This is the best stuffed green peppers with rice and ground beef recipe baked in the oven. We will explain how to blanch bell peppers first, combine filling with spaghetti sauce and top with mozzarella cheese for a killer dinner we love.

Four halved bell peppers filled with rice, cheese, and green onions, served in a white bowl—an inviting stuffed green peppers recipe solid for any meal.

Let us share our Grandmother's recipe with you! We have been making these for 15 years because it is our husband's favorite meal and now that our kids are older they ask us to make them at least once a month because they are a feel good meal they grew up with.

You can use any color of peppers too, we have tried them all and each has a bit different flavor. We usually buy double so we can make these for dinner one night and our stuffed pepper casserole in another.

There are few ingredients to this one, which we love, and you can alter it according to your own taste buds along the way. We have used Jimmy Dean spicy ground sausage when we want a kick of heat, brown rice for a bit more texture, and any cheeses go (and lots of it).

Ingredient notes

As for meat we use what is on hand. If we only have a roll of sausage we would use that instead of ground beef. The spicy type is great to use half and half if you ask us. There is usually more mixture left than will fill 4 peppers so we fill the last 2 holes of our muffin pan with the mixture, top with cheese and it is a good meal for the next day.

Any color of bell peppers will work for this. We do choose the ones with 4 bumps at the bottom though as they will stand up easier and not want to fall over.

Do you have to blanch bell peppers to make stuffed peppers?

You should for the right texture, to soften them. Blanching means that you are cooking it a bit, long enough to soften the outsides a bit and tame the bitter flavor as well. You will do this by submerging each one (with the top removed) into a large pot of boiling water for 5 – 8 min.

In this case we did add some cooked white Ninja foodi ricesince it is cooked beforehand feel free to use cooked brown rice if you prefer. Heck we have even made this with some pressure cooker quinoa instead for more protein.

We use and like quite a bit of cheese. If you do need a dairy free alternative we have found that Daiya has a wonderful shredded one. My husband needs this so we have tested quite a few.

We will use a rich tomato sauce with some softened and diced onions inside. You could use spaghetti sauceor diced tomatoes but that won't make it as rich and thick so it isn't our favorite choice. You can integrate some sliced mushrooms into the mix too if you like.

If you don't have a muffin tin so they don't fall over you could use a regular pan, large enough so they fit snug with high sides.

How Long to Bake Stuffed Green Peppers

You will need about 5 minutes to brown the meat, 20 minutes to make the rice initially, 5-8 minutes to blanch the peppers and 20 minutes to bake in the oven. The beginning steps can be done at the same time so in a total of 40 minutes you can be ready to eat!

Do you need to brown ground beef?

Yes, you will need a little prep at the beginning. You'll want to precook the beef or ground turkey with diced onions if you want to add those with it. We have heard some leave it raw but we like to ensure that it is at a safe temperature initially. We think the flavors of the sauce soaks in better when it is browned when incorporating too.

If you wanted to make more of a finger food size you could make stuffed mini peppers. Bake time would reduce by about half but you'd use the same recipe. slice in half lengthwise, remove seeds and membranes and fill. Set on a baking sheet and bake this way.

Tips

While the rice is cooking cook ground beef in oven or in a skillet to remove the pink on the outside (no longer). Remember that they will bake again in the oven so you don't need it all to be completely browned at this point. You can put some dehydrated onion or diced onion in as well as some Lawry's to taste at this time.

We like to keep the tops of the peppers that we remove before blanching to sit on top when they are baking so the tops (with cheese) don't get too too brown.

The easiest way to keep peppers from falling over is to set each one inside of the hole in a muffin tin!! If you have extra filling don't get rid of it. You can line a few of the holes with parchment paper and fill that way for family members that like the filling but not the veggies.

old fashioned stuffed bell peppers recipe

Stuffed Green Peppers with Rice Recipe

By This is an easy way to bake stuffed green peppers with rice and ground beef. An inexpensive way to make a pretty healthy meal we love for dinner. Prep: 20 minutes minsCook: 15 minutes minsTotal: 35 minutes minsServings: 6 Save Recipe Saved! Pin Recipe Comment Print Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients

6 large bell peppers, any color, about 1 per person basically
1 cup white rice, uncooked measurement, could use brown if desired
1/2 pound ground beefcould opt for ground turkey
1 cup cheese, mozzarella is what we use
1 tbsp onion, could use fresh diced or dehydrated
1 can spaghetti sauceor 1 cup tomato sauce
1 pinch Salt, to taste

Instructions

Blanch peppers (any color) in boiling water – wait until water is boiling, cut off tops and remove insides, submerge in boiling water for about 8 minutes or until they have softened. Remove, set aside.
Cook your rice while you're doing that and brown your ground beef. When rice and ground beef are cooked mix them together with your spaghetti sauce, salt, and cheese.
Put blanced peppers in a muffin tin so they don't fall over and fill them with your rice mixture.
Put in preheated oven at 350 degrees for maybe 15-20 minutes to meld all the flavors together. Can add more cheese to the top of each one for last 5 minutes if desired too.

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Entree, Main CourseCuisine: American Tried this recipe?Mention @thetypical_mom or tag #thetypicalmom!

Other stuffed peppers recipes you'll love

You can cook stuffed peppers with rice (with raw meat to start with) we have that too. If you love these you should try our air fryer breakfast stuffed peppers too! Want to skip blanching all together? Try crockpot stuffed bell peppers recipe here.