Janice’s Stuffed Peppers
I’ve been on a real dinner kick lately in the recipes I’ve been bringing you, which can only mean one thing: I’m about to get on a dessert kick for a while! You know, more organized bloggers would bring you a meal idea, followed by a dessert idea, followed by a bread and so on. However, I’ve never been able to honestly apply the word “organized” to myself in any area of my life so I just go with what I’m in the mood for. ~shrugs~ I’ve said it before and I’m gonna suggest it to you now: Instead of berating yourself over and over about persistent character flaws that seem unchangeable, just embrace them and declare them part of your charm. ~smiles sweetly~
It works for me and life has been a whole lot more relaxing since I’ve stopped being my biggest critic. I now leave that job to my children ~grins~.
Me: “No Katy, you can’t have ice cream for breakfast.”
Katy: “You’re not fair!”
Me: “Yeah, but I’m okay with that.”
We all went out to eat this past weekend and as the four of us were sitting at the table Brady asked if he could have some new fangled device. Seeing as how we have every manner of new fangled device in our house already and my kids seem to come up with a new one they want every five minutes, I told him “No” and Ricky chimed in to back me up by explaining why he didn’t need it. Brady took a deep breath and leaned in to say “No offense, Ma, but lately, whenever I ask for things, you’ve kinda gotten to be predictable.”
I tried not to laugh, I really did, but I found myself having another one of those moments where I realize I have visibly and irreversibly, turned into my mother – and I’m okay with that, too.
Today I’m bringing you my mother’s stuffed peppers. There are tons of ways to make stuffed bell peppers and I’ve never found one I didn’t like, so I figured I’d start with Mama’s recipe first. I may get a wild hair in the future and bring you another entirely different one though - stranger things have happened.
You’ll need: Tomato Soup, cheese, chili powder*, chopped garlic, rice, onion, ground beef, peppers, salt, and pepper.
My mother has always insisted on Mexene chili powder so I try to be a good daughter and use it when I can find it. I’ve also used Tone’s and it was really good as well.
Garden bell peppers would be DIVINE to use in this later on in the summer but no matter how many bell peppers I grow I can’t seem to have enough to cook with because I eat them as soon as they are ripe. Cut it in strips and dip it in some dressing – yumm!
*Mama wants me to point out that these peppers won’t taste anything at all like chili, despite having chili powder in them. They will have some good bit of spice to them, though. In other words, Terri, you can’t eat them. Yes, you, Terri Leverett.
I love this rice. I used to have a neighbor who was from South Korea and she got me turned on to it. For those of us who like sweet rice for breakfast (I’ll show you how to make it soon) this makes the BEST sweet rice you’ve ever had. Oh my, soooo good.
I use it just about anytime something calls for rice. It is kind of sticky when cooked and holds the sauce and gravy really well because of that. All of our local grocery stores carry it in the Asian foods section.
Fill a pot with water and add a teaspoon of salt. Turn the heat up to medium high so it can get to boiling while we do the rest.
Peel and chop your onion.
I should probably use a different knife for this but I tend to use paring knives more than any other.
Place your onions and garlic in a skillet. Normally you would place your ground beef in here as well and cook them all together but I’ve already cooked my ground beef so instead I just added a tablespoon of oil so everything would brown nicely.
In the instructions below, I have you browning your beef and all of this together because that is how most folks will end up doing it.
When those get cooked a bit, move on to the next step.
This is my husband’s favorite smell, cooking onions. He swears he doesn’t like onions but every time he walks in the front door while I’m browning him he says “WOW, something smells wonderful!”
~sighs~
He also doesn’t like gravy and thinks cornbread should be sweet.
~hangs her head in shame~ I know, I know…
Add in tomato soup.
Did y’all see that post I did on Simple And Delicious Tomato Soup?
Add in ground beef…
Chili powder…
Salt…
Pepper…
and rice.
Stir it up a bit. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for about ten minutes.
By the way, a few days ago I asked folks to do a little introduction of themselves over on the Southern Plate Family Facebook page
and the response has been amazing. If you’d like to get to know your SP family a little better, hop on over there and join us!
Meanwhile, rinse your peppers under water and cut the tops off.
Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds.
Drop them in the boiling water and boil them for about five minutes.
Carefully remove with tongs.
Stir cheese into beef and rice mixture.
Spray an 8×8 pan with cooking spray.
Place peppers inside and stuff with mixture.
Top with additional cheese and place in 350 degree oven for ten minutes.
