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Loaded Stuffed Peppers will be a new addition to your weekly dinner rotation. Colorful sweet bell peppers stuffed with seasoned ground beef, melted cheese, diced veggies, and rice. You have a complete meal, all inside a single baked bell pepper.
Easy Stuffed Peppers
This colorful and flavorful meal has become one of my go-to menu items for the crazy nights at our house. I love these stuffed peppers because they are so easy to make, but they don’t lack flavor or nutrition. They are plumb full of tons of delicious food.
To start, you have rice, which will always bulk up any meal. It makes it super filling and hearty. That is combined with perfectly seasoned ground beef and mixed in with mildly sweet diced onions and tomatoes. Finally, they are topped off with gooey melted cheese.
This makes the perfect complete meal that is easy and full of flavor. Stuffed peppers not only look beautiful but taste amazing as well. They are the perfect dinner on a busy night!
Ingredients
- 6 bell peppers
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 cup long grain white rice cooked
- ½ – 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp oregano
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
Additions & Substitutions:
Peppers: You can use any color bell peppers that you prefer. I like to use a variety when I make mine, it makes for a really pretty looking dinner.
Rice: You can substitute the white rice for brown rice if you’d like. I have even tried using wild rice before and it was great. My personal favorite is Jasmine rice.
Cheese: The parmesan and mozzarella combo is so delicious in this recipe. They also tend to melt really well. However, you could also use a variety of other cheeses such as cheddar, provolone, Colby jack, or even pepper jack if you want a bit of spice!
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How to Make Stuffed Peppers
- Wash and dry peppers. Cut the tops off and dice the tops of the pepper around the stem. Empty out the center of your bell peppers. Place the peppers on your baking sheet standing upright.
- Cook olive oil, diced onion, pepper tops in a skillet at medium-high heat until soft.
- Add ground beef and garlic. Cook until beef is completely done. Remove and drain.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add beef mixture back to pan along with diced tomatoes and rice. Stir all ingredients together.
- Add all of your seasonings and stir again. Cook for 5 minutes, then remove from heat.
- Fill your peppers with the mixture and sprinkle cheese over the top.
PRO TIP: When adding cheese to the tops of your peppers, you want to add enough to lightly cover the filling inside the peppers, but you still want the filling to be able to pop through the gooey cheese. Don’t over-do it! - Pour ½ cup of water into the bottom of the pan.
PRO TIP: Adding ½ a cup of water to the bottom of the pan that your peppers are sitting in will help the peppers to steam and get softer while baking.
Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. - Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes.
How to Store Stuffed Peppers:
Leftover peppers should be stored in a shallow, airtight container in the fridge. When properly stored, they will last for 3 to 5 days.
To Freeze: Stuffed peppers are the perfect food to freeze! Just place them in an airtight container in the freezer or wrap them individually in plastic wrap and store them in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. When ready to eat, bake them at 350 degrees for about 20-30 or until heated to your preference.
More Great Dinner Recipes
Garlic Butter Steak Bites | One-Pot Chicken Parmesan Pasta | Korean Beef Bowl | Bang Bang Shrimp (Copycat Bonefish Grill) | Sheet Pan Quesadillas | Chicken Pot Pie Skillet | Meatball Parmesan | Hamburger Hash | Burrito Bowl
Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 6 bell peppers
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 cup long grain white rice cooked
- ½ – 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp oregano
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and dry the outside of the bell peppers.
- Start cooking your rice according to the package directions and set aside once done while prepping the rest of the dish.
- Carefully cut the tops off each of the bell peppers. Discard the green stem, but keep the top pepper flesh around the green stem. Dice the pepper tops.
- Remove the seeds and the membranes from the peppers. Place the empty bell peppers in a 9×9 baking dish. If the bottoms of the peppers do not sit flat, carefully slice a thin amount off the bottoms.
- In a large skillet, over medium to medium high heat, add the olive oil, diced yellow onion and diced pepper tops. Using a wooden spoon stir often, and cook uncovered for 5-7 minutes, until softened and opaque.
- Add the 1 lb of lean ground beef and the tablespoon of minced garlic. Continue using the wooden spoon to stir often and break up the ground beef as it cooks. Cook uncovered until ground beef is cooked completely.
- Remove the ground beef mixture from the heat and drain. Return the ground beef mixture to the skillet and the stovetop.
- Reduce the heat to medium, add the can of petite diced tomatoes and the cup of cooked rice. Stir.
- Add the kosher salt, black pepper, oregano and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low.
- Allow the ground beef mixture to cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Evenly fill the peppers with the ground beef mixture. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of the grated parmesan cheese over the top of the ground beef mixture.
- Sprinkle 1 ½ tablespoons of the mozzarella cheese on top of the peppers. (we want enough cheese to lightly cover the filling but we still want the filling to slightly pop through the gooey cheese)
- Pour ½ cup of water into the bottom of the pan to help steam the stuffed peppers. Spray the foil with cooking spray and cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. The cooking spray will help preventing the cheese to stick to the foil as it bakes.
- Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Serve while hot.
Jenn’s Notes
Nutrition Info
These stuffed peppers are a favorite around our house. The flavor and heartiness, all inside a single bell peppers is simply unbeatable. These are so quick and easy to make and they are bursting with deliciousness!
These were EXCELLENT!
So yummy and easy to make!
Made this for dinner tonight. Loved it. Will definitely make it again.
This was my first time making loaded bell peppers and they were a hit! Will definitely be making them again. Wondering though, do they freeze well?
Yes, they freeze great!! Just place them in an airtight container in the freezer or wrap them individually in plastic wrap and store in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. When ready to eat, bake them at 350 degrees for about 20-30 or until heated to your preference!