This Stuffed Pepper recipe is easy to make!
Stuffed bell peppers are filled with a zesty ground beef and sausage filling mixed with rice and baked in sauce.
Perfect for meal prep, this recipe freezes and reheats well too!
Holly’s Notes For Stuffed Peppers
- Difficulty: Stuffed peppers are pretty easy to make but take some time to prepare. Allow for about 45 minutes of hands-on prep time.
- Prep note: Depending on the size of your peppers, you could have extra filling. It’s great in zucchini boats or to fill portobello mushrooms.
- Budget tip: Replace half of the meat with black or kidney beans. You can stretch the filling further by adding extra rice or veggies and filling some extra peppers.
- Prep Ahead/Freezer: These can be prepared 48 hours in advance or prepared and frozen before baking.
What You’ll Need To Make Stuffed Peppers
These are classic stuffed peppers, and they’re versatile—swap up the spices to your liking.
- Bell Peppers: Choose any color of bell peppers. Green are more earthy in flavor, while red, yellow, or orange peppers are a bit sweeter.
- Meat: Ground beef and Italian sausage add a lot of flavor. You can use just one or the other or any combination of ground meat, including ground turkey or turkey sausage.
- The sausage adds a lot of flavors, so if you’re replacing it, add ½ teaspoon extra Italian seasoning.
- Rice: Use uncooked long-grain white rice. For other varieties, adjust the liquid and cook time as needed.
- If using cooked rice, skip the water and simmer the rice in the sauce for about 5 minutes. Brown rice should be pre-cooked.
- Sauce: Use a jar of pasta sauce or homemade marinara sauce.
- Cheese: Optional, but I love a cheesy topping. Try mozzarella or an Italian blend.
How to Make Stuffed Peppers (overview)
- Brown Meat: Brown meat, onion, and garlic (recipe below).
- Cook Rice: Add tomato sauce, rice, water, and seasonings. Cook until rice is tender.
- Prepare Peppers: While the filling is cooking, prepare the peppers by simmering for a few minutes to soften.
- Fill & Bake: Fill peppers with meat and rice mixture. Sprinkle with cheese and bake until bubbly!
Storing Stuffed Peppers
- Store leftover stuffed peppers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Reheat peppers in the microwave or stovetop in a pan with a little water in the bottom on medium-low heat.
- To freeze, line the baking dish with parchment paper (optional) and assemble the peppers as directed without baking. Ensure the filling is cooled and cover tightly in plastic wrap. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bake as directed, adding 15 minutes to the baking time.
Tasty Bell Pepper Recipes
Did you make these Easy Stuffed Peppers? Leave us a rating and a comment below!
Stuffed Peppers
These easy stuffed peppers are filled with savory sausage, beef, and rice, topped with cheese, and baked to tender perfection.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 medium bell peppers any color
- 8 ounces lean ground beef
- 8 ounces Italian sausage
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 14.5 ounces canned petite diced tomatoes with juice, 1 can
- 1 ¼ cups water
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup long grain white rice uncooked
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 ½ cups marinara sauce divided
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese or cheddar cheese, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- Cut off the tops of the bell peppers. Discard the stems, finely chop the tops, and set aside for the sauce. Core the peppers, discarding the membranes and seeds.
- To cook the peppers, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the peppers for 5 minutes and then drain them well. Alternatively, air fry the peppers at 400°F for 5 minutes.
- For the filling, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef, Italian sausage, diced onion, and minced garlic. Cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until no pink remains. Drain the fat.
- Add diced tomatoes with their juices, water, Worcestershire sauce, rice, the diced pepper tops, Italian seasoning, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and black pepper.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to a low simmer, and cover. Cook until the rice is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes, adding more water if needed. Remove from the heat and stir in ½ cup of the marinara. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if desired.
- Place 1 ½ cups of marinara sauce in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Add the peppers cut-side-up, and divide the rice mixture evenly over the peppers. Spoon the remaining marinara sauce over top.
