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Stuffed Peppers Recipe

This Easy Stuffed Peppers Recipe is made by filling the peppers with the most delicious beef rice filling, then cooked in a cream sauce. You’ll love this for dinner or leftovers!
Stuffed red pepper on a white decorative plate with fresh greens.

My mom and dad were going to a vegetable farm, so they invited me to come along. This offer I could not pass up. I love picking my own vegetables when I can, because not only is this the cheapest, but it also allows you to get the best-tasting vegetables.

You just can’t compare a tomato or pepper that ripened in a box to the one that had the pleasure of doing so in the open air, under the sun.

Three stuffed peppers, two yellow peppers and one red peppers, topped with fresh greens in a white decorative plate.

Anyway, back to the peppers. I picked a ton of them. Seeing so many of them rotting because no one was picking them, I was trying to save them. You know me, always trying to save the world, one pepper at a time.

I tend to lose it when I see the abundance and the beauty of fresh vegetables just growing on the field or maybe it’s the fresh air that my hits my brain, I don’t know, but I always hoard more into my bags than I should. Every. Single. Time.

Coming home from my garden field trip, with bags full of huge, thick, ripe, juicy sweet Bell Peppers, my natural instinct was to go ahead and make Stuffed Bell Peppers.

 Top view of stuffed red peppers topped with melted cheese on a white decorative plate.

Making the perfect Stuffed Peppers Recipe

When making this Stuffed Peppers Recipe you have to be careful with the meat to rice ratio for the stuffing! But rest assured, following my Stuffed Peppers Recipe you won’t have any problems. Now go ahead try it!

Can I make vegetarian Stuffed Peppers?

If you want this recipe to be vegetarian, all you have to do is omit the meat! It’s that easy!

Stuffed Peppers in White Sauce

Ingredients:

  • bell peppers
  • ground beef chuck
  • ground chicken breast or turkey
  • round rice or sushi rice
  • carrots, grated
  • onions, diced
  • diced tomatoes, diced
  • cloves garlic, peeled, pressed or finely chopped
  • green scallions, chopped
  • leaf parsley, chopped
  • black pepper, ground
  • salt
  • olive oil
  • Sriracha Sauce or any other Hot sauce (Optional)

    Cooking Broth
  • heavy whipping cream
  • bay leaves
  • salt

How to make Easy Stuffed Peppers Recipe:

  • Rinse rice under cold water. Add it to a medium sized pot and add boiling water, cover with a lid and cook on medium-high heat. Pre-cook the rice, don’t fully cook it. The rice will cook through when baking with the meat.
  • Bring water to a boil, turn heat down to low and cook until all the water has evaporated. Once all liquid is gone, fluff up with a fork and allow to cool.

 How to cook rice for stuffing for the peppers.

  • If you grind your own meat do so while rice is cooking.

How to hollow peppers for Stuffed Peppers:

  • Rinse peppers clean. With a knife cut off the top, and remove and clean the insides.
  • Discard the stems and membranes, but keep the tops and bottoms of the pepper.
  • Dice the reserved pepper tops for the filling. Set aside. Tip: when picking peppers always note that green peppers will be more bitter and red peppers will be sweeter.

How to hollow peppers with a knife and place aside.

Prep the vegetables.

  • Dice the onion and tomatoes. Peel & grate the carrots. Chop the scallions & parsley. Mince the garlic.

Bowl of greens, salt, carrots, tomatoes, garlic, peppers, and meat and rice on a table.

Sauté the vegetables:

  • In a skillet, heat oil on high heat. Once hot, add diced onions and brown them. Add carrots, cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Combine tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic, and hot sauce. Allow cooking for 10 minutes allowing all the moisture to evaporate. Cool mixture.

How to saute the vegetables together on a skillet mixing with a wooden spatula.

Bring the Stuffing together:

  • In a large bowl, combine cooled rice & vegetable mix. Add meat & stir to distribute the meat evenly throughout. Then add the scallions, parsley, pepper & salt and mix again.
How to combine all ingredients of stuffing with a mixer.

Fill the peppers:

  • Fill peppers with the prepared mixture, making the peppers full, but not overflowing. The rice will further expand during cooking.
  • Place the Stuffed Peppers into a baking dish that’s at least as tall as your peppers.

Make the cooking broth:

  • Combine chicken broth with cream. If you don’t have chicken broth use chicken bullion cubes and water.

