Stuffed peppers

I usually don't plan a day for stuffed peppers, but if I have meat and a few good peppers on hand, it's the kind of dish I can make without any hassle. I've tried this recipe many times for my family, especially when green peppers are in season at the market. It's not complicated, but it takes some time because it involves both boiling and baking. The flavor is balanced, the sauce turns out creamy, and the ingredients are simple and basic.

Quick Info

Total time: about 1 hour and 30 minutes
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking/baking time: 1 hour (30 minutes boiling + 30 minutes in the oven)
Servings: 7 (one pepper per serving)
Difficulty: medium
Recipe type: main dish, usually for lunch

Ingredients

500 g ground pork or a mix of beef and pork
7 green bell peppers
1 cup of rice (about 120 g)
1 onion
1 carrot
1 potato
1 bunch of parsley
3 large tomatoes (two for the filling, one for the sauce)
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce:
1 tablespoon of flour
100 g sour cream for cooking
1 peeled tomato

Preparation method

1. Clean and wash the onion, carrot, and potato. Chop them finely or grate them if you prefer a smoother texture. Since everything goes into the filling, it doesn't matter how you cut them, as long as there are no large pieces.

2. Chop the meat if it’s not already ground. Place the meat in a large bowl along with the onion, carrot, and potato. Add the chopped parsley, salt, pepper, the egg, and two peeled and diced tomatoes.

3. Wash and sort the rice, then add it to the meat and vegetable mixture. Mix everything well by hand to evenly distribute the ingredients.

4. Wash the peppers and cut off the tops around the stems. Carefully remove the ribs and seeds, then rinse them again to ensure no seeds are left. Leave them to drain upside down.

5. Fill each pepper with the prepared mixture, being careful not to overstuff them. The filling will expand a bit while cooking, so leave about half a centimeter of space at the top.

6. In a large pot, place about 1.5 liters of water and a little salt. Bring it to a boil.

7. When the water is boiling, add the stuffed peppers to the pot, standing them upright. Boil them for about 30 minutes over medium heat. You can partially cover the pot with a lid.

8. Remove the peppers with a slotted spoon and place them in a ceramic or heat-resistant dish, still standing. Place a slice of tomato on each pepper.

9. For the sauce, mix the sour cream with a tablespoon of flour and a peeled, finely chopped tomato. Thin the mixture with a cup of the water in which the peppers boiled and season with salt.

10. Pour the sauce over the peppers in the dish and bake everything in the oven at 180°C for 30 minutes. There's no need to cover the dish.

11. Serve the peppers hot, with sauce and possibly some extra sour cream and fresh bread.

Why I make this recipe often

It's a practical solution when I have meat and vegetables on hand. They keep well for a day or two, and if there are leftovers, I can reheat them easily. The mixture of vegetables and meat is balanced, and the sour cream sauce gives it a creamy consistency, which I don't always achieve with other stuffed pepper recipes.

Tips and variations

Tips

Don't fill the peppers all the way to the top to prevent the filling from spilling out during boiling.
Don't add too much rice, or it will absorb liquid and cause the peppers to burst.
If you only have lean meat, add a tablespoon of oil to keep the filling moist.
Check the peppers after 30 minutes of boiling: if they seem firm, let them cook for a few more minutes.

Substitutions

You can use only pork or only beef, depending on what you have on hand.
Rice can be replaced with barley or quinoa, but the texture won't be as familiar.
For sour cream, you can also use Greek yogurt, but make sure it's full-fat to prevent the sauce from curdling in the oven.

Variations

You can omit the potato and carrot from the filling if you don't have them, but they do help with texture.
You can add a few celery or lovage leaves for a different flavor.
If you don't want a sauce with flour, you can thin it with just sour cream and some of the pepper cooking liquid.

Serving ideas

Serve warm, with sour cream, fresh bread, or polenta.
They are also good cold the next day, but with the sauce reheated.

Frequently asked questions

What kind of meat is best?

Any of the options, pork or a beef-pork mix, works well. Pork is juicier and adds more flavor, but the beef mix is lighter.

How long should the peppers be boiled?

About 30 minutes, but if the peppers are thicker, you can extend it by 5-10 minutes. It's important that they are soft but not falling apart.

Can the recipe be made without sour cream?

Yes, you can skip the sour cream sauce and use just a simple tomato sauce if you prefer something lighter.

Can I use colored peppers, not just green?

You can also use yellow or red peppers, but green ones hold up better when boiled and don’t sweeten as much.

Nutritional values

Approximately, one serving (one stuffed pepper with sauce) has about 250-300 kcal. Protein: 15-18 g, carbohydrates: 22-25 g, fats: 9-12 g. The values depend a lot on the type of meat, the amount of sour cream, and how much rice each pepper contains. It's not a very dietetic dish, but it's not heavy either if you choose lean meat.

Storage and reheating

Stuffed peppers can be stored in the refrigerator, covered, for 2-3 days. To reheat, place them in the microwave or covered in a dish in the oven on low heat. The sauce thickens when it cools but becomes creamy when reheated. The recipe is not suitable for freezing because the filling changes texture.

We clean and wash the onion, carrot, and potato. We chop the meat, onion, carrot, and potato. In this mixture, we will add salt, pepper to taste, chopped parsley, the egg, and two peeled tomatoes cut into small cubes. We choose and wash the rice and add it to the meat and vegetable mixture, then we knead well. We wash the peppers, cut the tops around the stems, clean out the seeds, wash them again, and let them drain. We fill each pepper with the meat mixture. In a pot, we put about 1.5 liters of water with a pinch of salt to boil. When the water starts to boil, we put the peppers in the pot and let them boil for about 30 minutes. We remove the peppers with a slotted spoon and place them upright in a ceramic dish. On each pepper, we place a slice of tomato. We prepare a sauce from sour cream, a tablespoon of flour, and the peeled and finely chopped tomato. We thin it out a bit with a glass of the liquid in which the peppers boiled, adjust for salt, and pour it over the peppers. We place the dish in the preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes. We serve the peppers with sour cream and fresh homemade bread! Enjoy your meal!

 Ingredients: 500 g pork or a mix of beef and pork, 7 green bell peppers, 1 cup of rice, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 potato, a bunch of parsley, 3 large tomatoes, 1 raw egg, salt, pepper. For the sauce: 1 tablespoon of flour, 100 g of cooking cream, 1 peeled tomato.

 Tags:  stuffed peppers