Italian Stuffed Peppers

Question: The picture of the peppers shows 3 peppers halved, but the recipe list 4. Does it mean you didn’t prepare 4? Is there a enough of the stuffing mix for 4. Sorry, I am picking up the ingredients and want to make sure I get it correct. Looking forward to trying it, the recipes of yours I have tried  are always so delicious. 

Definitely going to give these a try. I have had stuffed peppers on my make list for a while and never get to it. I am making it happen this weekend though. Will probably substitute quinoa for the rice. Also printed out the spinach and artichoke version, sounds like a healthy substitute for its delicious dip counterpart!

Hi Erin, these stuffed peppers were not only delicious, but easy to put together! I used lean ground beef because it’s what I had on hand and, for the sake of speed, instant brown rice (cooked).  Left-overs were delicious  for lunch the next day!  Thank you again for your intuitive tips, easy to follow instructions, videos, and lovely photos!

I’ve made already stuffed peppers, I got the recipe form an Italian friend, but instead of chicken, I added tuna. It was delicious, but I will try also this version! Thanks for sharing :)

Excellent! 
I used ground beef and it was great.

5 star rating! Easy and delicious. My family asked if I’d make it again in the future ?I substituted fresh garlic for powdered Garlic and Summer Savory for  Italian seasoning . Thanks for the recipe !

I was never a fan of stuffed peppers as a child, but at 27 years old, I thought I’d give them another shot. I also have been trying new recipes since being in q because I was tired of eating the same stuff. I tried the Mexican and the Italian stuffed peppers. I prepared them the day ahead but before putting them in the oven, I topped them with the cheese, and some crushed tomato sauce, and added the water to the bottom of the pan (I greased the pan with oil the day ahead before putting the peppers in the pan.) They cooked nicely at 375 for 30 minutes. So far I tried the Mexican pepper and all I have to say is delicious! I will try the Italian pepper tomorrow. I made 16 halves so I will definitely be freezing some for future meals. Great recipe! Will definitely use again :) 

I made it and thought it was missing something. Unfortunately I find using a substitute instead of beef tends to make it lose flavor. So I added some more cheese when reheated it. Sprinkled some shredded mozzarella and put a slice of provolone on top. Melted that all together. Omg so good

These were amazing!! Even my picky husband liked them, which makes them even better :-) I used ground Italian turkey sausage, omitted the salt, and used steamed cauliflower rice. For the canned tomatoes, I found an Italian style that had spices, garlic and olive oil in it. I still added the additional Italian spice and garlic powder as per the recipe, but went easy on it since these spices were already in the tomatoes and probably the sausage as well. We have enough leftovers for another meal. I will definitely be making this again soon!

This was a simple and delicious dinner! I didn’t use the turkey because I don’t eat meat, but even without it, the stuffed peppers were amazing. Thank you so much for creating this recipe!

Love you to pieces❣️❣️❣️
A question….I’m substituting my own handmade ground Italian sausage in the peppers ( highly recommend) but was thinking of putting them on the grill. Any suggestions? Should I microwave my peppers before stuffing and grilling them?
Oh…did I say I love you to pieces?

Hi, I made these Italian peppers today. The peppers broke in half . I boiled them for 12 minutes. Didn’t see in the instructions what temperature for the oven.

Made this last night but I doubled all of the spices (except salt), and tripled the red pepper flakes. It turned out absolutely amazing and my family enjoyed it. I will be making it again.

I made this dish and served it over spaghetti with Ragu sauce. It was delicious. I did have to alter the recipe because I only use fresh garlic and did not use red pepper. My only complaint was that the peppers did not get completely soft. I baked an additional 10 minutes but they did not soften all the way. Perhaps because they were fresh from our garden?

Delicious easy recipe to follow filled with lots of flavor. What I love about this is that it’s a make a cool recipe so when it’s cooking, I have time to clean, prepare my kids meals etc.. so we can all eat together. The flavor in this recipe is amazing, so good! Highly recommend.

I have tried making stuffed peppers in the past (Not using this recipe)..I am not a great cook by any means and they turned out..okay.

THESE turned out DELICIOUS! Like hands down my family is raving about them. I did double all the spices as I really like a little kick. Also I didn’t have Italian seasoning so used all purpose. I still can’t believe how delicious these are. I paired with a nice spring mix salad!

I feel so lucky to have found Well Plated because its low cal AND delish. Been using her recipes for dinner 2x a week and have already gone down 15lbs and not feeling like I’m missing out on any taste.

These are a must try!

Tried this tonight with ground beef. We loved it! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!

The stuffing mixture fell a little flat for me. I would recommend upping the red pepper flakes or garlic, or using Italian sausage (even Beyond italian sausage would work well I think) to give it more flavor. Texture wise, it was perfect.

Made this for dinner the other night and it was both easy and delicious. I did make a few modifications – I used yellow bell peppers as I like their flavor better than red. I also minced a small yellow onion and fresh garlic and cooked that in with the chicken. This meal was a big hit with everyone. It was very flavorful and I will keep this in my back pocket as a healthy dinner option.

I love stuffed peppers, and your recipe ideas sound delicious!

Bulgher is also good in stuffed peppers.

I’m getting ready to make this but without the olive oil and without the cooking spray. So, I’m wondering what the calories will be if I did that? I’ve found that you don’t need oil to cook ground chicken and with a water base I don’t think you need cooking spray. In fact, I may use some pureed tomatos instead of the water. Wish me luck, and if anyone knows how many calories I’m cutting out by not using oils please tell me! I’ll let you all know how this turns out. Looks delicious and I’m excited for dinner.

