Stuffed Bell Peppers

4.57 from 105 votes

These Stuffed Bell Peppers are a classic comfort food that’s hearty, filling, has incredible flavors, and can easily feed a large family.

Step-by-step photos can be seen below the recipe card.

Prep Time15

Cook Time50

Total Time1 5

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Total Cost: $10.36 recipe / $1.72 serving

Servings: servings

Author: Marsha McDougal

Ingredients

Peppers

3 bell peppers $2.96
2 Tbsp cooking oil divided, $0.08
1¼ tsp salt divided, $0.06**
¼ tsp black pepper freshly cracked, $0.02

Filling

1 lb. Italian sausage $3.87*
1 yellow onion diced, $0.70
3 garlic cloves minced, $0.24
1 tsp Italian seasoning $0.10
½ tsp garlic powder $0.05
1 cup marinara sauce $0.71
½ cup long grain white rice uncooked, $0.21
¾ cup chicken broth $0.11
1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded, $1.25

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Wash and dry each bell pepper, then cut the bell peppers in half horizontally. Make sure to cut them as evenly as possible. Using a sharp paring knife carefully cut and remove the stem from the top half of each bell pepper (see picture below). It's okay if there is a small hole left where the stem was removed.
Place each bell pepper half in a 9x13-inch casserole dish. Brush the bell peppers with 1 Tbsp oil and season with ¼ tsp of salt and ¼ tsp cracked black pepper. Bake the bell peppers in a preheated oven for 20 minutes to soften. After 20 minutes remove the bell peppers from the oven and set aside. ***
While the bell peppers are baking, make the filling. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 1 Tbsp of oil. Brown the Italian sausage.
Once the sausage has browned, add the diced onion and minced garlic to the skillet. Continue to sauté over medium heat until the onion is translucent and the garlic is fragrant.
Next add the uncooked rice, marinara sauce, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, 1 tsp of salt, and chicken broth to the skillet. Stir to combine.
Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to medium-high, and allow the mixture to come to a full boil. Once boiling, immediately reduce the heat to medium-low and allow the mixture to simmer, without lifting the lid or stirring, for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn the heat off and let it rest, without lifting the lid, for an additional 5 minutes.
Next remove the lid, fluff the rice, and stir the mixture again to redistribute the ingredients. Begin to fill each bell pepper with the meat filling. Stuff as much filling as you can into each, filling them all the way to the top.
Top each bell pepper evenly with shredded mozzarella cheese. Loosely place some tented aluminum foil over the top of the casserole dish and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes the bell peppers should be tender but not mushy.
Now remove the foil and turn the heat on to broil. Broil the stuffed bell peppers for 2-3 minutes or just until the cheese gets a little brown on top. Be sure to watch the bell peppers closely at this step to prevent the cheese from over browning. Garnish with parsley, if desired, and enjoy!

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Notes

*I love the flavor of Italian sausage in this recipe, but you can use ground beef, ground turkey, or even Italian turkey sausage if you like. Just note that Italian sausage already has a lot of seasonings built in. I'd add more Italian seasoning to the filling if you're using plain ground beef or turkey.

**If you're watching your salt intake, go for a low-sodium chicken broth and reduce the salt used in the filling. Alternatively, you can leave the salt out of the filling and season to taste once the rice is cooked (before stuffing your peppers).

***I definitely suggest par-cooking the bell peppers first, as I do here, just a little bit before stuffing them. Not only does this help to soften the bell peppers, but it also cuts down on your cook time. As the bell peppers are cooking, you can make the filling, shaving off about 20 minutes from your total cook time.

Nutrition