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Home » Turkish » Turkish Stuffed Peppers (Biber Dolmasi)

Published: Sep 8, 2021 by Zerrin & Yusuf

Turkish Stuffed Peppers (Biber Dolmasi)

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This Vegetarian Turkish Stuffed Peppers, as we say Biber Dolmasi in Turkish, is made with a rice filling and cooked in a tomato garlic sauce. They are first stove-top cooked and then oven baked. A flavor-packed family dinner for busy weeknights. They are easy to make and freezer friendly too.

Rice stuffed green peppers topped with tomatoes, lemon slices and chopped parsley in a baking pan.

This Turkish biber dolmasi is one of our favorite stuffed veggies. Do you love stuffing vegetables? You might want to see our other Turkish foods like stuffed onions recipe, stuffed grape leaves and ground beef stuffed zucchini too!

Pepper Dolma is one of the most traditional Turkish dishes. Although we often make cheese stuffed mini peppers as an appetizer, our choice is to make these easy vegetarian stuffed peppers with rice when it comes to a comforting dinner.

Jump to:
  • Why We Love This Recipe
  • Ingredients
  • How To Make
  • Tips
  • How To Serve
  • How to Reheat
  • Other Stuffed Vegetables
  • More Recipes You Might Like
  • 📖 Recipe
  • 💬 Comments

Why We Love This Recipe

  • It is easy to serve pepper dolma in portions.
  • This is a freezer-friendly recipe. Let them cool completely after cooked in the pot over stove-top or baked in the oven and freeze in an air tight container. Thaw and reheat with a splash of water before eating.
  • It is easy to customize. You can make this biber dolmasi recipe either vegetarian or with lean ground beef. Also, you can make the filling with brown rice, bulgur, wheat berries or buckwheat instead of rice.

Ingredients

Turkish peppers, tomatoes, garlic, parsley, tomato paste, rice, spices, lemon, onion and olive oil on a light background.

Peppers: We use Turkish mini green peppers called dolmalık biber, which are peppers for stuffing. They are small in size and have thin skin. They are known as the peppers to stuff in Turkey. The thinner their skin is, the better. If you can't find Turkish dolmalik pepper, you can use regular bell peppers too. If they are too large, just cut them lengthwise in half before stuffing.

Filling: It contains white rice, onion, garlic, tomato, tomato paste, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil spices like black pepper, dried mint, paprika or chili powder (or red pepper flakes) and salt. You can use whatever rice you like, but we think long-grain rice works fine.

Garnish: Although it is not necessary, Turkish stuffed peppers are traditionally topped with tomatoes or the pepper tops we cut when preparing the peppers. They act as a lid for stuffed peppers. Also, we love to add some lemon slices in the pot for garnish and richness in the final taste of the dish.

Water, tomato paste, dried mint, garlic and olive oil photographed on a light background.

Tomato Sauce: It is a simple sauce with olive oil, tomato paste, dried mint, garlic and water. This sauce takes these vegetarian stuffed peppers to a whole new level.

How To Make

Turkish peppers tops and seeds removed photographed on a light background. Whole peppers accompany.

Preparing Peppers: Cut the tops of the peppers in the form of a lid (please see the picture above) and remove the seeds. Try not to damage the peppers (see the notes).

Rice, chopped garlic, onion, tomatoes, parsley and spices in a glass mixing bowl.

Make The Filling: In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the rice mixture filling. 

Green peppers stuffed with rice and topped with tomatoes.

Assemble: Stuff each pepper with 1-2 tablespoons of the filling depending on the size of the peppers. Leave a little space for rice to rise when cooked.

Place each stuffed pepper in a pot. If the pot is oven-proof, things will be easier.

Turkish green peppers stuffed with a rice filling, topped with halved cherry tomatoes and garnished with lemon slices in a pan.

Cut the cherry tomatoes in two and place one half over the filling in the peppers. These tomatoes act like a lid for the peppers. Alternatively, you can use the tops you cut from the peppers as a lid too. Place lemon slices on the peppers.

Tomato paste sauce in a sauce pan and a wooden spoon in it.

Make The Sauce and Cook The Peppers: Combine olive oil, tomato paste, garlic, dried mint and water in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil. Pour it in the pot. 

Cook the stuffed peppers covered over medium heat for 15 minutes. 

Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Baked rice stuffed green peppers in a white oval baking pan.

Bake: Preheat the oven at 425F/220C. If your pot is oven-proof, place it in the oven. If not, transfer the stuffed peppers and lemon slices into a baking dish. Pour all the juicy sauce in the pot into this pan. At this step, you can add a splash of verjuice over dolmas. Bake for about 10 minutes or until they get golden brown.

