Stuffed bell peppers with ground beef is a hearty classic filled with whole grains, seasoned beef, and melted cheese.
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We all love quick, healthy dinner recipes, and when the garden is still producing a bounty of veggies, I’m also making meals that put our harvest to good use.
Stuffed bell peppers are an easy main dish, put together simply, utilizing fresh and nutritious ingredients.
The peppers give a burst of fresh, garden flavor, and the savory filling of beef, quinoa, and fresh garlic epitomizes comfort food. The zucchini are also plentiful, perfect for easy stuffed zucchini boats any night of the week.
Roasting the bell peppers beforehand boosts the flavor nicely, and you can cook up the meat filling during that time. I love recipes that keep dishwashing to a minimum, and this does just that.
Serve these healthy stuffed peppers with soft sourdough dinner rolls for a healthy, filling, and easy meal.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Full of flavor: Bell peppers in season are incredibly fresh and flavorful, harmonizing wonderfully with ground beef, onions, tomatoes, cheese, and garlic.
Healthy and filling: Green peppers are full of vitamins C and A, and grass-fed beef is an excellent source of protein. Adding the nutritional density of quinoa leaves you with a meal that fills and satisfies. If you love peppers, try this Roasted Red Pepper And Tomato Soup.
Simple ingredients: There’s nothing complicated about this recipe, and it is easily modified to utilize what you have on hand.
Ingredients
Bell peppers: Any color will work, but I love the flavor of garden-fresh green bell peppers. I also choose large peppers so they hold more filling.
Ground beef: Grass-fed beef is best because it contains more omega-3 and conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs). These are healthy fats. Overall, grass-fed beef is a healthier and more environmentally friendly option. (source)
Cooked rice or quinoa: This classic recipe usually calls for white rice, but I also love the texture and flavor that quinoa brings.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Modifications
- Add fresh spinach or cubed squash to the filling for adding veggies.
- You can easily substitute ground turkey, ground pork, or ground chicken.
- Try brown rice or cauliflower rice instead of quinoa.
- Top with sliced jalapenos or fermented jalapeños for a tasty kick.
- Replace the sharp cheddar with pepper jack or mozzarella cheese.
How to Make Stuffed Bell Peppers with Ground Beef
Step 1: Cut the peppers in half and place on a baking sheet. Remove the seeds, drizzle with half of the oil, and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Roast at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.
Step 2: Sauté the onions and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat with the rest of the oil until fragrant. Add the ground beef to the onion mixture. Sprinkle over cumin and the remaining salt, and stir. Brown the meat, cooking through. Stir in the rest of the filling ingredients and combine.
Step 3: Spoon the meat mixture into the roasted peppers, packing them full.
Step 4: Top with shredded cheese and bake an additional 15 minutes at 375 degrees.
Tips
- Red, yellow, or orange peppers will add a bit more sweetness to the dish.
- By shredding your own cheese, you can avoid the fillers and preservatives that are typically in store-bought shredded cheeses.
- We like to buy our meat in bulk so we can purchase grass-fed beef at a much better price. Grass-fed beef contains healthy fats and is overall a better choice. (source)
How to Serve Stuffed Peppers
Stuffed peppers can be accompanied by a variety of things. Some of my favorites include cornbread, sourdough bread, English muffins, a simple salad with kefir ranch dressing, crispy potatoes, or homemade fries.
Recipe FAQ
Yes. Even though stuffed peppers are baked in the oven, all the ingredients are cooked ahead of time. This ensures the beef is properly cooked all the way through.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. To reheat them, bake in a 350-degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until hot.
Yes. Roast the peppers, make the filling, and stuff the peppers. Freeze in a freezer-safe baking dish. To reheat, simply remove the peppers from the freezer and place in your refrigerator to thaw. Bake at 350 degrees until hot.
Alternatively, you can make only the filling and freeze it ahead of time. Thaw the filling the day before you prepare the dish. The day of, slice and roast the peppers, add the filling, top with cheese, and bake until heated through.
More Dinner Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Skillet Pork Chops with Garlic and Butter
- Best Chicken Pot Pie Recipe with Sourdough Biscuits
- Ground Beef Pot Pie
- Homemade Sausage Meatball Recipe
- The Best Homemade Meatloaf Recipe
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Stuffed Bell Peppers with Ground Beef
Equipment
- 9×13 Baking dish
Ingredients
- 4 large bell peppers
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided – or another mild flavored oil.
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 14.5 ounce diced can tomatoes
- 1 cup cooked rice, or quinoa
- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Cut the peppers in half and place on a baking sheet. Remove the seeds and stems, drizzle with half of the oil, and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Roast at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.
- Sauté the onions and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat with the rest of the oil until fragrant.
- Add ground beef to the onion mixture. Sprinkle over cumin and the remaining salt, and stir. Brown the meat, cooking through.
- Add the rest of the filling ingredients and combine.
- Spoon the meat mixture into the roasted peppers, packing them full, then top each pepper with shredded cheese.
- Bake an additional 15 minutes at 375 degrees.
Notes
- Red, yellow, or orange peppers will add a bit more sweetness to the dish.
- By shredding your own cheese, you can avoid the fillers and preservatives that are typically in store-bought shredded cheeses.
- We like to buy our meat in bulk so we can purchase grass-fed beef at a much better price. Grass-fed beef contains healthy fats.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Finally! A delicious, simple stuffed pepper recipe! We love this dish but every recipe I tried had so many steps and ingredients that it was overwhelming. This recipe takes you back to the basics and makes it all so easy. No boiling the peppers in a big pot, no transfer to a crockpot, no cutting the tops off just right…..it’s all straightforward and absolutely delicious. Thank you!
Excellent bell peppers!
We loved it so much! Thank you!!
Bell peppers are very nice when it comes to the kitchen. I use mostly them when I prepare any dish that contain pepper. I have to say proudly that my mother has few plants of bell peppers in her garden. She started growing them from seeds bought on https://gardenseedsmarket.com/bell-pepper-gloria-seeds-capsicum-annuum.html 3 years ago and it became her tradition. Stuffed peppers are totally amazing! It’s so easy to make them and they always taste awesome! I have to try your filling when I will staff mine peppers next time!
Thank you Lisa ~
Another winner! When the men in the family each gave it great reviews, Its a keeper, will be coming back to this recipe again and again!
Quite easy to make, just give yourself the time…
5 stars *****
So appreciate your recipes.
Olive
I love the nutritional value of this recipe! Love that it could be a meal replacement as well!
Amazingly easy! My husband and I loved these and will be making them often. I made them vegan using soy crumbles instead of beef, as well as non dairy parmesan. I think a mushroom stuffing would be great too. Thanks for a great recipe🌶✨🍅⭐️
A great recipe especially if you have kids. Mine devoured it in minutes. It was so good.
Love stuffed bell peppers! They are always such a filling meal, and I love how we were able to make each one different. Gave a lot of variety!
Oh Yum!! This looks absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to give these a try. My pepper plants are the one of the few things that I planted end of summer that didn’t completely wither away in the droughty intense heat where I live. We also love anything Mexican food! My husband is Mexican, so its a regular requirement around here haha! I’m working on a post right now about authentic Mexican white rice. I’m not sure if you all eat rice or not but it’s so good, a must have if you love Mexican food. Should be up in a few days. It’s actually how my mother in law showed me how to make it. Everyone loves it, in fact my friend requested it be posted! Praying for you this afternoon, that sweet baby be here soon!
Loved this great meal! We are trying to cut down on carbs at our house and this is a great hearty option that didn’t feel like we were missing out on anything!