My Italian Stuffed Peppers feature ground meat, rice and onions with marinara, Pecorino Romano, mozzarella and basil. They're incredible! Note, you'll need marinara and cooked rice to start.
Fill a 6-quart pot ⅔ full with hot water. Place over high heat on the stove and cover.
Rinse the peppers and pat them dry. Cut out the stems and slice each pepper in half. Scrape out the seeds and membranes and discard them.
When the water is boiling, carefully place the pepper halves in the pot. Boil the peppers for three minutes.
Carefully drain the peppers in a colander in the sink. Use tongs to turn the peppers so the cut sides face down, allowing the water to drain out of them. Let them sit in the colander as you make the meat filling.
Peel the onion and chop it. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Grate the Pecorino and shred your mozzarella, if needed.
Add the ground beef to a 12-inch skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. Break up the meat with a wooden spoon. After a minute, stir in the chopped onions, red pepper flakes and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is browned and the onions are tender. If the meat is lean enough (90%) you shouldn't have to drain any fat. If you have lots of liquid, drain most of it.
Stir in 1 ½ cups of marinara sauce to the meat mixture. Stir in the rice (if it was frozen, thaw it in the microwave first.) Add the Pecorino Romano and stir to combine. Cook the mixture for a couple minutes, or until it's heated through.
Prepare a half sheet pan or a 10x15 baking pan for the peppers. If using a sheet pan, line it with foil and grease it with cooking spray. If using a 10x15 pan, just grease it with spray.
Add the drained pepper halves to your baking pan, cut side up. Scoop about three tablespoons of the meat filling into each pepper half. Add more meat as needed, until each pepper half is filled to the surface. Scatter any extra meat filling around the peppers in your pan.
Sprinkle each pepper half with two tablespoons of shredded mozzarella. Gently pat the cheese onto the peppers.
Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes at 375 degrees F. Then, broil the peppers for two minutes to brown the cheese, if desired.
While the peppers are baking, gently rinse your basil leaves and pat them dry. Stack a few leaves, roll them up, and slice them into ribbons. When the stuffed peppers are done, sprinkle the basil on top and serve with extra marinara sauce. Refrigerate leftovers for up to four days.
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Notes
Recipe time does not include making the marinara sauce or rice. I recommend making these stuffed peppers when you have leftover rice and sauce; otherwise, add 20 minutes to the recipe time.Make aheadYou can assemble the Italian Stuffed Peppers a day ahead. Cover them with foil and refrigerate them. The next day, let them sit out for about 30 minutes before baking uncovered, as directed in the recipe.Can you freeze stuffed peppers?For best results, freeze the stuffed peppers after they're fully assembled but not baked yet. Place them in an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. Thaw them in the refrigerator overnight before baking.ReheatingMicrowaving is the easiest way to reheat these, especially for a single portion.If you want to reheat several portions of stuffed peppers out of the refrigerator, you can bake them in the oven at 350 degrees F. Place them in a baking dish, cover with foil and bake for around 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another five minutes.Keto versionOmit the rice and be sure to use a sugar-free marinara, such as my marinara linked above.See the article with this post for details on ingredient substitutions and step-by-step photos.