Serve: You can serve these Middle Eastern vegetarian stuffed peppers with rice warm or at room temperature with some yogurt on the side.

Tips

Making Turkish Stuffed Pepper Recipe on the stove
  • We either use cherry tomatoes to top the filling in the peppers or put the pepper tops we cut as a lid (please see it in the picture above). You can do whatever you prefer.
  • If the peppers you are using are larger than the ones we use, you can cut them lengthwise into two and then stuff them. You can see a sample in the picture below.
  • You really don’t need to top the stuffed peppers, we do it because we love how they look that way.
  • If you have leftover filling, you can cook it in another pan over low heat, let it cool and keep in the refrigerator. Reheat and serve it as a side dish on another day. Alternatively, you can stuff a few tomatoes with that remaining filling. To do this, cut the top of tomatoes, remove the seeds and stuff. Place them in the same pan.
  • If you want to make these with ground beef, add it (about 250g or ½ pound) into the filling with rice. 

How To Serve

We love to sprinkle sumac on top of the filling right before serving, but it's totally optional. We love the extra tangy flavor of this Middle Eastern spice. Also, it is almost a must to serve these with lemon and plain yogurt on the side. If we make the meatless version, we mostly serve it at room temperature and with extra olive oil.

We serve it either with a dollop of plain yogurt or Turkish cacik on the side. A fresh tomato and cucumber salad like Turkish shepherd salad goes well too if it’s summer time.

Stuffed green peppers served on a bluish plate with its tomato sauce and some yogurt on the side. The baking pan with the remaining dish accompanies.

How to Reheat

When heating the leftover biber dolmasi, take one tablespoon of the liquid in the pan and drizzle over the filling inside the peppers so that it doesn’t get dry and heats equally. Heat covered over medium low heat on the stove. If there is no water left in the pan, add some extra water and then heat.

Other Stuffed Vegetables

  • Stuffed Dried Eggplants (Kuru Patlican Dolmasi)
  • Turkish Cabbage Rolls
  • Stuffed Artichoke Bottoms

More Recipes You Might Like

  • Baked Stuffed Onions With Rice
  • Turkish Yaprak Sarma (Stuffed Grape Leaves)
  • Turkish Stuffed Eggplant Karniyarik
  • Stuffed Zucchini

As always: If you make this recipe, let us know what you think by rating it and leaving a comment below. And post a pic on Instagram too—tag @give_recipe so we can see!

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📖 Recipe

Turkish Stuffed Peppers (Biber Dolmasi)

Baked rice stuffed green peppers in a white oval baking pan.
Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

Bell peppers stuffed with rice and with or without ground beef makes the easiest weeknight dinner when prepared and frozen beforehand.

  • Author: Zerrin & Yusuf
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 40 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 12
  • Category: Dinner
  • Method: Cooking
  • Cuisine: Turkish
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

      • 12 small green peppers (or 6 large)

Filling:

      • 12 tablespoons rice (1 tablespoon for each pepper)

      • 1 large onion, chopped finely

      • 4 cloves garlic, chopped finely

      • 1 medium-sized tomato, chopped finely

      • 1 and ½ tablespoons tomato paste

      • ¼ cup parsley, chopped 

      • 1 tablespoon dried mint

      • 1 teaspoon black pepper

      • ½ teaspoon paprika

      • 1 and ½ teaspoon salt

      • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

      • ¼ cup olive oil

Garnish:

      • 4-5 cherry tomatoes (to top the filling in peppers)*

      • 5-6 thin slices lemon, for garnish

Sauce:

    • 2 tablespoons olive oil

    • 2 tablespoons tomato paste

    • 2 cloves garlic, mashed

    • 2 teaspoons dried mint

    • 2 cups hot water, divided

Instructions

Preparing Peppers:

  • Cut the tops of peppers in the form of a lid (please see the picture above) and remove the seeds. Try not to damage the peppers.

Make The Filling:

  • In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the filling. 

Assemble:

  • Stuff each pepper with 1-2 tablespoons of the filling depending on the size of the peppers. Leave a little space for rice to rise when cooked.
  • Place each stuffed pepper in a pot. If the pot is oven-proof, things will be easier.
  • Cut the cherry tomatoes in two and place one half over the filling in the peppers. These tomatoes act like a lid for the peppers. Alternatively, you can use the tops you cut from the peppers as a lid too.
  • Place lemon slices on the peppers.

