This Vegetarian Stuffed Green Pepper Recipe 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.
This Turkish biber dolma 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!
Although we often make cheese stuffed mini peppers as an appetizer, our choice is to make these easy stuffed bell peppers when it comes to a comforting dinner.
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Why We Love This Recipe
- It is easy to serve them 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 these stuffed green peppers 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
Peppers: We use Turkish green peppers called dolmalık biber, peppers for stuffing. But 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.
Tomato Sauce: It is a simple sauce with olive oil, tomato paste, dried mint, garlic and water. This sauce takes these stuffed green peppers to a whole new level.
How To Make
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).
Make The Filling: In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the rice mixture 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 1 cup 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 pour the remaining 1 cup hot water into the post. 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 dish. 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 these Mediterranean style vegetarian stuffed green peppers with rice warm or at room temperature with some yogurt on the side.
Tips
- 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
I love to sprinkle sumac on top of the filling right before serving, but it's totally optional. I 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 sometimes serve it with Turkish Yogurt Cucumber Dip Cacik. A fresh tomato and cucumber salad like Turkish Shepherd Salad goes well too if it’s summer time.
How to Reheat
When heating the leftover stuffed green peppers with rice, 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.
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
Stuffed Green Peppers With Rice
Bell peppers stuffed with rice and with or without ground beef makes the easiest weeknight dinner when prepared and frozen beforehand.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: Turkish
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
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12 small green peppers (or 6 large)
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Filling:
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12 tablespoons rice (1 tbsp for each pepper)
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1 large onion, chopped finely
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4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
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1 medium-sized tomato, chopped finely
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1 and ½ tablespoons tomato paste
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¼ cup parsley, chopped
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1 tablespoon dried mint
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1 teaspoon black pepper
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½ teaspoon paprika
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1 and ½ teaspoon salt
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1 tablespoon lemon juice
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¼ cup olive oil
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Garnish:
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4-5 cherry tomatoes (to top the filling in peppers)*
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5-6 thin slices lemon, for garnish
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Sauce:
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2 tablespoons olive oil
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2 tablespoons tomato paste
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2 cloves garlic, mashed
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2 teaspoons dried mint
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2 cups hot water, divided
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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 1 cup 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 pour the remaining 1 cup hot water into the post. 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
- 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 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.
Keywords: stuffed green peppers, Turkish stuffed peppers, Mediterranean stuffed peppers
Helly says
I'm a novice cook and I made it for dinner today. It came out soooo good! Thanks!
★★★★★
momgateway says
Adding mint is an interesting touch to stuffed peppers...
Turkish Food Passion says
Zerrin, now I am hungry for stuffed green peppers! This is one of my favorite recipes.
Trissa says
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!
Erica says
I love the addition of cinnamon! They look delicious!
Jessie says
I love stuffed peppers, yours looks amazingly delicious!
Michelle says
Love your blog design and the hand drawn pictures! Stunning photographs!
Gera @ SweetsFoodsBlog says
The bell peppers look grand! Perfect timing for my dinner 🙂
Cheers,
Gera
Cajun Chef Ryan says
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.
Sophie says
Now, this is lovely food!!!
MMMMMMMMMM,...I love stuffed peppers, even yellow & orange one's!
Diana says
Pretty Peppers. We love stuffed peppers.
nazarina says
This looks absolutely appetizing, I love those currants & pine nuts and you even had the time to do a little research. The Irish is definitely proud!
Tangled Noodle says
These stuffed peppers looks so delicious! I love the mint and cinnamon in the recipe, and the currants sound like they add a nice sweetness to it all. It's perfect not only for Daily Spud's Parade, but for a meal any time of the year!
I hope that the real spring will soon arrive for you!
Touria says
Merhaba zerrin
it looks so delicious I've never eaten stuffed green pepper, I'll try ur recipe
we have the same thing here in Morocco: weather is not good at all, am waiting for spring 😉
thanks
citronetvanille says
Great looking pepper! I love all the ingredients (except maybe for cinnamon), perfect choice for st. Patrick's day!
OysterCulture says
Stuffed green peppers are about perfect and yours look like heaven as usual what a wonderful recipe, I love the dried mint and currents added. Those are not usual ingredients for me with stuffed peppers but cannot wait to give them a try!
5 Star Foodie says
Yummy stuffing for these gorgeous green peppers!
tasteofbeirut says
Love your peppers; you know stuffed peppers are usually my least favorite in the lebanese cuisine; maybe if I tried your version, with the currants and all these varied flavors, i would change my mind!
Cynthia Nelson says
Often, I eat the stuffing and discard the pepper 🙂
Faith says
Green peppers are a fantastic idea for St. Paddy's Day! I love the currants and pine nuts in this recipe, it sounds delicious!
The Duo Dishes says
Your filling is great. It has really nice sweet flavors inside.
jenn (Bread + Butter) says
I hear you on the weather. It's bee really weird these past several weeks. At this point I just prepare for whatever Mother Nature's mood will be.
Delicious pepper!!
anncoo says
WOW! This picture is stunning. I bet this is very flavorful.
elra says
Love it! You are such an inspiration! Thanks Zerin
The Little Teochew says
The peppers are adorable! Such a wonderful presentation.
Daily Spud says
Oh Zerrin, I am thrilled that you were able to join in! Anything green is, of course, more than acceptable and those stuffed peppers sound absolutely delicious. I also love the cartoon - just too cute for words 🙂