Valentina Ablaev
Homemade stuffed mini peppers are the perfect comfort meal to make from scratch. Tender peppers stuffed with a juicy meat-and-rice filling, baked to perfection in a homemade sauce. If you love classic stuffed peppers, you’ll love this stuffed mini peppers recipe. The bite-sized peppers cook faster, are easier to serve, and are perfect for family dinners, potlucks, and even meal prep.
What Are Stuffed Mini Peppers?
Stuffed mini peppers are a mini version of classic stuffed bell peppers. Instead of large peppers, sweet mini bell peppers are filled with a flavorful mixture of meat, rice, vegetables, and seasonings. Because mini peppers are smaller, they cook faster and make the perfect bite-sized appetizer, side dish, or main meal. Both are made with a delicious meat-and-rice filling, a filling well known in classic cabbage rolls.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Meal prep friendly. These mini peppers are great to prepare ahead of time and enjoy as a quick and easy meal throughout the week.
- Perfect for potlucks. Mini peppers will serve a large crowd and are perfect for potlucks and parties.
- Flavorful. These peppers are packed with a flavorful meat filling, and that sauce takes everything to the next level.
Ingredients for Stuffed Mini Peppers
This stuffed mini peppers recipe uses simple ingredients that you may already have on hand:
- Peppers – Mini sweet peppers are typically served in a bag in a variety of red, orange, and yellow peppers.
- Rice – White rice is the key to bulk up the filling.
- Veggies – Cooked onions and carrots add great flavor to the meat and rice filling.
- Meat – This recipe uses a blend of ground chicken and ground pork.
What meats can be used? We love a blend of chicken and pork, but you can also add beef or ground lamb. - Seasoning – A combo of salt, black pepper, and fresh dill for the perfect flavor boost.
- Sauce – A classic stuffed pepper sauce made with ketchup, sour cream, butter, broth, heavy cream, and seasoning.
See the recipe card below for a complete list of ingredients and quantities.
Choosing the Best Sweet Mini Peppers
When making stuffed mini peppers, look for peppers that are:
- Firm and brightly colored – Bright peppers taste better and have more flavor.
- Similar in size, so they cook evenly – This is key for the best result.
- Large enough to easily stuff – You don’t want to use tiny peppers that will fit no filling.
Best Tools to Make Stuffed Mini Peppers
Shop all of Valentina’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and kitchen must-haves!
You can use a regular Dutch oven or an oval dutch oven. Even a 9×13-inch casserole baking dish will work just fine.
Substitutions and Variations
These stuffed peppers are great for customization and making the flavors your own! Here are some delicious upgrades that take these mini peppers to the next level:
- Cheese it up: Top these peppers with mozzarella cheese and bake until melted. The result is a cheesy and delicious comfort meal you will love!
- Ground beef: These stuffed peppers taste incredible when made with ground beef!
- Low-carb version: Make these peppers healthier by swapping out the rice for cauliflower rice! A delicious and low-calorie variation.
How to Make Stuffed Mini Peppers
- Cook rice. Rinse and cook the rice for 12 minutes (not all the way). Rinse the rice in cold water to stop the cooking process and set it aside.
- Sauté veggies. In a pan, saute onion and carrots in butter until softened. Set the veggies aside to cool.
- Make meat filling. In a large bowl, mix the rice, veggies, and filling ingredients.
- Stuff peppers. Trim the tops of the peppers and clean out the insides. Stuff each mini pepper to the top and arrange in a casserole dish.
- Make sauce. In a saucepan, whisk together ketchup, sour cream, and butter, and bring to a soft boil. Whisk in the broth, heavy cream, and seasoning. Pour the sauce over the peppers and cover with foil.
- Bake. Bake the peppers at 400°F for 40-50 minutes or until cooked through and tender.
Expert Tips:
- Prepare the peppers. Trim the tops off the peppers and clean out the insides so they are hollow. Remove all the seeds, ribs, and membranes.
