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?
This recipe is so tasty and savory, I could eat it regularly! The 7 spice I made from Yumna’s recipe in the link is really what made this dish shine. I am tempted to try the stuffing in some cabbage rolls. I give this one a 10 out of 5 stars!!⭐️ #SoGood
Aww thank you, Annetta! So happy you love the recipe. I think the stuffing would taste amazing in cabbage rolls, you’ll have to try it and let me know how it turns out!!
Could you swap the meat out for black beans?
I haven’t tried this myself, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t come out well!
💯 awesome. Thank you for this, I subbed almonds for pine nuts and cut cilantro with the parsley. What a gem.
Yum! Love those substitutions!
This was a hit. I’ve tried a few stuffed pepper recipes in the past and this takes the cake. Will definitely make it again. I accidently cooked the garlic with the onions (purposely added some chopped poblano pepper) and used garlic parsley salt instead of regular salt. The rice and beef mix was slightly undersalted when done so I added sea salt and mixed it while steaming warm. I minced more garlic and added it to the tomato sauce which was just delicious, did not add too much water to the mix.
Thank you! That is such a compliment. Glad you made it work and enjoyed!
OMG!!!! What a great recipe! I am from the south and the idea never occurred to me to use any type of bottled anything topping in my recipe. But it has been years. I made this recipe following every one of your directions with the exception of I bought big fat bell peppers and as well, as poblano peppers. No I did not use your seven spice, however fresh garlic, coarse black pepper, a dash of oregano, in my sauce as well as in my meat with diced up onions and dice shredded carrots.
I had always parboiled, but baking as you instructed was even better! I did use a wonderful wild rice medley which is beautiful and nutty, and my family tore up this food before I could get home and enjoy one of them for myself. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! Being Southern the idea of putting cinnamon or any type of what I would call a Christmas spice in my food just doesn’t sit well with me. But the next batch, I am going to make word for word what you suggested just to see because sometimes even a southerner is wrong.:). Again thank you for the recipe as well as the baking of the peppers. Parboiling and going through all of that with a whole pepper has been one of the tedious parts but this way that you instructed makes it fast, and evidently my family is going to want to know where this recipe come from I’m going to have to put it in my book of secrets.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed this with the spices you chose. Can’t wait to hear what you think next time you make this again!
I followed the recipe as is and my rice came out crunchy, meat had no flavor. A very disappointing recipe. Definitely needs to be updated. Should add cooked rice to the meat mixture until mixed and then stuffed.
I am so sorry to hear that. I appreciate your honest feedback! It sounds like the peppers were overcooked, which causes the rice to come out crunchy.
Loved this recipe and so did my family! I had extra stuffing so I also did zucchini and squash. My stuffing also had sautéed crimini mushrooms, carrots and zucchini. I also put bread crumbs on top along with the sautéed pine nuts! I love salt a bit so next time, I think I will add a little bit of salt to the raw peppers before pre-cooking them. I think that may help them soften faster too. Thanks Yumna for another reliable recipe!
What a great idea to use in a baked squash recipe. I normally do a cornbread stuffing in my squash because I do not like anything pre-processed. But I add a little bit of jalapeno as well as cooking everything in a chicken broth. I’m going to try that because in making this recipe I had thought maybe a nice squash casserole would be nice. But at the time I had to make something for my family who is up at the hospital and something I knew would be feeling and healthy. Sometimes they’re picky LOL but I paired this with some parsley mashed potatoes, and just a humongous salad. My children are not onion friendly, and the idea of not eating onion and anything I cook is absurd to me. But every now and then I will make it to their wishes as I did this recipe but it still came out so good.
Made this for dinner tonight. I made 6 stuffed peppers three with & three without rice since my husband is on a keto diet. Both, turned our delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Totally loved this recipe! My sauce was a little spicy and with a touch of herbs! But it was delicious!!! Thank you so much.
So glad to hear it! Thank you Ivonne!!
Hi , I’m Pakistani . I just wanted a different flavours to work just seen your videos for the 1st one love your recipes fresh and easy to follow . Have a teenager whose trying to get healthy . Glad I found u ❤️
So glad to hear it. Thank you!!
Asalam Alaikum!
Wa alaikum assalam!
Flavorful is the word. I used quinoa instead of rice and really enjoyed this!