by!
Ms B says
I prepared the gumbo recipe for a youth shelter I work at. Employees and the youth residents enjoyed it and so did I. I’m so glad I was introduced to your site. Will be using for every meal that is new to me or to prepare for a large quantity. Thank you
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! So glad to have you here .