Stuffed Peppers are an easy, all-in-one dinner made with colorful bell peppers, a savory beef and sausage filling, and plenty of marinara sauce. They’re make-ahead friendly, freezer-friendly, and perfect for busy weeknights.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights: Stuffed Peppers
- Flavor: Rich, savory, and comforting, every bite is packed with seasoned meat, tender rice, sweet bell peppers, and tangy marinara.
- Why Make It: Cooking the rice right in the tomato mixture helps it soak up the sauce and keeps the filling flavorful.
- Serving Suggestions: These peppers are a complete meal on their own, but they’re delicious served with a crisp green salad and warm garlic bread for soaking up the extra marinara sauce.
Total Time: 1 Hour 20 Minutes Servings: 6 Cooking Method: Oven Baked
Ingredient Notes
- Bell peppers: Any color works. Green peppers have a slightly sharper flavor, while red, yellow, and orange peppers are sweeter.
- Meat: Lean ground beef makes the filling hearty without becoming greasy, while Italian sausage adds richness and plenty of flavor. Use mild, sweet, or hot Italian sausage depending on your preference, and be sure to drain any excess fat after browning the meat.
- Long Grain White Rice: Uncooked long grain white rice simmers in the tomato mixture, absorbing all of the delicious flavors as it cooks. If using cooked rice instead, omit the water and simmer the filling just until everything is heated through and well combined. If using brown rice, make sure it is precooked.
- Marinara Sauce: Choose a marinara sauce you enjoy, as it adds flavor to both the filling and the peppers while they bake. Since some sauces are saltier than others, taste the filling before adding any extra salt.
How to Make Stuffed Peppers
- Cut and clean out the peppers, and then boil.
- Cook the filling in a skillet.
- Fill the peppers.
- Bake (full recipe below).
Stuffed Pepper Pointers
- For Softer Peppers: Boil or air fry them before filling. For tender-crisp peppers, skip that step.
- Drain the Peppers: Draining them well after boiling prevents a watery dish.
- Taste the Filling: Taste before stuffing because marinara sauce and sausage can vary in saltiness.
- Do Not Pack Tightly: Use a spoon to gently press the filling into the peppers, but do not pack it too tightly.
- Spooning the Sauce: Spoon from the bottom of the dish over the peppers before adding cheese for extra moisture and flavor.
Save Every Stuffed Pepper
- Leftovers: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Reheating: Reheat in the microwave, covered loosely, until heated through. For the oven, place peppers in a baking dish with a little marinara or water, cover with foil, and heat at 350°F until warm.
- To Freeze: Assemble the peppers without baking and cool the filling completely first. Cover tightly and freeze. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bake as directed, adding about 15 minutes if needed.
More Stuffed Pepper Favorites
Did you enjoy the following Stuffed Peppers Recipe? Leave a comment and rating below.
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
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can canned petite diced tomatoes with juice
- 1 ¼ cups water
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup long grain white rice uncooked
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 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-inch casserole 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 into the peppers. Spoon the remaining marinara sauce over the 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.
Seasoning: Marinara sauce can vary in salt levels and seasonings. Taste a bit of the filling and add salt to taste.
Additional vegetables, such as diced zucchini or chopped mushrooms, can be added to the filling.
Leftovers: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 397 | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 63mg | Sodium: 980mg | Potassium: 1023mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 4384IU | Vitamin C: 168mg | Calcium: 123mg | Iron: 4mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Beef, Casserole, Dinner, Entree, Main Course, Pork
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.
Wonderful recipe! I have made it several times and each time it turned out delicious!
Loved these stuffed peppers! They were everything a stuffed pepper should be. Lots of flavor, sauce and melted cheese. I made them with just ground beef, but next time I’ll use the Italian sausage .. my hubby will love them even more! I 1.5x’d the recipe to be sure there was plenty. Thank you for another great recipe Holly.
Good call on making extra, Mo! We love this recipe too, so having plenty of it is never a bad thing.
Do I need to oven cook if my peppers are fully cooked and soft and meat mixture is also fully cooked? If I addd cheese, I would just melt in microwave.
Any thoughts ?
Thanks.
I like to bake as it blends the flavor but if it’s all hot and the peppers softened it cold just be heated in the microwave.
My peppers did not get soft! They still were hard! Hopefully another 35 mins will soften them!
Sorry to hear that, Gabby. I hope they softened up for you!
Delicious! Will use this recipe again and again!
