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Stuffed Peppers

Donna Potter
My mothers recipe for Stuffed Peppers
Print Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4

Equipment

  • 1 oven proof casserole dish 13x9 pyrex, or similar le creuset baking dish
  • 1 small fry pan
  • 1 medium mixing bowl
  • 1 small pan can be a rice cooker, instant pot, or similar

Ingredients
  

  • 2 bell peppers, fresh, cut in half can be any color, but green is most flavorful. For people who say they don't like peppers, use red, yellow or orange.
  • 8 oz ground beef, browned I now use as low fat as possible, like 90% lean, but any type works. I have even used Italian sausage, or chicken sausage in the past instead of ground beef.
  • 1 cups white rice, cooked can also use brown. Any type of rice works - arborio, jasmine, basmati, short grain, long grain - whatever you have on hand.
  • 1 egg
  • 2 - 3 15 oz cans of tomato sauce can use spaghetti sauce, but it must be some kind of prepared sauce. Tomato puree, diced tomatoes don't work. Canned tomato sauce has added garlic and onion in it.
  • 2-3 large russet potatoes, cubed can use any type of potato really, I have used packages of petite potatoes, golden, white. I have not used purple as I don't think the dish would look as nice with purple - if that's all you have, then go for it.
  • 1 sprinkle garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp salt optional, and to taste, if a smaller amount is desired
  • 1 sprinkle pepper

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Wash the peppers. Cut in half from the top of the stem to the bottom of the pepper. Seed the peppers and remove the stem part from each half. Place in the baking dish, cut side up, so you can stuff them later.
  • Brown the meat in a medium frying pan. Salt and Pepper the meat to taste if you want. Let cool in the pan.
  • Cook the rice according to directions (rice cooker directions, instant pot directions, sauce pan directions). Let cool. Add the cooked rice to the meat.
  • Add the egg to the rice and meat mixture. Combine thoroughly so the rice and meat stick together when you put a clump in your hand to stuff the pepper.
  • If desired, add about 1/2 cup of tomato sauce to the rice and meat mixture. My mother never did this, but I like to.
  • Stuff the halved peppers with the rice and meat mixture. Compress the stuffing into the pepper so that it will stay together. It can be mounded as high as you like to use all the mixture up.
  • Peel and cube the potatoes and add to the baking dish around the peppers. Use as many potatoes as you need to fill the area of the baking dish up around the peppers. We love the potatoes, so I stuff as much into the dish as I can.
  • Sprinkle garlic salt, 1 tbsp salt, and pepper over the potatoes.
  • Pour the cans of tomato sauce over the potatoes and the peppers so that the potatoes are mostly covered by the sauce. If you need to use more tomato sauce, do so. Extra sauce to spoon over the servings of peppers and potatoes is a good thing.
  • Cover the baking dish and bake for at least an hour. Check to see if the potatoes are done by poking them with a fork. If they need more time, then continue to bake until they are done, and the tomato sauce is bubbling hot in the baking dish.

Notes

Vegetarian Option:  I have replaced the meat in this recipe with cooked lentils, and have enjoyed them just as much. 
Vegan Option:  I have used an egg substitute with success.