Hide them from your family so you can eat them all yourself.
ENJOY!
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 tsp chopped garlic
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 can tomato soup
- 1 cup cheddar cheese (plus more to sprinkle on top)
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 4 medium sized bell peppers
Instructions
- Fill large pot with water. Add a teaspoon of salt and set over medium high heat to bring to a boil.
- Chop onion. In large skillet, brown hamburger meat, chopped onion, and garlic until hamburger meat is browned. Drain off grease. Add spices, soup, and rice to beef mixture. Stir well. Simmer for ten minutes.
- While that is simmering, wash peppers and remove tops. Scoop out seeds with a spoon. Drop bell peppers into boiling water and boil for five minutes. Carefully remove with tongs.
- Spray 8x8 pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place peppers upright inside. Add one cup cheese to beef and rice mixture and stir until melted. Spoon into peppers. Top with additional cheese.
- Bake at 350 for ten minutes.
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Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 tsp chopped garlic
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 can tomato soup
- 1 cup cheddar cheese (plus more to sprinkle on top)
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 4 medium sized bell peppers
Instructions
- Fill large pot with water. Add a teaspoon of salt and set over medium high heat to bring to a boil.
- Chop onion. In large skillet, brown hamburger meat, chopped onion, and garlic until hamburger meat is browned. Drain off grease. Add spices, soup, and rice to beef mixture. Stir well. Simmer for ten minutes.
- While that is simmering, wash peppers and remove tops. Scoop out seeds with a spoon. Drop bell peppers into boiling water and boil for five minutes. Carefully remove with tongs.
- Spray 8x8 pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place peppers upright inside. Add one cup cheese to beef and rice mixture and stir until melted. Spoon into peppers. Top with additional cheese.
- Bake at 350 for ten minutes.
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If you have a question about a past post or recipe, please post it on the Southern Plate Family Page on Facebook and chances are one of our other family members will respond directly. Another GREAT place where you’re pretty sure to get an answer is the Front Porch Forum. You have to register to be able to post but once you do, you’re off to the races. Folks share a lot of great recipes over there too, with hundreds already posted.
If you’ve contacted me or left a comment and I haven’t responded, I’m terribly sorry and I’ll do the best I can to get to it if time permits. This is a one woman show here and I struggle daily to make sure my family and children come first, which means that some emails and comments have to go unanswered. I am currently spending eight to ten hours a day on Southern Plate things in addition to writing my book and my work for Southern Living, which is wonderful but also very busy-busy. At the end of the day there are usually at least a hundred new emails to answer – but there are also two kids right here who just want their Mama to shut down the computer and spend time with them. I know y’all would make the same choice I do!
Love you!
Gratefully,
Christy
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Feb 25 2010. Filed under Main Course.
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Very similar to how I make stuffed peppers but I have not used the cheese. I generally pass around sour cream as the topper. I will give these a try when pepper prices are more in line with my grocery budget. They are rather high in the winter in my area.
I just use left over spaghetti sauce (homemade of course), combine it with white or yellow rice (the kids choose), boil them peppers as shown, stuff them, place in the oven with cheese, get two nights of meals for one night of cooking. It works for me.
I like this idea!
I meant to add the little tip I have for baking stuffed peppers. Place them in muffin tins that have ben sprayed with Pam. They will sit upright and not fall over and lose their “innards”.
Excellent tip!
Yum! My hubby likes stuffed pepper, but I have never made them or had them before. So I am going to make these very soon! Maybe tonight!Gonna have to go get some bell pepper, but that’s ok! Thank you Christy for more main dishes, that is what I usually look for unless I’m in a baking mood! ^_^
Your friend,
Vickie
Hey! Stuffed Peppers! Dads Favorite! You Rock! Thanks sister-o-mine. I haven’t made those in a long time and it’s about time I do. Hug your mama for me for the recipe.
Hope everything is going well..I’m so happy for you, Ricky and the kids.
P.S If your book tour doesn’t come somewhere near my house, your gonna make my bottom lip poke in and out. I know you don’t wanna be responsible for that.
Boy…I hate to sound totally stupid but I’ve been in the military so long that I’ve learned when given directions for something the requires precision, like a recipe, you should follow it. However, because in my career field there are NO directions for some of the things we do, we need to be able to use our brains on occasion. Having said that, I may in fact be using my brain yet shutting it down at the same time.
