Italian Stuffed Bell Peppers
Italian Stuffed Bell Peppers. Bell peppers filled with a garlic, onion, peas, marinara sauce, and ground pork stuffing.
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 400kcal
Cost: $$
Ingredients
- 4 bell peppers
- 1 small onion diced
- 4 garlic cloves diced
- ¼ cup olive oil plus 2 tablespoons to drizzle
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 can crushed tomatoes 28 ounces
- 2 tablespoons grated cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella plus more for topping
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
Preparing the Stuffing:
- In a large skillet, add the olive oil and bring to a high heat. Next, add the garlic and onions and sauté for 2 minutes, mixing occasionally.
- Next, add the ground pork and cook on medium heat until browned, about 4-5 minutes, mixing occasionally to break up the pork.
- Next, add the peas, crushed tomatoes, grated cheese, salt, and ground black pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook on low for 10 minutes, mixing occasionally.
- Finally, turn off the heat to the skillet, add the breadcrumbs and ½ cup shredded mozzarella, and mix well.
Preparing the Peppers:
- Start by cutting the tops off the bell peppers and remove all of the seeds. Place the peppers on a flat surface to stuff them.
- Drizzle a little bit of olive oil into each pepper. Next, spoon in enough stuffing to fill the pepper to the top. Press down slightly to ensure the pepper is completely stuffed.
- Finally, add shredded mozzarella to the top of each pepper and place into a 9-inch round baking pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until the peppers are tender.
How to Serve Italian Stuffed Bell Peppers
- Serve these Italian stuffed bell peppers as an appetizer with a side of marinara sauce or as a main entree paired with a side salad.
Notes
Invent Your Recipe:
For this Italian stuffed bell peppers recipe, I am using ground pork and breadcrumbs for the stuffing. You can also use ground beef, ground turkey, or ground chicken.
I used breadcrumbs for the stuffing because I used to much crushed tomatoes in the recipe. I needed to thicken the stuffing and went with the breadcrumbs. The recipe turned out well, but it was a mistake that led to this change. That is the beauty of inventing your recipe! A mistake can lead to a new recipe.
I typically use white rice in this stuffing. I like the combination of ground meat, peas, white rice, and marinara sauce. If you would like to make this recipe vegetarian, leave the ground meat out of the stuffing and go with the white rice or as an alternative, quinoa, instead of the breadcrumbs.
Sometimes if the tops of the peppers look good, I will dice them up after removing them and add them to the stuffing, instead of discarding them. However, for this version of the recipe I did not use them. You could also add other diced vegetables to the stuffing like zucchini, carrots, eggplant, or summer squash.
Nutrition
Calories: 400kcal