Make The Sauce and Cook The Peppers:

  • Combine olive oil, tomato paste, garlic, dried mint and water in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil. Pour it in the pot with stuffed peppers. 
  • Cook the stuffed peppers covered over medium heat for 15 minutes. 
  • Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Bake: 

  • Preheat the oven at 425F/220C.
  • If your pot is oven-proof, place it in the oven. If not, transfer the stuffed peppers and lemon slices into a baking pan. Pour all the juicy sauce in the pot into this pan. Bake for about 10 minutes or until they get golden brown.

Serve:

  • You can serve it warm or at room temperature with some yogurt on the side.

Notes

  1. We either use cherry tomatoes to top the filling in the peppers or put the pepper tops we cut as a lid (please see it in the picture above). You can do whatever you prefer.
  2. If the peppers you are using are larger than the ones we use, you can cut them lengthwise into two and then stuff them. 
  3. You really don’t need to top the stuffed peppers, we do it because we love how they look that way.
  4. If you have leftover filling, you can cook it in another pan over low heat, let it cool and keep in the refrigerator. Reheat and serve it as a side dish on another day. Alternatively, you can stuff a few tomatoes with that remaining filling. To do this, cut the top of tomatoes, remove the seeds and stuff. Place them in the same pan.
  5. If you want to make these with ground beef, add it (about 250g or ½ pound) into the filling with rice.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 2
  • Calories: 133
  • Sugar: 3.5 g
  • Sodium: 300.3 mg
  • Fat: 7.3 g
  • Carbohydrates: 16.4 g
  • Protein: 2.1 g
  • Cholesterol: 0 mg

Keywords: stuffed green peppers, Turkish stuffed peppers, Mediterranean stuffed peppers

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    Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

  1. Bertha Dager says

    April 10, 2022 at 3:38 am

    I'm so thankful for finding your page, this is so important to me because my husband eats all of your recipes and I didn't have enough because nobody in my husbands family could share the with me. God bless you for introduce your page on my way.
    Thank you very much.

    Reply
    • Zerrin & Yusuf says

      April 10, 2022 at 4:09 am

      Hi Bertha,

      You are most welcome! Hope you have a chance to try our recipes.

      Please feel free to ask us any question you might have.

      Cheers!

      Reply
  2. cy says

    January 26, 2022 at 6:41 am

    Another delicious dish! I just made it tonight. Everyone loved it, even certain picky eaters. Turkish food is easy to prepare and the results are just wonderful! Thank you for sharing your recipes with us.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Zerrin & Yusuf says

      January 26, 2022 at 1:25 pm

      Such a lovely comment. Thank you! We are so happy to hear you all liked our biber dolma (stuffed peppers) recipe.

      Reply
  3. Helly says

    May 23, 2019 at 10:29 pm

    I'm a novice cook and I made it for dinner today. It came out soooo good! Thanks!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  4. momgateway says

    April 30, 2010 at 5:07 am

    Adding mint is an interesting touch to stuffed peppers...

    Reply
  5. Turkish Food Passion says

    March 25, 2010 at 4:26 pm

    Zerrin, now I am hungry for stuffed green peppers! This is one of my favorite recipes.

    Reply
  6. Trissa says

    March 21, 2010 at 2:31 am

    I just love stuffed peppers! What sets a great stuffed pepper apart is how it is filled - your stuffing sounds heavenly! I would try it one day with meat instead of rice for a meal!

    Reply
  7. Erica says

    March 19, 2010 at 11:07 am

    I love the addition of cinnamon! They look delicious!

    Reply
  8. Michelle says

    March 18, 2010 at 2:10 pm

    Love your blog design and the hand drawn pictures! Stunning photographs!

    Reply
  9. Gera @ SweetsFoodsBlog says

    March 18, 2010 at 1:02 pm

    The bell peppers look grand! Perfect timing for my dinner 🙂

    Cheers,

    Gera

    Reply
  10. Cajun Chef Ryan says

    March 18, 2010 at 9:47 am

    I like how you saved the tops and put them back on the pepper like a cap or hat. Great way of presenting them also.

    Reply
  11. Sophie says

    March 18, 2010 at 8:22 am

    Now, this is lovely food!!!

    MMMMMMMMMM,...I love stuffed peppers, even yellow & orange one's!

    Reply
  12. Jessie says

    March 18, 2010 at 4:34 pm

    I love stuffed peppers, yours looks amazingly delicious!

    Reply
  13. Diana says

    March 17, 2010 at 5:25 pm

    Pretty Peppers. We love stuffed peppers.

    Reply
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