You can make stuffed peppers in a Crock Pot… who knew?! I love stuffed peppers. Growing up, my yiayia (Greek grandma) would make Greek-style stuffed peppers all the time. They were so freakin‘ delicious- with meat, tomatoes, cinnamon, pine nuts, and fresh herbs. (She’d also do stuffed tomatoes… tasty alternative if you happen to have a bunch sitting around.) So I make stuffed peps a lot, but usually bake them. These, however, I did in the Crock Pot. A fun twist on an old classic.
Makes 3 large stuffed peppers
INGREDIENTS
3 large bell peppers, multi-colored
1/3 cup uncooked rice (for large peppers- lessen a bit for smaller ones)
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, about a tbsp minced
3/4 cup diced tomatoes, w/juice
1/2 lb ground turkey (or other meat you like)
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
pinch of allspice
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup grated pepperjack cheese
fresh basil leaves, for garnish
extra salt and pepper, as desired
DIRECTIONS
Finely chop onions
Mince garlic
Add onion, garlic, and tomato together in a mixing bowl
(tomatoes with their juice- it keeps the stuffing moist during cooking)
Add seasonings
Chop basil
Add to bowl
Stir ingredients
Now add meat and rice (both raw)
Clean and de-seed peppers… using a knife, cut a hole in the top and pull out- the insides
should come out easily- rinse peppers to remove any remaining seeds
Now you’re ready to stuff…
Using a spoon, scoop meat mixture into peppers- you don’t want to fill them completely to the top, which I remembered at the last minute- mine are even a bit too full here. Ideally they’d be a little less full than shown here because the rice expands while it cooks. Fortunately, my peppers didn’t expand much and/or break, but that can happen if they are too full, so better safe than sorry 🙂
Place peppers on bottom of Crock Pot
Add a little water to the bottom of the pan- the peppers will release some moisture from the tomato juice and meat, but if you’re going to be gone a while and these will be cooking for a long time, better add just a teeny so that the peppers don’t stick to the bottom!
Grate your cheese
Divide cheese over peppers (save a little for the end- or you can grate more to top them off at the end)
Cover and cook on high for 3 1/2 hours or on low for 6-7
Warning- when they are done, they will look a little funny- like little wrinkly creatures
Top with a little extra cheese and allow it to melt
Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over the tops, if desired
Then top with fresh basil leaves and serve ’em up
Enjoy!
it doesn’t say when to add the rice. also does the rice not need to be precooked??
Hi Mary Katherine!
So sorry- I sometimes write things in the little paragraphs before the recipe and then forget to include them in the actual steps… kind of important things to know haha! The rice goes in with the meat and is raw. If you’re in a hurry, you can precook both the rice and meat and then add them in (cooking the stuffed pepper just long enough to heat everything up and soften the pepper), but otherwise it all goes in together uncooked. Hope that helps! And thank you for asking as clearly others were curious also!! 🙂
Also wondering about the when the rice goes in before I try this recipe, it looks really delicious!
Hi Tommy John,
Sorry about that!! The rice goes in uncooked and is added in with the meat. Please read my response to Mary Katherine about precooking, if on a time crunch 🙂 Hope you like the recipe and that your peppers turn out delicious! Thanks for popping by and asking that oh-so important question!
Natalie
Hi! Will this work with brown rice?
Hello! You know, I’ve never tried brown rice with these in the Crock Pot, but it’s a great idea! I imagine it would work just fine since they’re cooked for hours (so the rice would get soft enough). Do keep in mind it will have a completely different texture than quinoa… I imagine the rice will dominate the stuffing more so than quinoa does, so maybe lessen the amount. You might also want to consider cooking the rice first (until al dente) and then mixing everything together and stuffing it in the peppers- this way you will know what your ratios (of meat to rice) look like beforehand and you will ensure it’s all cooked through. The rice will still absorb some flavors while it finishes cooking with the meat. Hope that makes sense! Please feel free to ask more questions if needed and thank you for popping by!!
Well this is a little embarrassing haha… I just read the comments again and realized (only six month late) that when I responded to your question about brown rice, I wrote about quinoa. Who am I!? When I saw this questions months back, I for some reason thought it was on the quinoa stuffed peppers recipe… so sorry for that confusion! You must have thought I was crazy ha! Anyhow, to properly answer your questions now (sorry for the delay), I do think brown rice would work. Since it is a bit more dense, I would add a bit less so that it doesn’t dominate too much. Hope that all makes sense! 🙂
This was perfect for my boyfriend’s diet. I had to make substitutions the first 4 times I made it (different meats, rices, tomato sauce, greek seasonings, et all) and it was a hit every time! Thank you so much for this fantastic recipe, it’s a staple now! 🙂
Hi Tommy John- I am soooo happy to hear that! I would love to hear what your favorite version is!! Thank you so much for popping by and for the positive feedback… much appreciated! 🙂
If I’m just using rice and beans can the rice still go in uncooked? Thank you!
Hi Kelly! While I’ve never only added rice and beans, my instinct is that the beans may become a bit mushy if they’re in for the full time needed to cook raw rice (assuming the beans are pre-cooked). So while I’m sure you could add them in together, you may be better off cooking the rice first so that both the rice and the beans have a similar cooking time- just enough to warm them and cook the pepper. Does that make sense? If not, please let me know and I’m happy to elaborate! Good luck and please let me know how it goes!! Thank you for popping by 🙂
Hi Natalie,
How many people does your recipe serve (bearing in mind we’re greedy peeps!)?
Hi Jewlz!
Haha, I’m a “greedy” eater too so I understand 🙂
This recipe is for three large stuffed peppers. Hope that helps!
If I wanted to bake this in the oven instead of crock pot cooking, how long would it need to cook and at what temperature? Looks amazing!
Hi Amy,
You could definitely do it in the oven. Your times will vary depending on your oven of course, but I would bake it for about 1 hour at 350 degrees. Both techniques will allow for the meat mixture to turn meatloaf-ish in texture since it all goes in raw. 🙂 Let me know how it goes for you!!
just for you
How can you cook any extra stuffing mixture left over? Would hate for it to go to waste.
Hello,
Did you make this and have extra stuffing? I used rather large peppers, so didn’t, but if you end up with extras, you could always stuff it in something else, like tomatoes, zucchini, or another pepper!? Hope that helps 🙂
Beautiful and easy. Using this next week. I love that it all goes in raw and comes out cooked. No precooking necessary. This is exactly what I was looking for.
I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Followed the recipe except the diced tomatoes were flavored with garlic and I didn’t have allspice so I skipped it. I had just enough filling for three large peppers (3 1/2″ dia.) with a little left over but not enough for a turkey burger! After 7 hours in slow cooker on low the center was barely 165F and the rice was not done. (I have never had a “doneness” problem with my slow cooker before.) Should this NOT be attempted with “large” peppers? Is there a missing ingredient, like maybe some chicken broth to add enough moisture for the rice?
Hi TC,
That’s so strange! I haven’t heard of a problem yet with this, and I haven’t ever noted that in my experiences either. I’m so sorry to hear… only thing I can think of is to try cooking them on high next time. Maybe your pot is lower than mine on the low setting? Hope they were able to be cooked through eventually and tasted okay in the end for you 🙂