Stuffed Pepper Soup is made with a variety of fresh ingredients including ground beef, fresh vegetables, and rice. It’s deliciously comforting and perfect for enjoying on a chilly night in!
Stay warm this winter with more hearty soup recipes like Instant Pot Vegetable Beef Soup or Italian Wedding Soup.
Essentially, this recipe is a deconstructed stuffed pepper that’s served in soup form. Now you can have all of the summer flavors of stuffed peppers in a comforting bowl of soup that’s perfect for chilly evenings!
As a bonus, everything cooks in the same one pot, so there are fewer dishes to wash after the meal. We can always appreciate one pot meals… because who wants to do the dishes all night?! Enjoy the night of sharing a wonderful meal with the family instead or make a double batch for a gathering of friends.
This soup is also known as “unstuffed pepper soup.” Instead of stuffing the bell peppers with the ground beef and rice mixture, the bell peppers are IN the soup along with other ingredients. It’s a lot less work but all the same great flavors we know and love.
Ingredient Notes
Ground Beef – You can use lean ground beef like 90/10, but it tends to be chewier due to the lack of fat. I prefer to use 85/15 or even 80/20 ground beef for juicier and tastier beef. You can also substitute ground turkey for a leaner version of this recipe.
Bell Peppers – Feel free to use whichever color you prefer. Using a mix of different ones can add a fun variety of colors to this bell pepper soup.
Tomato – Use a can of fire roasted or garlic diced tomatoes to save time and add an extra depth of flavor.
Beef Broth – Although beef broth is preferred for deeper flavor, you can substitute vegetable broth if needed.
Rice – I prefer to use jasmine rice, but any long grain rice, basmati, or brown rice will work just as well. Just keep an eye on the soup as some will take longer to cook than others.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
Which Bell Pepper To Choose
All bell peppers are good sources of nutrients like potassium, fiber, folic acid, and vitamins A and C. Although, the are not all the same.
The longer a bell pepper sits on the vine, the richer in nutrients it becomes. As a result, red bell peppers are the healthiest, with orange peppers right behind them. Yellow and green bell peppers have the fewest nutrients.
In fact, red bell peppers have almost 11 times more beta-carotene than green ones!
How to Make Stuffed Peppers Soup
Prepare. This is great to do before you get started. That way, everything is ready to go! Dice all of the vegetables and set the aside.
Sauté the vegetables. Preheat a Dutch oven (or other large pot) over medium heat and add olive oil. Add the diced onions and bell peppers and cook until they begin to soften (1). Mix in diced tomato and cook for a few more minutes (2).
Cook the ground beef. Move the vegetables over to the sides and add ground beef to the middle of the pot (3). Break it apart, cover the pot with a lid, and cook for a few minutes. After a few minutes, break up the meat some more and start mixing it with veggies. Close the lid and keep cooking until the beef is mostly done. Make sure to break up as many clumps as you can.
Add the liquid. Mix in tomato paste, then pour in beef stock (4).
Season and cook. Season with oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, (5) mix well and lower the heat to low. Close the lid but leave a small crack for the heat to escape. Cook for about 20 minutes.
Add rice. Mix in rice (6), close the lid back up and cook until rice is done (7).
PRO TIP: If you know you’ll have leftovers, cook the rice separately instead and add it to the soup as needed. Otherwise, the rice will continue to absorb the liquid from the soup and the texture may become too mushy.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, technically you can make this soup in a Crockpot. I do want to note that is is a fast soup made with ground beef, which is a soft meat, so there’s no reason to make it in a slow cooker. You will also have much more flavor making it in a pot rather than slow cooker.
If you do want to make it in a slow cooker, cook the veggies and the beef on the stove in a pan or a pot first. Follow the instruction of cooking veggies and beef in the recipe and when beef is just about done, transfer everything to the slow cooker. Mix in tomato taste, beef stock, and season with oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mix well, close the lid, and cook on LOW for 6 hours. You can add the rice during the last 2 or so and cook until rice is just tender. Or, you can cook rice separately and add rice to each bowl as you serve.
Absolutely, you can always add extra veggies that are already in the soup or add some other vegetables. Some good veggies to add are mushrooms, leeks, kale, carrots, green beans, and corn.
Absolutely! You can definitely use lean ground turkey meat instead of ground beef. Try not to use “extra lean” ground turkey because it will be too dry.
Breads are always some of my favorite sides for soup! I love Cheesy Dinner Rolls, Potato Rolls and Buttermilk Biscuits. Buttermilk Cornbread is another good one.
If you wanted to go on the lighter side, you could always try my favorite Bacon and Brussels Sprout Salad or Roasted Mushrooms. French Onion Green Beans are another favorite!
Storing, Reheating, and Freezing Instructions
Storage – Store the stuffed pepper soup and rice in separate airtight containers and keep in the refrigerator. Both will last up to 4 days before the texture starts to change.
Reheating – Simmer the soup on the stove or heat in the microwave until warmed through. Then, mix in fresh rice or add cooked rice towards the end of reheating to warm it at the same time.
Freezing – Again, store the unstuffed pepper soup without the rice for best consistency. Freeze in a zip-top bag or sealed container for up to 3 months, then thaw in the refrigerator before reheating. It may help to store the soup in individual portions so you can thaw just what you need.
More Comforting Recipes To Try
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Stuffed Pepper Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion
- 1 green or red bell pepper*
- 1 yellow bell pepper*
- 1 large tomato
- 1 lb ground beef 85/15 recommended
- 3 cups beef stock
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4-1/2 tsp black pepper
- salt
- 3/4 cup Jasmine rice**
Instructions
- Dice all the vegetables first and set the aside.
- Preheat a Dutch oven over medium heat and add olive oil.
- Add diced onions and bell peppers and cook until they start to soften. Mix it diced tomato and cook for a few more minutes.
- Move vegetables over to the sides and add ground beef to the center of the pan. Break it apart, cover the pot with a lid, and cook for a few minutes. After a few minutes, break up the meat some more and start mixing it with veggies. Close the lid and keep cooking until the beef is mostly done. Make sure to break up as many clumps as you can.
- Mix in tomato taste and then, pour in beef stock.
- Season with oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, mix well and lower the heat to low. Close the lid but leave a small crack for the heat to escape. Cook for about 20 minutes.
- Mix in rice, close the lid back up and cook until rice is done.
- Serve right away.
Alternate option:
- If you don't plan to eat all of the soup right away, you can cook rice separately and add some to individual soup servings. Cook the rice in salted water according to the package instructions and add it to each bowl of soup as needed.
- Store cooked rice separately from the soup. Make sure to keep it refrigerated in an air-tight food storage container.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in January, 2014.
Rachel says
Tried this recipe after seeing it on the Car Mom’s instagram page. Truly a HIT. My kids and husband loved it. Tasted even better as second day leftovers which means it’s a winner!!
LyubaB says
I am so glad you liked it, Rachel!
Kaylyn says
Can I use fresh basil for this recipe?
Karen says
This is my boyfriend’s favorite thing I make. Its easy and the leftovers are just as good.
LyubaB says
I am so glad he likes it, Karen!