Posted August 30, 2023 by: Admin #Kitchen

With tender ground beef, perfectly cooked rice, bell peppers, and a tomato base, this delicious chunky Stuffed Pepper Soup is the result of transforming traditional stuffed peppers into a soup! It’s a simple one-pot recipe that is perfect for any cold winter night.

• If you’ve browsed my collection of recipes, then it’s no surprise that I’m a big fan of stuffed bell peppers. Being from Eastern Europe, I had them often as a kid and for good reason, they are amazing! So over the years, I’ve made a lot of recipes that have been inspired by my love of them from my Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers to my Deconstructed Stuffed Pepper Casserole.

Yet, this recipe is pretty much just a take on classic Stuffed Peppers that have been turned into soup form! It’s got a super flavorful tomato beef broth with lots of chunky vegetables, tender rice, and savory beef with a sprinkle of freshly grated salty Parmesan cheese to finish.

I like to think of this easy Stuffed Pepper Soup recipe as the lazy way to enjoy stuffed peppers without actually making them. You get all the same amazing flavors with a little less work in under an hour!

Why You’ll Love This Stuffed Pepper Soup

• Simple Recipe! This easy one-pot recipe only requires very basic ingredients and is ready in under an hour with very little cleanup.
• Healthy Stuffed Peppers! Made with fresh vegetables, rice, and protein this soup is not only tasty but a wholesome complete meal in a bowl.
• Make Ahead Meal! Stuffed pepper soup is even better the next day, which means it’s a fantastic recipe that you can make ahead of time to store in the fridge or freezer.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Olive Oil – I like to use olive oil for its flavor, but you can use any type of vegetable oil you like to sauté the veggies.
• Butter – Always use unsalted butter to control the amount of added salt.
• Ground Beef – You’ll need ground beef for this recipe. You can use regular or extra lean if you like. Feel free to substitute ground chicken or ground turkey for a healthier alternative.
• Mirepoix – It’s basically a French culinary term that refers to a mixture of celery, carrots, and onions. I always use brown or yellow onion for the most flavor.
• Bell Peppers – You’ll need a green bell pepper and a red bell pepper for the soup. You can also use yellow peppers too.
• Garlic – Freshly minced garlic adds the best flavor.
• Tomato Paste – It’s mixed with the beef broth to make the base of the soup. Double the amount of canned tomato sauce also works if you don’t have any tomato paste on hand.
• Rice – I like to use uncooked long grain rice and find that it works the best.
• Diced Tomatoes – Any kind will do, but I like to use San Marzano canned tomatoes for lots of great flavor.
• Herbs – Dried oregano and dried basil add a bit of herby flavor to the soup.
• Seasoning – Salt and pepper are used as seasonings.
• Beef Bouillon – Adds depth to the broth and an extra touch of salt.
• Beef Broth – I use low sodium broth to control the level of added salt. Chicken broth will also work.
• Parmesan Cheese – Freshly grated Parmesan cheese is used to give the soup a lovely savory finish. Cheddar is a good option as well.

How To Make Stuffed Pepper Soup

I love making soup and it’s so easy to do! This simple recipe has just 4 steps, takes very little effort, and the leftovers are even better the next day!

Brown The Beef

To start, you’ll need to brown your beef well, which creates a lot of flavor. Add the olive oil and butter to a large Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Then once the butter is melted, add the ground beef and cook it for about 3 to 5 minutes or until the meat is browned. It’s also important that you break the meat up as it cooks. If your ground beef was too fatty and there’s too much fat in your pot, feel free to drain the fat.

Sauté The Veggies

Next, add the veggies, which is your onions, carrots, celery and bell peppers to the pot. Then cook it with the beef for another 3 minutes or until the onions are soft. Now, add the garlic and cook everything for one last 30 seconds until it’s aromatic.

Add The Rice And Broth To Cook

Mix the tomato paste and rice together with the sautéed veggies. Then add the oregano, basil, salt, black pepper, and beef bouillon to the pot along with the beef broth, diced tomatoes and stir to combine. Now, bring the soup to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes while stirring occasionally.

Finish The Soup

After cooking for 30 minutes the rice should be done. Taste for salt and season if needed. But if it’s not quite done, you’ll need to cook the soup for a bit more and add more broth or water as needed.

Serve And Enjoy

To serve, ladle some of the stuffed pepper soup into your favorite bowls and top it with some grated Parmesan cheese. You can also garnish with chopped fresh parsley or some red pepper flakes for spice if you like. I like to serve my stuffed pepper soup with some fresh Air Fryer No Knead Bread to sop up all the delicious broth.

Can I Use Brown Rice?

Yes! But it’s going to take the brown rice longer to cook, which means you’ll need to check it and add more broth as needed.

Can I Use Other Type Of Ground Meat?

Yes, of course! You can use ground turkey, ground chicken, ground pork, Italian sausage removed from the casing, or a combination of all of them. What type of ground meat you use in this stuffed bell pepper soup is totally up to you.

Expert Tips

• Brown the meat well. Make sure you cook the meat well and break it up as it cooks so that it browns evenly. This will lead to a more flavorful soup with a better texture too.
• Season at the very end. Soup reduces as it simmers. If you add extra salt too early on in the cooking process there is a good chance you will end up with oversalted soup.
• Make it plant based. First, omit the butter and Parmesan cheese. Then replace the meat with a vegan ground beef option or lentils and use vegetable broth. All the remaining ingredients are already plant based.

Storage

Leftover stuffed pepper soup will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months in an airtight container. To reheat, simply microwave it for a few minutes on medium power or reheat it in a saucepan on the stove. If frozen, you can thaw it overnight in the fridge or reheat it from frozen in the microwave or on the stovetop.