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Dad's Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe

Filed under All Seasons, Beef, Comfort Food, Main Course

Dad's Stuffed Bell Peppers

A classic American dish that one can't easily find in restaurants (unless it is a cafeteria) is stuffed bell peppers. It's essentially meatloaf stuffed into red or green bell peppers and baked in the oven. My mom and dad have their own different versions, both delicious. Here is my dad's:

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Dad's Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe

Ingredients

4 green or red bell peppers
Salt
5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 lb of lean ground beef
1 1/2 cup of cooked rice or 3/4 cup of raw instant rice
1 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp of dried oregano
Fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp of Worcestershire Sauce
Dash of Tabasco sauce

Method

1 Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, cut top off peppers 1 inch from the stem end, and remove seeds. Add several generous pinches of salt to boiling water, then add peppers and boil, using a spoon to keep peppers completely submerged, until brilliant green (or red if red peppers) and their flesh slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Drain, set aside to cool.

2 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat 4 tbsp of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, and cook, stirring often, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, add meat, rice, tomatoes, and oregano, and season generously with salt and pepper. Mix well.

3 Drizzle remaining 1 tbsp. Oil inside peppers, arrange cut side up in a baking dish, then stuff peppers with filling. Combine ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and 1/4 cup of water in a small bowl, then spoon over filling. Add 1/4 cup of water to the baking dish. Place in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the internal temperature of the stuffed pepper is 150-160°F.

Serves 4.

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Posted by Elise on Aug 14, 2003 and indexed Bell Pepper, Meatloaf

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Comments

VERY good. I have to say I probably won't make it again just because it was too messy for a quick family dinner. Rice is always messy with little ones and when you're sticking it in something else, oh boy! Maybe for an adult dinner though. We cut up our bell peppers and ate them with the stuffing.

Posted by: Pink Sun Drops on January 28, 2005 7:16 PM

I think there was a step missing in this recipe beause I put the meat in raw in the oven and it was not done in 30 min.I think the meat needs to be cooked in the skillet a little bit first before going into the oven or cook longer in the oven.It took us at least another hour to cook it than it says on the recipe.Might wanna be careful-you don't want to eat undercooked meat.

Posted by: K Copley on January 25, 2006 2:19 PM

This is one of the best meals I've made in a while. My husband is a vegetarian, so I substituted the beef for Morningstar meatless crumbles. The ketchup-tabasco sauce topping was fantastic. Something really great happens in the oven to make it taste much more gourmet than it is. The stuffing is a perfect mix of flavors. My husband proclaimed them the best stuffed peppers he's ever had. I have to agree! The recipe was clear and easy to follow.

Posted by: Anonymous on May 29, 2006 5:35 PM

I love stuffed peppers but this recipe was lacking. I use El Paso spanish rice and Campbells tomato soup for the sauce.

Posted by: R Flynn on August 21, 2006 5:39 PM

Great dish! soon to be a family favorite. I added mushrooms and subsituted the morningstar meatless crumbles but other than that stuck to the recipe. I was hesitant to use ketchup thinking it would be too sweet. It was perfect. I really enjoyed the flavor of the sauce. It added a lot to the dish. I think next time I will double the sauce recipe.

Posted by: Neoni Troxel on October 12, 2006 4:41 PM

I made these yesterday and they were great! Easy to do especially using a rice cooker for the rice while I got everything else together. The best I've ever made, and even my husband who is not a stuffed pepper fan, enjoyed them.

Thanks!!

Posted by: annie on October 18, 2006 11:42 AM

I made this for my family and friends and they wanted the recipe to take home. Very good and if you use brown rice it is good for you too! I thought it was quick and easy.

Posted by: s on October 28, 2006 9:41 PM

My former MIL has a great simple stuffed pepper recipe that we're having tonight:

brown 1# of lean ground beef in a skillet with a clove of chopped garlic (or use garlic salt or garlic powder), a small chopped onion. Add salt and pepper to taste. After meat is browned, add one bottle of chili sauce and a can of niblets corn to the ground beef and keep warm. Wash and halve the peppers lengthwise, remove seeds and parboil for about 5 minutes. Remove the peppers from the water and drain. Stuff the peppers with the ground beef mixture and top with cheese if desired. Place in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until hot. I serve with mashed potatoes with lots of butter! Yummy!! Best of comfort food.

Posted by: Trish on November 25, 2006 5:31 AM

Don't use raw rice. It was crunchy when it was done.

Posted by: Jeff on December 3, 2006 6:32 PM

This recipe is GREAT!! I used Uncle Ben's Whole Grain Rice for a healthier rice and cooked it before starting anything. Realistically it takes quite a bit longer (1 hr 10 min prep and to get the temp right bake for 1hr and 15 min at least). But it was well worth it! My husband is a big eater so he took two but our teenage boys and 4 yr old daughter only took 1/2 of one each. I first used this two weeks ago and it's already on the menu again!!

