by Texas Homesteader
I love bell peppers and usually plant several bell pepper plants in my garden. Of course I love to use bell peppers in a steamed veggie medley or dehydrate them for winter use. And of course you have to have chopped bell peppers in meatloaf and many other recipes.
But one of my favorite meals with bell peppers is making stuffed peppers. Since I utilize the cook-once-eat-twice method of cooking, I’ll fill the oven full of stuffed peppers. That way I can freeze some and enjoy them later as a quick heat-n-eat supper.
Here are the simple ingredients I use to make stuffed bell peppers: Onion, Garlic, Rice, Italian Stewed Tomatoes, Worcestershire Sauce and Italian Seasoning along with my ground meat and broth.
I like to use brown rice instead of white. And since I have a talented hunter husband I typically use ground pork instead of purchased meats.
Cooked Rice Is Planned Leftovers
I usually make the brown rice first, oftentimes by making twice as much as I needed for a recipe the day before. That way it’ll already be made to streamline things at supper time. So I often plan a rice dish the night before. That way I can capitalize the cook-once-eat-twice method of cooking.
But if I’m starting fresh I’ll saute the onions and peppers and the brown rice in a little olive oil until the onions are translucent. Then I’ll add the water or broth and bring to a boil.
After it comes to a boil I’ll stir it only once, cover the pan and simmer the rice for 20 minutes. Then without lifting the lid I’ll turn off the heat and allow the rice to absorb the rest of the liquid for another 20-25 minutes. After that time I can fluff the rice with a fork and it’s ready to go.
Now on to the meat filling. I brown the meat with chopped onion, pepper, italian seasonings and stewed tomatoes.
When the meat is browned I drain the fat from the meat. If I’m using ground pork from wild hog it’s already very lean so there’s not much fat to drain.
Then I mix the meat mixture with the rice until I get the ratio that I like. Typically for me it’s 2 parts meat mixture to 1 part rice. But if you want more protein and less grain, or vice versa, do what works best for you.
(The recipe calls for me to add cheese at this point and sometimes I do. But tonight I skipped the cheese in the filling and opted instead to just add a little mozzarella on top when they came out of the oven.)
Partially Cooking The Bell Peppers
Now I prepare the peppers. I like to slice them in half longways, de-seed them and microwave them for 3 minutes.
Then I place them in my favorite casserole dish, a vintage Corning Ware dish that belonged to my grandmother.
Making Stuffed Bell Peppers
After I get the peppers into the dishes I fill each half with the meat/rice filling. Then I place them in the oven and bake them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
As I mentioned, I’m making enough stuffed peppers to fill that oven up so it’s not pumping heat into the house this summer when I’m in the mood for this delicious main dish. Since each half is a serving for us I’m making 12 servings here. After supper tonight I’ll freeze the others.
When they’re cooked I sprinkle a little shredded mozzarella cheese on top and allow the cheese to melt and they’re ready to go. I’ll pair them with a couple of veggie sides and dinner is served.
If I make the rice the day before, making this dish is simply browning the meat, adding the tomatoes, microwaving the peppers & stuffing them and putting them in the oven. While they’re baking I’ll steam a couple of veggies and dinner comes together in a snap.
If you think you’d like to try this recipe for yourself, I’m including the recipe below. Enjoy!
Stuffed Bell Pepper - uses 6 peppers for 12 servings
Ingredients
- 6 green bell peppers, cut in half lengthways & seeds removed
- 1 pound ground meat
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 2 14.5 oz cans Italian seasoned diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 cup brown rice
- 3 cups water or broth
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
- 1.5 cup shredded cheese
Instructions
-
Chop enough reserved green pepper to equal about 1/4 cup; Set chopped pepper aside.
-
In a pan combine 1 cup brown rice with 3 cups water (or broth) - bring to boiling, stir once and cover pot. Simmer without stirring for 20 minutes, then without lifting lid turn off heat and leave covered 20 minutes. Then fluff with a fork and set aside.
-
Cook ground meat in a skillet with reserved chopped pepper, minced garlic and chopped onion over medium heat stirring until meat is browned, the juices run clear, and the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes; drain excess grease. Pour in drained diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper; bring to a boil and turn off heat. Stir in enough cooked rice to get the rice/meat mixture you desire. Stir cheese into ground meat/rice mixture
-
Place hollowed-out green peppers in a microwave-safe dish; cover and cook in microwave until bright green and steaming, about 3 minutes. Set peppers upright in a baking dish and spoon meat/rice mixture into precooked peppers.