Fill the space around peppers:

  • Pour the broth mixture outside the peppers, coming up about three-quarters up the pepper. Add bay leaves to the broth.

How to stuff peppers and fill the space around peppers with the broth mixture.

  • Cover peppers with foil. Place peppers into a 425F preheated oven and bring the whole thing to a boil. Reduce heat to 350F and cook for another 30-50 minutes, until peppers are soft and rice is cooked through.
  • Place in preheated oven of 425F and bring the peppers and broth mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to 350 and cook for another 30-50 minutes, until the pepper is soft and the rice is cooked through all the way in the middle.

To serve:

  • When the peppers are cooked, remove them to a serving dish, and pour a spoon or two of the cooking liquid on top, then top with some grated cheese or a dollop of sour cream

Try these other Pepper Recipes:

Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe

5 from 2 votes

An Easy Stuffed Peppers Recipe. Soft flavorful Stuffed Bell Peppers with the most delicious beef rice filling, cooked in a cream sauce.

Author: Marina | Let the Baking Begin!
Course: Main Entree
Cuisine: American, Russian, Ukrainian
Keyword: bell pepper, stuffed bell peppers
Calories: 430 kcal
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 6 stuffed peppers

Ingredients

  • 6 medium-sized bell peppers
  • 1/2 lbs ground beef chuck 80% lean / 20% fat OR 70% lean / 30 % fat will work (Note 1)
  • 1/2 lbs ground chicken breast or turkey
  • 1/2 cups carrots grated
  • 1/2 cups onions diced
  • 1/2 cups diced tomatoes diced
  • 3 cloves garlic pressed or finely chopped
  • 1/4 cups green scallions chopped
  • 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley chopped
  • 1 tsp black pepper ground
  • 1 Tbsp kosher salt (use less if using table salt)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 tsp Sriracha Sauce or any other Hot sauce Optional

Cooking Liquid

Instructions

How to make Stuffed Peppers:

  1. Parboil rice: Rinse 3/4 cups rice under cold water. In a medium saucepot combine rice and 3/4 cup chicken broth or water, cover with a lid and cook over low heat until all water is evaporated (~10-15 min). Once all liquid is evaporated, fluff up with a fork and allow to cool.

  2. Grind meat: If you grind your own meat, do this while the rice is cooking.

How to hallow peppers for Stuffed Peppers:

  1. Rinse 4 to 6 medium peppers, scrubbing well around the stem with a brush. With a knife, cut off the top, then remove the membrane and any seeds from inside the pepper. Discard everything but the pepper and the trimmed off top.

  2. Dice the reserved pepper tops for the filling. Set aside. 

    Tip: when picking peppers always note that green peppers will be more bitter and red peppers will be sweeter. I stay away from green peppers.

Prep the vegetables.

  1. Peel & dice 1/2 cups onion. Peel & grate 1/2 cup carrots. Dice 1/2 cup tomatoes. Chop 1/4 cup scallions & 1/4 cup parsley. Peel & press 3 garlic.

Sauté the vegetables:

  1. Add oil to the pan and set it over high heat. Once the oil is hot, add diced onions and brown them. Add carrots, stir the mixture and cook it for 5  more minutes, stirring often. Add tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic and the hot sauce (optional), sautee and allow to cook for about 10 minutes allowing the moisture to evaporate. Let the mixture cool.

Bring the Stuffing together:

  1. Once both the rice & the vegetable mixture is cool, add them to a large bowl and stir everything together to combine (mixer comes in really handy here).

    Add 1/2 lb ground beef and 1/2 lb groud chicken & stir to distribute the meat evenly throughout. Add 1/4 cup scallions, 1/4 cup parsley, 1 tsp ground black pepper & 1 Tbsp kosher salt and stir everything once again. To check the mixture for salt, take a teaspoon of mixture and fry it in a hot pan for a minute or two until cooked. Taste it, add more seasoning according to your taste.

Fill the peppers:

  1. Fill peppers with the prepared mixture, making the peppers full but not packing the filling tightly. The rice will further expand during cooking.

  2. Put the filled peppers into a baking dish that is at least as tall as your peppers. Ideally you would want to have a Dutch oven or a baking dish that is at least 2-3 inches taller than the peppers. Mine was a 12 inch round cake pan, not perfect but did fine. If using a shallow pan like mine, make sure to put it onto a rimmed baking pan when in the oven.