Posted by: Laura on January 24, 2007 9:06 AM

I love stuffed peppers, but they are a pain to make. I made these ones and they are divine. Even the kids loved them. This one goes on my "list".

Posted by: Nancy on January 27, 2007 2:37 PM

Changed the basics..
I used bread crumbs instead of rice .. added
ground pork as we had no beef in the freezer
with some cooked onion and 3 cloves of garlic
into the mix .. balsamic vinegar to compliment the worcestshire sauce [no ketchup].. this was very good.. putting the bell peppers in boiling water for 3 minutes sped up the cooking process so the peppers were soft .. I think the peppers were in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes long enough to be slightly black on top.. Delicious !!

Posted by: Robin Nordman on March 2, 2007 9:33 PM

Hi Elise :)
I have been sitting here now for 3 hours reading all the wonderful recipes and all about you and your family. I really have enjoyed it. I look forward to making all the recipes I printed out. I have one question though. Does your mom get mad at you for choosing your dads recipes over hers so much? lol
Patti

Posted by: Patti on March 18, 2007 4:40 PM

I made this last night. It was a hit. My husband called me this morning asking me what I was making for dinner tonight, he was looking forward to dinner. I cooked the meat before hand and seasoned to taste. My family loves cheese so I sprinkled some cheese in the bottom of the bell pepper, added the stuffing,pretty much layered with Mozerella cheese and the meat. It was really good there will be a next time for this dish. The bell peppers don't even taste like peppers. We have never had this dish before and it was a success. Thank you

Posted by: Rita on March 30, 2007 11:09 AM

I first made this a month ago with some additions. Stuffed the peppers raw, find they hold up better.Used brown, white & wild rice. Chopped up & added the pepper tops, 1tsp. ea. celery seed & seasoned salt. subbed the water for 1/4 c. diced tomatoes & juice in the pan. Bake 350. 45 mins. Top with mozza. last 5 mins. EXCELLENT! Made them again today & froze them for an easy last min. meal. Cook from frozen @ 350, 45-60 mins.
Thanks

Posted by: Swampangel on April 30, 2007 1:20 PM

LOVED THIS RECIPE :-) OK, I am a city girl living in the country (somewhat) and for the first time in my life I have a vegetable/fruit garden. *All the veggies used are from our GARDEN!

Posted by: Anay on July 19, 2007 7:37 PM

I made these for the first time, and I've never had stuffed bell peppers. I love this recipe. Quick, easy, and great tasting.

Thanks.

Posted by: S. Ortega on August 17, 2007 5:14 PM

It was a very good dinner.

Posted by: madison on October 14, 2007 2:07 PM

The rice did not cook--only use cooked.

Posted by: Julie on January 31, 2008 8:44 AM

I tried this recipe last night and OMG! my husband loved it! I couldn't believe how easy it was to make too! I love the simplicity of a lot of these recipes and I will definitely be trying more in the future. I especially love the fact that you have photos to help with the process. I even bought a shoulder roast for the first time in my life to try your Pot Roast Recipe. Being a young couple the extent of my cooking was hamburger helper and spaghetti. Now my husband is trying to buy me a laptop for the kitchen so that I can access your site from anywhere in the house! Thank you so much for making such easy and tasteful dishes!

Posted by: mona on February 7, 2008 6:24 AM

Wonderful! I used extra garlic and extra tabasco sauce and used a can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh and this was maybe just a bit too hot for my tastes. But it was awesome. The rice absorbed the lovely flavors as did the tomatoes. I cooked the rice about 10 minutes before stuffing it and it was nice and tender after the oven time. I topped my pepper with cheddar and hubby's with swiss. Yummmmmmmy!

Posted by: Maya on February 29, 2008 4:47 PM

Made it this evening, about 2-3 times the recipe. Came out well. Used brown rice precooked. Did not precook the very lean (8% fat) beef. Nuked the raw peppers rather than boiled. Used both fresh and cannned crushed tomatoes. Cooked it about 55 minutes. Served with fresh salad. Now we have about 3 meals.

Posted by: Bill on April 3, 2008 7:31 PM

My husband and I enjoyed the stuffed peppers tonight. I added corn and used half catcup and half tomato sauce. The sauce was just right. Thank you for sharing.

Posted by: Karen on April 28, 2008 10:11 PM

I used venison ground meat and added basil and thyme. I also added brown sugar with the sauce and I used tomato sauce instead. I used long grain and wild rice. It was a great meal. I served it with cheesy onion french bread. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Tayte on May 2, 2008 4:12 PM

My girlfriend makes it with cous cous, cheese in the pepper and on top, and seasoned meat, no sauce. She made it for my birthday. Yum.

Posted by: AJ on May 5, 2008 5:49 PM

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