Tender bell peppers stuffed with an ultra flavorful filling. The slow cooker does ALL the work for you: no browning beef or boiling rice required!
Stuffed peppers are a family favorite, I grew up eating. I love serving them on a chilly evening with mashed potatoes. Back then I always dug out the filling and left the pepper on my plate.
1. Because it was a vegetable. EW GROSS (!!)
2. Because it was tough and chewy
These easy Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers take only a few minutes of prep. I promise we’ll be done in 10 minutes or less! The slow cooker takes care of the rest! No browning beef or boiling rice required!
Uncooked rice?! Hallelujah! I am famous for putting rice on the stove and sitting down to look at my computer for just a second. Before you know it, I’m into last January on Mrs Next door’s feed, and my pan is scorched!
I love that these stuffed peppers don’t require me to boil rice, OR brown ground beef. There is virtually no prep work.
Best of all it cooks the peppers low and slow so they are deliciously tender. Now the pepper is my favorite part!
I especially love making these in the summer, so I don’t have to heat up the house! I think from now on all the stuffed peppers in my house will be crock pot stuffed peppers!!
I also love getting meat, veggies, and starch in one dish.
How To Make Stuffed Peppers In the Crock Pot
First, we’re going to wash our peppers, and cut off the tops/ribs. You can also chop a bit off the bottom if you’d like them to be able to able to stand upright.
Next, we stuff the peppers with our beef/rice mixture.
Finally, we’ll combine our tomatoes and broth,and then we’ll pour it over the prepared peppers. Don’t be tempted to skip the sugar step here, it really helps cut the acid.
How Long To Cook
These can be cooked on high or low depending on how much time you have. If you are cooking on low, you’ll want to cook them for 6-8 hours. If you want to cook them on high instead ,it will only take about 3-4 hours. The internal temperature should reach 160 degrees F, regardless of which cooking method you use. Personally I like to cook them on high. This is mostly just because I love to sleep in and don’t want to make supper before I eat breakfast! 🙂 It would be wonderful to come home to some hot comfort food if you want to put them on in the morning before work though.
Serve With
Growing up my Grandma always served hers with mashed potatoes. I still like to do that today because they make a great vessel for any rice/beef that fall out. Back in the day I’m pretty sure she just served me rice/beef on top of a mound of mashed potatoes. So yummy! Other family favorite side dishes for stuffed peppers are crispy fried hash browns or smashed potatoes. Both give great texture to the meal!
Salad is also a good choice. Personally I feel like one vegetable is enough per meal ya feel me? A crusty roll is more my style, and is also great for sopping up the extra juices.
Can You Freeze Them?
These freeze beautifully! Once cooked be sure to store them in an air tight container. I like to use a tupperware dish with a lid for large portions. It is also really handy to freeze in individual baggies for a quick lunch/dinner. SO much better than a Stouffers frozen meal.
When stored properly they will last in the freezer for about 2-3 months.
How To Reheat From Frozen
Thaw overnight in the fridge. Reheat in the oven. I cook mine at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes.
How To Reheat From Fridge
Reheat in the oven. I usually do 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees if they are coming out of the fridge. However, you can certainly use the microwave too in a pinch. To avoid soggy peppers I like to cook for 4-6 minutes at 50% power.
More Crockpot Favorites
Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 6 Large Bell Peppers Any Color
- 1 ½ Pounds Lean Ground Beef
- ½ Cup White Rice Uncooked
- 1 Sweet Onion Finely Diced
- 2 Tsp Garlic Minced
- 2 Cans Tomatoes with Green Chiles 10 Ounces Each
- 6 Ounce Can Tomato Paste
- ¼ Cup Brown Sugar Packed
- 1 Cup Chicken Broth
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Pepper
Instructions
- Cut off pepper tops and remove seeds/ribs.
- In a large bowl, combine ground beef, rice, onion, garlic, salt,and pepper. Stir in one DRAINED can of tomatoes with green chiles. (Reserve the liquid).