Absolutely delicious! I used cauliflower rice for a healthier version with ground turkey. I also used 1/2 Tsp. Of crushed red pepper flakes and ground black pepper. I have a great picture of the final product I would like to share as well. Thank you so much for the recipe! I will be making this again soon.

I love stuffed peppers and was looking for a healthy alternative. This is delicious! This will be made often!

Do I cook the rice first or do i cook it in the oven with the peppers and mix them in hard?

Do I cook them if I am meal prepping and making them ahead of time before I freeze them?

Hubby really liked this dish as I did as well. Grew up this as a kid. Didn’t like it but now my taste has changed and I love it. Thanks for this great recipe and will be making it again soon.

Excellent and so easy! Used wild rice👍

These are delicious!! I made them with lean ground beef and lots of cheese and basil. Yum!

We loved this recipe! I had mild Italian sausage on hand so used that for the meat. Will definitely add this to our rotation. Thank you!

I have made these several times. Always with rice. I have made them for my friends who keep Kosher, I just bought a shredded non dairy substitute. They totally enjoyed them. They are a great lunch item for the next day.

I used this recipe to make plant-based meat substitute stuffed peppers and my Mom loved them;
I used Champagne Cheese at the end and broiled them for about 5 minutes. I have been asked to make them again so the recipe is beyond good.

I wanted to like this recipe, I really did. My husband and I both like stuffed bell peppers and we have enough out of the garden that I need to find different things to do with them. Plus, ground chicken is a good change from ground beef.

Unfortunately…as written, this recipe is very, VERY bland. I wanted a more intense Italian flavor, so I didn’t want to add more red pepper flakes; heat is no substitute for actual flavor. I had tried the dish once before and had the same result, but I also, as mentioned, *really* wanted it to work, so this time, I used diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano, added a few leaves of fresh basil as well as more Italian seasoning, and hoped for the best.

Unfortunately, the mixture was still blah — and I *didn’t* use no-salt tomatoes. I also used steamed basmati rice, not brown rice; we don’t care for it. Orzo might have been better, but I had none at hand.

To up the flavor, I added half a jar of Rao’s marinara and half a teaspoon of chicken Better than Bouillon. By the time I added the cheese, it was okay. I think it might be better still if I’d had flavored ground chicken; there’s a brand (I think it’s Mighty Spark) that has bruschetta-flavored ground chicken, and that might help. I ended up with much more stuffing than peppers, but that was okay; our peppers were on the small side. I steamed the peppers first and put a layer of stuffing down, then the peppers, then filled them with the remaining stuffing. The extra stuffing more than made up for the small peppers.

I am sorry to make this report, but I think others are going to have the same concerns as I, and at least this might give people some suggestions to address them. I do thank you for sharing the basis for the recipe, though.

I followed the recipe as presented, but I made a couple of changes. I cooked a cup of orzo in 4 cups of chicken stock for four minutes. When I stained the orzo, I reserved the chicken stock and that is what I poured into the casserole when it was time to cook the peppers.
I sautéed one small diced onion, and a few cloves of garlic for about three minutes, before I added the chicken to the pan to Brown. In addition to the spices listed in the recipe, I added some fresh chopped up basil at the end, after mixing in the orzo and before stuffing the peppers. I used Parmesan Reggiano cheese and Parmesan cheese. I put some of the mixture into the filling before I stuffed the peppers. I covered the casserole with tinfoil and baked at 400 for 30 minutes. Then I took the tinfoil off, topped peppers with the remaining cheese, and cooked for another 10 minutes without the tinfoil. That made the pepper the perfect consistency. I did not par boil, or roast the peppers at all. I feel the chicken stock helps to bring a nice additional flavor. I think vegetable stock would be nice also. definitely taste the filling as you go and add any additional spices or salt. Have fun!

Made these tonight — they looked lovely. But I have to agree with the other poster who found them bland. It’s an easy fix, I think: just use some marinara sauce (garlic, four cheese, your pick) instead of the no-salt diced tomatoes. The diced tomatoes don’t add a lot of flavor or thickness to the filling. In the past, I’d stand the peppers up, which left me enough pepper to dice and add to the filling which is nice; I’ve also added frozen roasted corn in the past. I think this is a good starter recipe, and I like the way the peppers look and how easily the eat when cut this way instead of standing, but it was not the most mind-blowing flavor I’ve experienced.

I mixed some lean ground beef with Italian sausage and sautéed onions and garlic before browning the meat. It came out great!

Really good! I’ve made this twice in a row, I liked it so much. The first time I made these I doubled the recipe and pre-grilled the peppers before stuffing them and finishing it in the oven to melt the cheese, the second time I followed the baking instructions. They tasted a lot better grilled than baked, it really cut through the vegetal pepper flavor. I’ve made with both Whole Foods bulk Tuscan chicken sausage and Publix Greenwise Italian chicken sausage, both are delicious. Following the baking instructions led to crispy vs. gooey cheese on top, so I’d probably tweak that next time too.

We made this recipe. It was delicious. I made a couple of changes, including having 1/2 the meat be Italian Sausage.

I parboiled the peppers earlier and let them dry while I cooked the filling. I also used ground italian sausage and mushrooms to absorb the excess water and so that it would be more flavorful. 375 for 25 minutes will melt the cheese.