Stuffed Green Peppers
Try this delicious recipe for Stuffed Green Peppers. This classic dish is perfect for a weeknight meal or a special occasion. The peppers are stuffed with a savory mixture of ground beef, rice, and cheese, then baked in a flavorful tomato sauce.
Try this delicious recipe for Stuffed Green Peppers. This classic dish is perfect for a weeknight meal or a special occasion. The peppers are stuffed with a savory mixture of ground beef, rice, and cheese, then baked in a flavorful tomato sauce.
- salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 cup water
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup uncooked rice
- water as needed
- 6 green bell peppers
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes chopped
- 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed tomato soup
- Carbohydrate 20.0088777784796 g
- Cholesterol 74.5071352666667 mg
- Fat 18.9284648055631 g
- Fiber 2.64077783094041 g
- Protein 21.7363147083604 g
- Saturated Fat 9.17094807070316 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (265g)
- Sodium 794.308033964857 mg
- Sugar 17.3680999475392 g
- Trans Fat 2.06637358620766 g
- Calories 339 calories
Step-by-step
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the tops off the peppers, and remove the seeds. Cook peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes; drain. Sprinkle salt inside each pepper, and set aside.
- In a large skillet, saute beef and onions for 5 minutes, or until beef is browned. Drain off excess fat, and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes, rice, 1/2 cup water and Worcestershire sauce. Cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender. Remove from heat, and stir in the cheese.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C). Stuff each pepper with the beef and rice mixture, and place peppers open side up in a baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine tomato soup with just enough water to make the soup a gravy consistency. Pour over the peppers.
- Bake covered for 25 to 35 minutes, until heated through and cheese is melted and bubbly.
Blanching the bell peppers in boiling water for precisely five minutes softens the fibrous outer wall enough to ensure even baking without turning the vegetable into mush. Stuffed green peppers appear frequently across Midwestern and Eastern European American home cooking traditions, usually pairing minced meat with cheap starches inside a protective vegetable casing. Two distinct failure points dominate this preparation. First, cooks often add raw, hard rice directly to the meat filling without enough liquid, resulting in crunchy grains because the pepper cavity blocks ambient oven steam. Simmering the rice with the beef, tomatoes, water, and Worcestershire sauce for fifteen minutes before stuffing guarantees that each grain achieves proper gelatinization of starch before entering the thermal environment of the oven. Second, failing to drain excess fat from the browned ground beef before adding the tomatoes creates an oily pool that prevents the condensed soup gravy from adhering properly during the final thirty-minute bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Managing Moisture Levels
Fat rendered from ground chuck or round can separate during the covered baking phase, creating a greasy layer atop the tomato soup gravy. Skim excess grease thoroughly from the skillet after browning the meat and onions, ensuring the mixture remains cohesive rather than watery. Diluting the condensed tomato soup requires restraint; whisking in only enough water to reach a heavy gravy consistency prevents the sauce from thinning out and boiling away into the bottom of the baking dish instead of coating the peppers.Achieving Structural Integrity
Green bell peppers contain high water content that releases during the baking process, potentially diluting internal flavors and destabilizing upright positioning in the dish. Salting the interior of each drained pepper draws out excess surface moisture via osmosis while the filling simmers on the stovetop. Packing the beef and rice mixture firmly into each cavity prevents the filling from collapsing outward when the cheese melts and bubbles during the final stages of the thirty-five minute oven phase.
