Description
Delicious stuffed green peppers filled with a savory mixture of rice, sausage, and spices.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup uncooked long-grain brown rice
- 4 large green bell peppers, bottom trimmed, cap end cut off and diced, and seeds removed
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 ounces turkey Sweet Italian Sausage
- 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel
- 1/2 teaspoon dried Greek or Turkish oregano
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- to taste salt and fresh ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Cook rice according to package directions, or using a rice cooker. (Rice can be cooked ahead and used in this recipe later.)
- Preheat oven to 375F/190C.
- Trim bottom of bell peppers so they have a flat surface to stand on. Cut off a fairly generous amount of the stem end of peppers, then remove seeds.
- Place hollowed-out peppers in a baking dish that you’ve sprayed with non-stick spray or olive oil. (A dish that’s close in size to the peppers will work best.)
- Remove stem part from the pepper caps and trim off any white membrane, then dice pepper caps and the onion into fairly small dice.
- Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a large skillet, then sauté diced pepper and onion for 3-4 minutes, until they are starting to soften but aren’t browned.
- Remove pepper-onion mixture to a bowl, add 1 teaspoon more olive oil, then squeeze sausage out of the casing and cook until it’s lightly browned, breaking apart with the back of the turner.
- Put the onion-pepper mixture back into the pan with the sausage, add the dried spices, and sauté for 2-3 minutes to blend the flavors.
- Then add cooked rice and Parmesan cheese, season the mixture with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, and cook just long enough to warm, about 1-2 minutes.
- Stuff the filling mixture into the hollowed-out peppers, using a spoon to press the mixture down so it’s tightly packed into the pepper shell.
- Bake peppers for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and put a generous pinch of grated mozzarella on top of each pepper.
- Put peppers back into the oven and bake about 10-15 minutes more, until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Serve the Stuffed Green Peppers hot.
- You can freeze leftover peppers for a month or two, although the frozen peppers will be a little softer in texture (but still very tasty.)
Notes
- This recipe uses Ben’s Brown Rice, but any long-grain rice will work.
- Consider browning the sausage more for extra flavor if desired.
- Leftover filling can be baked in a small ramekin alongside the peppers.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 pepper
- Calories: 350
- Sugar: 4g
- Sodium: 600mg
- Fat: 15g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 32g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 24g
- Cholesterol: 50mg