Sausage Stuffed Peppers

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Sausage Stuffed Peppers is a hearty and easy dinner recipe using simple ingredients yielding big, bold flavor in every bite. These Italian sausage stuffed peppers make for a wonderful weeknight meal as well as something fun when entertaining.

If you love to to cook sausage and bell peppers together, try our Sausage, Peppers, and Rice Skillet and Skillet Barbecue Chicken n’ Sausage.

Branded image of a skillet full of cheese topped sausage stuffed peppers.

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What are stuffed peppers?
Recipe ingredients
How to make Sausage Stuffed Peppers
Adaptations and variations
Recipe FAQs
Our favorite tools to make Sausage Stuffed Peppers!
Other Related Sausage Inspired Recipes
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What are stuffed peppers?

Stuffed peppers are pretty much what they sound like peppers that have been stuffed with some kind of filling. Several cuisines worldwide have a version of stuffed peppers usually consisting of meat, rice, various vegetables, and in many cases, cheese.

Once the filling mixture has been made, it's stuffed into the hallowed out pepper and baked. It's a simple dish but packs a lot of flavor.

Recipe ingredients

Labeled ingredients for making sausage stuffed peppers: bell peppers, onion, pasta sauce, Minute rice, Italian sausage, Italian blend cheese, parsley, granulated garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Bell Peppers — Choose plumb bell peppers to allow for more stuffing. Any color will work. Green bell peppers are often a bit less expensive than yellow peppers, orange peppers, and red bell peppers
Italian Sausage — We used a package of sweet Italian sausage not in casings. If you use the links, remove the casings and crumble the meat to brown. If you like spicy, use hot Italian sausage.
Pasta Sauce —We used a jar of marinara. Use your favorite brand or any of the flavored and seasoned varieties. Homemade sauce works wonderfully too.
Minute Rice — The rice will fully cook inside the peppers.
Cheese — We used an Italian blend of cheeses and added more grated mozzarella cheese.
Produce — One yellow onion and fresh parsley.
Seasonings — Granulated garlic, Italian seasoning blend, salt, and pepper.

How to make Sausage Stuffed Peppers

Bell peppers being prepped for stuffing, tops removed, de-seeded and deveined. — **Step 1**

Diced bell pepper tops and diced onions sauteing in a cast iron skillet. — **Step 1**

Step 1 — Preheat oven to 350°F. Prep the peppers by slicing the tops off. Then scrape out the seeds and veins. Dice the tops of the peppers but remove the core.

Step 2 — In a large skillet on medium high heat, saute the diced onions and bell peppers. If your skillet is not non-stick, you may need to add a bit of olive oil to prevent them from sticking. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until they begin to soften.

Step 3 — Crumble in the Italian sausage, mix it in well and continue to cook until the pork sausage is mostly done, another 2-3 minutes.

Freshly diced parsley and the seasonings of salt, pepper, garlic, and Italian blend seasoning has been added to the cooking meat and vegetables. — **Step 4**

Step 4 — Sprinkle in the seasonings and chopped fresh parsley. Stir well and reduce head to medium.

Step 5 — Stir in the rice until it is completed combined with the sausage and vegetables.

Step 6 — Slowly stir in the pasta sauce, reserving about a cup to be added to the bottom of the skillet later, and heat though. Remove from heat and stir in 2 cups of cheese.

Pasta sauce has been spread around into the bottom of a skillet and a bell pepper has been stuffed with the meat and rice mixture and placed in the skillet. — **Step 7**

Aluminum foil covers the peppers in the skillet and is in the oven to bake. — **Step 7**

How to make the stuffed peppers stand upright

If the bell peppers won't stand flat, you can trim the bottom of the peppers to make them even and able to stand up right. Test if any need trimming before filling. If they will be nestled snugly in the skillet, it won't be necessary to trim the bottoms.

Step 7 — Stuff each of the peppers to just above the top, leaving a bit of room for the filling to expand while the rice cooks and to add the cheese topping near the end of the baking time. Once all the peppers have been stuffed, pour the remaining pasta sauce into the now empty skillet. Place each pepper in the skillet.

Step 8 — Cover the stuffed peppers with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes.

Step 9 — After the peppers have cooked for 40 minutes, remove the foil and top each pepper with the remaining cheese. Bake for an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly, melted, and browned.

TIP — For camp oven, outdoor cooking instructions, see recipe card.

Freshly baked sausage stuffed bell peppers in a skillet with melted cheese on top.

Adaptations and variations

Meat —Use half lean ground beef and half Italian sausage. Or skip the ground beef and use ground turkey. Chicken sausage and turkey sausage are also wonderful options if they've been blended in the Italian style.

Rice — Using instant rice is simple and convenient but there's so many other wonderful rices out there you could use. Brown rice. Wild rice. Jasmine rice. Basmati rice. Cauliflower rice. And of course, long grain white rice. If you use any rice other than instant, it must be fully cooked rice or it will be still be mostly raw at the end of the cooking time.

Sauce — Swap out the pasta sauce and use tomato sauce. Add your favorite Italian seasonings to give it flavor like thyme, oregano, fresh basil, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and more.

Cheese — Using only mozzarella cheese will work, but even cheddar cheese will work in a pinch. Really, any shredded cheese will do this fabulous recipe justice.

Mix-ins — This is where the possibilities are endless. Diced tomatoes, chopped mushrooms, fire roasted tomatoes, Rotel tomatoes, and diced zucchini are just a few options.

A single sausage stuffed peppers on a white plate sitting in a small pool of pasta sauce.

Recipe FAQs

How long will leftover stuffed peppers stay good?

If you store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator, they will last 3-4 days.

Should peppers be boiled before stuffing?

They do not have to be. If you do blanch them before stuffing, they will be softer and need less baking time.

Can I make these cut in half lengthwise?

Absolutely but you may need a bigger skillet, large baking dish or baking pan.

A plated stuffed bell pepper has been sliced open to reveal its meat and rice mixture filling with a salad and garlic bread in the background.

Our favorite tools to make Sausage Stuffed Peppers!

Lodge 10.25" Cast Iron Pre-Seasoned Skillet

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BuzzyWaxx Original Blend - Cast Iron and Carbon Steel Seasoning