Stuffed Pepper Casserole is a delicious and easy dinner recipe to make filled with delicious flavors from browned beef, canned tomatoes, shredded cheese, and simple Italian seasoning.
This easy casserole recipe is the classic flavors of the traditional stuffed peppers but made easier. You might even call this an unstuffed peppers casserole since you can mix it all together without worrying about keeping everything together in the peppers.
Serve this stuffed bell pepper casserole recipe with some garlic bread to get a filling complete meal for a simple dinner recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This stuffed bell pepper casserole has the best flavor all mixed into one dish for those that love stuffed bell peppers without all the extra work. Chop everything up, brown the meat, mix it! No need to cook the rice ahead of time with this simple casserole recipe.
Recipe Ingredients:
- Oil: use the olive oil you have on hand when cooking the beef
- Protein: get a package of ground lean beef to create the meat mixture
- Onion: use either a yellow onion or a white onion diced into small pieces
- Peppers: you will need to have diced red bell peppers and yellow bell peppers
- Garlic: you will need to have fresh garlic clove minced or minced garlic from the jar
- Seasoning: be sure to have paprika powder, kosher salt, and black pepper to season the lean ground beef mixture
- Tomatoes: to keep it simple grab a can of chopped fire-roasted tomatoes or regular diced tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce
- Rice: for the best results use long grain rice that has been rinsed and drained
- Cooking liquid: use either vegetable broth or beef stock for this stuffed bell pepper casserole to make sure the rice gets cooked properly
- Cheese: you will need both shredded cheddar cheese and shredded mozzarella cheese
How To Make Stuffed Bell Pepper Casserole:
Heat the oven:
- Preheat oven: prepare a 9×13-inch baking dish. Preheat your oven to 350℉.
Prepare the beef:
- Cook the beef: Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet or saucepan to brown the meat. Add the beef, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook while breaking up lumps until the meat is no longer pink about 7-8 minutes. Drain any excess fat or liquid.
- Add the vegetables: Stir in the diced onion, red bell pepper, and yellow bell pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until slightly tender.
- Add the flavor: add minced garlic and paprika to the meat and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the remaining ingredients: stir in canned chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, uncooked rice, and vegetable or beef stock. Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat. Stir in ¼ cup of shredded cheddar cheese and ¼ cup of mozzarella cheese until well combined.
Assemble for baking:
- Transfer to the baking dish: add the meat-rice mixture into the baking dish.
- Bake: Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the casserole from the oven and add the remaining cheddar and mozzarella cheese on top.
- Broil: Set your oven to broil and broil the casserole for 2-3 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden.
Serve:
- Cool the casserole for 10 minutes before serving.
Recipe Substitutions & Variations:
- Add a little Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce for a flavor boost
- Add heat by adding red pepper flakes to the ground meat
- Use ground chicken, ground turkey, or Italian sausage instead of ground beef
Expert Tips
- To make the casserole visually interesting, use a mix of colorful bell peppers.
- I always use lean beef in the recipes, which is the best and will give the best flavor.
- If you do not have fire-roasted tomatoes and still want that smoky flavor, you can use smoked paprika instead of plain paprika powder.
Frequently Asked Questions for Making Stuffed Pepper Casserole:
It is not necessary to blanch the bell peppers for this rice as it might be for other pepper recipes. However, if you want to ensure the peppers are really soft, you could blanch the peppers ahead of time.
With this unstuffed pepper casserole, the peppers will be mixed into the casserole dish so they will get the opportunity to soften up.
White rice, brown rice, and jasmine rice are all great options. In this recipe, you can use any rice except instant rice.
You can add green beans, green peppers, or zucchini for ways to sneak flavor and vegetables into this stuffed pepper casserole.
Storage Instructions:
Fridge: After cooking the stuffed pepper casserole, let it cool to room temperature and place aluminum foil over the top of the casserole dish or use the lid, and place it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
More beef recipes:
- Hearty Ground Beef Enchiladas
- Sheet Pan Ground Beef Quesadillas
- Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage
- Garlic Butter Beef Roast
Stuffed Pepper Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb. ground lean beef
- 1 onion, diced
- ½ cup red bell pepper, diced
- ½ cup yellow bell pepper, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon paprika powder
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 10 ounces canned chopped fire-roasted tomatoes or classic tomatoes
- ¼ cup tomato sauce
- ⅔ cup long grain rice, rinsed, drained
- 1 cup vegetable or beef stock
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
Heat the oven:
- Preheat oven: prepare a 9×13-inch baking dish. Preheat your oven to 350℉.
Prepare the beef:
- Cook the beef: Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet or saucepan. Add the beef, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook while breaking up lumps until the meat is no longer pink about 7-8 minutes. Drain any excess fat or liquid.
- Add the vegetables: Stir in the diced onion, red bell pepper, and yellow bell pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until slightly tender.
- Add the flavor: add minced garlic and paprika to the meat and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the remaining ingredients: stir in canned chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, rice, and vegetable or beef stock. Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat. Stir in ¼ cup of shredded cheddar cheese and ¼ cup of mozzarella cheese until well combined.
Assemble for baking:
- Transfer to the baking dish: add the meat-rice mixture into the baking dish.
- Bake: Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the casserole from the oven and add the remaining cheddar and mozzarella cheese on top.
- Broil: Set your oven to broil and broil the casserole for 2-3 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden.
Serve:
- Cool the casserole for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- In this recipe, you can use any rice except instant rice.
- If you do not have fire-roasted tomatoes and still want that smoky flavor, you can use smoked paprika instead of plain paprika powder.
Nutrition
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