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Looking for an easy-to-prep, hearty yet wholesome dinner for your family during busy weeknights? These Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers are your answer! A warm, comforting dish with hollowed-out bell peppers stuffed with cooked rice, ground beef, tomatoes, and savory herbs that are slowly cooked until tender. This recipe requires minimal effort and contains all of the flavor.
Table of Contents:
- Table of Contents:
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients for Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers
- Tips & FAQs
- Recipe:
- Check out these other great recipes!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Slow cooker meals are always the best type of meal. For this meal, you just need to prep the peppers and filling, then stuff, set, and forget! Well, maybe not forget but you get what I mean. Slow cooker meals just mean you don’t have to worry about dinner later after a long, hard day at work then coming home and immediately be a mother (in my case anyways). Letting these peppers sit in the slow cooker for 7 hours allows the flavors of the peppers meld into the filling, which is just delicious. It’s great for meal prep as well for when you need lunches throughout the week. It’s also nutritious, making it a great meal for the kids! Stuffed peppers are also versatile so you can easily customize with different meats, grains, or add more veggies to it.
Ingredients for Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers
- Bell Peppers: I used red for this, but feel free to use a mix of red, yellow, orange, and green; you can use a different color pepper if you don’t care for red bell peppers. Red bell peppers are a bit sweeter, which is why I went with them over green.
- Ground Beef: The meaty part of the stuffed pepper, other than the pepper itself. You can use ground turkey, chicken, vegan meat, or chopped mushrooms in place of the beef.
- Rice: I used long grain white rice for this. You can also use brown rice for a healthier option, or even farro, quinoa, or cauliflower rice.
- Onions & Garlic: Adds flavor to the mix.
- Salt, Pepper, Tarragon, Thyme: I used dried herbs instead of fresh, but feel free to use fresh if you wish. Tarragon has a bit of a strong licorice flavor, which is why I used so little in this recipe. You can sub it out for oregano if you don’t like tarragon.
- Jarred Marinara Sauce: Use your favorite jarred sauce for this! If you feel ambitious, make your own marinara sauce.
- Worcestershire Sauce: Used to flavor the meat. You can use a vegan Worcestershire sauce as well.
- Canned Petite Diced Tomatoes: You can use regular sized diced tomatoes if you wish, but I preferred smaller tomatoes in this recipe.
- Shredded Mozzarella: Top the peppers with mozzarella for the perfect finish! You can never go wrong with cheese.
Tips & FAQs
- Storage: Allow to cool completely, then store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Reheat: You can reheat this in the microwave. I would slice the pepper in half before reheating to get even heating.
- Freeze: Allow to cool completely, then store in an airtight freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let the peppers thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating them.
- Use large, firm bell peppers when making this dish. It might be a bit of a tight squeeze when putting them into the slow cooker, but you also get more filling into them. Do not pre-bake the peppers! Softer or overripe peppers may break down too much during slow cooking, which will cause the pepper to rip open and spill the filling.
- Variations:
- Use ground turkey, chicken, sausage, vegan meat, or chopped mushrooms instead of ground beef.
- Use quinoa, farro, brown rice, or cauliflower rice instead of white rice. If using cauliflower rice, you can just mix it in raw and the slow cooking will make it tender.
- Add black beans for extra protein
- Add in chopped zucchini, mushrooms, or corn for extra veggies. Mix in some chopped spinach for extra fiber.
- Wine Pairing: A malbec or chianti are the best choices here. Malbec is bold and fruity with dark berry notes, so it complements the richness of the beef and tomato sauce. Chianti is a classic Italian red with bright acidity that will cut through the richness of the dish. If you choose ground turkey or chicken for the peppers, then I would go with a Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. Pinot Noir is light and earthy so it’ll enhance the flavors without overpowering the dish. Chardonnay is generally buttery with oak notes which pairs well with poultry. Going vegetarian? Pair this with a Sauvignon Blanc!
Want the recipe? Click print below! Let me know how it came out for you by tagging me on Instagram (@missravenskitchen) and using #missravenskitchen! Let me know if I need to tweak anything.
Recipe:
Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 7-8 bell peppers, tops cut off and diced, membranes and seeds removed
- 1 1/4 cups long-grain white rice
- 1 lb 80-20 lean ground beef
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/4 tsp dried tarragon (or oregano)
- 24 oz jar marinara sauce (or homemade), divided
- 14 oz petite (or regular if not available) diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- Chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the rice according to package directions until tender. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then fluff it with a fork. Set aside in a large mixing bowl.
- Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat with chopped bell pepper tops, onions, and garlic until no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Drain the beef and return to the skillet.
- Add in the Worcestershire sauce. Cook for 2 minutes, then transfer to the mixing bowl with the rice. Add in the thyme, tarragon, 1 cup of the marinara sauce, and diced tomatoes. Stir to combine.
- Divide the mixture evenly into the peppers. Pour in the remaining sauce in the slow cooker. Transfer peppers to the slow cooker.
- Cook on low for 5-7 hours or high for 3-4 hours. During the last 30 minutes of cooking, top each pepper with mozzarella. Serve immediately and garnish with parsley.
Notes
Storage: Allow to cool completely, then store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Reheat: You can reheat this in the microwave. I would slice the pepper in half before reheating to get even heating.
- Freeze: Allow to cool completely, then store in an airtight freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let the peppers thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating them.
Use large, firm bell peppers when making this dish. It might be a bit of a tight squeeze when putting them into the slow cooker, but you also get more filling into them. Do not pre-bake the peppers! Softer or overripe peppers may break down too much during slow cooking, which will cause the pepper to rip open and spill the filling.
Variations:
- Use ground turkey, chicken, sausage, vegan meat, or chopped mushrooms instead of ground beef.
- Use quinoa, farro, brown rice, or cauliflower rice instead of white rice. If using cauliflower rice, you can just mix it in raw and the slow cooking will make it tender.
- Add black beans for extra protein
- Add in chopped zucchini, mushrooms, or corn for extra veggies. Mix in some chopped spinach for extra fiber.
Wine Pairing: A malbec or chianti are the best choices here. Malbec is bold and fruity with dark berry notes, so it complements the richness of the beef and tomato sauce. Chianti is a classic Italian red with bright acidity that will cut through the richness of the dish. If you choose ground turkey or chicken for the peppers, then I would go with a Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. Pinot Noir is light and earthy so it’ll enhance the flavors without overpowering the dish. Chardonnay is generally buttery with oak notes which pairs well with poultry. Going vegetarian? Pair this with a Sauvignon Blanc!
Nutrition Facts
Calories
397Fat (grams)
9 gSat. Fat (grams)
4 gCarbs (grams)
53 gFiber (grams)
7 gSugar (grams)
14 gProtein (grams)
27 gSodium (milligrams)
859 mgCholesterol (grams)
62 mgThe nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and the brands of ingredients used.
Miss Raven's Kitchen 
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