Stuffed pepper soup
Everything inside a stuffed pepper, beef, rice, tomato and sweet bell peppers, simmered into one easy pot with melty cheese on top.
- 50 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 6
- About $2.27 a serving
- 320 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 green bell peppers, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 can diced tomatoes, with the juice
- 2 cans tomato sauce, 8 oz each
- 2 beef bouillon cubes, check the box: most cubes make 2 cups each
- ¾ cup long-grain white rice
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella (optional)
From your pantry
- 1½ tsp Italian seasoning
- 4 cups water
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 320 calories, 19 g protein, 33 g carbs and 12 g fat, and costs about $2.27 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No tomato sauce? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No shredded mozzarella? Provolone slices work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion and bell peppers and the garlic.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Cook the beef and onion in a large pot over medium-high heat, breaking up the meat, until no pink remains, 8 to 10 minutes. Spoon off most of the fat.
Medium-high heatTimer: 9 min
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Add the bell peppers, garlic and Italian seasoning and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes, until the peppers start to .
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min
Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, bouillon cubes, rice, salt and pepper and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Turn the heat to low, cover and for 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until the rice is tender.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 20 min
Dolly’s tip: Scrape the bottom when you stir. Rice loves to settle and stick.Taste for salt and ladle into bowls with a handful of mozzarella on top.
Dolly’s tip: The rice keeps soaking up broth overnight. Add a splash of water to leftovers as you reheat them.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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