These Easy Peasy Stuffed Peppers are packed full of deliciousness: rice flavoured with mushrooms, olives, garlic, chilli, sun-dried tomatoes, parsley… But the best bit is the crunchy cheesy topping!
Easy Peasy Stuffed Peppers
These Easy Peasy Stuffed Peppers combine some of my favourite flavours: perfectly soft, sweet roasted peppers, packed with rice, onions, mushrooms, black olives, garlic, chilli, sun-dried tomatoes and parsley, and topped with tangy cheddar cheese. Best of all, the rice on top turns slightly crunchy in the oven, resulting in a delicious crunchy cheesy topping – definitely the best bit!
And these stuffed peppers are super simple to make too! Start by part-roasting peppers in the oven. Meanwhile, cook the rice and fry up onions, mushrooms, garlic and chilli, before adding the olives, sun-dried tomatoes and parsley. Mix together the rice and the flavourings, then stuff the peppers with the rice mixture, top with cheddar cheese and bake for 15 minutes.
These peppers are quick and easy enough to make on a weekday evening, but also make a great dinner party starter! (This recipe serves 4 as a main course or 8 as a starter.)
The secret to perfectly cooked stuffed peppers…
One of the problems with stuffed peppers is the filling can cook faster than the peppers – which often ends up resulting in undercooked peppers (or overcooked filling!) But the solution is very easy – simply part-roast the peppers before adding the filling, then pop the now-stuffed peppers back in the oven to finish off – resulting in perfectly roasted peppers and perfectly cooked filling!
Make-ahead stuffed peppers!
These Easy Peasy Stuffed Peppers are easy to make ahead of time – simply part-roast the peppers, cook the filling and grate the cheese, then refrigerate everything and assemble at the last minute before finishing off in the oven. (Because everything will be fridge cold, you will need to increase the final oven time to 20-25 minutes to ensure that the stuffed peppers are piping hot all the way through.)
(Always be careful to follow food safety advice when when reheating rice.)
Make it your own
These delicious stuffed peppers are very easy to adapt:
- Use any kind of rice you like – this works really well with white rice, brown rice or basmati rice
- Or you could even swap the rice for couscous, bulgar wheat or quinoa
- Add a tin of tuna or some (browned) bacon bits / lardons
- Use any other veggies you like instead of the mushrooms
- Swap the olives and sundried tomatoes for sultanas, cranberries or diced apricots
- Swap the cheddar cheese for crumbled feta
What to serve with stuffed peppers?
I like to serve these stuffed peppers with a simple side salad, but you could also serve them with your favourite green vegetables and/or some crusty French bread. Alternatively, for a more substantial meal, you could serve the stuffed peppers as a side dish, alongside grilled fish or meat.
What to drink with stuffed peppers?
These Easy Peasy Stuffed Peppers pair beautifully with a zingy New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Alternatively, they also work well with a full-bodied, oak-aged Chardonnay and Grenache-based rosés (‘Garnacha rosado’ in Spain).
If you prefer red wines, then go for something like Chilean Merlot, Chianti or a young (‘joven’) Rioja.
Can you reheat leftover stuffed peppers?
Yes, you can! Simply place any leftover stuffed peppers in an airtight container in your fridge, where they will keep for up to 24 hours. To reheat, simply place in a cold oven, set the temperature to 200C (180C fan / gas mark 6 / 400F) and cook for 20 minutes or until piping hot all the way through. Alternatively you can eat them cold, straight from the fridge!
(Always be careful to follow food safety advice when when reheating rice.)
Can you freeze stuffed peppers?
Yes – the texture will not be quite as good, but they will still be very tasty. Place the cooked stuffed peppers in an airtight container in your freezer, where they will keep for up to 1 month. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.
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Easy Peasy Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 4 red/yellow/orange peppers (or a mixture)
- 2 tablespoons olive or rapeseed oil
- 150 g white basmati rice
- 3 sundried tomatoes diced (see Note 1)
- 1 small onion finely diced
- 6 chestnut mushrooms diced
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped, grated or crushed
- 9 black olives stoned and roughly chopped
- ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
- Salt and pepper
- 1 handful parsley finely chopped, plus extra for garnish
- 50 g cheddar cheese grated
Instructions
- Turn your oven on and set to 220C / 200C fan / gas mark 7 / 425F.
- Cut the peppers in half lengthways and remove the seeds and membranes. Put a drizzle of oil in a roasting tray. Roll each pepper in the oil and then arrange the peppers in the tray, cut-side up. Put the peppers straight in the oven to roast. (No need to wait for the oven to reach the correct temperature!) Roast for 20 minutes.
- Cook the rice according to packet instructions / your own preferences.
- While the rice is cooking, gently fry the chopped onion for 3 minutes, until soft but not brown. Then turn the heat up, add the diced mushrooms and fry for 2 minutes, until lightly browned. Turn the heat down low again and add the garlic, olives, chilli, sundried tomatoes, salt and pepper. Fry for 1 more minute. Turn off the heat and add the chopped parsley.
- When the rice is cooked, tip the onion mixture into the cooked rice and stir well to combine. Add a handful of the grated cheddar and stir again.
- Remove the peppers from the oven and spoon the rice mixture into each pepper, so the rice mixture is evenly distributed between each pepper. (See Note 2.)
- Sprinkle some extra cheddar on the top of each pepper and then put the peppers back in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until brown and bubbling on top.
- Garnish with extra parsley and serve with a simple side salad.
Notes
- Ideally, use the sundried tomatoes you get in oil, in a jar. If you can only get the 'dry' sundried tomatoes, rehydrate first before using. (TIP: You can rehydrate them by throwing the whole sundried tomatoes into the rice pan!) Allow to cool before dicing.
- Depending on the size of your peppers, you may find you have leftover rice mixture. Simply serve this alongside the peppers... or you could pop it in an airtight container and eat it as a rice salad for your lunch the next day!
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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I am linking this up to Cook Blog Share.
Kate - Gluten Free Alchemist says
Always love a stuffed pepper… so versatile too. And yours look so colourful and fresh. Perfect for the post-Christmas slump xx
Thanks for sharing #CookBlogShare
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Kate!
Liz Schofield says
Just made these for dinner and really enjoyed them. We are not vegetarians but we do try to have a couple of vegetarian meals a week and will definitely be making these again.
Eb Gargano says
Yay! That’s so good to hear. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review… and especially for the 5* rating! Eb 🙂
Elizabeth Schofield says
Hi Eb,
Your tip about putting the sun dried tomatoes in the same pan when cooking the rice worked brilliantly.
Eb Gargano says
Good to hear! Eb 🙂