Stuffed Bell Peppers
Stefan and his dad have a serious love of stuffed bell peppers. Over the last year, I think they have probably talked about them every time they’ve seen each other in person, which is every few months. And I’m sure that there were a few phone calls in between when they also raved about how much they love them. I’ve never made stuffed bell peppers in my life, nor had them served to me, so I was a bit hesitant to try making these. The bar was set high by my MIL who apparently made them once a long time ago, got the guys totally hooked, and then never made them again.
So, being the loving wife that I am (who absolutely loves it when Stefan just goes crazy when he walks in the door after work, asks what’s for dinner and finds out it is something he knows he is going to love) decided to finally swallow my fears and make stuffed bell peppers.
The end result was very delicious. The recipe is similar to the bolognese I often make, but I chopped the celery and carrots smaller and of course this also has rice and cream in it. Then everything is stuffed into bell peppers. I used red, because I love the sweeter taste, but you can use any color bell pepper that you have handy. I might even try them with orange or yellow bell peppers next time for fun. In fact, I made these for the first time a few weeks ago, but I am going to make them again tomorrow after buying some more bell peppers. I’m pretty sure this meal will become a staple in our house.
Freezer Advice
We didn’t get around to freezing the filling for these stuffed bell peppers, because we ate them two nights in a row…but I’m fairly certain if I doubled the filling recipe, and split it into two portions to freeze and two for back-to-back dinners, it would work beautifully for a quick weeknight meal. You might want to leave out the cream for freezing, but since it’s so well absorbed in the end, I don’t think it would make much difference.
Find more delicious recipes at Mouthwatering Mondays on A Southern Fairytale
These stuffed bell peppers are delicious oven-roasted bell peppers, stuffed with a meaty bolognese-style sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup uncooked white rice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 carrot, chopped small
- 1 stalk celery, chopped small
- 4 bell peppers (any color) with the tops cut off, stems and seeds removed
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/4 pound pancetta or lightly smoked bacon, diced
- 2 12 oz cans crushed tomatoes
- 1 8oz tube tomato paste
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- In a saucepan bring water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until tender and fluffy; set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook and stir carrots and celery until tender. Add ground beef and pancetta, and cook until browned and crumbled; drain off any excess liquid, and return to heat. Add marinara sauce, wine, and red pepper flakes, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in cream, half of the Parmesan cheese, and rice. Simmer 5 minutes more, or until most liquid has absorbed.
- Place peppers in a shallow baking dish, sprinkle Parmesan cheese inside and fill with beef mixture. Drizzle with remaining olive oil and top with remaining Parmesan cheese.
- Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes in the preheated oven. Serve hot.
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What a great sounding recipe! I am a lover of lamb and am going to try it with ground lamb rather than beef.
My mother never made stuffed peppers and, believe it or not, the first time I had them was in Keflevik, Iceland when I was a young airman pulling KP in an aircraft hangar where interceptor pilots were on alert. Except for having to wash all the dishes it was a great experience.
Thanks for the great sounding recipe! My daughter was requesting this the other day, and I’ll make her ANYTHING that she’s willing to eat a vegetable with. I’ll definitely give it a try.
What a fantastic sounding recipe – I guess you could sub beef for lentils if you wanted to make a veggie version. And it’s so useful to be able to find a recipe for pappers as they are something that often goes soft here at Chez Green! Definitely one to try – thanks for the inspiration!
It has been so long since I have made stuffed peppers. Yours look so good that I think I need to to put it on the list to make soon.
I make bell peppers a lot. It was one of those things my Mom made pretty often. I like that you added bacon in here. I bet that adds a real nice flavor and it sounds like your husband LOVED it!!
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I always think I’m going to make stuffed peppers, but I never actually have. I like your idea of using red peppers. While I like green ones, red are my favorite – so I might be more inclined to actually USE this (yummy-looking) recipe!