This post sharing the recipe for Stuffed Bell Peppers originally appeared on Arkansas Women Bloggers. I wrote the content as a contributor to their site at the time.

Sometimes you plan for dinner and sometimes you dig in the fridge and freezer and see what you can make up! (The latter happens at my house more often than not or at least more often than I’d like to admit.) So to keep up with my unfortunate habit, I usually keep my “pantry” stocked with staples that turn any meal into magic. And, because my husband loves the white things on his plate most, that usually involves a trip to my rice shelf. With an iron skillet or crockpot, a protein and some rice, you can turn a dinner that was going to be an afterthought into a….I was going to say work of art, but who cares what it looks like when it tastes good?!?!

Sure, there are a bajillion versions of stuffed bell peppers on the interwebs and in your dusty cookbooks on your shelf. Your grandma probably has a version that she cooked when you were little and your college roommate just discovered this delectable delight to wow the hungry, post-recess and workday mouths at her table. Below is Mrs. McKinney’s version when she is desperate to clean out some items in the fridge and still make the hubby, who likes a hearty meal, happy.

Stuffed Bell Peppers are a great weeknight dinner that uses a lot of vegetables and Rice. We especially love Riceland Rice from Arkansas and use it whenever we can. These Stuffed Bell Peppers can be made ahead and coverd with foil and baked wihen you get home from work. #weeknightdinner #mealswithvegetables #mealswithbrownrice

Print Recipe

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Stuffed Bell Peppers are the same great staple your grandma made. Just a few simple, hearty ingredients make a lip-smacking meal for any night of the week.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

4 bell peppers
1 pound lean ground beef
½ cup frozen seasoning blend onions and friends with minced garlic
1 small tomato or 1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups cooked Riceland rice leftover is fine!
1 jar pizza sauce or tomato/marinara sauce
3 Tablespoons spicy ketchup
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a large stockpot, bring enough water to cover peppers to a boil.
Place peppers in boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.
Immediately remove from water and drain.
Set on a plate or paper town to rest.
Keep enough water to cook rice as directed on back of bag and pour out rest.
Pour water in a smaller saucepan and bring water back to a boil.
Salt water and pour in rice.
Cook as described on package. (I use a quick cooking rice.
If you are using a brown rice or different kind, you will need to include prep time for the rice to cook)
Brown ground beef.
Set aside on a paper towel lined plate to drain excess fat.
In pan with meat drippings, brown onions/seasoning blend with a little minced garlic.
Once onions are translucent, add tomatoes and stir together.
If using canned tomatoes, cook until most of sauce has reduced.
In a small bowl, stir together pizza sauce, ketchup and Worcestershire.
Season to preference.
Remove vegetable mixture from heat and stir in rice, browned meat, and half of pizza sauce mixture.
Stir together all ingredients until fully incorporated.
Fill inside of bell peppers with meat mixture.
Use mixture evenly between 4 peppers.
Top with remaining pizza sauce mixture.
Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Some prefer to top theirs with cheese while it bakes, you make the call!
Serve immediately.

Notes

Sometimes I like to clean out the veggie drawer and sneak in extra veggies. You can put carrots, celery, zucchini, squash, other bell or sweet peppers, or broccoli in the food processors and pulse to a fine paste or just a little before and stir those in to the sauce before you add the rice. Its the perfect texture and always and and easy way to include extra veggies.

The basis of this sauce minus the Worsterchire and rice makes a great spaghetti sauce base. Just add more garlic and some basil and oregano and you have a hearty multi-use meal.

Bonus Trick for Cooking Stuffed Bell Peppers

And, if you didn’t think a recipe was enough of a tip today, here’s something that might help your sanity and save some cleanup. Use a muffin tin to bake your stuffed pepper. Stand them up in the little muffin holes and bake them just as you would in a glass dish. I even threw in some chocolate pumpkin muffins around my peppers and dessert cooked at the same time! #multitasking

Enjoy your evening, round off your plate with something green, and unpack the day together around your favorite dinner table spot!

oh yeah, and when I originally posted this, I was the reigning Arkansas Women Bloggers Rice Queen. I won the “pageant” at the 2016 Megaphone Summit in Hot Springs. I’ll do a lot of things for my blogger sisters and that includes participating in a Rice Queen pageant to share the health facts and farming story of Arkansas Rice Farmers and our sponsor Riceland Foods. Oh, and my platform was “Save the Phones” where I shared the technique to use whatever Riceland rice you have laying around and put your phone and the rice together in a Ziploc bag after your kid drops it in the toilet or you do from multitasking. The plump rice will absorb the water and maybe give your phone a second life.