AMAZING! I’ve tried numerous recipes for stuffed peppers, always w/out rice cause significant other prefers it that way even though he loves rice (he likely recalls recipes overloaded w/too much rice). Anyway, the flavor was top notch. Only had 4 peppers (red & orange), still used same amounts of rest of ingredients w/exception: S&P for meat, low sodium chicken stalk instead of water, doubled amount of It seasoning. I couldn’t stop sampling the filling while it simmered, thus not much left over. This was my 1st meal since returning from an 11 days vacation in Mexico, signif other said it was the best food he’d had during that time! I’ve finally found my favorite stuffed pepper recipe, look no further!!
Our whole family loved this recipe, thank you! We used a combination if ground pork and Italian turkey sausage, and it was amazing. The only change we made was using turkey stock instead of water for the liquid, and added a little corn. Pre-blanching the poblanos was genius
That sounds like a delicious substitution, Yvonne! Thanks for sharing.
Can this be made in the instant?
Hi Dawn, we have never tried this recipe in the instant pot but we do have a delicious air fryer stuffed pepper and crockpot stuffed pepper recipe you might enjoy.
Don’t forget to add salt! Somewhere around 1 teaspoonfull. We like to add canned corn, red pepper flakes, and cheese (or cheeses) to the mix and line the bottom of the peppers with cheese as well before filling them. We also make extra filling to freeze and use for a faster dinner later.
I made these exactly as the recipe is written and it was fabulous! Thanks for sharing your recipes with us! I wouldn’t look for recipes online if I thought my version was the best, so please ignore those who choose to be critical and write that their recipe is better! Keep up these great recipes you are putting out there for us, your website is the first site I check when I want exact ingredients and procedures!
Thank you for your kind words ❤️ We are glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, Patricia!
Amen!!!
Why 45 minutes in the oven?? When everything is already cooked? Seems exessive.
Hi Sarah, this is to fully cook the pepper and heat everything inside and then to melt the cheese added on top. Hope that helps!
The base of the recipe is good for a general understanding/guideline, but it just lacks some seasonings.
Needs salt or salt substitute.
You can be more generous with the Italian seasoning and Worcestershire sauce.
Coarse ground pepper is delicious in anything, and as always I was generous.
I used some old bay seasoning.
When cooking the rice in the mixture you may need to add some sort of extra stock or water as necessary, if the rice isn’t tender yet, as you’ll need more moisture.
Garlic toast goes with this perfectly.
Thanks for the suggestions, Kevin. Glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Love your recipes and ideas, Holly! I truly admire your patience, tact and diplomacy when people feel the need to correct your recipes instead of just saying they chose to do something a bit different. But I suspect you are handling it by calling them out without calling them out.
So for all of you that either don’t like the recipe or cannot handle something about it, change it for yourself and/or just move on!
So glad you’ve enjoyed the recipes Vi! Happy Cooking!
The perfect stuffed pepper recipe! I made it with Impossible Burger meat. The stuffing was so good my husband and I debated just grabbing forks and eating out of the pan! Glad we waited for the finished product as the pepper and cheese were the compliment that makes stuffed peppers special. I followed the recipe (unusual for me) and boiled the peppers which enhanced the peppers.
These were excellent!!! I was generous w/the marinara sauce & I made your cheesy garlic breadsticks (I added “everything bagel” seasoning as well as minced garlic & cheese to the sticks) to mop up any sauce & it was phenomenal! I absolutely love your blog. I cook for 7 so I just double the recipes. You’re a lifesaver & your recipes kick butt!
So happy you are enjoying our recipes, Chelsea! You additions for this recipe sound amazing, thanks for sharing!
Delicious, thank you!
You’re welcome! So happy to hear that you love the peppers Joni!
I used Uncle Ben’s beef rice and layered with Guda cheese in bottom, middle and top, WOW was that delicious!!!
Love this recipe….the best
Very good recipe except our complaint first time making this was it needed some kind of sodium. 2nd time, I changed white rice to a 5 grain wild rice and added a teaspoon of concentrated beef stock with the water. I am happy with the peppers being softer! hubby liked it tons too
Glad you both enjoyed it Jane!
This was the best stuffed green pepper recipe I have ever made, I served corn bread with it and nothing else, it is a complete meal
To precook my peppers, I use an electric skillet and 2 cups of water, placed cleaned peppers in and cook at 350 degrees for 5 minutes or desired doneness. Remove and place on paper towels. Drain water and cook the filling in the electric skillet. A lot easier and not so many pots to wash, or waiting for the water to heat.
Thank you for sharing!