These were excellent but I did make a few changes. I didn't boil the peppers first and they were cooked perfect after 40 minutes in the oven, 25 minutes covered, 15 minutes uncovered at 400 degrees. Be sure to drizzle your baking dish with olive oil first. I also added 1 can of diced tomatoes, 2 cloves of fresh chopped garlic, chili powder, and oregano for extra flavor. My husband loves cheese so I mixed some in with the meat and sprinkled more on top at the end.
These are really, really good! I just started working at a restaurant and have learned some new things, so I actually tweaked this: (1) Put the dried garlic in the rice water so that the rice is infused with the garlic flavor. (2)Don't boil the peppers, blanch them. This keeps them from getting too discolored when you pre-cook them. (Don't worry, they will still cook sufficiently in the oven.) (3) Add about 1/2 teaspoon coriander and cumin and then add cayenne pepper to taste after you add the tomato sauce. This takes care of other reviewers complaints that there's not enough flavor, but as you cook this, taste it to make sure it is what you want in flavor. ALWAYS TASTE AS YOU GO WHEN YOU COOK !!!!! (4) These really only need about 30 minutes in the oven to get soft too, so don't overdo it. I hope you find these comments helpful! In the immortal words and voice of Julia Child, "Bon Appetit!"
I would advise either adding about a cup of Ketchup...or simply buying about 20 or more ounces of Spagetti sauce and using it instead of the meager amount of Tomato sauce posted in this recipe. Much better taste. Also...when you par-boil something...the meat is already cooked..etc...it does not need to be in the oven for 45 minutes. That's big time over-kill. I baked mine for 20 minutes then added the cheese and melted it for 6 minutes. Keeps the peppers firmer.
We really enjoyed this meal. The first time I did as was written exactly and my husband and 14 year old really liked it. My two younger kids (5 and 2) wouldnt touch it but I really didn't expect them to. I made it again tonite but spiced up the meat mixture a little more with season salt and a good amount of garlic powder. I also used instant brown rice and it worked very well. I also poured a can of tomatoe soup (I mixed water with it as if I were making soup) in the bottom of the pan as it was cooking in the oven and it made for a really tasty sauce. I really enjoyed it this way better and have already added this recipie to my box.
My family loves this recipe. I had never made stuffed peppers before. My husband actually will not eat peppers on/in anything. I decided to try it anyways and everyone loved them. My picky 2yr old loved them and my father raved about how much better they were than my Mom's peppers (forbid!). I've used chopped canned tomatoes tomato sauce and spaghetti sauce. My family seems to prefer the spaghetti sauce overall. I also use both cheddar and mozzarella cheeses. Try this recipe!
Tasting the stuffing before it was baked I knew this was going to be horribly bland. Also I felt there was too much rice. I added cumin chili powder worcestershire sauce and soy sauce and rather than shredding the cheese and using it as a topping I cubed it and mixed it in with the stuffing just before stuffing. They turned out great this way!!!
A friend gave me some bell peppers from her garden and I was looking for a recipe with ingredients I had on hand..these were very tasty and I would make again. I like more sauce so I added chopped tomatoes and tomato sauce to mixture..then I poured a small can of tomato juice over the peppers before placing in the oven.
Adding mushrooms is a great addition that I did & since I usually have medium cheddar cheese on hand. I would like to add a note (someone else may have said this too..I haven't read reviews yet). Making stuffed peppers is a whole lot easier if you set them in muffin/cupcake tins. They don't tip over.
These were great! They are easy to prepare and I had almost all of the ingredients in my pantry already. I chose not to boil the peppers and just bake them longer but some parts were still hard so from now on I will boil the peppers first. Other than that everyone raved! Excellent recipe.
