Enjoy one of my family’s favorite recipes, delicious roasted stuffed peppers, with my own updates – guaranteed to be comforting and filling on a cold evening, but not too heavy!
Original recipe published: 13 Mar 2019. I’m republishing with updated photos.
Favorite family recipes can whisk you away in a heartbeat. And in my case, these stuffed bell peppers, a long time favorite of my family, take me back.
Back to a tiny little kitchen full of spices and spattering sauce and love and undoubtedly several cans too many of tomatoes {although my dad will argue that you can never have too many tomatoes}, to chilly foggy days and fuzzy socks to warm our feet on the cold tile floor, and my mom taking over the kitchen for once to make this family favorite.
Her mother and grandmother made a version of the recipe that she inherited and put her on spin on. I’ll post a link to it when I figure out where they all moved the family online recipe repository – everybody just redid their blogs, so now it’s time to go find everything again. Yes, the whole family blogs. And yes, we all put our own spin on it, and if I can find the recipe, I’ll show you what I changed from the family origina.
Because that’s what happens when you cook. No matter how long you’ve been making things, they eventually evolve into what works best for you.
You want to find peppers for this recipe that are fairly evenly shaped, so that they can stand up in the pan, and you want to pack them in closely enough that they’ll support each other if they start to slump a little as they roast.
And you can use any color bell pepper, but I really like to use the orange and yellow ones. They just look so bright and cheerful on the plate.
I’ve updated a few things in this post since the last time you all saw it. I changed up my filling, so now instead of beef and rice and other odds and ends, you’ll make a really simple risotto and add in some browned Italian sausage. The spices lean much more toward the Italian spices I grew up, and are subtler, the tomato sauce is mixed into the filling instead of layered on top, and there’s still plenty of happy and delicious goat cheese!
Because of those updates, and the photos desperately needing a refresh, I decided to republish this post and not simply swap out the photos and change the recipe format – which I’ve been quietly doing for a number of recipes around here!
I hope you enjoy these as much if not more than the originals!
[lt_recipe name=”Roasted Stuffed Peppers” summary=”Enjoy one of my family’s favorite recipes, delicious roasted stuffed peppers, with my own updates – guaranteed to be comforting and filling on a cold evening, but not too heavy!” servings=”4″ total_time=”1H” print=”yes” image=”https://homefrontcooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Stuffed-Peppers-1440-1024×683.jpg” ingredients=”4 large bell peppers;4 cups boiling water;2/3 lb ground Italian sausage;4 strips bacon, cooked and chopped;1 tbsp Italian seasoning;3 tbsp olive oil;1/2 yellow onion, chopped;4 cloves garlic, minced;salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste;2 cups arborio rice;3 cups chicken stock;1 cup tomato sauce;6 tbsp goat cheese, crumbled” ]Preheat your oven to 350F.;Place a large stock pot with 4 cups of water on the stove and bring to a boil.;Cut the tops off and core your peppers, removing all the seeds from inside. Place the peppers in the boiling water for about 5 minutes, then remove to drain.;In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat until it shimmers. Then saute the onions and garlic until the onions are translucent and the garlic is fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.;Add the arborio rice and the chicken stock, and let simmer until the rice is tender and cooked into a nice risotto. Add additional water to cook the arborio rice if it absorbs all the stock and still needs cooking.;In a large skillet, brown the sausage thoroughly, about 7-10 minutes. Add the chopped bacon and Italian seasoning and mix until well combined and warmed through.;Mix the sausage in with the risotto until thoroughly mixed. Add the tomato sauce and mix until combined. Remove from heat.;Place the peppers in a baking pan or cake pan. Fill the peppers with the sausage and risotto mixture, using a spoon to pack in the mixture. Season to taste.;Bake the peppers for 25-30 minutes or until tender. Crumble the goat cheese over each pepper and bake an additional 5 minutes.;Serve and enjoy![/lt_recipe]
Just so you know, this recipe makes a ton of filling, and you will have extra. Save for some additional stuffed peppers, or you can also use it as a filling for Dolmathes {Greek stuffed grape leaves – another family favorite} or even burritos!
Subtly different, but still a delicious taste of home – and a delicious taste regardless!
What recipes take you home?
