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A white baking dish filled with colorful Italian stuffed peppers topped with melted cheese, garnished with chopped herbs. A fork, knife, and pepper grinder are in the background.
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5 from 6 votes

Italian Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers are always great for dinner and this Italian stuffed peppers recipe boasts plenty of amazing Italian flavors that everyone at the dinner table will rave about.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time50 minutes
Total Time1 hour 5 minutes
Course: Lunch, Main Course, Meals
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Healthy
Servings: 6

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Cook rice according to package instructions, set aside.
  • Remove tops from the bell peppers and discard the seeds and ribs. Place the whole peppers in a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Finely chop the tops of the peppers and set aside.
  • Preheat oven to 400°F.
  • Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the meat is no longer pink.
  • Add onions and reserved diced pepper tops to the skillet. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
  • Add garlic and cook for an additional minute.
  • Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, and cooked rice to the skillet. Stir until ingredients are combined.
  • Loosely fill each bell pepper with the sausage and rice mixture. Pour 1 cup of chicken broth or water into the bottom of the baking dish. Place stuffed peppers into the oven and cook for 30 minutes.
  • Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top of the peppers and to the oven for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from the oven and serve, garnished with chopped parsley if desired.

Notes

Instant rice: Save time by using a couple of microwaveable rice pouches instead of cooking it from scratch.
Choosing peppers: As the bell peppers are the main ingredient in this Italian stuffed pepper recipe, you need to pick out nice fresh ones. Look for shiny, bruise-free peppers. The more bumps a pepper has on the bottom the sweeter it is, so one with 4 bumps will be sweeter than one with 3. Green bell peppers are the least sweet.
Garnish ideas: I usually add some chopped parsley on top of my Italian stuffed peppers as a garnish. If you prefer to use a sprig of basil or another kind of herb, anything works. A sprig of fresh basil complements the Italian flavors in the stuffed peppers.

Nutrition

Calories: 464kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 73mg | Sodium: 1149mg | Potassium: 773mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 4110IU | Vitamin C: 163mg | Calcium: 157mg | Iron: 3mg

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