- Evenly stuff peppers and place in slow cooker.
- In a medium bowl mix reserved liquid, the 2nd can of tomatoes with green chiles, broth,tomato paste, and brown sugar. Pour over peppers.
- Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours.
Nutrition
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CAN I REPLACE THE WHITE RICE WITH BROWN OR CAULIFLOWER RICE? JUST TRYING TO BE A LITTLE HEALTHY LOL
Hi Ruth!
I haven’t tried either so I can’t say for sure, but I think it would work. Please report back if you do!
These were deliscious! Thank you!
Love that I don’t have to fry the meat or parboil my peppers first.
But made the mistake of using tomato sauce in place of paste. Too runny. I topped mine with mozzarella cheese. Yum!
Yay so glad you enjoyed it, thanks for taking the time to let me know Joylene. Please stop back again!:)
Love that I don’t have to parboil my peppers.
I’ll be making this more often.
Yes such a time ssaver! Thanks for stopping by Joy and letting me know! 🙂
These were so good! Substituted ground chicken and brown rice and stirred in some frozen corn, turned out so great. The sauce keeps these moist and cooks the peppers perfectly! Did add some parsley and cilantro in the sauce as well! Will make again!
Yay so glad you loved them. Thanks for sharing your substitutions too, I’ll try corn next time.
Will definately try
Let me know how they turn out Candy! 🙂
We do crock pot stuffed peppers all year long. Only thing my family likes is (was out of rice one day) I cook 2 handfuls of macaroni, drain and add to meat mixture. Families favorite now!
Great idea, thanks for sharing Linda. Sounds yummy, I’ll try it that way next time.
I would love to make these in the crockpot but one 1questions: My family does not like the rice in our stuffed peppers and would rather have the breadcrumbs, Have you ever done the recipe with this intead?
Hi Suzanne,
That’s a great question. I’ve only tried the recipe as written, but I think breadcrumbs may work. Please let us know if you try it and how it turns out.
Made this recipe today, excellent and easy!
I didn’t have any rice so I used a box of couscous, seasonings as well. I also threw in 2 tsp of oregano and 1 tsp of basil, just to give it a more Italian vibe. Everybody said it was good, but I think they lie sometimes, there weren’t any leftovers though!
Thanks!!!
Hi Rob,
Yay so glad you enjoyed. Using Couscous is such a great idea.
It is down right silly how happy these peppers made me. I’m going to be very honest, the “easy factor” had me the moment I read that I didn’t have to blanch the peppers, cook the meat or boil the rice. If they had turned out “just ok” I would have been happy. They didn’t turn out just ok, they turned out so SO so good! So much so that my “I don’t do leftovers” picky husband asked for what was left to be packed in his Herman Munster lunchbox for the next day. That is high praise in this house. Like I said, the 10 minutes it took to slap them together had already won me over, but the flavor and the fact that they taste just as good as my grandmother’s that took about an hour or more to make. (oh and the smell … when I came home from work and walked in the door my house smelled AMAZING – and the dogs were giving me stink eye like how dare you make the house smell like this all day and we had to smell it and not be able to get to it!)
I can’t wait to see what recipe of yours I find that changes my exhausted weekday cooking world forever!
Hi Stacy,
Your comment made my day, I’m so glad you and your hubby liked them. Give your doggies a pat and a treat from me! HUGS!
Reading your stuffed pepper recipe and you don’t say what to do with the chicken broth??????????
It is in step 4! 🙂
On the East Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers – recipe calls for 1 cup chicken broth, but the instructions do not tell you when to use the chicken broth?????
Hi Missy,
I just double checked the recipe and you add it here: In a medium bowl mix reserved liquid, the 2nd can of tomatoes with green chiles, broth,tomato paste, and brown sugar. Pour over peppers.
Great idea to use a slow cooker. My peppers are never quite cooked when I stuff them.
Thanks Choclette <3