Now, you’re sitting there wondering what the heck I’m talking about, aren’t you? lol Ok, I’ll get to it now. Your directions tell us to put the rice in with the beef yet, being the impatient male I am, I didn’t bother to read the ingredients before that so I was thinking, “Uncooked rice with the meat? Won’t you need to simmer that for a long time? Or is it going to cook in the oven? That picture doesn’t look like it’s dry!” And so on. Of course your ingredients lists COOKED rice!!! Imagine my embarrassment when I read that! lol Even so, I just had to share with you what a nincompoop some of us can be out here! lol
I do have one question though…what would be the net effect if I didn’t boil the peppers first? I’ve never liked stuffed peppers because of the sliminess of the peppers and I was just thinking that perhaps if they weren’t boiled first they wouldn’t be so…YECH. Opinion?
And finally, thanks again for always making me laugh. I was chuckling a little here and there in your story anyway but when I saw the struck-out line at the bottom I just had to laugh out loud. I know exactly what you mean. When making something I am very fond of I will usually make a little bit extra and set it to the side so I will have some left to eat when the kids are done! lol
Thanks again and good luck with your book, PR people and your contest!!
I don’t parboil my peppers first. They come out nice and tender-crisp, not slimy at all. I just increase the cooking time a little bit, about 30 minutes or so, uncovered.
Hi Christy! Do you think you could post your recipe for stuffed bell peppers soon? Thanks so much!
You could try this idea. When I don’t have peppers but am in the mood for this, I just make them without peppers. I form the meat mixture into balls and pour tomato sauce over them and bake. I have always called them “Porcupine Balls” but you can call them whatever you like.
Sometimes if I only have 1 pepper on hand, I dice that up and include it in with the meat.
Still tastes the same.
Good comfort food.
Thanks Christy
Yum, one of my hubby’s favs when we go out…be nice to have them at home. Thanks Christy
Well! ~hmmmphh~ I never! Just for your information, Miss Missy, I DO like me some of that there Stuffed Bell Pepper and have eeeeeven made them on occasion. So, this “unable-to-handle-hot-spices” gal can and will follow your lovely, easy directions, just leaving out the spicy part. Hopefully, your sweet Mama Janice ~waves~ won’t mind too terribly much, as you might explain to her how you brought me closer to death than I have seen yet with Hot Sauce while we all ate at Greenbriar BBQ. Girlfriend, I had a lovely trip to your Bountiful home, lovely Alabama towns and would love to sit at your table again and eat anything thing you make for me…..’cept spicy bell peppers. ~grins~ ~winks~
Thank you SistaC for another great recipe and your time for all us SP folks that takes away from your family time. Oh, and I adore onions!!! Sorry Ricky! Love ya! T.
Just to be clear….I am joking around in my above comment. ~snickers~
Thanks for the recipe! I have an econo bag of peppers that need to be used and my husband loves stuffed peppers. I could look up a recipe, but it’s more fun when they come to you!
This recipe is a keeper! I will definitely give it a try. I wonder If you can freeze any leftovers? Thanks for sharing.
I’ll bet you can! I have to admit to, on occasion, purchasing Stouffer’s brand frozen stuffed bell peppers, so I’d imagine you can freeze your own
That’s a great idea since bell peppers tend to be pretty pricy a lot of the year. You could make a bunch when they’re cheap and pop ‘em in the freezer.
These sound great Christy! Good luck with the contest. Here’s to hoping that you are a winner once again -But, if not, you’re still a winner with us!
I have been wanting some stuffed peppers lately and this looks pretty good, I think I will use spaghetti sauce too instead of the tomato soup. I don’t know what it is but I don’t like tomato soup in my recipes. Thanks Denis
Looks like a mighty fine pepper to this gal!!
Stuffed peppers are one of my favorite meals ever. We use tomato sauce in ours.
I sometimes think we had the same mama. I was “raised up” on Mexene chili powder, too. I look for it and feel like I’m betraying the way I was raised when I have to settle for something else, though there are others that taste just as good.
Love stuffed peppers!
Aunt Charley
I love stuffed peppers, but I have to admit…I cheat. I mix up a box of Zatarains Dirty Rice and use that as my stuffing. I also put the tomato soup in the bottom of the pan with the peppers. Yummy!
Glad I decided to read all the posts, because this is definitely a version I will try.
I need to send you my mom’s recipe for stuffed peppers. Her mother was German and this is her recipe. It’s really different. It cooks on the stove in a tomato based “gravy” and you serve it with mashed potatoes. YUM!
Hey, howdy! Before I go see a man about a dog, I wanted to drop you a comment.
