Stuffed Pepper Skillet
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This easy Stuffed Pepper Skillet has all of the delicious flavors of traditional stuffed peppers, with hardly any work. Ground beef, onion, bell peppers, tomatoes, rice and cheese, a one-pot simple meal that can be served right out of the skillet, in less than 30 minutes!
Stuffed Pepper Skillet
It’s no secret how much I love stuffed peppers. Like — I may need an intervention or something. It seems I can always figure out a new way to add them to our menu, whether it’s traditional stuffed peppers, a soup, meatballs, casserole or meatloaf, I can always find a way to wiggle those favorite flavors of mine into the menu plan, and everyone won’t think “this again?”
Not that they complain, because they love stuffed peppers just as much as me. Just another reason to love them a little extra. (wink) But busy days call for effortless meals that still bring your family around the table.
Ground Beef Stuffed Pepper Skillet
When I first made this recipe, back in 2016, it went like this. I had promised my son I would make stuffed peppers for dinner. I typically will assemble them after lunch and have them ready to go in the oven on time bake while I am doing the afternoon school pick up.
Well, at noon that day, the power went out. That happens from time to time, and usually, it comes right back on. But not this time, it was out for over 4 hours!
Just when I was about to order a pizza, I got an idea. I would make them right on the stove, in a skillet. Brilliant! This one-pot wonder of a meal has been in the rotation ever since.
Ingredients in these Lazy Stuffed Peppers
This simple stuffed pepper skillet meal contains all of the same things I put in my stuffed peppers, with the addition of a little onion and tomato sauce that I don’t add to my traditional stuffed pepper recipe. To make this stuffed pepper skillet recipe you’ll need:
- lean ground beef – you could easily substitute ground turkey or ground chicken in this meal.
- onion – I use yellow onion
- bell peppers – the color bell pepper is your personal preference. I typically use a combination of green peppers and red bell pepper, but we love the flavor that yellow bell pepper and orange bell pepper give this meal too.
- diced tomatoes
- tomato sauce – to substitute tomato paste, you will need to add more water.
- instant rice – you can use brown rice or white rice in this recipe, just make sure it’s instant uncooked rice.
- mozzarella cheese
- water – you can also substitute beef broth or vegetable stock if you like.
- Salt and black pepper – season to taste.
*full complete printable recipe is found at the bottom of this post.
How to make Stuffed Pepper Skillet
Begin by browning your ground beef with onion and salt and pepper in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain any excess grease.
Next, add in uncooked instant rice, bell pepper, water, tomato sauce and canned diced tomatoes.
Stir it all together and cover the skillet and simmer until rice is cooked.
Many times we eat it at this point. Without adding cheese. It cuts the calories and still tastes amazing.
Of course, can you ever go wrong with adding some cheese to the top? No! I mean, grating some Mozzarella cheese over the top, and putting that lid on until the cheese melts might add on an extra 5 minutes or so, but the result?
The result is THIS cheesy goodness.
One pot, fresh ingredients, easy prep and ready in about 30 minutes — doesn’t get much better than that!
LOVE IT? Pin it!
Don’t forget where you found this simple bell pepper skillet meal! Pin it to your favorite Pinterest recipe board before you go!
Does this recipe freeze well?
Yes, this recipe offers a great meal prep option, as it makes enough to feed 8 people. I love to freeze it in portion-sized containers to take out for lunch or an even quicker dinner! Simply defrost and reheat this low carb meal in the microwave or on the stove.
Substitutions and Replacements in Skillet Stuffed Peppers
This meal is easily adaptable to what you have on hand. Use ground chicken, turkey, or pork in place of the beef. You can use whatever colors of bell peppers you like, I love it with green bell peppers, but it looks so pretty with an assortment. We always use brown minute rice, but of course, white Minute rice is perfect, too. Or substitute cauliflower rice for an even lower-carb option.
Give it a little Italian flair and add in a teaspoon of Italian Seasoning, or serve with soy sauce to give it a nice umami flavor.
For the LOVE of Stuffed Peppers
Remember me telling you that I may need an intervention when it comes to my love of stuffed peppers? Well, I wasn’t kidding! But if you love them, too, I have you covered with all sorts of ways to enjoy them.
Favorite Stuffed Pepper Recipes:
- Stuffed Peppers
- Stuffed Pepper Meatloaf (pictured above)
- Southwest Chipotle Stuffed Peppers
- Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Stuffed Pepper Meatballs
- Baked Stuffed Pepper Casserole Recipe
- Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers
- Stuffed Pepper Meatloaf Minis
- Italian Stuffed Pepper Skillet with Cauliflower Rice
And while we are on the subject of skillet meals – just like an Unstuffed Pepper Skillet — you can take the time and effort out of traditional cabbage rolls and make my Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls Skillet, too! It’s another meal that we LOVE and it takes no time at all. 30 minute meals or less — my kind of meal, how about you?
