Classic stuffed peppers without the fuss! This dump-and-bake stuffed bell pepper casserole is a hearty, family-friendly meal that comes together with minimal effort. Just stir everything in one dish, let the oven do the work, and dinner is ready!
This meal is cozy, budget-friendly, and flexible. You can swap out the meat, change up the veggies, or use whatever cheese you’ve got in the fridge. It’s the kind of dish that makes everyone happy around the table.
Table of Contents
Before You Get Started
Here are a few things to keep in mind before you dive in:
- Pick your protein: Ground beef is classic, but turkey, chicken, or Italian sausage all work well.
- Choose your rice wisely: This recipe is specifically designed for long-grain white rice. Don’t sub with another variety of rice (such as brown rice, wild rice, or instant rice) or you’ll need to adjust the amount of liquid and the cooking time.
- Bell peppers add color and flavor: Red and yellow are sweet, while green peppers give a slightly sharper bite.
- Flavor boosters: A little soy sauce and sugar balance the acidity in the tomatoes and give the dish a deeper flavor.
** Tip: Drain the meat really well after browning so the casserole doesn’t turn greasy.
Step-by-Step: How to Make Stuffed Bell Pepper Casserole
Think of this as your shortcut version of grandma’s stuffed peppers. Here’s how I like to make it:
Step 1: Brown the Meat
Cook the ground beef in a skillet until no longer pink, then drain the excess grease. Browning it first locks in flavor and keeps the casserole from getting oily.
** Tip: If you’d like to keep this meal truly dump-and-bake, see my notes below to skip the browning step and cook the meat straight in the casserole dish with the rice and veggies.
Step 2: Mix Liquids, Rice, and Veggies
In your baking dish, whisk together the broth, tomato sauce, garlic, soy sauce, Italian seasoning, sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir in the uncooked rice, onion, bell peppers, and drained tomatoes. Everything bakes together right in the dish, no need for extra pots.
Step 3: Bake Covered
Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 50 to 55 minutes. At this point the rice should be mostly tender but still a little firm. Check early if you know your oven tends to run hot.
** Tip: Don’t be tempted to keep baking until the rice is completely soft at this stage. It will finish cooking when you stir in the meat and cheese.
Step 4: Add Cheese and Finish Baking
Stir the browned beef into the rice and veggie mixture, then sprinkle the cheese evenly over top.
Return to the oven uncovered for about 5 to 10 minutes, just until the cheese melts and the rice is perfectly tender.
Let the casserole rest for a few minutes before serving so everything sets up nicely. Garnish with fresh herbs if you’d like.
Serving Ideas
Pair this stuffed pepper casserole recipe with a simple green salad dressed in a tangy Dijon vinaigrette, a loaf of crusty Dutch oven bread, a skillet of cornbread, or a basket of 2-ingredient pumpkin muffins with cake mix.
Variations and Customizations
- Starting with Raw Ground Beef: for a truly dump-and-bake dinner, you can skip the step of browning the meat in the skillet and instead add it straight to the dish with the uncooked rice. To do so, make sure that you’re using extra-lean ground beef (so that it doesn’t make the casserole too greasy). Break up the meat into small pieces with your fingers as you spread it evenly around the pan. The meat will be cooked through by the time the rice and veggies are tender.
- Shortcut: start with cooked sausage crumbles to avoid the browning step. Good options include this Italian version from Walmart or these Jimmy Dean fully cooked pork sausage crumbles.
- Meatless: skip the beef and use black beans or lentils.
- Different cheese: sharp cheddar, mozzarella cheese, Monterey Jack, Colby Jack, cheddar Jack, or smoked gouda all lend a slightly different flavor.
- More twists: try this stuffed pepper soup recipe and these ground turkey stuffed peppers, too.
Preparation and Storage Tips
- Prep Ahead: you can brown the ground beef in advance and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. You can also assemble the casserole a few hours in advance, or even leave it covered in the refrigerator overnight before baking. The rice will start to soften and absorb some of the liquid as it sits, so you may need to decrease the baking time slightly.
- How to Store: leftovers will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days. I don’t recommend freezing the leftovers, since the rice and veggies have a mushy texture when thawed.
- How to Reheat: cover and reheat leftovers in a 350°F oven for 20-25 minutes, or until warmed through. You can also reheat individual portions in a microwave for about 1 minute.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why did my rice turn out mushy? Usually this happens if the casserole bakes too long or has too much liquid. Check the rice early and adjust if needed.
