Ground Beef Stuffed Peppers
Updated Oct 23, 2025
These ground beef stuffed peppers have a rice and tomato sauce filling and are topped with mozzarella and parmesan that gets baked in the oven!
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Try my ground beef stuffed peppers!
Growing up, ground beef stuffed peppers were one of the dinners I looked forward to the most. My mom made hers with either ground beef or turkey and made sure the peppers were topped with plenty of cheese. It’s not surprising that, as a kid, the melty, cheesy tops were my favorite!
I have a handful of stuffed pepper recipes on this site (including chicken fajita stuffed peppers and tuna melt stuffed peppers), but these Beef Stuffed Peppers are the closest to what I grew up eating. They’re also one of my favorite ways to use up leftover rice! Otherwise, I keep the filling simple with the tops of the bell peppers, spices, tomato sauce, and cheese. My kids now love them, too!
Happy Cooking!
– Yumna
Ground Beef Stuffed Peppers Ingredients
- Ground beef: I use lean ground beef, but ground chicken, lamb, or turkey also works!
- Peppers: I like to use different colored peppers for this stuffed peppers recipe, but you can use just one type!
- Oil: You’ll need olive oil to cook the filling! Another high-heat oil like avocado is fine, too.
- Onion and garlic: Make sure to finely chop the onion and mince the garlic.
- Rice: I usually use leftover cooked white rice, but brown rice is also great. You could even try quinoa or cauliflower rice instead!
- Tomato sauce: You can find this next to the canned tomatoes.
- Spices: For the best stuffed peppers recipe, you’ll need salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.
- Cheese: Mozzarella and parmesan! You could use other cheeses, but make sure to stick with one melting cheese and one hard cheese, like cheddar and pecorino romano.
- Herbs: I like to top these beef stuffed peppers with chopped parsley, but you could use fresh basil or chives!
How to Make Ground Beef Stuffed Peppers
Ground Beef Stuffed Peppers Recipe
Beef stuffed peppers made with ground beef, rice, onions, and tomato sauce, then baked until tender and topped with melted cheese for a hearty family dinner.
Ingredients
- 6 large bell peppers
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 ½ cups cooked rice
- 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese divided
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Fresh chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- Slice the tops off the bell peppers and remove seeds and membranes. Arrange peppers upright in the baking dish. Remove the stems from the tops of the peppers and dice. Set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, reserved chopped peppers and garlic, cooking until softened, about 3 minutes.
- Add ground beef to the skillet. Cook until browned, breaking it up with a spoon, about 6–8 minutes.
- Stir in cooked rice, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper. Cook for 2–3 minutes until well combined. Remove from heat and stir in ½ cup mozzarella and all the Parmesan.
- Spoon the beef and rice mixture evenly into the prepared peppers.
- Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle the tops with the remaining ½ cup mozzarella, and bake uncovered for 10–15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Garnish with fresh parsley and serve warm.
Equipment
Notes
- My Top Tip: For this stuffed bell peppers recipe, you want to buy peppers that are round and wide, not tall. This means there will be more room for the filling!
- Storage: Store any leftovers in an airtight container. They will last about 3-4 days in the fridge.
- Freezing: You can also freeze the baked stuffed peppers for up to 3 months. Freeze them individually or all together in a baking dish. To re-heat, thaw in the fridge overnight and bake in a 350°F oven until heated through.
6 bell peppers red, yellow or green
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion chopped
1 teaspoon 7 spice
1 cup rice uncooked
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon black pepper
8 ounces tomato sauce
2 garlic cloves minced
Toasted pine nuts for serving
Chopped parsley for serving
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray baking dish with cooking spray
Slice ½ inch from the tops of peppers and remove stems. Cut the core from the inside and remove any seeds. Place the hallowed peppers in a 9×13 inch baking dish with tops on and cook for 15 minutes; remove from oven and set aside
Meanwhile, heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pot. Add ground beef, onions and 7 spice. Season with salt and pepper and cook until beef is browned, about 7-10 minutes. Add the rice on top of the beef mixture, season with cinnamon, salt and pepper. Mix well and add 2 cups of water. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat and cover. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender.
Stuff peppers with beef and rice mixture to the top. Pour tomato sauce in baking dish. Add minced garlic and as much water to thin out the tomato sauce as you’d like.
Cover the stuffed peppers with their reserved tops or place foil over the baking dish. Cook in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, to allow the sauce to bubble and the peppers to continue to soften.
Serve with toasted pine nuts and parsley, if desired. * Please note the nutrition label does not include any toppings.
Nutrition
Serving: 1pepper, Calories: 368kcal, Carbohydrates: 29g, Protein: 26g, Fat: 17g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 7g, Trans Fat: 0.5g, Cholesterol: 71mg, Sodium: 1045mg, Potassium: 888mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 5656IU, Vitamin C: 217mg, Calcium: 224mg, Iron: 4mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Did You Make This Recipe?
Recipe Tips
- Be picky about the peppers. For this stuffed bell peppers recipe, you want to buy peppers that are round and wide, not tall. This means there will be more room for the filling!
- Use your hands to prep the peppers. After you cut the tops off of the peppers, I find the best way to remove the seeds and membranes is to just use my hands to pull and scoop them out.
- Shred the cheeses yourself. Pre-shredded cheese shreds usually come coated with anti-caking agents, which make them less melty. That’s why I always shred blocks of cheese myself!
- Brown the cheese under the broiler. If the cheesy top on the stuffed peppers hasn’t browned after baking, you can always pop it under the broiler for a minute or two. Just make sure to watch it closely and that your baking dish is broiler-safe!
Serving Ideas
- With salad. These ground beef stuff peppers are a great meal on their own, but I’ll never say no to more veg! Try my garden salad, kale Caesar salad, or fall harvest salad.
- With sauteed greens. I usually have some sort of greens in my fridge! This sauteed kale and sauteed spinach are two of my go-to sides.
- With garlic bread. These cheeses, tomato sauce, and Italian seasoning in these peppers definitely gives pizza vibes, which means garlic cheese bread would a perfect match!
- With sweet potato fries. Sweet potatoes are a favorite of mine and my kids! You could make these air fryer sweet potato fries in the air fryer while the stuffed peppers cook in the oven.
Comments
I have made this several times and it’s insane. I have changed it around a bit and wanted to share. I start with #3 and then as the meat and rice are cooking, you can do #1, then #2. Modern ovens takes 5 minutes to preheat to 375, no need to have it on for the 30 minutes you’re prepping and stuffing. Basically, while the rice is cooking, that’s when you prep the peppers, tomato sauce, etc. Also, I no longer put garlic on the bottom, it might not cook through and you’ll end up with raw garlic breath, which happened to me, and it was intense…. specify how much water to put in the base, it’s okay to put like a cup or two because then it steams, which is how many M.E. cultures do it. Lastly, I put tomato paste into the rice mix, along with garlic, pine nuts and parsley (so the last two weren’t garnish, but added in). I LOVE this recipe with my tweaks…
I love the changes you’ve made! So happy you like the recipe!! Thank you for sharing!
I made it and it was SO DELICIOUS that I’m making it again for the rest of my family! 10/10. I didn’t have 7 spice but I did add a pinch of cinnamon and wow did it make a difference. Well done!
Yay!! Aww, so glad you loved it! Thank you so much, Zelda!
Rice came out hard
Oh no! So sorry to hear that. The rice can be too hard from both undercooking and overcooking. Was your rice completely cooked before adding the beef and rice mixture to the peppers and putting in the oven?
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