Author: Susanne at Dish with Me
Yummy, beefy, cheesy, savory umami flavor filled Stuffed (or unstuffed) Bell Peppers! This is the first official dinner I ever made. I was 12. If a young teenager/tween can make these, I am positive you can too!
Because you have to parboil the peppers and cook the rice separately, it does dirty a few pots & pans, but this is a pretty quick and simple meal to prepare.
YOU DECIDE
I make both stuffed and unstuffed, depending on who I am cooking for. It seems many children don’t really care for bell peppers and many adults do. So if I am cooking with littles in mind, like when mine were younger, I make unstuffed.
Yes, stuffed are much cuter, but I see no reason to buy extra peppers, parboil them and stuff them if only the inside is going to be eaten.
HELPFUL HINTS FOR STUFFED (OR UNSTUFFED) BELL PEPPERS
If you are making stuffed bell peppers you will need 6 of any color you prefer, or a variety. I have a strong preference to red, orange or yellow, not green for this recipe. Leave them whole, only removing the core and seeds.
If you are making unstuffed peppers you will only need 1 or 2. I use 2. After removing the core and seeds you will either cut the peppers into rings, chunks or strips. Rings are cute!
If you prefer, you could replace the rice with quinoa. And, even the ground beef for ground chicken or turkey.
The variety of cheese you use is really whatever you like best. I think cheddar and mozzarella go great with the other flavors, but you may want to zip it up a little and use something like pepper jack.
I don’t want big chunks of celery in this dish, so I slice the celery into 4 pieces, lengthwise and then dice.
A GREAT way to enjoy left-overs is to heat it up and top it with an egg, or two for breakfast. YUM! See, cook once, eat twice or thrice!
This pairs well with my Super Easy Sheet Pan Herb Roasted Potatoes and my Easy Delicious Canned Green Beans.
STUFFED (OR UNSTUFFED) BELL PEPPERS
Ingredients
- 1.5 cup water
- 1 cup Jasmine rice or long grain white rice DO NOT USE INSTANT RICE
- 2 Tablespoons EVOO
- 1 – 1.5 lb ground beef I use organic 80/15 1.34 lb from Costco
- 1 medium yellow onion Diced
- 1 rib celery finely diced
- 1 teaspoon Cavender's seasoning blend
- 1.5 teaspoons oregano dried
- 1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
- 1 teaspoon parsley dried
- 1 teaspoon thyme dried
- 2 teaspoons broth base & seasoning Orrington Farms
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 25 grinds freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 3 cloves garlic grated with a microplane
- 1 28 ounce whole peeled or crushed
- 6 bell peppers whatever color you like, you only 2 if making unstuffed peppers
- 1 .5 cups cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded is fine, but the real mozzarella is better, something like the Bel Gioioso brand
Instructions
- Cook rice per package directions, set aside.
- Fill a large bowl with ice water, set aside.
- Determine whether you are going to make stuffed, or unstuffed peppers. If making stuffed, you will need 6 bell peppers of whatever color variety you prefer. If making unstuffed, you will need 1 or 2 bell peppers, depending on how bell peppery you want it! The cooking process will be the same.
- In a pot large enough to hold enough water to cover the bell peppers, bring water to a boil. Add bell peppers and cook for 3 minutes. Remove peppers to the bowl of ice water for 2 minutes. Drain in colander, set aside.
- Heat a large pan on medium-high heat, add the EVOO, ground beef, onion, and celery. Cook until beef is cooked and onions are tender.
- Turn heat down to medium. Add all spices, including Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste.
- Add canned tomatoes.
- Add cooked rice.
- Add cheddar cheese.
- This part of the process might take 15 minutes.
- If making unstuffed peppers, pour the entire mixture into a casserole pan, approximately 8×10.
- Top with chopped bell pepper pieces and additional half cup of cheddar and mozzarella.
- If making stuffed bell peppers, place peppers in a casserole dish and fill each pepper with beef mixture.
- Top each pepper with cheddar and mozzarella.
- Bake uncovered at 350°F for 30 minutes.