- Can I use brown rice? I don’t recommend using any variety other than long grain white rice. Other varieties (like brown rice) require different cooking times and liquid ratios.
- Do I need to cover the casserole? Yes, keeping it covered traps steam and ensures the rice cooks evenly.
- Can I make this vegetarian? Absolutely. Swap the beef for beans or lentils and use vegetable broth instead of beef broth.
I made this delicious recipe tonight and what a keeper I will make it again. My hubby ate not one but three plates.
– Debbie
He has never done that before. I wouldn’t change a thing in this recipe.
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Watch How to Make It
Stuffed Bell Pepper Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef (or sub with Italian sausage, ground turkey, or ground chicken)
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
- 1 small yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
- 2 medium sweet bell peppers (any color), seeded and diced
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese or Colby-Jack cheese
- Optional garnish: chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, thyme, or basil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat until no longer pink. Drain off the excess grease. Set aside.
- In the prepared dish, whisk together the broth, tomato sauce, garlic, soy sauce, Italian seasoning, sugar, salt, and pepper.
- Stir in the uncooked rice, onion, bell peppers, and tomatoes.
- Cover tightly with foil and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the rice is almost done, but still a little bit firm. Be careful that you don’t overcook the rice or it will become mushy. Use a fork to fluff the rice. Gently stir in the ground beef. Sprinkle the cheese on top.
- Return to the oven, uncovered, just until the cheese melts and the rice is perfectly tender, about 5-10 minutes.
- Garnish with chopped fresh herbs if desired and serve immediately.
Notes
- Starting with Raw Ground Beef: for a truly dump-and-bake dinner, you can skip the step of browning the meat in the skillet and instead add it straight to the dish with the uncooked rice. To do so, make sure that you’re using extra-lean ground beef (so that it doesn’t make the casserole too greasy). Break up the meat into small pieces with your fingers as you spread it evenly around the pan. The meat will be cooked through by the time the rice and veggies are tender.
- Shortcut: start with cooked sausage crumbles to avoid the browning step. Good options include this Italian version from Walmart or these Jimmy Dean fully cooked pork sausage crumbles.
Nutrition
So good! It helped me use up some leftovers in the fridge. I only had Italian sausage and chicken broth, and they worked beautifully…
– Kristin
More Easy Ground Beef Casseroles
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1 hour hr 30 minutes mins
Johnny Marzetti
1 hour hr 10 minutes mins
Originally published in June, 2018, this post was updated in September, 2025.
I have been reading that people’s dishes have come out soupy, and I am worried about the same. Did you wash your rice before using?
Hi, Rita! No, I don’t rinse the rice. As long as you bake it long enough for the rice to be tender, it should absorb the liquid and you shouldn’t have a soupy dish. 🙂
How do I tell if the meat is done?
Hi, Allison! The meat will no longer be pink when it’s done. Enjoy!
How do I tell if everything is red? It is very hard to tell. I would recommend browning the meat beforehand
You can tell, even with the tomatoes and peppers. Browning beforehand and then putting in the oven may overcook the meat if you aren’t careful. You also want the juice for the casserole. If you cook the dish as per the instructions, you should be fine. Good luck!
Made this today, a bit soupy as I used the wrong rice. Added more rice when taking out the first time, increased heat to 425 and cooked 10 minutes. Took out again, added cheese and let sit once it came out of oven to set. Excellent!
anyone made this with slicing the peppers in 1/2 and lining the casserole and spreading the rest of the mixture over the peppers? Want to make this more like a stuffed pepper dish.
Hi, Linda! If you want to try a similar recipe in the more traditional stuffed peppers dish, here’s a recipe that we really like: https://www.theseasonedmom.com/stuffed-green-peppers/
Hope that helps!
So good! It helped me use up some leftovers in the fridge. I only had Italian sausage and chicken broth, and they worked beautifully. I used one red and one yellow pepper since my family loves them.
Yum ! Once again an amazing Dump n Bake recipe !
I cut 2 Lg red peppers into chunks to be a bit more filling .
Used Uncle Bens Original Conv 20 min LGR & 1 1/2c of broth
Cut out the Seasoning & used fresh herbs
After the 35 mins Broke up Beef & Stirred. Rice was almost done at this point! Left uncovered & baked the additional time to boil off the liquid
So Good
Ps As a time saver Use the jarred minced garlic It is delish & full of flavour & aroma
Thanks, Catharine! I’m so glad that you’ve found another winner. I agree — the jarred minced garlic is a huge time saver. It’s always in my fridge. 🙂
Has anyone tried this with quinoa instead of rice? And, what was the cooking time?
Hi, Alyce! I haven’t tried it with quinoa, so I don’t know exactly how it would work. The cooking time for quinoa is about the same as long-grain white rice, so I think it would translate well. I’m just not sure if quinoa absorbs as much liquid as the rice does.
Hi! My bell peppers are all the bagged frozen kind – how would you incorporate that?
Hi, Kat! I’ve never tried this with the frozen peppers, but in my recollection those peppers are just really soft. You should still be able to use them, though. I would use about 1 cup of the frozen peppers, and you shouldn’t even need to thaw them first (unless they’re in very large chunks). Hope you enjoy!
I absolutely love this recipe. Have made it several times. I need to make something for a vegetarian. Do you think I could use soy crumbles as substitute for ground meat? Or should I stick to beans?
Hi, Kathi! I’m not familiar with soy crumbles, so I honestly have no idea how those would work. It’s my understanding that they can serve as a good substitute for ground beef, so I would give them a try!
Could this be a crock pot casserole? If so, low for 8 hours??
Yes, I think that would work! With the slow cooker, it’s harder to make sure that your rice is cooked properly, though. I don’t know what the exact timing would be for long grain rice in the Crock Pot. You might want to check other recipes to get a better gauge, because overdone rice will be mushy and gummy…you definitely want to avoid that.
Hi Blair and Kathi – I made this last night with soy crumbles instead of ground beef as that’s what I had on hand. It worked great! I usually add beef bouillon powder to punch up the beef flavour but as the recipe uses beef stock it was fine.
Hi, Bella! I’m not sure why it would have been watery. The recipe just calls for 2 cups of broth, not 8. I know that you only used 1.5. Did you use long grain rice, rather than instant rice or Minute Rice or something else? Was the rice tender (so that it had absorbed a lot of liquid) and finished cooking? Maybe it just needed a bit more time in the oven. It should have some extra liquid in the dish to make a “sauce” for the casserole, but it shouldn’t turn out watery and pure liquid. I’m sorry that it didn’t work for you.
How do you bake once the dish is frozen?
Hi, Ashley! If you freeze the dish before baking it, I recommend baking directly from the freezer (just make sure that it’s in a freezer-to-oven-safe dish). In general, casseroles that start frozen will need about twice as long in the oven. You’ll just need to keep an eye on it, though…it might be a little longer, or it might be a little less.
If you freeze the casserole after it’s baked, I would let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Then let the dish come to room temperature on the counter for 30-60 minutes before reheating, covered, in a 350 degree oven until warmed through. Hope that helps, and enjoy!
This recipe was a life saver in addition to being delicious! I was looking for an deconstructed stuffed pepper recipe, that didn’t involve standing at the stove and sautéing everything in a skillet. I used a small roasting pan, instead of the 9×9 pan. I forgot to drain the tomatoes so I thought it was going to be too soupy but I removed the cover from the roasting pan half way through the cooking time and it turned out perfectly. My only other addition was to add some hot sauce when I served it but I add hot sauce to EVERYTHING.
Thank you, Marg!! So glad that you enjoyed it!
Have had this twice now. The second time I mixed 1/4 lb. sausage with the 1/4 lb. ground beef. My husband I love this recipe..
YUM! Sounds delicious. Thanks, Toni!
Hi, Denise! It sounds like maybe the rice didn’t cook through enough to absorb the liquid. You want there to be some “sauce” at the end, but it shouldn’t be watery when the rice absorbs a lot of the liquid and releases starches in the pan. Was it tender and done?
This was very good!! Will be adding it to the rotation. Thank you so much for sharing it! I read the reviews and think I adjusted accordingly. Just sharing in case in helps someone. I doubled the recipe and used parboiled brown rice. I did forget to drain the diced tomatoes. Whoops! I used 1 can of Rotel instead of regular for one of the cans of tomatoes. I only used 2 cups beef broth. I used frozen bell peppers. Probably 2.5 cups. Baked covered at 400 for 45 min. Still very soupy so I stirred lightly and then baked for 15 more minutes uncovered. Then stirred very well and baked for another 15 minutes uncovered .It had thickened up nicely at that point. Then I poured the cheese on and broiled for 5 minutes. Let it set for 10 minutes and it was a great consistency! Thanks again!!!
Thank you for your feedback, Madison! We’re so glad you enjoyed it.