- Don’t overcook the rice. Some recipes call for uncooked rice, but we find that the best results come from rice that is softened but not fully cooked. This allows the rice to cook fully in the peppers without becoming mushy.
Serving Suggestions
- Side salad: A creamy cucumber-dill salad is the perfect, crunchy, and refreshing side to enjoy with mini peppers.
- Veggies: A side of sauteed vegetables is the perfect way to complete this meal.
- Bread:
FAQs
Peppers stuffed with meat freeze well for a make-ahead meal. If stored properly, they can be kept for up to 3 months.
Assemble stuffed peppers a day ahead, then store them, covered, in the refrigerator before baking. If storing uncooked food in the fridge, make sure the sauce is cooled before pouring it over the peppers.
Mini peppers bake in 40–50 minutes at 400°F.
Ground pork, chicken, turkey, or beef all work perfectly in this stuffed mini peppers recipe.
Store & Reheat
- Storage. Mini peppers make the best leftovers! Store in an airtight container and in the fridge for up to 3 days for peak freshness!
- Reheat. Warm up the peppers in a pan or in the oven until warmed through. Serve with sour cream and fresh dill and enjoy!
- Freeze. Mini stuffed peppers make the best freezer meal! Allow the baked peppers to cool to room temperature before adding to a freezer-safe container (preferably one you can bake them in after). Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat: Cover the peppers in foil and bake at 350°F for 20-30 minutes or until warmed through.
More Comfort Recipes
If you enjoyed this mini stuffed pepper recipe, be sure to try our other comforting recipes; here are some of our favorites:
Grains and Pasta- Grains and Pasta
- Grains and Pasta
- Casseroles
- Casseroles
- Grains and Pasta
If you tried this stuffed mini peppers recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below – we appreciate it!
Stuffed Mini Peppers (Stuffed Peppers Filling)
Ingredients
- 3 lbs mini bell peppers
- 1/2 cup uncooked rice rinsed
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter divided
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 large carrot shredded
- 3/4 lb ground pork
- 1/2 lb ground chicken
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 Tbsp dill chopped
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp Vegeta or your favorite seasoning
Sauce –
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 3 Tbsp sour cream
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1½ cups chicken broth
- 3 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Trim off the tops of the mini peppers and clean out the insides.
- Boil the rice for 12 minutes and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Heat a pan and add 2 tbsp of butter. Once the butter is melted, add the onion and saute until softened.
- In the same pan, add the grated carrot and the remaining butter, and sauté until the carrots are tender. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- In a large bowl, combine the rice, vegetable mixture, pork, chicken, garlic, mayo, dill, and seasoning. Mix until everything is well incorporated.
- Stuff every pepper with the filling and arrange in a casserole dish.
- In a saucepan, whisk together ketchup, sour cream, and butter, and bring to a soft boil.
- Whisk in the chicken broth, cream, salt, and pepper.
- Pour the sauce over the peppers and cover with foil.
- Bake at 400°F for 40-50 minutes, or until the peppers are tender and cooked through.
- Serve the stuffed peppers with sour cream and fresh dill.
Notes
- Don’t overcook the rice. While some recipes call for uncooked rice, we’ve found the best results come from rice that’s partially cooked but still slightly firm. This allows it to finish cooking inside the peppers without turning mushy.
- Taste the filling. Before stuffing the peppers, cook a small spoonful of the meat mixture in a pan and taste it. This helps you check the seasoning and adjust if needed so the final dish is perfectly flavored.
- Storage. Leftover mini stuffed peppers store well! Keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Reheat. Warm the peppers in a skillet or in the oven until heated through. Serve with sour cream and fresh dill if desired.
- Freeze. Mini stuffed peppers freeze well. Let the cooked peppers cool completely, then transfer them to a freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat, cover with foil and bake at 350°F for 20–30 minutes, or until heated through.
