Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers
76 Comments Jun 05, 2023
Updated Oct 21, 2023
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These Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers are made with beef and rice in a savory marinara sauce. They are easily made in the slow cooker for a comforting dinner the whole family will enjoy.
Whether it be the classic stuffed pepper recipe, stuffed pepper soup or even a twist like taco meatloaf stuffed peppers, you can’t beat the flavor of peppers and beef!
Table of Contents
Why this recipe works
For my Crockpot Stuffed Peppers Recipe, I use a marinara sauce. I’ve made them with a sweetened diced tomato sauce, salsa for the sauce, and a ketchup brown sugar topping. I really like the way these stuffed peppers are with the marinara sauce. The beef, rice, and bell peppers tasted great, making the perfect meal.
Not to mention, this cooking method takes the guesswork out of making stuffed peppers a healthy meal, especially when you need one of those easy weeknight meals on the fly.
Recipe Ingredients
- Bell peppers – I love green bell peppers in this recipe though any color will work. If your bell peppers are very large you may need to use less than five. Be sure to save and chop the bell pepper tops and stir them into the filling
- Ground beef – In this recipe, I brown and crumble the meat, this makes for a loose filling, not a meatloaf-style stuffed bell peppers.
- Rice – Leftover cooked rice works well in this stuffed peppers recipe.
- Onion – Diced white onion adds flavor and heartiness to the crock pot stuffed peppers.
- Marinara – I choose to use marinara instead of tomato sauce or diced tomatoes; marinara sauce (or spaghetti sauce) already has a great flavor base to start with. You can use homemade marinara sauce if desired.
- Seasonings – Salt, pepper, thyme and oregano is all you need!
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – Brown the ground beef in a large skillet on the stove top and drain.
Step Two – Add the savory ground beef, cut up bell pepper tops, rice, 1 cup of the marinara sauce, onion, salt, garlic powder, thyme, and oregano to a medium sized bowl. Stir.
Step Three – Stuff the peppers with the filling you just made.
Step Four – Add the remaining marinara sauce and remaining ingredients from the meat mixture to the bottom of the slow cooker.
Step Five – Add the stuffed peppers in the slow cooker. I try not to let them rest on the sides of the slow cooker, but most of the time they end up falling over later.
HowStep Six – Cover and cook stuffed peppers on LOW for 5 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time. Serve with suggestions below and enjoy!
How to serve
- These can certainly be considered a full meal in one pepper, but if you’re looking to add a bit more to it, you can create a few appetizers like cauliflower bites, sauteed zucchini bites, or a chickpea salad.
- When it comes to toppings, you can try a variety of ideas such as a dollop of sour cream, diced tomatoes, salsa, bacon bits, or a dash of fresh parsley.
- As for seasonings, you can always add a dash of Italian seasoning and/or black pepper.
Recipe FAQs
Use soy crumbles instead of beef, or a can of pinto beans. Another option is adding extra veggies such as chopped squash or asparagus to the rice mixture.
Try one of these meat options instead of ground beef if you prefer: ground chicken, ground turkey, ground pork, or ground Italian sausage.
Stuffed peppers often have cheese on top. Though adding shredded cheese is optional. If you want a cheese fix, add about two tablespoons of shredded mozzarella cheese to each pepper 10 minutes before the cooking time is up. Pepper Jack also makes a great topping option (sounds yummy).
Add any remaining peppers to an airtight container or tupperware dish and keep them in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can reheat them in the oven until warm throughout.
Raw meat in stuffed peppers does work well, but you will end up with more of a meatloaf texture than a crumbly filling.
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Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers {Beef and Rice}
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 5 bell peppers, tops cut off and diced for filling
- 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, can be leftover rice
- 24 oz. jar marinara sauce, divided
- 1 small white onion diced
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp. dried oregano, tarragon works well too
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef in a skillet on the stove top. Drain.
- Add the beef, cut up bell pepper tops, rice, 1 cup of the marinara sauce, onion, salt, garlic powder, thyme and oregano to a medium sized bowl. Stir.
- Stuff the peppers with the filling you just made. If there is any leftover filling add it to the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Add remaining marinara sauce to the slow cooker.
- Add the stuffed peppers in the slow cooker. I try not to let them rest on the sides of the slow cooker, but most of the time they end up falling over later.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
How to Video
Sarah’s Notes
- Stuffed peppers often have cheese on top, though adding cheese is optional.
- If you want a cheese fix, add about 2 tablespoons of shredded mozzarella cheese to each pepper 10 minutes before the cooking time is up.
- Ground turkey
- Ground chicken
- Ground Italian sausage
- Use soy crumbles instead of beef
- Or a can of pinto beans
- Or add extra veggies such as chopped squash or asparagus to the rice mixture.
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Delicious recipe. I used close to two pounds of ground beef, 1.5 cups of leftover cold white rice (precooked). Instead of tomatoes I used Lipton tomato soup , I mixed it in with the beef mixture .
So good . I spread more tomato soup on top.
I love idea of chopping tops of peppers w diced onion to add to mix (I did saute these n season as per recipe) it was excellent.
One problem , 5 hours is too long even on low.
The peppers were little overcooked and kind of falling apart, other than this it was perfect.
Can I freeze any leftovers?
Making these now and I can’t wait to taste them!
I make this often and it always turns out great! I especially like it for the summer because it doesn’t heat up the house. Thanks for sharing!
Sarah, we live in Canada and use at least one of your slow cooker recipes a week…delicious…what kind of beef (lean or medium) should I use..and can I stuff them with raw beef and uncooked rice?..do you think it will be greasy if I do it this way..thank you and you are the best!
You can stuff them with raw meat (lean) but it will turn out more like meatloaf. – Shouldn’t be greasy.
Last question…would I still use a cup and a half of uncooked rice? And one pound of raw lean ground beef? Thank you for your patience…
there’s and unwritten rule with white rice I use. its a 3 times rule. So if I want 3cups of rice I use 1cup raw and same with the water use 3 cups in this example. So if I were to end up with 1.5 cups cooked rice I would divide 3 and use half a cup of raw white rice. it’ll end up being the 1.5 cups in the end. Just saying what I’d do this recipe. I agree I’m going to try the raw lean ground beef and raw rice too.
Followed your directions and the rice turned into mush. It was so bad we threw it in the trash, horrible !
Does raw meat and uncooked rice lengthen the time or still 5 hours?
It will still be about 5 hours.
Thank you!