Carlos Solis
Sweet bell peppers pack a huge vitamin C punch — about 200 mg per 100 g. They’re also rich in B vitamins, carotene, potassium, calcium, iron, zinc, cobalt, chromium, sodium, phosphorus, fluorine, chlorine, and sulfur. This beneficial vegetable can help with anemia, fatigue, insomnia, depression, and memory decline. It may also help reduce the risk of some cancers and prevent hair loss. The peppers boost immunity and promote healthy vision and skin. Their mild diuretic and laxative effects can aid weight control, and they help prevent blood clots by thinning the blood. Sweet peppers also lower high blood pressure and strengthen blood vessels. Enjoy them fresh or fermented — pickled, stewed, boiled, fried, or baked.
Today, we’re sharing a recipe for stuffed peppers baked in the oven. There are several ways to prepare stuffed peppers: bake them in a dish or on a baking sheet, stuff whole peppers with a traditional filling of rice, herbs, and meat and top them with grated cheese, or make stuffed pepper halves filled with cheese and other ingredients. To make oven-baked stuffed peppers with cheese, you will need cleaned sweet peppers, parboiled rice (or feta cheese instead of rice), ground meat, onion, optional carrot and tomato, hard cheese, and spices. Fill the pepper halves with a mixture of meat, rice, vegetables, and seasonings, then bake them in the oven for about half an hour. After that, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake until a golden crust forms, about another 10 minutes.
Ingredients (for 8 servings): sweet peppers – 8 pcs.; ground meat – 250 g; rice or feta cheese – 250 g; hard cheese – 100 g; onion – 1 pc.; carrot (optional) – 1 pc.; tomato (optional) – 1 pc.; parsley and dill – 1 bunch; garlic – 1 clove; olive oil – 2 tbsp; salt and black pepper – to taste.
Rinse the peppers, cut them in half, and remove the seeds.
Prepare the filling: mix the ground meat, parboiled rice (or diced feta), chopped onion, and other vegetables (you can use carrot or tomato). Add garlic, salt, pepper, and spices to taste.
Fill the prepared pepper halves with the filling, place them on a baking sheet, and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 30–40 minutes. Then sprinkle the stuffed peppers with cheese and return them to the oven for another 10 minutes so the cheese melts and forms a golden crust.
When serving, sprinkle the hot stuffed peppers with fresh herbs.
Tip
Bake the stuffed peppers covered with foil until ready to add the cheese; remove the foil for the final bake to allow the cheese to brown.
For more stuffed-pepper recipes and other dishes with peppers, check out our themed guide, where we include a recipe for stuffed peppers cooked in a pot, show how to roast peppers in strips, and explain how to make stuffed peppers without meat or without rice:
