I’ve settled on these five ingredients for my favorite, easy stuffed peppers recipe. It’s a 30-minute meal full of color and summer flavors!
If there are two things I look forward to growing in my garden each summer, it’s a big variety of heirloom peppers and tomatoes.
Oh, and zucchini and cucumbers. And green beans…
Obviously, it’s hard to pick just a few favorites.
What I love the most, though, is being able to combine several seasonal veggies into one recipe.
With garden-fresh zuchinni, bell peppers and salsa, it technically contains more than 5 ingredients.
But I’m assuming you’ve already canned your salsa, or have a jar or two sitting in the pantry just for recipes like this. (I know I do!)
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Stuffed Peppers: an all-in-one meal
The best thing about stuffed peppers is they are basically a complete meal.
With protein, veggies inside of veggies, and cheese (glorious cheese), you don’t really need to add anything else for a delicious, filling dinner.
Of course, you could always add some garlic bread on the side. Carbs are always a winner in my house.
Stuffed peppers also make great leftovers! So feel free to double the recipe or use however many peppers you have lying around.
Currently, it’s August and we have a LOT of peppers, as well as zucchini.
And who couldn’t use another recipe involving zucchini?? They’re like the rabbit of the vegetable world; you never have just one or two.
Ingredients for Stuffed Peppers
A printable recipe card is available at the end of this post.
- 6 Bell Peppers (any color or size, although bigger is easier to work with). You could also use large Anaheim peppers.
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1.5 cups of your favorite salsa
- 1 eight-ounce block of mild cheddar cheese, cubed
- 1 medium zucchini, shredded
- Salt and pepper to taste
How to make easy stuffed peppers recipe
1| Brown one pound of hamburger in a skillet; season with salt and pepper to taste.
2| While meat is browning, cut the tops off each pepper; scoop out the seeds and membranes.
3| Place peppers standing up in a casserole dish. Or if you have one of these handy brownie pans, they work nicely too!
Some people like to cut off the bottoms to make them stand up straighter, but I don’t like to risk any stuffing escaping.
Also, don’t worry if your peppers are various sizes. Nice, full-sized Bell peppers are easiest to stuff, but even the longer skinnier ones will work.
4| Shred 1 medium zucchini and add to ground beef. Heat on medium-low.
5| Add 1.5 cups of salsa to skillet with the ground beef and zucchini.
6| Cook hamburger/zucchini/salsa mixture for about 8 minutes on medium-low heat, just enough to make the zucchini a little more tender and to heat the mixture through.
7| Cut your block of cheese into approx. 1/2-inch squares.
8| Add a square or two of cheese to the bottom of each empty bell pepper. Fill with beef mixture, and top with a few more blocks of cheese.
(I get absolutely delicious raw cheddar cheese from Azure Standard. Super creamy for recipes like this!)
9| Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 25-30 minutes, depending on the number of peppers you are using and their sizes.
Watch for the cheese to brown slightly and the peppers to soften a little. The done-ness really just depends on your preference!
Other add-ins for stuffed peppers
You can experiment with stuffed peppers by adding your favorite ingredients.
A few that we like:
- Rice: make 1 cup of white or brown rice according to package directions and add to ground beef mixture before stuffing
- Garlic – add 1-2 tsp when ground beef is almost finished browning
- Spaghetti sauce – can substitute for the salsa
- Ground pork- can substitute for the ground beef
Get creative! We hope you enjoy finding new ways to enjoy your summer harvest at the dinner table.
The Easiest Stuffed Peppers Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 Bell peppers
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1.5 cups of your favorite salsa
- 1 eight-ounce block of mild cheddar cheese, cubed
- 1 medium zucchini, shredded
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Brown one pound of hamburger in a skillet; season with salt and pepper to taste.
While meat is browning, cut the tops off each pepper; scoop out the seeds and membranes.
Place peppers standing up in a casserole dish.
Shred 1 medium zucchini and add to ground beef. Heat on medium-low.
Add 1.5 cups of salsa to skillet with the ground beef and zucchini.
Cook hamburger/zucchini/salsa mixture for about 8 minutes on medium-low heat, just enough to make the zucchini a little more tender and to heat the mixture through.
Cut your block of cheese into approx. 1/2-inch squares.
Add a square or two of cheese to the bottom of each empty bell pepper. Fill with beef mixture, and top with a few more blocks of cheese.
Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 25-30 minutes, depending on the number of peppers you are using and their sizes. Watch for the cheese to brown slightly and the peppers to soften a little.
You might also like:
Roasted Parmesan Carrot Sticks
Healthy Sesame Chicken (with whole food ingredients)
Chicken and Whole Wheat Dumplings