Stuffed Peppers 3 Delicious Ways

Today, I'm excited to share with you one of my all-time favorite comfort foods, stuffed peppers. But, of course, we're going to do them three delicious ways. Today, I'm going to show you an incredible Italian-inspired stuffed pepper, a beautiful vegetarian stuffed pepper, and finally, a Mediterranean stuffed pepper that you are absolutely going to go bananas for. First things first, let's talk about our peppers. I like to use a variety of colors in my stuffed peppers because I think aesthetically it just looks much better. I also like to stuff my peppers sideways as opposed to from the top. That's because it makes for better portioning. So I clean out the seeds and the membranes really, really well, but I love to leave behind the stem because I find that little hit of green makes for such a beautiful final product. On the stove, I have a big pot of boiling water, and I'm just going to put all of my pepper halves into the boiling water for three or four minutes, just until they're flexible enough to work with. This prevents you from having to roast them for over an hour in the oven to get them to soften up. Then I'm going to drain them really well and start working on my filling. In my frying pan, I've got some oil heating up over medium-high heat, and I'm going to cook off some red onion. Now, we just want to cook this until it's translucent and softened up. To that, I'm going to add some garlic and let that become fragrant. And then, I'm going to be cooking up some hot Italian sausage. Now, in this recipe, you could totally use beef or ground poultry if you prefer, but I think hot Italian sausage just adds so much flavor to the final product. It's amazing. Once our sausage is cooked, we're going to add our cooked rice and some tomato sauce. We're going to hit this with a little bit of Italian seasoning, some salt and pepper, and then let it simmer for a few minutes until it reduces just slightly. Then, we are ready to get stuffing. Using a large spoon, I'm going to stuff each of my peppers, making sure to leave no nook and cranny unfilled. Then, I'm going to top this with some mozzarella cheese and some freshly grated Parmesan. Into the oven they go at 350 for only 15 to 20 minutes, because most of the cooking has already been done. When they're ready, they look like this, ooey, gooey, delicious, and absolutely irresistible. All right. Now, on to our vegetarian stuffed peppers. So, we're going to start by heating up some oil in a frying pan, and to that we are going to add some red onion. When the red onion has softened up, we're going to add a minced jalapeno and some minced garlic. As soon as our jalapeno and garlic are fragrant, we're going to add some quinoa, some black beans, and some diced tomatoes. Then, we're going to hit this with a little bit of chili powder, some salt and pepper, give it a really good stir, and it's ready for stuffing. We're going to stuff our pepper halves. We're going to arrange them on a well-oiled roasting pan, and then we're going to top them with some extra sharp cheddar cheese. Now, I like to use extra sharp cheese because it retains its flavor while it's cooking. Into the oven these go at 350, only 15 or 20 minutes, again, because all of the cooking was done beforehand. How beautiful is that? They're super easy to make, and they are uber, uber flavorful. Finally, I'm super excited to share with you one of my all-time favorite recipes, my Mediterranean stuffed peppers. These feature orzo pasta. Now, if you're not into gluten, you can totally replace the orzo with either rice or quinoa. Those will work just as well, but there really is something about orzo in Mediterranean cooking that is so, so delicious. All right, so I've got a frying pan with some oil heating up. To that, I'm going to add some red pepper and some zucchini. Once the zucchini turns bright green, it's time to add a little bit of garlic and some chopped kalamata olives. Once our garlic has started to heat up, it's time to add our cooked orzo to the pot. To that, we are going to add some cooked chicken. Now, if you're a vegetarian, you can absolutely leave the chicken out. No problem. This makes for a delicious vegetarian dish, but if you're a carnivore, this is a great way to use up all your leftover chicken. So in the chicken goes, and to that, we are going to add some flavorings. We're going to add some lemon juice, a little red wine vinegar, some Greek seasoning, and finally, some freshly chopped parsley. So we're going to stuff each of our pepper halves really, really well, place them on our roasting pan, and then we are going to top them with some feta cheese. And let's be serious, what is not made better by feta cheese, right? We're going to top it with some feta cheese, into the oven it goes at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes. You can finish it off under a low broiler just to brown that feta cheese a little bit and make it extra delicious, and boom, dinner is served. These beautiful stuffed peppers make such a great weeknight meal, but what's even better about them is that they freeze really, really well, so you can make a huge batch, store them in the freezer, and then they're ready to go on nights where you just don't feel like cooking. I hope you'll give them a try and let me know how they turn out for you. Instagram me or tweet me a photo, because you know I love seeing what you're coming up with in your very own kitchens, and of course, if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to The Domestic Geek, because there's lots more deliciousness where this came from.