Old Fashioned Stuffed Bell Peppers

Stuffed peppers are high on my list of comfort food. A tomato-y beef and rice mixture is stuffed into green peppers and baked in the oven until the house smells like you want to chew on the walls and your stomach is turning somersaults in anticipation. It’s a gloriously easy meal that your wallet will thank you for.

Shopping List

• Bell peppers in any color. I think the red and yellow ones are the sweetest so I use those most often but I love ALL of them When I was growing up we called them green or red peppers because those were the only colors I ever knew.
• Rice should be cooked. I use Jasmine rice and cook it in V-8 juice but you can use whatever kind you like.
• Onions
• Ground Beef, whatever sort you usually get. I like the 90/10 because I like it to be lean.
• Canned diced or stewed tomatoes. I like stewed because my mom canned our garden tomatoes when I was growing up and they were always stewed.
• Salt and pepper
• Tomato sauce
• V-8 juice is what I cook my rice in but you can use water or beef broth.

Mom’s Home Cookin’

Old fashioned stuffed bell peppers were a staple in our family when I was a kid and they find the way onto my family’s table fairly often now. They are an inexpensive comfort food that can be made in the oven, crockpot, or top of stove. .

Stuffed peppers were a year ’round meal in our house. My parents had both reached their teen years during the Great Depression (ever wonder what was so great about it?) and, both being from small farms, they were both avid gardeners. I honestly think this was the only thing that they had in common.

In the summer the big, sun warmed green Bell peppers would be picked and brought in from the garden, They would get a quick rinse – mom and dad were both organic gardeners well before it was popular – and then a whole pepper would be cleaned and filled with a rice, onion, tomato, and meat mixture.

Needless to say, the house would fill with the spicy, garden-y, summer aroma of peppers and tomatoes and pure yum. There was no way I would ever be late for dinner on those days.

Budget Friendly and Flexible

The ratio of meat to rice would be quite low because, to my mom, this was food meant to take a half a pound of meat and make it feed an army. Although my dad did very well financially she never lost that mindset that half a pound of ground beef could feed eighteen people if you added enough rice and stuffed the mixture into a vegetable.

Stuffed peppers can be made and frozen, they can be made in a crockpot, they can be baked, or they can be simmered tightly covered in a pan.

You can add as little or as much meat as you have the budget for. You can use ground lamb, ground pork, ground beef, or a mixture of all of them. You can use walnuts in place of the meat to make it vegetarian. When you think of this dish think of the word, flexible. 

How to Make Stuffed Peppers Step By Step

1. Chop onions and place with ground beef in a pan.
2. Brown beef and onions in a skillet.
3. Add tomato sauce and rice.
4. Cut peppers in half and clean them out. You can also just cut the tops off so they stand up and stuff them that way.
5. Fill with the rice mixture.
6. Bake according to directions.

Tips and Variations

• My mom used to make it with a can of condensed tomato soup. I prefer to use diced tomatoes in the rice and meat mixture. It is just lighter, more flavorful, and more natural than what mom used. If you want to use tomato soup in it read the notes at the bottom of the recipe.
• Use ground beef, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey, venison, game, or leave the meat out and go vegan. Mom said in the Depression they made them with chopped walnuts sometimes.
• To make in a slow cooker just put about 1/4 cup V-8 juice or water in the bottom of the slow cooker and add the peppers. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
• To make in a dutch oven you’ll add liquid to the bottom of the pan, add your green peppers, cover, and simmer for about an hour.
• Top each pepper with a spoonful of tomato sauce or tomato soup about 15 minutes before they’re ready to come out of the oven.
• You can assemble these ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator for up to 3 days before cooking.
• You can make these ahead of time and freeze for up to 6 months.

More Favorite Recipes

Now, y’all know I have plenty more of these old fashioned favorite recipes, right?

