Stuffed Bell Peppers

An old fashioned Stuffed Bell Peppers recipe with healthy ground beef, rice, tomatoes and just the right amount of spices. 

You can use red, yellow, orange, or green bell peppers for a variety of taste and color.

Serve as a delicious, frugal entree side dish.

You may double the recipe and freeze in individual freezer bags  for a quick and easy dinner when you are  not in the mood for cooking.

These peppers may be frozen prior to baking or cooked first, cooled thoroughly and frozen.

If precooked, remove from the freezer, thaw or defrost and heat in the microwave for a fast, delicious meal.

Old Fashioned Stuffed
Bell Peppers Recipe

• 1 1/4 lbs. lean ground beef
  
  
• 1 medium onion, chopped
  
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
  
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano, optional
  
  
• 2 minced garlic cloves, optional
  
  
• 1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes with basil
  
  
• 3 cups cooked and fluffed rice
  
  
• 3 large bell peppers
  
  
• 1/4 cup water
  
  

Brown meat and onions in skillet.

Add salt, oregano, and garlic.

Cook until water is cooked out of meat (if water was added prior to packaging).

Add tomatoes and cook mixture until thick.

Remove from heat and gently fold in rice.

Cut peppers in half, lengthwise and remove seeds.

Spoon all the meat mixture equally into the 6 pepper cups.

Place peppers into a shallow pan.

Add water to bottom of pan.

Cover with aluminum foil, sealing around edges of pan to retain steam.

Bake in preheated oven 350 F. 40-45 minutes until peppers are getting tender when pierced with a knife.

Remove cover carefully to prevent getting burned by hot steam.

Cook to lightly brown tops for another 10 minutes or so.

Bell Pepper Cups

• 6 medium green, red, yellow or orange bell peppers 
  
  

• 1 pound lean ground beef
  
  
• 1/2 cup red or white onion, finely chopped
  
  

• 1 tablespoon bacon fat, preferably smoked bacon fat
  
  

• 2 cups stewed tomatoes
  
  
• 3/4 cup cooked rice
  
  
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
  
  

• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  
  
  Extra shredded sharp cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top of cups just before serving, if desired.

Cut off tops of bell peppers and scrape out the seeds and membranes.

Place peppers in a large saucepan of boiling salty water.

Boil 5 minutes and drain peppers.

In a skillet add the bacon fat and brown the ground beef and onion.

Add stewed tomatoes, Worcestershire Sauce
and cooked rice. 

Mix lightly.

Stand peppers upright in an oblong baking dish and stuff the peppers loosely. 

Sprinkle the tops with shredded cheddar cheese.

Bake uncovered in oven at 350F. 25-30 minutes until very hot. 

Serve Bell Pepper cups, hot.

Italian Stuffed Bell Peppers

This Stuffed Peppers Recipe Made Easy recipe can be put together quickly and baked in the oven while you unwind after a hard day of work.


Serve with an Italian Salad with Homemade Italian Dressing and garlic bread and you're done.

• 1 lb. ground beef
  
  

• 4 large green bell peppers, split in half and seed removed
  
  
• 1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
  
  
• 1 egg
  
  
• 1/4 cup minute rice (uncooked)
  
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
  
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed basil
  
  
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper (optional)
  
  
• 2 medium white potatoes, cut in chunks
  
  
• 1 (28oz. can) tomato sauce

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together beef, bread crumbs, egg, rice, salt and pepper.

Stuff into the 8 halves of green bell peppers.


Place bell peppers in a casserole dish.

Arrange potatoes around the peppers.

Pour tomato sauce over peppers and potatoes.

Sprinkle with basil.

Cover dish with tin foil and bake in a preheated oven 400 F. for 50-60 minutes until peppers are tender and lightly browned.


Happy Dining! 
 

Bell Peppers With Dessert

Stuffed Bell Peppers can make a complete meal the way Casseroles do. 

A light, homemade dessert will top off your delicious meal.

A heaping serving of Old Fashioned Banana Pudding made from scratch or a slice of One Two Three Four Cake would please your guests and yourself.

Plus... those desserts can be made the day before.

Bell Peppers Recipe History

Bell Pepper seeds were brought to America by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to our country.

I do not know how the people cooked them so long ago, but the oldest cook book in my collection is Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes, published in 1931 by the United States Government.

In that cook book there is a recipe for Stuffed Bell Peppers.

Included the list of ingredients is Bread Crumbs and Meat Gravy, neither of which I would like in a Bell Pepper Stuffing.

However, in the cook book The Boston Cooking-School, 1900 edition, there is a recipe for Stuffed Bell Peppers listing ham, chicken or veal as the meat source.

There is also written instructions to serve the stuffed peppers on top of toast and then top them with a brown sauce. 

Because there was no brown sauce recipe listed with the recipe, I am assuming it was what we call brown gravy.

Related Pages

Old Fashioned Meatloaf Recipe

Meatloaf Without Tomatoes

Return to Ground Beef Recipes


Home