I hate peppers, but I just bet my hubby would LOVE this. Be SURE to let me know when your cookbook goes on sale so I can get several of them… let’s see, I will need to purchase 8. Crap, I hope they aren’t expensive. LOL!
christy: thought you would like our poor man stuffed peppers, in fry pan saute onions garlic and one chopped green pepper add cooked hambugar and set aside. in another fry pan mix butter and flour for roux, add milk to make gravy. tear up about 6 slices of bread and add to gravy, then add your meat mixture. stuff into peppers.oh yea salt and alot of pepper to taste. bake as usual in pan with water added. I also cover with foil for about half the cooking time then remove to brown tops. I just love your site,i look forward everday to it, your sense of humor is great and i like the way you look at life.If you ever come out to oregon,would love to meet you love ya Judy
Oh I loved them! I tried ground sausage instead of beef and it added even more flavor! yummmy! Oh and along with cornbread and sawdust pie it was a wonderful meal! My hubby sure does thank you!
You are right…your children are only young for a few years…be there!
Never had them. Now on to your misfortune with luck. Starting right now you need to act as if you have won and believe that you have won in order to win. Have you read the book called “The Secret” love it what an inspiring book. I just can’t believe that you have become predictable.
I’m so excited to read about learning how to make the sweet rice for breakfast. My mom used to make it for me, and for the life of me, I can’t make mine taste right! Love the website and the recipes!
I am lazy and use a can of sloppy joe sauce for stuffed peppers. The taste is familiar and the kids will eat it – well, they will gut the pepper and eat the stuffing.
I made these tonight for supper and oh my, were they awesome!!! I had to make my recipe a little bigger~ got some big hungry boys here to feed. I found that 1 1/2# of ground beef, 2 cups rice, and two cans of tomato soup were exactly right for filling 6 peppers.
I was also very happy to find green peppers for $2.49/lb. here in the middle of winter!!!
It was a glorious feast and everyone just loved the flavor of that filling! Tell you what~ let’s keep the chili powder thing a secret, cause you just can’t tell what’s giving all that nice flavor once it’s all done!
Oh my goodness…this is so yummy! I have to make this. It looks so good. I make a stuffed mushroom very similar to this, but I think the stuffed peppers (capsicums to us little Aussies) will be even better because mushrooms can tend to get a little mushy, plus I think the taste of the peppers will go really well with the seasoning of the meat.
I’m just catching up on your SP posts. It’s a long weekend here and I’ve been away. It’s so good to get away, even for a short burst.
I made these peppers last night for dinner. They were FANTASTIC! I mixed in one part Italian sausage and one part ground beef for my meat mixture. The rice you suggested is simply amazing! Just like sushi rice – great texture and quality.
Thank you for putting up such amazing recipes. I have made a lot of your recipes and they are always a hit – I made the philly cheese steak, chicken and dumplings, deep dish pizza, tomato soup, butterfinger cake, mama’s milk dunkin’ cookies… A LOT of stuff! And I love each and every recipe. Up for this week: Dirty Rice.
I cannot wait for your cookbook. Thank you for all of your hard work! You are very much appreciated. And Thank You for teaching me to cook quick, easy, and delicious meals.
Your #1 Fan,
ALLI
Hubby said he doesn’t like stuffed peppers
so I am going to make these up for myself and freeze the extra and then when I want something extra yummy I’ll just grab them out of the freezer and pristo a good little lunch for one! Thanks for sharing!
This is so similiar to what we call pigs in the blanket as well as porcuipine balls. The ingredients are the same just a different way to “wrap” them. The pigs have cabbage leaves and the balls nothing except tomatoe sauce. I have had them all and they taste good either way.
Made these tonight, only I didn’t have any chili powder so I substituted taco seasoning and gave them a quick name change to ‘Taco Peppers’ Hee Hee
! They were so good! They are definitely on the keeper list. I think next time we are going to try them with red bell peppers … mmmm
Christy, this is what we had for dinner tonight! I made a couple of tiny changes, the only significant one being I used a 6 oz can of tomato paste and 6 oz of water instead of the tomato soup. I was going to add a little ketchup but forgot. Just as well since the peppers themselves (orange!) were sweet. They were really good! You’re right, the chili powder adds good flavor but they don’t taste Mexican. I’d made stuffed peppers once before and they weren’t that great- for some reason the green pepper got really bitter? That’s why I used orange this time around. They will definitely be a repeat. Thank your mom for me!
