Stuffed bell peppers are an easy and highly nutritious meal. Stuffed bell peppers are an all in one meal and are perfectly portioned for individuals. I also consider stuffed bell peppers to be one of the best meal prep options out there!

Keep reading on if stuffed bell peppers are on your list of things to try or learn to make yourself.

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cooked stuffed bell peppers with golden cheese

What are stuffed bell peppers?

This dish has the potential to be an all in one meal! With the vegetable being the vessel in which the rest of the ingredients are contained. Let’s break it down:

Bell pepper with the top cut off, the seeds removed and the ribs taken out. Typically, the bell pepper is filled with cooked and seasoned ground meat, cooked rice, tomato sauce and other vegetables.

How to make stuffed bell peppers

Honestly, this is the first time I actually wrote out a recipe for my stuffed bell peppers. I usually just wing it every time I make them and season until I am happy with what I have. But to give you a starting point, here is my base ingredients:

filling for stuffed bell peppers in a bowl

For my filling I prefer ground red meat (beef or elk), rice, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, diced onion, and beans as a base. I usually use the vegetables I have on hand, whatever is in the fridge and needs to be used. If I have mushrooms that need to be used I’ll dice them up and throw them in. If I have spinach, kale or chard that needs to be used, I’ll add those in.

I usually use whatever organic bell peppers are the cheapest, I don’t have a preference over green peppers vs. yellow peppers.

My stuffed bell pepper recipe varies almost every time I make them. But I did write down the recipe I used in the video below to help you follow along.

Sometimes I cut the bell peppers in half from top to bottom and stuff them with the filling that way. Sometimes I just cut the tops off the peppers and stuff the entire pepper. I have found both ways are delicious, but if you cut the bell pepper in half you will have more individual pieces to work with.

Substitutions

The beautiful thing about this dish is how adaptable it can be! I prefer to make my stuffed bell peppers with ground red meat of some sort. However, I have known people who prefer to use ground chicken or ground turkey. If you are vegetarian this can easily be adapted to be a meatless and or vegan dish as well. However, that is not my area of expertise.

I’ve had stuffed bell peppers with diced up broccoli, sweet potato, and corn just to name a few different ingredients that I did not include in my base ingredients above.

This dish is also a perfect dish for using up any leftover vegetables or anything in your fridge that desperately needs to be used up before it goes bad.

I encourage you to make this dish your own and add some of your favorite ingredients! Also the seasonings can be as basic or as intricate as you want them to be. Some people like tex-mex, some people like Italian, others prefer spicy. I have tried all three of these options and they have all been delicious.

Tomato Sauce Alternatives:

I know I keep saying it, but adapt! The diced tomatoes are for texture and depth. The tomato sauce acts as a binder to pull the ingredients together. If you can’t handle the acidity of red sauce and tomatoes then skip the tomatoes and tomato sauce. If you still want a binding agent maybe add in an egg or two; or forgo the binder all-together.

Great for meal prep and freezer meals

If you’re going to make one batch, why not make two?

By making a big batch at a single time you can feed yourself and your family for multiple meals especially if you make enough to put into the freezer for a pre-made meal. Stuffed bell peppers freeze beautifully and taste just as good as the day you made them.

stuffed bell peppers wrapped in plastic wrap

Stuffed Bell Pepper Cost breakdown:

I used 1.5 pounds of ground elk that my husband got last year so I substituted ground beef for the cost estimate. I also had to use the grocery store price for items I already had on hand and items I grew and canned myself. Prices are for my area as of late 2024.

1.5 lb ground beef: $12.74 (local store price)

12 Bell peppers: $13.38 (price I paid)

Shredded Cheese: $2.25 (¼ of my 2lb block) (price I paid)

15 oz Can Diced Tomatoes: $1.00 (local store price)

15 oz can tomato sauce: $1.00 (local store price)

2 cups cooked rice: $0.84 (local store price)

15 oz can beans: $1.00 (local store price)

Total: $32.21 for a total of 6 meals (my husband and I only eat one stuffed pepper per meal).

Check out my other recipes:

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword easy dinner, stuffed bell peppers

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1 15

Servings 12

Ingredients

1.5 lbs ground meat
16 oz can diced tomatoes w/juice
16 oz can tomato juice/sauce
16 oz can beans white, pinto, red, black, etc.
2 cups cooked rice
1 cup shredded cheese
2 TBSP Garlic Powder
2 TBSP Onion Powder
1 TBSP dried basil
1 tsp Pepper
2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
dash of red pepper flakes optional if you like spice

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F degrees degree oven
40-50 minutes

Rice

If using a rice cooker:
Add rice and water to rice cooker.
Start the rice cooker.
If using stove top for rice, follow the rice container cooking instructions.

Remaining Ingredients

Preheat a skillet with oil of choice (olive oil, tallow, avocado oil, etc.) over medium-high heat.
Add ground meat to heated skillet and brown. Approx. 10 minutes.
While meat is browning prep bell peppers, by chopping off the tops and taking out seeds and veins.
Once meat is browned, season with salt and pepper.
Add the diced tomatoes to the skillet and mix together, this step deglazes the bottom of the pan.
Add rice, meat and tomato mix and the remaining ingredients into a large bowl for mixing.
Once filling is well combined, fill each pepper with the mixture.
Top each pepper with shredded cheese. (If freezing, do no top peppers with cheese)
Bake for 40 minutes and until cheese is golden brown.
Allow the peppers to cool for about 5 minutes before consuming.

If baking thawed from frozen:

Add cheese to stuffed pepper and place the thawed peppers into a cold oven. Then turn oven on to 400°F and bake until internal temperature is 165°F, approx. 45-55 minutes.

If baking from frozen:

Place the still frozen peppers into a cold oven. Then turn oven on to 400°F and bake until internal temperature is 165°F, about 90 – 120 minutes. Add shredded cheese once the peppers have about 10-15 minutes left to avoid burning the cheese.