ITALIAN STUFFED PEPPERS
⏲ Prep time ⏲ Cooking time Difficulty level Portions
25 min 55 min ★★★☆☆ 4
Ingredients
Peppers & base
• Large bell peppers (red or yellow), halved and deseeded — 4 peppers (≈800 g total)
• Olive oil — 30 g
• Fine salt — 6 g
• Black pepper — 2 g
Filling
• Beef mince (or 50/50 beef–pork) — 400 g
• Cooked rice — 200 g
• Onion, finely diced — 120 g
• Garlic, minced — 10 g
• Olive oil — 20 g
• Tomato paste — 20 g
• Chopped tomatoes (tinned) — 150 g
• Parmesan, grated — 40 g
• Mozzarella, diced or shredded — 80 g
• Fresh parsley, chopped — 10 g
• Fresh basil, chopped — 6 g
• Dried oregano — 2 g
• Fine salt — 10 g
• Black pepper — 2 g
Baking sauce
• Passata — 250 g
• Olive oil — 10 g
• Salt — 2 g
• Sugar — 2 g (balances acidity)
Cooking instructions
1. Prepare the peppers
Preheat oven to 190°C.
Halve peppers lengthwise, remove seeds.
Rub with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Roast cut‑side up for 15 minutes to soften slightly.
2. Make the filling
Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until soft (5 minutes).
Add mince, cook until browned.
Stir in tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, oregano, salt, and pepper.
Simmer 5 minutes until thickened.
Remove from heat and fold in cooked rice, Parmesan, mozzarella, parsley, and basil.
3. Assemble
Mix passata, olive oil, salt, and sugar; spread in the bottom of a baking dish.
Fill each pepper generously with the meat–rice mixture.
Nestle peppers into the sauce.
4. Bake
Bake 30–35 minutes at 190°C, until peppers are tender and tops lightly golden.
Rest 5 minutes before serving.
Chef ’s Notes
• Use sweet peppers (red or yellow); green peppers stay more bitter.
• Pre‑roasting is key: it prevents undercooked skins and watery filling.
• Rice options: swap for cooked barley, farro, or even small pasta like orzo.
• Cheese balance: mozzarella gives stretch, Parmesan gives depth—don’t skip either.
• For a lighter version, use turkey mince and add 50 g extra vegetables (zucchini or spinach).
• Leftovers reheat beautifully and are even better the next day as flavours meld.
