Cheesy Italian Stuffed Peppers with Mozzarella Recipe (Sip Bite Go)
Cheesy Italian stuffed peppers are like big, juicy meatballs stuffed in red peppers and melted mozzarella cheese. Cooking them will make your kitchen smell like an Italian grandma’s. Serve these Italian stuffed peppers on top of spaghetti, favorite pasta, or cauliflower rice.
Prep Time25 minutesmins
Cook Time35 minutesmins
Resting Time5 minutesmins
Course: Dinner, Main Course, Main Dish
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: authentic italian stuffed peppers, cheesy italian stuffed peppers, cheesy stuffed peppers, Italian stuffed peppers
Preheat oven to 375. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Slice tops off red peppers and hollow out the inside. Dice and reserve any extra red pepper that’s salvageable from the top of the red pepper that’s cut off. Boil red peppers for 3 minutes, then transfer to a strainer and run under cool water to bring to room temperature.
Cook olive oil, onion, and diced red pepper tops in a pan on medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Add ground beef and garlic. Break apart and stir ground beef as it cooks in the mixture for 15 minutes.
Once ground beef is completely cooked, add ½ cup pasta sauce and water to the pan and simmer on low for 5 minutes until liquid dissolves. Add 1 cup of diced mozzarella, stir, and turn off heat.
Add ½ cup pasta sauce to the bottom of an oven safe 9x9 casserole dish. Add red peppers to the casserole dish, fill with cooked ground beef mixture, and top with 1 tbsp of pasta sauce. Add 1-2 slices of mozzarella to the top of each pepper.
Bake Italian stuffed red peppers at 375 for 30-35 minutes, until mozzarella on top is completely melted and starting to bubble. Top with green onion.
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Notes
Stuffed peppers are easy to make ahead and freeze. Cook and assemble them, then thaw the night before baking peppers.
Serve over pasta or cauliflower rice.
Pair with an Italian Chianti.
For cheese, I like to dice a fresh mozzarella log or use mozzarella pearls. Another option is to use shredded mozzarella.
I also love finishing these peppers with a fresh sprinkle of Parmesan cheese using my favorite grater.