Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe

5 from 11 votes
81 comments

A stuffed bell pepper on a green plate

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The Stuffed Bell Pepper; a classic Russian family dish. The peppers have the same basic stuffing/meat mixture as Golubtsi, except these are easier and quicker to make. One stuffed bell pepper is a meal in itself.

Use both yellow and red bell peppers and arrange them on a platter when finished for are lovely and impressive presentation. As with golubtsi, serve these up with a dollop of sour cream.

Ingredients for Stuffed Bell Peppers:

2 1/2 cups cooked white rice
8 to 10 medium bell peppers (red or yellow)
1 to 1.3 lbs ground pork
1 lb ground turkey
2 eggs
4 medium carrots, grated
3 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup mushroom marinara
1 Tbsp salt for meat mixture
1 tsp salt for boiling water
2 Tbsp Vinegar

Podliva (Sauce) Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Oil
2 Carrots, grated
1 tsp Vegeta (or Mrs Dash, or similar seasoning)
1 Tbsp sour cream
3/4 cup mushroom marinara
3 cups reserved water from boiling the peppers

How to Make the Best Stuffed Bell Peppers:

Prepping the Peppers (that has a nice ring to it!):
1. Cut off the top of each pepper and clean out the junk inside.

Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe

2. Bring a large soup pot of water to a boil (at least 2/3 full). Add 2 Tbsp vinegar and 1 tsp salt.

3. Place all of the peppers in the pot. They should be mostly covered with water. Add more water if needed.

Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe

4. Cover peppers and bring to a boil. After 3 minutes, leave the lid on, turn off the heat and let peppers sit in the hot water while you prepare the rest of the recipe (they should be in there around 45 minutes). They need to sit in order to soften.

5. Be sure to Reserve 3 cups of water from the peppers.

Meat Mixture:

1. In a large skillet, heat 3 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter over medium/high heat.
2. Add 4 grated carrots and saute until soft.
3. Once they soften, add 3/4 cup mushroom marinara and saute 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
4. In a large bowl (I use my kitchenAid with paddle attachment for this) mix: pork, turkey and cooked rice.
5. Stir in 2 eggs, sautéed carrots and 1 tbsp Salt. Mix well.

Stuffing the Peppers:

1. By now, your peppers should have softened, reserve 3 cups water.
2. Drain the peppers and move them to a dry surface.
3. Fill each pepper full of meat mixture, don’t press it down, just fill it all the way
4. As you stuff your peppers, arrange them snuggly either in the same pot you used to cook the peppers or in a cast iron dutch oven.

Podliva (Sauce):

1. Heat 2 Tbsp canola oil. Saute 2 grated carrots with 1 tsp vegeta. Stir occassionally until carrots are soft.

2. Add 1 tbsp sour cream and 3/4 cup mushroom marinara. Saute another minute and remove from heat.

3. Pour Podliva over the top of each pepper and add 3 cups of reserved water from peppers.

Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe

Two Ways to Cook these:

1. If using the pot, bring to a light boil, then cover and simmer 40 minutes over medium heat.

2. If using a dutch oven (recommended method), cover and bake at 450˚ F for 20-25 minutes. When it bubbles, reduce heat to 350˚ F and bake 1 hour.

Serve with sour cream.

Notes:

These make excellent left-overs. Before re-heating, cut the pepper in half and spoon the podliva (juice) over each half.
You may have some leftover meat depending on the size of your peppers. Use any left-over meat for Katleti.
Also, you will have leftover marinara sauce.

Natasha Kravchuk

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the blogger behind Natasha's Kitchen (since 2009). My husband and I run this blog together and share only our best, family approved and tested recipes with YOU. Thanks for stopping by! We are so happy you're here.