- Cover tightly with foil, bake for 35 minutes.
- Carefully remove the foil and spoon the sauce from the bottom of the dish over the peppers. Top with cheese if using and bake uncovered for an additional 10 to 12 minutes or until the peppers are tender and the cheese is fully melted.
- Rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
Rice: If using cooked rice, skip the water and simmer the rice in the sauce for about 5 minutes. Brown rice should be pre-cooked.
Peppers: For firm to tender-crisp peppers, skip the boiling step and bake as directed. I prefer the texture when the peppers are softer. Peppers can also be pre-cooked by simmering, air frying, or baking for 15 minutes at 400°F.
Seasoning: Marinara sauce can vary in salt levels and seasonings. Taste a bit of the filling
Additional vegetables, such as diced zucchini or chopped mushrooms, can be added to the filling.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 314 | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 60mg | Sodium: 979mg | Potassium: 1039mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 4384IU | Vitamin C: 168mg | Calcium: 116mg | Iron: 4mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Beef, Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine American, Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Easy and so delicious!
I’ve made stuffed peppers many times over the years and assure making this recipe tonight, it was definitely the best one ever!
I did add onion powder, garlic powder, and basil when frying the meat mixture (my family is big on spices). Regardless, I ansioso love this recipe!!! It will be my go to from now on, thanks!
Absolutely delicious! I was distracted and cooked the rice first while I worked on my chopping, so I didn’t cook it in the pan with the other ingredients as described. I just ended up adding the cooked rice to the pan (didn’t need to add the water, of course) and reduced the cooking time for that step — the results were great! My husband LOVED them.
Amazing, Family and Co-workers loved this. Its Easy and I never made stuffed peppers before. But OH MY!! youll Love it.
Made this recipe and my husband loved it!!! Thank you!!! Making it for company this weekend!
Love to make stuffed peppers – was told this was one of the best!! A keeper for sure!!
Perfect recipe…my entire family loves it!
5 Stars
Used bacon instead of sausage!
really a tasty recipe. wonder if anyone has substituted the 1 1/4 water with Chicken Broth. I used the water from boiling the Peppers. looking forward to trying my leftover filling in a Portebelllo mushroom. Anyway, highly recommend, thanks..
Very good! I used 1 lb Italian turkey sausage instead of beef and pork, 1 cup of rice instead of 1/2 cup and added mushrooms.
I used red bell peppers, all beef / no pork, and Raos marinara sauce. Served with Green Giant extra sweet corn. Yummylicious!
Easy and so delicious.
Best stuffed peppers recipe! Stuffed peppers weren’t a family favorite until I started using this recipe.
Very tasty. I will make it again soon and add some red pepper flakes.
These were the Best filled peppers I’ve ever made! Easy to follow recipe to. The only difference i used was I used tomatoe chunks with green chilies. Will definitely make again. I did not cook my peppers but cooked them at 300 for 2 hrs and they were very soft.
Made some adjustments for more fiber and protein by using two cups of tater tot’s instead of rice. Also used maybe a +-1/4 cup of Italian seasoning. It came out very good! I also skipped boiling the peppers to save on time- DO NOT DO THIS! The peppers will not soften sufficiently in the oven. Overall very good recipe and only cost me $17 dollars to make even though I had to buy everything. I even think you could get away with making 8 stuffed peppers! I’m going to make this again but try chorizo instead of Italian sausage, taco seasoning instead of Italian, and poblano peppers instead of bell! I will be making this again!
so good! I also added a bit of corn starch and sour cream to the filing to thicken before stuffing the peppers and it turned out so creamy and delicious !!! would remake!
Easy and yummy stuff pepper recipe
yummy!
These did take me a bit to make but that’s on me bc of my skill level hands down the best recipe I’ve made. So much flavour – maybe it’s the Worcestershire?
But really delicious!