• Cabbage Rolls stuffed with rice and beef, and simmered all day in a slow cooker with a tomato and sour cream sauce. You’ll need a can of tomato soup for this one. It just isn’t the same without it.
• Mom’s Chili Soup is a hearty, midwestern style recipe that’s budget friendly but sure doesn’t taste like it! It has so much flavor you’ll be proud to take it to the church potluck. 
• Stuffed Pepper Soup is the easier version! You’ll get all the flavor of classic stuffed peppers but in a hearty soup that you can make on top of the stove or in your slow cooker! 
• Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf Stuffed Peppers recipe is quick to put together, can be made ahead, freezes like a dream, and tastes deliciously moist and meaty. The flavors from the bacon and peppers saturate the meat during cooking to create a family friendly meal that looks (and tastes) like you slaved in the kitchen all afternoon.

If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.

If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Recipe

4 from 8 votes

Old Fashioned Stuffed Bell Peppers

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Old fashioned stuffed bell peppers with a lighter, more modern twist. Get all of the flavor that you used to love. This is real comfort food!

Course Casserole

Cuisine Amercian Heritage

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings 8 servings

Calories 319

Author Marye Audet-White

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Ingredients

• 8 bell peppers, cleaned and seeds removed
• 1 1/2 lb ground beef
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1/4 cup finely minced onion
• 2 tablespoons minced jalapeno, optional
• 1 cup tomatoes , canned, diced
• 1/2 cup V-8 juice
• 1 tbs fresh mint or basil, chopped – optional
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Pepper to taste

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Brown the ground beef in a skillet with the onion and jalapeno (if using)
• Drain well, blotting away excess fat
• Add cooked rice, beef mixture, tomatoes, mint,lemon peel, salt and pepper to a bowl
• If you want the filling to be more compact you can add a beaten egg to the rice mixture before stuffing peppers
• Mix well
• You can stuff the peppers one of two ways, either cut them in half vertically and stuff each half or just cut the tops off and stuff the whole thing upright.
• Fill the cavity of the peppers with the rice mixture, don’t pack it too tight
• Place the peppers upright in a baking pan, for halves place them with the filling mounded upwards
• Pour 1/2 cup V-8 juice around the peppers – it should come just a little way up the sides but not cover the halves
• Cover pan with foil
• Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, remove the foil for the last 10 minutes
• Let cool slightly before serving

For Crockpot

• Use the whole peppers stuffed. Place in the crockpot upright and pour 1/4 cup of V-8 in the crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours.

For Top of the Stove

• Use the halves. Place filled pepper halves in a large pan and add V-8 to cover the bottom of the pan by an inch. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until done, adding more juice as needed.

Notes

You can use condensed tomato soup in place of the tomatoes and V-8. It makes a thicker, sweeter sauce. Just add 1/2 can of tomato soup to the rice mixture before stuffing peppers and continue with directions. When the peppers are almost done mix the remaining 1/2 can soup with 1 teaspoon Worcestershire and mix well. Heat thoroughly and spoon over the peppers before serving.

• My mom used to make it with a can of condensed tomato soup. I prefer to use diced tomatoes in the rice and meat mixture. It is just lighter, more flavorful, and more natural than what mom used. If you want to use tomato soup in it read the notes at the bottom of the recipe.
• Use ground beef, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey, venison, game, or leave the meat out and go vegan. Mom said in the Depression they made them with chopped walnuts sometimes.
• To make in a slow cooker just put about 1/4 cup V-8 juice or water in the bottom of the slow cooker and add the peppers. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
• To make in a dutch oven you’ll add liquid to the bottom of the pan, add your green peppers, cover, and simmer for about an hour.
• Top each pepper with a spoonful of tomato sauce or tomato soup about 15 minutes before they’re ready to come out of the oven.
• You can assemble these ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator for up to 3 days before cooking.
• You can make these ahead of time and freeze for up to 6 months.

Nutrition

Calories: 319kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 60mg | Sodium: 249mg | Potassium: 634mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 3900IU | Vitamin C: 162.4mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 2.7mg

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Originally published August 7, 2012. Last updated February 14, 2020 to improve images and readability.