These Meat & Mushroom Stuffed Peppers have an herb cheesy umami taste with a marvelous meaty flavor in a tender sweet pepper “bowl”. Tender sweet peppers, meat, mushrooms. onion, garlic, rice and tomatoes make the perfect traditional stuffed pepper with lovely melty cheese both inside the stuffing and on top.

Stuffed peppers are an amazing way to enjoy fresh bell peppers from the garden, especially late in the season when you’re trying to use up those lovely late peppers. Whenever I see a nicely shaped bell pepper that’s ripened and leaning into its true color, I just want to stuff them.

I went to visit my parents for the third weekend in a row after my dad’s “big boy” chemo finally finished. Dad still didn’t have much energy and mom was having troubles keeping up with everything. I saw immediate evidence of this when I walked in the house and saw three beautiful bell peppers perfectly ripe but starting to wither on their counter. So I said “let’s have stuffed peppers for dinner!”

Mom and dad were all for that. I got to work making the filling. I was going to go with meat and rice filling. But mom wanted mushrooms. Since they have lots of dried morel mushrooms after many years of mushroom hunting, that was not a problem. I found the oldest mushrooms and used those. Those old dried mushrooms were still delicious!

The stuffed peppers turned out SO good! We gobbled them up in no time. And bonus: I had enough filling left to stuff one more pepper. I knew I had peppers at home in my garden waiting for me. So I took the rest of the filling home to make one more. Just for me. Yet it was also for you, my sweet foodie friends, because my last stuffed pepper got photographed so I could share the recipe with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Meat & Mushroom Stuffed Peppers – another great dinner in a pepper

Author: Ann
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 2 hours
Yield: 4 – 8 servings 1x
Category: Dinner
Method: Baked
Cuisine: American
Diet: Gluten Free

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Ingredients

Scale

For the filling:

3/4 cup rehydrated dried mushrooms, crumbled before rehydrating
1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
1 – 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled & chopped
3 – 5 cloves garlic, peeled & chopped
1 lb. ground meat (venison, beef, chicken, etc. – I used venison)
1 medium garden fresh tomato, cored and chopped
1/2 – 3/4 cup marinara or other favorite pasta sauce
About 2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs (suggestions: basil, oregano, sage, rosemary)
3/4 cup cottage cheese
1/4 – 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Bacon salt (or salt) and freshly ground pepper, to taste – plus non salt seasoning if desired

For the stuffed peppers:

About 4 large, firm bell peppers (red, orange, yellow, or green)
Sliced aged cheddar, gouda or other favorite melting cheese for the top

Instructions

Add warm water to the mushrooms in a bowl and cover to start them hydrating. Begin the rice cooking according to package directions.
While the rice is cooking, slice the peppers in half lengthwise and carefully remove the ribs and seeds from the middle.
Heat a medium frying pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onions and saute until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, stir and cook until fragrant. Make a space in the center of the pan to add the meat and saute until the meat is browned, using a spatula to break it up as it cooks.
Stir in the rice, marinara sauce, herbs, cottage cheese and parmesan. Taste and add salt & pepper as desired. If you feel like it needs more flavor, add some Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute or your favorite no-salt seasoning.
Bring a pot of water to a boil and put the peppers in. Let the peppers bathe in the hot water for about 2 – 3 minutes to soften them, then scoop them out with a slotted spoon or tongs, taking care not to spill the hot water on yourself. While you’re doing this, preheat the oven to 400 F.
Stuff the peppers with the hot stuffing and top with sliced cheese. Set the peppers on a baking sheet or ceramic casserole dish. Bake at 400 F. for 15 – 25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Let cool slightly and enjoy!

Notes

If you don’t have dried mushrooms, you can substitute chopped sauteed fresh mushrooms.

RECIPE SOURCE: Sumptuous Spoonfuls – https://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/ … © Copyright 2024, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

Keywords: Stuffed peppers, cheese, meat, rice, onion, garlic, herbs, gluten free, heart healthy

More Recipes for Stuffed Peppers

While we’re talking stuffed peppers, I hope you will enjoy some of my other stuffed pepper recipes! Scroll down under the gallery of images for the recipe links to these gems.