Cheesy Ground Beef Stuffed Peppers are a healthy dinner filled with beef, tomatoes, pinto beans, rice, and layered with cheese. Ready in about 45 minutes!
It definitely could be a stand alone dinner but if you're wondering what to pair with stuffed peppers, a simple green salad, Honey Butter Cornbread or Garlic Cheesy Drop Biscuits would work wonderfully.
This version of stuffed peppers with beef and rice is little sloppy joe-esque. I stuffed the peppers with ground beef and rice and tomato sauce, so it's a nice savory filling, with added pinto beans for fiber and protein PLUS mozzarella cheese (always cheese) to make it a complete family meal.
Another dinner recipe with ground beef and beans we love is Healthy Taco Soup!
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What To Expect
- Ease: This recipe is a little more complicated than a beginner recipe, but the steps are simple and easy to follow.
- Taste: The filling for the peppers is a cheesy, tomato based saucy mixture with a hint of garlic and onion.
- Time: It takes less than an hour to make ground beef peppers, and they're super easy to make ahead!
🛒 Ingredients
Here's what we're working with. Most of these are pantry staples, which makes this an amazingly easy beef and rice stuffed peppers recipe that's relatively low cost, especially if you use green peppers and tomatoes from your garden!
- Bell Peppers - Large size, any color, green is usually the cheapest where I live so I go with those. The red, orange, and yellow varieties tend to have a bit sweeter taste after cooking.
- Ground beef or turkey - I like to get the leanest I can so there isn't a lot of excess grease.
- Rice - I use brown rice which takes about 35 minutes to cook, but white rice (20 min cook time) or minute rice can be used as well. I use a similar base recipe to Cilantro Lime Brown Rice, just with no lime juice added.
- Tomatoes - canned or fresh, adds a nice tart flavor and is the base flavor of the sauce.
- Mozzarella cheese - shredded
- Worcestershire sauce - adds much needed flavor to the filling.
- Spices - garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper.
- Brown Sugar - just a little helps to even out the acidity of the vinegar and tomatoes.
See the recipe card below for full list of ingredients and quantities.
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
- The pinto beans can be swapped out with canned Navy beans or Great Northern Beans.
- You can use white rice, quinoa, or minute rice. Just make sure to cook according to package directions, as water amount and cooking times can be different.
- Add chopped fresh jalapeno or a pinch of red pepper flakes to the onions while cooking to add a little extra spice!
- Ground Beef can be switched out with ground turkey or ground chicken.
- In a pinch, cheddar or colby jack cheese work in place of the mozzarella!
- Quinoa cooked can replace the rice in the recipe.
🧑🍳 Instructions
Step 1. (above) Prepare and cook brown rice according to package directions.
Step 2. (above) While rice is cooking: In a large skillet over medium heat, cook ground beef and diced onion 5-7 minutes until browned/no pink left and onions are soft, stirring to break ground beef into small pieces. Drain excess grease into a used can (NOT down the sink!).
TIP: You can make the rice ahead to make the process faster, or measure spices while the rice and ground beef are cooking to help be efficient with time.
Step 3. (above) Add pinto beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and all spices (brown sugar, garlic & onion powder, salt & pepper). Turn to low heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 4.(above) Prepare bell peppers by slicing in half once down the middle lengthwise and removing seeds and stem to make a boat shape.
To decrease cooking time in the oven, steam in the microwave by placing upright lengthwise in a microwave safe container, adding ½ cup of water to the bottom, covering and cooking for 4 minutes. The peppers should be semi-soft (not crunchy but not mushy).
Step 5.(above) Preheat the oven and place peppers open side up in a 9x13 baking dish. Layer the bottom of the peppers with 2 Tablespoons shredded mozzarella cheese (equals about 1 cup between 8 pepper halves).
Step 6.(above) Scoop ¼ cup cooked rice into the bottom of each pepper. It's okay if it's still hot from cooking.
Step 7.(above) Add about ½ cup of the ground beef filling onto each pepper. It's okay if it overflows! More sauce is a good thing.
Step 8.(above) Layer the remaining mozzarella cheese evenly over the peppers, adding more as desired (I'm team more cheese).
Bake at 350 F. for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted, filling is heated through and peppers are soft. Optional: sprinkle chopped green onion on tops of peppers to serve.
📌 Top Tips For Success
- Don't drain the tomatoes! We want the filling to be very saucy since it will be soaked up a little by the rice. The more sauce the better!
- Partially cooking the peppers cuts down on the baking time by HALF. It's definitely worth it to cook them in the microwave for a few minutes. Old-fashioned stuffed bell pepper recipes don't do this but it takes much longer to bake when you don't partially cook them first.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
For this recipe method, yes. I find it takes less time and the peppers don't overcook and become mushy this way.
I use a combination of a filling that is not overly saucy and brown rice in the bottom of the peppers which helps absorb any extra juices. White rice may also be used.
No, they don't need to be. I prefer to partially cook them in the microwave to cut down on baking time, but that isn't strictly necessary either.
We love Honey Butter Cornbread or Garlic Cheddar Drop Biscuits with them! You can never go wrong with a simple green salad on the side.
Cut them in half lengthwise to increase the amount of stuffed peppers. Just cutting the tops off makes larger servings, but they take longer to cook, are more awkward to eat and you can't make as many unless you buy more.
Yes! Follow the directions of the recipe, but instead of partially cooking the peppers, just stuff them raw and place them in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 2 hours until peppers are tender.
🥩 More Easy Ground Beef Recipes
📝 Printable Recipe
Ground Beef Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked brown rice with about 1¾ cups water for cooking
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 yellow onion medium
- 1 (15 oz) can pinto beans drained
- 1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
- 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce (or half of 15 oz. can)
- ¼ cup worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 large bell peppers
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- optional: chopped green onions for garnish
Instructions
- Prepare and cook brown rice according to package directions.
- While rice is cooking: In a large skillet over medium heat, cook ground beef and diced onion 5-7 minutes until browned/no pink left and onions are soft, stirring to break ground beef into small pieces. (Measure spices during this time to decrease prep time) Drain excess grease.
- Add pinto beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and all spices (brown sugar, garlic & onion powder, salt & pepper). Turn to low heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, and prepare the bell peppers.
- Prepare bell peppers by slicing in half once down the middle lengthwise and removing seeds and stem to make a boat shape. To decrease cooking time in the oven, steam in the microwave by placing upright lengthwise in a microwave safe container, adding ½ cup of water to the bottom, covering and cooking for 4 minutes. The peppers should be semi-soft (not crunchy but not mushy).
Assemble the stuffed peppers:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Place peppers open side up in a 9x13 baking dish. Layer the bottom of the peppers with 2 Tb shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup between 8 peppers).
- Scoop ¼ cup rice into the bottom of each pepper, then ½ cup ground beef mixture into each pepper. Last, layer the remaining cheese evenly over the peppers, adding more as desired.
- Bake at 350 F. for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted, filling is heated through and peppers are soft. Optional: sprinkle chopped green onion on tops of peppers to serve.
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