# Beef & Rice Stuffed Peppers

Beef & Rice Stuffed Peppers — a medium recipe with 6 main ingredients, ready in about 1 hr and serving 4. Check which of its ingredients are on sale at grocery stores near you.

- **Time:** 1 hr
- **Serves:** 4
- **Difficulty:** medium
- **Tags:** dinner, beef, gluten-free
- **Source:** https://savingrecipes.com/recipes/stuffed-peppers

## Ingredients

- 4 bell peppers
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 cup rice
- 15 oz tomato sauce
- 1 onion
- 1 cup shredded cheese
- Salt & pepper _(pantry staple)_
- 2 tbsp olive oil _(pantry staple)_

## Instructions

1. Cook rice. Brown beef with onion; stir in rice and half the sauce.
2. Halve and seed peppers; fill with the beef mixture.
3. Top with remaining sauce and cheese; bake covered at 375°F for 35 min, uncovered 10 more.

## Tips

- Covered for the first 35 minutes, uncovered for the last 10. Covered steams the peppers tender, uncovered browns the cheese — doing only one gives you either raw peppers or a burnt top.
- Undercook the rice slightly. It keeps absorbing sauce in the oven, and fully cooked rice going in comes out mushy.
- Halving the peppers lengthwise instead of cutting off the tops cooks faster and is much easier to eat.

## Substitutions

- **Ground beef:** Turkey, chicken, or Italian sausage (skip the extra seasoning). Lentils or plant mince for vegetarian.
- **Rice:** Quinoa, couscous, orzo, or cauliflower rice for low-carb. Any cooked grain works.
- **Bell peppers:** Any colour — red and yellow are sweeter, green more bitter. Large tomatoes, courgettes or portobellos stuff the same way with less time.
- **Shredded cheese:** Mozzarella, provolone, or a Mexican blend. Feta crumbled on after baking is good too.

## Storage & reheating

Keeps 4 days refrigerated and freezes 3 months. Freeze fully cooked and reheat covered at 350°F for 30 minutes. They also assemble a day ahead — refrigerate unbaked and add 10 minutes.

## Common questions

### Should I pre-cook the peppers?

Not with this method — 35 minutes covered is enough. If you like them very soft, boil the halves for 3 minutes first.

### Why did mine come out watery?

Peppers release water as they cook. Baking cut-side up and draining the beef properly both help; some cooks salt the halves and drain them 15 minutes first.

### Can I make them without rice?

Yes — increase the meat and add finely chopped mushrooms or cauliflower to keep the volume. The filling will be denser.


_Photo: Mark Bonica — CC BY 2.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quinoa_stuffed_peppers.jpg)_