Make the cooking broth:

  1. Combine 1 1/2 cups chicken broth, then add 1/2[/adjustable] cup heavy cream. Taste the mixture and make sure it’s seasoned to taste. Depending on your baking dish and the size of your peppers you will need more or less. Try to keep the 3:1 ratio of broth to cream. The liquid should come 3/4 up the height of the pepper. This mixture is the secret to flavorful pepper, instead of unseasoned, flavorless rubber pepper.

Fill the space around peppers & Bake:

  1. Pour the broth-cream mixture around the peppers, then add the bay leaves.

  2. Cover with aluminum foil (or lid) and seal against edges. If using a shallow cooking pan place it onto a jelly roll pan first to catch any dripping. Place in the preheated to 425F oven and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to 350F and cook for another 30-50 minutes or until the peppers are soft and the rice is cooked through all the way in the middle.

To serve:

  1. When the peppers are cooked, remove them to a serving dish and pour a spoon or two of the cooking liquid on top, then top with some grated cheese or a dollop of sour cream.

Vegetarian:

  1. To make the peppers vegetarian just omit the meat.

Recipe Notes

Note 1:
Using leaner than indicated meat will produce tougher filling. 

Nutrition Facts
Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 430 Calories from Fat 225
% Daily Value*
Fat 25g38%
Saturated Fat 9g56%
Cholesterol 78mg26%
Sodium 1420mg62%
Potassium 648mg19%
Carbohydrates 31g10%
Fiber 4g17%
Sugar 7g8%
Protein 18g36%
Vitamin A 6149IU123%
Vitamin C 161mg195%
Calcium 54mg5%
Iron 2mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Marina | Let the Baking Begin

Welcome to Let the Baking Begin! I'm Marina and my love and passion for eating only the most delicious foods drive me to share that love here on Let the Baking Begin (since 2009). With over 20 years of experience in the kitchen, you know the recipes are tested and retested until perfect. I'm so happy to have you here. Enjoy! Read more...

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  • Anna

    Hi Lena I love making this recipe turns out so good every time! Have you tried making these in an instant pot? If so can you share what setting do them and how long?

    · Reply
  • Luba

    Yummy!!! My husband said these were the best stuffed peppers I ever made:) cheers!

    Note: one trick my mom taught me for bell peppers and golubtsi: pour HOT water/broth around bell peppers and then bring to boil on the stove, then transfer to oven. 45 minutes later these were done!

    Thank you for a great recipe Marina!

    · Reply
    • That’s great Luba! Thanks so much for your feedback!

      It’s a great tip about hot water and starting it on the stove! Just make sure not start on the stove if using bakeware 😀

      Thanks for your comment!

      · Reply
  • Nadia

    Thanks for the great recipe. It was really easy. I don’t remember when I did stuffed peppers but yours caught my eye. Will surprise my family with something new for a dinner.

    · Reply
  • Marina G.

    Yum! These look so delicious! I totally plan on using this recipe to make stuffed peppers this weekend. Question though, is there any way you can add a printer friendly version of this recipe? I just printed 20 pages worth of stuff when I only need step by step directions… Thank you!

    · Reply
    • Thanks Marina for your feedback! Sorry it took 20 pages to print one recipe 🙁 I just added a print-friendly version to the recipe.

      · Reply
      • Marina G.

        Perfect! Thank you soo much!

        · Reply
  • Tanya

    Wow these are so pretty. I remember you had some made with bacon but I can’t find it on your site. Would you mind giving me the link.

    · Reply
  • Thanks for this recipe! Yesterday for dinner I prepared stuffed peppers too, but I cooked the meat before hand. I love your idea of incorporating the raw meat and let it cook in the oven, it must be more tender and it’s also time-saving!

    •The Health Blog for the Lazy Girl•

    · Reply
    • I think you should try cooking the meat together with rice at least once before you decide how you like it better. Cooking the meat with rice infuses the rice with its meaty flavor and really makes an incredible stuffing 🙂 Thank you for your feedback Jordina!

      · Reply
  • Oksana Novikov @ Sisterhood of the Simmering Pots

    Amazing! I had to do a few adjustments as I only had 4 bell peppers and did not have a couple of ingredients on hand (swapped a little bit of tomato juice for the fresh tomatoes, cilantro for parsley, omitted the green onions, and added tomato juice to the chicken broth and cream sauce). I will definetly be making these bell peppers many many times. Thank you Marina!

