Grilled Stuffed Peppers

Grilled Stuffed Peppers are a great meal during the warmer months. Your favorite bell pepper is stuffed with a ground beef mixture including rice, spices, diced tomatoes, cheese and fresh herbs. The stuffed peppers are grilled to create that smoky, grilled flavor we all like. These peppers are a great way to use up your garden peppers or farmers market produce!

GRILLED STUFFED PEPPERS

Stuffed peppers are one of my favorite summer meals.

I love how fresh farmers market peppers are, especially the red ones.

The Ohio Beef Council and I are partnering to bring you these Grilled Stuffed Peppers. They are stuffed with a ground beef mixture mixing together beef, rice, diced tomatoes, spices, cheese and spices.

I love the ground beef in these peppers because it brings so much flavor and protein to the meal. My favorite part of this recipe is that the stuffed peppers are grilled.

The char on the peppers add so much flavor to the peppers that you don’t typically get from baking them in the oven.

If you like stuffed peppers try one of these non-traditional stuffed pepper recipes like this One Pot Mexican Stuffed Pepper Casserole, Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup, or my Slow Cooker Stuffed Pepper Soup.

If you like stuffed peppers try my Stuffed Poblano Peppers Recipe, Mediterranean Ground Beef Stuffed Peppers, Vegan Stuffed Peppers or these Tuna Couscous Stuffed Peppers.

Why You Will Love This Grilled Stuffed Peppers Recipe:

Easy to make: With minimal preparation and a quick cook under the grill, these delicious stuffed peppers can be on the table, ready to enjoy, in under an hour. Become a grill master this summer! Follow these simple grilling guidelines to learn approximately how many minutes to grill these stuffed peppers, steaks, burgers, and kabobs to achieve the perfect temperature.

Versatile recipe: This recipe can be easily adapted to suit your own tastes, or to use up ingredients you already have in your refrigerator and stores at home.

Protein packed: There’s no stronger protein source than beef! One 3 oz cooked serving of beef provides half your Daily Value of protein (25 grams), for under 200 calories. These stuffed peppers will keep you feeling satisfied!

Recipe Ingredients and Substitutions:

• Peppers – I used 4 large red bell peppers for these stuffed bell peppers, sliced in half with the seeds removed. Red peppers have a lovely sweet flavor, but feel free to use any color of bell pepper like green bell peppers.
• Beef – I use cooked ground beef to stuff the peppers. I like to use 80/20 when possible because the fat adds flavor to the stuffed peppers.
• Seasoning – I season and flavor the beef with Italian seasoning and optional red pepper flakes.
• Tomatoes – I add a can of diced tomatoes to the ground beef but you don’t have to. You also could try fire roasted tomatoes for that extra smoky flavor.
• Rice – use either cooked brown or white rice to mix through the beef, whatever your preference is. You also could use quinoa, cauliflower rice, farro or bulgur in place of rice or just leave the grain out all together.
• Cheese – I use a combined of shredded mozzarella cheese & parmesan in this dish. You can swap that for your favorite cheese like pepper jack or cheddar cheese.

How to Make This Recipe:

1. Prepare the peppers: Preheat the grill to medium high. Slice the bell peppers in half from top to bottom.

Remove the seeds then place them in a 9×13-inch baking dish.

2. Cook the ground beef: Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the beef, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper flakes. Cook until the meat mixture is browned and cooked through, about 8-10 minutes.

Pour in the can of diced tomatoes and simmer for about 2 minutes.

3. Add the rice and cheese: Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cooked brown rice, 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella and the Parmesan cheese. Stir in the rice and 1/2 cup of the Mozzarella and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese.

4. Grill the pepper: Oil the heated grill grates with a brush and add the peppers to the grill. Grill the peppers until tender but still slightly crispy {you don’t want them to be too mushy}.

5. Stuff the peppers: Place the peppers in the baking dish. Using a large spoon scoop the beef mixture into each pepper. Turn the grill to medium heat and add the peppers back to the grill carefully, as not to spill the filling.

6. Grill the stuffed peppers: Grill the peppers for about 20 more minutes or until completely fork tender.

Add the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and spilt it between the peppers.

Let the heat from the grill melt the cheese then remove the peppers from the grill onto a platter for serving.

Garnish with fresh basil and fresh parsley. Serve warm!

Recipe Tips and Modifications for this Grilled Stuffed Peppers

• Peppers: I’ve opted for red bell peppers as they have a great sweet flavor. However, use any color of pepper. For something with a little extra kick, try swapping red bell peppers for green poblano peppers which have a mild spice flavor, or red poblano peppers which are spicier.
• Meat: I’ve used ground beef in these stuffed peppers. I like to use 80/20 beef because it adds more flavor. Beef supplies 10 essential nutrients, including B-vitamins, zinc, niacin, phosphorus and iron, which helps support an active lifestyle. 
• Tomatoes: I opted for a can of diced tomatoes, but you could also add canned tomatoes flavored with herbs or chili if you prefer. I also will sometimes use fire roasted tomatoes.
• Cheese: I’ve used a combination of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. You could also use Swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, colby jack, or pepper jack.
• Spice: Add some ground spices to the meat filling, try garlic powder, onion powder, or smoked paprika. If you want to add some heat try adding red pepper flakes, hot sauce, chili powder, or cayenne pepper.
• Vegetables: Add some extra vegetables to the filling mix, try corn, diced onion, mushrooms, zucchini, or eggplant.
• Beans: Beans would be a great addition to these. Try black beans, white beans or chickpeas.
• Stuffing: When you stuff the peppers make sure to do it gently so you don’t break the peppers. I use a small spoon or cookie scoop to add the mixture. 
• Picking Peppers: Try to find large, firm peppers without wrinkled spots that have fresh looking stems. This ensures you are using the freshest peppers. 

Storage Instructions:

• Leftovers – Store leftover stuffed peppers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
• Reheating – To reheat the peppers place them into a dish and place back into a hot oven to warm through, or heat up in your microwave. Try not to overcook the peppers when reheating them, as you don’t want them softening too much and becoming mushy. You also could air fry them for about 5-8 minutes at 350 degrees F.
• Freeze – I don’t recommend freezing stuffed peppers as they will break down too much during the freezing and defrosting process. This is a dish best served hot straight from the oven.

What to Serve with Grilled Stuffed Peppers:

These stuffed grilled peppers are an entire meal in one, so if adding side dishes I like to keep them light, simple and vegetable based.

I always serve side salads with peppers, try my Mediterranean Bean Salad, Lemon Arugula Salad with Pine Nuts or this Easy Lebanese Salad.

Prefer a vegetable side then try these Lebanese Green Beans, Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower, Green Beans with Bacon or these Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables.

Other Beef Recipes You Might Like:

BEEF SOUVLAKI

BEEF KAFTA KABOBS

LEBANESE MEAT PIES

BALSAMIC MARINATED SKIRT STEAK

MEDITERRANEAN GROUND BEEF ZUCCHINI SKILLET

MEDITERRANEAN BEEF KABOBS

Today’s recipe is sponsored by the Ohio Beef Council. As always, opinion are 100% my own.