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake peppers until cheese is melted and the peppers are tender, about 30 minutes.
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Pork Roast Recipes:
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Yum! Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday, hope to see you again tomorrow night!
Yum! Thanks for sharing on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday!! Hope to see you tomorrow!! Pinned!
Those are my favorite too! My husband doesn’t like peppers, he only eats the stuffing. Not fair, lol. Thanks for linking up with Thursday Favorite Things!
YUM! Thanks for sharing at Simple Lives Thursday.
WOW You and i cook alike…I make these too the same way. Thats because I grew up on a farm and made all same stuff! Thanks for sharing this on Fab.. Friday Party
Looks delicious! I can’t wait for my peppers to grow so I can give this a try. Thank you for sharing at Green Thumb Thursday!
Thanks for coming by the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop. Love your post and appreciate you taking the time to share.
Blessings,
Shari
I like to make these with Italian sausage. I’ve often wondered about canning them for a meal in a jar. Thanks for sharing this recipe at the HomeAcre Hop! Look forward to seeing you again tomorrow: http://wp.me/p2urYY-16c
We have jalapenos all over the place. I may twist this recipe just a bit to accommodate those! Thank you for linking at Tuesdays with a Twist! I hope you can join us again tomorrow! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
What a great recipe! It looks yummy 🙂 Thanks for sharing at Share Your Stuff Tuesdays!
I love the cook once eat twice (or more) and this recipe is perfect for that. I could use ground turkey also. Thanks for sharing this at TTF.
Linda
Yum! I love stuffed peppers and have not made them in ages. I think it’s time! Thanks for sharing at The Scoop!…hugs…Debbie
I have some green peppers on the counter from my garden. I think I will make these for supper! Sounds good.
My mom made stuffed peppers a lot. I would always eat the filling and leave the pepper. 😉 Thank you for linking to the HomeAcre Hop. I hope to see you back this week: http://everythinghomewithcarol.com/the-self-sufficient-homeacre-hop-5/
Our garden is coming on slowly this year. We don’t have bell peppers yet. ‘Gotta try this recipe when we do! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
Thank you for sharing this recipe at last week’s Tuesdays with a Twist!
LOVE stuffed bell peppers! We have a friend who won’t eat green bells so I make her RED bells. Me, I’ll eat either!
I finally made it back from my trip so my comments are late…
Thanks for sharing at Tuesdays with a Twist! Looking forward to seeing what you share this week!
http://back2basichealth.blogspot.com/2013/06/tuesdays-with-twist-12-with-more-guests.html
Oh gosh, I haven’t made stuffed peppers in awhile! Yours look so delicious that I think these may be on the menu for dinner this weekend!
Thanks for linking up to The Creative HomeAcre blog hop! : )
Yummy looking recipe. Thanks for sharing at TTF this week.
Linda
These sound yummy! I love the idea of cooking once, eating twice too – very smart with stuffed peppers! Thanks for linking up with Living Well Spending Less this week!
I make this in a similar fashion, but to save myself some dishes I usually make the filling in one pot. I brown the meat with the onions, add in the rice, saute it around until the rice starts to toast.. Then I add beef broth and undrained tomatoes to it, making sure the liquid is what’s needed to cook the rice. Bring to a boil, and cover until rice is done. I also think this makes it more flavorful because the rice is cooked in broth instead of water.
Also, sometimes I don’t have enough green peppers to actually stuff them (feeding a crowd, peppers weren’t on sale, etc) so I chop those up and cook it as well, making a casserole type dish.
Ooh, I love stuffed peppers!
What beautiful photos you take! This recipe looks so good and so healthy! I’d love for you to link up to healthy 2day Wednesdays this week and every week you have a healthy post!
Just tried this recipe, love it. First time to ever make them because I thought they would be to time consuming to do. Awesome…Thanks for sharing your recipes.
I love your blog, I check each day to see whats new in your part of Texas…
Just a Stalker
Sharon
We love stuffed peppers too! And I’m exactly like you, I stick as many things in the oven while it’s going as I can. Get double duty out of it. Your page is lovely & your cows are just beautiful!
The peppers are starting to come in, in our garden just in time for this recipe!! Thanks for sharen with us at One Sharendipity Pl. this weekend!
sue @the2women.com
Thanks for sharing this at Fidlin’ Fridays what a great recipe!
Stuffed peppers are one of our favorites too! I never think about making a bunch and freezing them though, I’ll have to remember that! I like using red bell peppers sometimes too. 🙂