Let’s Make a Stuffed Pepper Skillet Meal!
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Stuffed Pepper Skillet
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1/2 onion chopped
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 2 bell peppers diced
- 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 8 oz can tomato sauce + 2 cans water
- 1 1/2 cup instant rice uncooked
- 1 cup Mozzarella cheese shredded (optional)
Instructions
- In a large skillet, brown ground beef with onion, seasoned with salt & pepper. Drain any excess grease.
- Add in tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, bell peppers and rice.
- Cover and simmer until rice is cooked, about 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
- Top with cheese if desired. When it's melted, serve right out of the skillet.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted in 2019 and has been updated to improve user experience on January 16, 2022.
I see the recipe calls for instant rice. Instant rice cooks in 5 minutes. Won’t the rice get sticky if it cooks for 20 minutes? Did you mean to say regardless rice or ling or short grain rice instead of instant? I don’t mean to make things complicated. Thank you and please let me know because I would love to make this. Also it takes the same amount of liquid as it does instant rice. It seems lik see there is almost twice the liquid being added.
It took about 15-20 minutes for the rice not to be crunchy. I added a little extra water because I like it a little saucier. Feel free to adapt as needed. I used white Minute Rice.
Trying tomorrow
Hope you like it!
Looks yummy. Will make this week. Thanks
Looks really good. Is that 2 pounds of ground beef? Thank you.
yes. 🙂
Do you know the nutritional info?
I don’t. This was literally something I threw together last minute and shared because it was delicious!
I love this, its a great taste and even better if you add a can of Rotel! Just sayin’ 😉
That would be good!!
My rice isn’t getting soft 🙁
Make sure you added the liquid, and the pan is covered. You’re using minute rice, right?
I put the rice we’ve had in an unmarked container. I guess it wasn’t 🙁 well guess if I don’t want to over cook the meat I’ll have to deal with the crunchy texture…
Try adding more liquid and cook it longer. Keep the lid on and stir occasionally so it doesn’t stick.
I think that our lid being a tad to small effected that too
It needs to steam to cook the rice. That will certainly change the cooking time. Add a little more liquid and turn down lower. Cook til the rice is done. I hope that helps!
I had some ingredients in my fridge to use (ground beef, bell peppers, etc.). I came across this recipe and although I had to modify it a bit, it was wonderful! I prefer more veggies and less beef, so I used half the beef but the same amount of peppers and onions. I added jalapeno and garlic. I had a bit of fresh salsa so I just threw that in as well. I skipped the water because I didn’t have any rice, but I did have some Spanish rice that I added to each bowl. This was so yummy. Trust me, I am not a very good cook, so it helps when I can find simple but delicious recipes that I am actually able to follow (my fumbling modifications were only because I had to use some items or throw them away, otherwise I would have followed this recipe to the letter). Thanks for posting this!
Thank you for taking the time to let me know that you enjoyed the recipe! Making it your own is what is fun about cooking! Your twist on my recipe sounded really yummy!
We had something similar when I was growing up; but no “peppers” for our family! Now one of my favorites, I have thought from time to time of doing “stuffed peppers” this way !
Loved this. I used brown rice instead of white and tossed in a little Italian Seasoning. Came out great. Thanks!
So happy that you enjoyed it! 🙂
Just pre-cook the rice in rice cooker and your done in less time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I made this a couple weeks ago and it was wonderful. I followed the recipe precisely and the results were outstanding. My question is: can I make this in the slow cooker?
I have never tried it, I would think it could be done, but the peppers will be softer.
Well, I’m going to try it tomorrow and I’ll let you know how it turns out.
I’m not a fan of rice and my husband is allergic to tomatoes can those be eliminated and still make a tummy meal ? Would love to try this recipe !
Lisa, You could? But it wouldn’t be anything like this? The base is tomato and the rice is what absorbs the liquid — I have another stuffed Pepper recipe called Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers that uses no tomato or rice? Maybe you would like that?
This is my kind of meal all in one pan! WOW!
No wonder this is one of your popular recipes, Michaela! Sounds so decadent!
Thanks!!
Love one pot easy meals. Looks good.
Looking forward to trying this soon. Looks delicious and easy to prepare.
Thank you! I hope you love it! Please come back and share?
I made this about a month ago. It was a HUGE hit! I decided this morning I was hungry for this skillet and spent way more time than I ‘d care to admit scouring the internet in search of your page 😉 Anyway, thank you for the amazing, super easy, recipe. It’s now bookmarked!
I am so happy you like it!! It’s so easy and delicious!! Thank you for finding my site again!! 🙂
I love stuffed peppers and this is so easy to make. Thanks for the creative and delicious recipe!
This skillet meal looks so good and I love how easy it is! My kids complain when they see a whole bell pepper stuffed on a plate but this recipe is super kid friendly. I know they will devoured it and ask for seconds!