Stuffed Bell Peppers with Rice and Cheese

Name: Stuffed Bell Peppers with Rice and Cheese
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 6 bell peppers (any color); 1 pound ground beef; 1 onion (finely chopped); 4 cloves garlic (finely chopped); 1-1/2 cups cooked rice; 3 cups marinara sauce (divided, homemade, or store-bought); 1 cup mozzarella cheese (shredded); 1 tsp. Italian seasoning

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These Stuffed Bell Peppers with Rice and Cheese are filled with a mixture of seasoned ground beef, onions, and hearty rice, and topped with a layer of melty, gooey cheese. This recipe is quick to prep and the bake time is only 30 minutes. Easy to make and perfect for a weeknight dinner, ready to eat in less than 1 hour!

Smoked stuffed peppers on a white plate with melted cheese on top.

This is one of my family's favorite meals. They love the seasoned ground beef mixture smothered in melted cheese in a pepper 'boat.' These stuffed peppers are never watery and turn out perfect every time. This is a regular on our dinner rotation.

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🍙 What you need to make stuffed bell peppers
🌶 Top tips for making these stuffed bell peppers
🔪 How to make stuffed bell peppers
📖 Variations
🥗 Side dishes
💭 Frequently asked questions
📋 Related Recipes To Try
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💬 Comments

🍙 What you need to make stuffed bell peppers

Absolutely nothing fancy is required for this recipe. So be prepared to amaze everyone with this family favorite! (You don't need to tell them how easy it was).

Bell peppers, any color you like.
Ground beef. I use lean ground beef. You could also substitute ground turkey or ground chicken.
Rice. I use jasmine rice, but you could use brown rice or white, or quinoa.
Onion and garlic. These add flavor to the beef.
Cheese. Shredded mozzarella cheese makes it even tastier, or use cheddar.
Your favorite marinara sauce, homemade or store-bought.
Italiano seasoning, plus salt and pepper for added flavor.

stuffed red peppers with yummy seasoned ground beef mixed with rice, baked in the oven with cheese and a sprinkling of parsley on top

🌶 Top tips for making these stuffed bell peppers

I don't mind spending time in my kitchen preparing meals, but sometimes, I don't have time for much prep. These stuffed peppers can be made even easier if you plan a little bit. Some great shortcuts to make this recipe a breeze are:

Leftover rice. I make extra rice the night before I plan to make bell peppers so that I just have to dump the rice in and heat it up with the seasoned ground beef.
Leftover ground beef. Use leftover cooked ground beef instead of fresh to speed up the process even faster.
You can prep these peppers ahead of time and store them in the fridge covered up until 48 hours before baking them in the oven. Perfect on those super busy nights!
Some people boil their peppers to soften them up, but I find it easiest to pop the peppers in the oven to bake while I cook the beef and onion mixture.
Meal prep idea: After these peppers are cooked, wrap them individually in plastic wrap then place in a freezer bag and place them in the freezer. Grab 1 or 2 from the freezer for a quick lunch or dinner.

🔪 How to make stuffed bell peppers

This recipe is so quick and easy to make. First of all, preheat your oven to 380 degrees. Secondly, take the peppers, cut them in half, remove the seeds, trim the membrane, and wash them with water. Finally, put a couple of scoops of marinara sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish, and place the peppers on top of the sauce. Please place them in the oven for 15 minutes.

fresh peppers sliced in half and placed in a baking dish

While the peppers are in the oven, heat a large non-stick skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef, diced onion, and garlic.

Ground beef and onion and garlic in a skillet

Brown the meat until no pink remains, stirring frequently. Use the spatula to break the meat into smaller pieces. Drain any fat.

Ground beef and onion cooked until brown

Add in the leftover rice or freshly cooked rice (try this perfect rice recipe).

Add leftover rice to cooked meat and onion

Stir together until well mixed and heated through.

Mix cooked rice with ground beef and onion until mixed

Add in your fave marinara sauce and Italiano seasoning. Heat for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Mix marinara sauce with ground beef and rice

Take your peppers out of the oven and spoon the cooked ground beef mixture into the peppers.

Peppers with stuffing placed in a baking dish

Finally, top each stuffed bell pepper with shredded cheese (yum).

Stuffed peppers topped with grated mozzarella cheese

Place the stuffed bell peppers in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes, until the peppers are heated through, and the cheese is brown and bubbly on top. The peppers are done when they are tender and can be pierced with a fork. DIG IN!

Stuffed peppers baked to perfection when the cheese is brown and bubbly on top

📖 Variations

These stuffed bell peppers are so tasty, and you can easily switch up ingredients to suit specific dietary needs. Try some of the following ideas:

Add extra vegetables such as spinach, carrots, or zucchini to the ground beef mixture, chopped fine or shredded (a clever way to sneak in more veggies).
Use ground turkey or chicken instead of ground beef.
Low carb: Use cauliflower rice instead of regular rice.
Vegetarian: Leave out the ground beef and use extra rice, plus add a can of black beans.
Vegan: Follow as above for vegetarian, and leave out the cheese.

🥗 Side dishes

Some of our favorite dishes to serve with these stuffed bell peppers are a crispy green salad, fresh coleslaw, Crispy Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries, Extra Crispy Oven-Roasted Potatoes, Grandma's Old Fashioned Air Buns, four-bean salad, or carrot salad.

Baked stuffed peppers served with a side of crisp green salad

💭 Frequently asked questions

How do you cut a bell pepper for stuffing?

I like to cut my peppers in half as it is a smaller surface area, and they heat up quicker in the oven. Some recipes call for peppers to be cut with the top off so that you can put more filling in. However, it takes a lot longer to heat the filling in a whole pepper, and I don't have time for that.

Which color bell pepper is the healthiest?

Red peppers pack the most nutrition because they've been on the vine the longest. Green peppers are harvested before they turn yellow, orange, and then red. Compared to green bell peppers, the red ones have almost 11 times more beta-carotene and 1.5 times more vitamin C.

Do you freeze stuffed peppers before or after cooking?

I prefer to freeze stuffed peppers after they are fully cooked. They are easy to reheat for a quick and healthy dinner on those super busy nights.

To freeze, let them cool, then place them in a freezer-safe container with a tight-fitting lid. They will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.

To reheat, place them in the fridge the night before to thaw. Then, place them on a baking pan, cut side up, and bake in a 350-degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until warmed through.

How long do cooked stuffed peppers last in the fridge?

These peppers will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days as long as they are kept in a container with a tight-fitting lid.

If you’ve tried Stuffed Bell Peppers or any other recipe, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. I love hearing from you!

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