    · Reply
  • Ali

    I just made them too. I made 1/2 batch. Its going to be dinner for tomorrow. I started late on them tonight. Marina, do you think it would be ok to put it in the fridge in the broth and than pop it in the oven the next day and heat it up?

    Thank you, looks yummy, can not wait to taste them tomorrow for dinner :-)))

    · Reply
    • Don’t add the broth. Just leave the peppers separate from the broth. When you’re ready to cook them tomorrow, pour the broth over and cook 🙂

      · Reply
      • Ali

        I already cooked it. Its cooling down on the stove. I think I will just take them out and save the broth. I will do that next time, or I will better plan my time for cooking dinner (just need to start earlier on this one)
        I could not wait till tomorrow and I sample the stuffing. SOOO GOOD. I want to be tomorrow so I can eat them already :-))))
        Thank you for the recipe :-)))

        · Reply
  • Olga P

    Do you have a pritable version?

    · Reply
  • Mommy

    Marina I made these few minutes ago and the second batch is in the oven. These are far the best stuffed bell peppers I have ever tried! Who would of thought to use sushi rice? Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with all of us. It’s definetely a keeper. The only down side to these is that they take a while to bake. I believe it took about an hour or close to that for them to just to start boiling. It’s definately worth it once you start eating them!

    · Reply
    • I know, it was quite a discovery for me too that sushi rice is soo good in stuffed peppers or golybtsi. I don’t like the smell of the jasmine or basmati, so this is the perfect rice I think 🙂 I am glad you enjoyed it as much as I do 🙂
      Sometimes I bring the pot with the peppers to boil on the stove and then continue cooking in the oven. Thanks for using my recipes!

      · Reply
  • Mira L

    The pictures are beautiful! I love how you used both beef and poultry, the peppers must be filling and also fresh farm veggies are the best!

    · Reply
  • Tina

    all these food blogger got together!! lol just kidding:) But marina, your peppers sure look good. Thanks for helping think of a menu for today…I am thrilled!!:)

    · Reply
    • Thank you! and yes, all in one spot)))

      · Reply
  • Lindsey @ American Heritage Cooking

    These stuffed peppers look delicious! I love all the healthy fresh ingredients! I think these look even filling enough that my husband would eat them and not complain!

    · Reply
    • Yes, it is wonderful to have all the fresh veggies available right now, especially when they don’t come from green houses 🙂
      These peppers are very filling, since they have a lot of meat in them 🙂

      · Reply
  • vikalinkafood

    How beautiful are they!! I need to make some stuffed peppers soon, I feel so inspired now! I completely agree that so much of our tasty food is NOT photogenic but you’ve outdone yourself, Marina!

    · Reply
    • Wouldn’t you know it, when I was taking pictures of my peppers I was thinking about your smoked papprica stuffed peppers lol. I loved the shot where they’re in the pot with the spoon still in there)) but thank you, even though I don’t think these pictures are as good as I think they could have been, I’ll just take the compliment lol

      · Reply
      • vikalinkafood

        Aw, I am totally flattered but I don’t like my pictures! lol We are our toughest critics, aren’t we. As soon as I saw your post I thought to myself that I should re-shoot mine. Photo envy!! hahaha

        · Reply
        • I was just telling my sister yesterday that sometimes you do a good job taking a picture and you could be the only one thinking that, and other times you don’t like your picture and everybody else does))) I guess it’s good to be wrong sometimes.
          But you should totally realize that anytime I think of bell peppers, as I already said, your picture is the one I have in my mind 😀 There’ something about it that makes it very appetizing!

          · Reply
          • vikalinkafood

            You just made my day! Thank you!! 🙂

  • inna

    looks amazingly good!!

    · Reply
    • Thank you Inna! they were goood 😀

      · Reply
  • Natasha (@NatashasKitchen)

    Wow!!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a prettier stuffed pepper. You’ve got some serious photog skills girlie. It’s really tough to take pictures of stuffed peppers and yours are just gorgeous! I love these things!

    · Reply
    • Thanks Natasha! yes, I hate taking pictures of things like this, because you know they taste good but it’s pure luck if they look good lol

      · Reply

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