Did I miss the follow-up Sweet Breakfast Rice recipe? I went out and bought a bag of the Botan rice on your recommendation, and now we use it for everything. It’s SOOO GOOD! But I’m still dying to try the sweet rice!
I made this for supper. Then I took one to work for my lunch. My co-workers were SO jealous.
My son who is now 32, used to call stuffed peppers “stuffed heifers.” of course, the name stuck and he still loves stuffed heifers.
I just made this recipe. Awesome!!! I made one minor change. I added gobs of Crystal Louisiana Hot Sauce to spice it up. Oh yeah!!!
[...] Janice’s Stuffed Peppers [...]
no PRINT OPTION…………boo!
Laurie, there is a print option at the bottom of the recipe. Look again?
I just made these for dinner and my husband is on the picky side and everyone loved them. My mom used to make this growing up and I was so excited to find a recipe from you for these.
themz the best dad-burn stuffed pepper i ever et. who cares about print option!!! copy n pastin works just as good fer me. Yumm Yumm! im tellin you whats the truth gal. I doctored mine with a little more rice and chili powder…had to use onion powder instead of the real thangs cuz these finiky mouths in my house always belly achin bout onions….hubby and my son. ive tried fer 20 years to get em to eat onions. sometimes i can puree them and “hide” em and they wont ever know. I think everything I make comes from you now.
Never had heard of or thought of using chili powder in struffed peppers, but have ever since you first posted this recipe originally, and it is a keeper at our house! The bit of cheese in with the beef and rice is another great idea. Had just been putting it on the top only! Thanks for reminding me of this one, It’s been a while since this was on our menu. Guess I’m not as organized about using family favorite recipes as I could be, that’s why I appreciate it when you remind us of recipes. ~snickers~
we have had stuffed peppers twice in the past week, we love them so much. Now you post this article and my mouth is watering for more!!!! In my recipe, I add broccoli to the meat/rice mixture and top it with tomato sauce instead of tomato soup. I also tried using red bell peppers this week and liked them even better than the green ones.
What is a good substitute to rice? I have never made stuffed peppers before and my boyfriend loves them… but I don’t know about the rice…
Thanks
Made these for dinner last night. Locally, green bell peppers are $1.99 lb., but the red and yellow ones are $3.99! What’s up with that? Anywho, I filled the 4 peppers and had plenty of mixture left over. These are quite good, but the mixture remionded me more of Mexican flavor. I’m thinking the remainder will make pretty good tacos. Thanks,
We had these for our supper this afternoon and they were great. Thanks Janice and Christy!
Just fixed these peppers for supper. I have fixed stuffed peppers several times, but I decided to fix them exactly by your receipe (except I didn’t have chopped garlic, so I used garlic powder). My DH loved them, he said they were the best stuffed peppers he has ever had. Thank you Christy and Janice for another keeper at my house.
I’m soooo glad someone knows how to make these right!!! Tell your mother that I said thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m from LA and for some reason(?) the only way ppl make them around here is stuffed with meat, seafood, more meat, and more seafood! My mom was from MS and this is how she always made them. It’s nice to have a recipe for guidance(amounts and all). Thank You!
I am so glad you found the recipe Rhonda and Mama said you are very welcome and that she hopes you enjoy them!!
Goin’ to the store to get me some peppers right now! DH will be so happy tonight!
Sounds Yummy! You can do ahead in a crock pot, Just clean peppers out (I use 4 lg peppers of equal size) rinse then salt inside lightly. mix all ingredents together (do not have to cook rice and meat) fill peppers. then set into crockpot. cook on low for about 6hours or high for 4 hours. you top with extra cheese about last half hour or so. my husband loves my stuffed peppers!!!!
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I just recently discovered you and you are already my absolute favorite. I’m about to purchase your cookbook soon. I live in Birmingham and was wondering where I might find that brand of chili powder? Thanks so very much, Christy! You are an inspiration to us common folk
my Mother in law made excellant stuffed peppers but I neglected to get her recipe before she passed away. This recipe sounds a lot like hers except she cut her peppers in half. I can’t wait to try these.
OMG — I can not wait for your sweet rice for breakfast recipe — my Mother made that all the time and I haven’t had it in thirty years. It’s one of the things I never paid any attention to how she did it. We used to get “commodities” from the state {great oily peanut butter, cheese, and rice}. This is the only kind of rice my Mother ever fixed. Love your recipes!!
Made these tonight and they’re really good! I chopped up the tops of the peppers and added them to the onion, garlic, beef mixture.
So glad to hear that you liked them Terry!!!