Easy Stuffed Bell Peppers

• servings: 4 servings
• active time: 20 minutes
• total time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

4 bell peppers (any color)

1 TB extra virgin olive oil (or avocado oil or coconut oil)

1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion

3 garlic cloves (minced)

1 lb ground beef

1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

1 TB Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1 cup cooked rice

3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (or cheddar cheese)

Directions

wash and cut peppers

Wash the peppers and slice the tops off, horizontally. Discard the seeds and membranes. Level the bottoms if necessary to stand up in your baking dish. Alternatively, you can prepare the peppers as pictured, by slicing the peppers in half, vertically, and discarding the seeds and membranes.

preheat oven to 350F

Place the peppers in a 13x9 baking dish (or casserole dish) with a lid (or use aluminum foil when the lid is needed). Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350F.

saute onion and garlic in oil

Add oil to a large skillet over high-medium heat. When hot, saute the onion and garlic until softened and translucent (about 3-4 minutes).

add ground beef and cook

Add the ground beef to the skillet, sprinkle with a couple pinches of salt, and cook until brown. Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce for the pepper filling (next step).

make tomato sauce

While the beef cooks, add the tomato sauce and all the seasonings to a medium bowl. Mix well to combine.

add rice and sauce to the ground beef

When the beef is cooked through (about 5-7 minutes), stir in the sauce and cooked rice to coat all the ingredients. Note, if there's a lot of fat in the skillet, drain the extra fat from the skillet before adding the tomato mixture.

stuff peppers

Evenly stuff peppers with the beef and rice mixture, packing the filling in if necessary. (If you're freezing the peppers, stop here and freeze the peppers for a future meal.)

cover and bake 30-35 minutes

Cover (with foil or the lid) and bake the peppers for 30-35 minutes, until the peppers are cooked to your desired texture, testing with a knife inserted in the side. Red and yellow peppers require about 30 minutes in the oven. Green peppers are firmer, so they will need about 35 minutes.

sprinkle with cheese and bake 5 minutes

Sprinkle cheese over the stuffed peppers and return to the oven, uncovered, for 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

serve warm

Serve warm.

Nutrition

• Calories: 501 kcal
• Total Fat: 33 g
• Saturated Fat: 13 g
• Cholesterol: 99 mg
• Sodium: 1401 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 22 g
• Dietary Fiber: 2 g
• Total Sugars: 6 g
• Protein: 27 g