Braised Stuffed Peppers
The peppers themselves soak up the beefy flavors and aroma and taste super-awesome.
Ingredients
- 8 bell peppers, any color
- 2 pounds ground beef, or ground chicken or ground pork
- 1 medium yellow squash or zucchini, diced
- 1/2 cup red onion, diced
- 10 ounces frozen riced cauliflower, or freshly riced cauliflower
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
- 6 ounces fresh spinach leaves, roughly chopped
- 2 cups crushed tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper, optional
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 3 cups low sodium beef stock, or homemade beef bone broth
- 1 1/2 cups Colby Jack cheese, shredded
- 1 green onion, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Wash all the bell peppers. Using a sharp knife, cut the tops off and remove any seeds and membranes and discard.
- In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, crumble the ground beef. Add the squash, onion, garlic, and cauliflower. Cook, stirring often, until the beef is no longer pink and the vegetables are softened, approximately 8 to 10 minutes.
- Drain the meat mixture in a colander and allow the excess grease to drain out. You can gently press the mixture against the sides of the colander with a spoon or spatula if you’d like to remove more fat.
- Add the meat and vegetables back into the sauté pan. Add the crushed tomatoes, spinach, salt, onion and garlic powders, ground black and white pepper (if using), and paprika. Gently stir and allow to come to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Once the spinach has wilted, taste for seasonings and adjust as desired.
- Fill each bell pepper with the meat mixture to the top, mounding if necessary. You might have enough to mound the filling in each pepper. Place the stuffed peppers into your braiser, cut side up.
- Pour the beef stock into the bottom of the braiser and place the lid on top. (Depending on the size of your cookware, you may not need the whole 3 cups. You want your braising liquid to come at least 2 inches up the sides of the peppers.)
- Being careful not to spill the liquid, place the braiser into the preheated oven for 1 hour. Using a fork or a sharp knife, check the doneness of a pepper. If it is softened, remove them from the oven. If necessary, cook another 10 minutes. You may have to adjust heating times due to each oven’s unique heating element.
- When the bell peppers are softened, remove from the oven and turn on the broiler. Sprinkle with the shredded cheese and place under the broiler to melt the cheese and get a little browned if you’d like.
- Remove the stuffed peppers from the oven and sprinkle with the green onions.
- You can serve immediately from the braiser, or gently remove the peppers and place them on individual plates or a large serving platter. Serve warm from the oven.
- See “Notes” for ideas for the braising liquid.
Notes
My braiser is an enamel cast iron, 5-quart. It is able to hold 7 – 9 bell peppers, depending on their sizes. Adjust the recipe if yours is smaller, or use a 9x13" dish.
**Don’t throw out your braising liquid! Taste it. It should be very tasty, like a homemade vegetable beef soup broth. You can eat/drink it as it is, or reduce the liquid down and use it as a base in a gravy or other soup or sauce.
The ground white pepper adds a little bit of heat and bite to these stuffed peppers. I really like it in this recipe, but feel free to leave it out.
Use more cheese if you’d like. You could even stuff some cheese cubes (instead of shredded) into the top of your beef mixture before broiling.
Nutrition Facts
Braised Stuffed Peppers
Amount per Serving
Calories
414
% Daily Value*
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!