Mom's Italian Stuffed Pepper

Mom's Italian Stuffed Peppers are unique to the region she grew up in which was Bari, Italy.

The stuffed consisted of hard-boiled eggs with rice and meat and the perfect marriage of flavors inside the pepper.

The traditional recipes for stuffed peppers didn't include hard-boiled eggs.

Even though you could leave them out of her recipe, there were some slight differences.

No problem, if you were looking for that Traditional Italian Stuffed pepper recipe both of them are listed in recipe cards for you here.

I also included some photos of each.

Whichever way you like them, these are both delicious.

I will give you suggestions and you can adapt to them any way you prefer.

Scroll down to the bottom and print off Mom's recipe and the Traditional Italian Stuffed pepper recipe.

Stuffing Peppers

As you probably have read many recipes on stuffed peppers, everyone has a different style of making them from Region to Region in Italy.


Several kinds of ground meats are used, that's no problem, just switch it out.


I even stuffed mine with leftover meatballs and sausage from making the sauce on Sunday, she would stuff the peppers with leftover meat crushed.


Ground meats of any kind including lamb, pork, or even ground turkey can be used as a substitute for beef.

For seafood lovers, you can even substitute the meat for tuna or ground salmon.

If you're watching carbs, don't add the rice and substitute white or black beans, finely chopped zucchini or cauliflower.

The sauce meat, rice, beans, and vegetables all taste great from the pepper taste.


Again, recipes are a guideline, use it and make it the way you like it.

Basic Ingredients for Italian Stuffed Peppers(scroll down to the recipe cards for two versions and exact measurements)

• 6 to 8 bell peppers
• tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
• ground beef, pork, lamb or ground turkey
• eggs
• Italian style flavored bread crumbs
• grated cheese
• cayenne pepper
• dried oregano
• dried basil
• fennel seed (optional)
• minced garlic
• garlic powder
• diced tomato
•  mom used real cooked white rice but you can use uncooked instant long grain rice
• salt, and pepper to taste
• white or red wine or water
• Garnish with grated cheese
• mozzarella

Get Creative

I love using peppers for a dinner party, especially around the Halloween holiday.


They can easily be carved using orange peppers to look like pumpkins and are perfectly festive for a party.


The green ones and red ones look awesome on the Christmas table, just stuff them and the colors are perfect for the holiday!


I know you may think it's a bit extreme but I love food art and these are so easy, not to mention the kids love them and they make quite a conversation piece at the tables!

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Other Family Favorite Recipes

Amaretto Sweet Potato Casserole
Broccoli and Cheese Casserole
Upstate Utica New York Greens Baked, Fried
Eggplant and Cheesy Casserole

Gourmet and Different Kinds of Stuffed Peppers

Mexican: add meat, rice, refried beans or black, taco sauce, top with cheese, crushed tortilla chips, and avocado
Seafood: add shrimp scallops or crab with white using a white alfredo or red tomato sauce
Vegetarian: black beans or white beans, riced cauliflower, chopped eggplant or zucchini mixed with cashew cheese
Italian Sausage: loose fried sauce, tomato sauce, cooked hashbrowns, mozzarella
Mock Lasagna Peppers: In a bowl add ricotta, 1 egg, cooked ditalini or orzo, use cooked drain meat (or chopped zucchini or eggplant), layer in between with tomato sauce top with parmesan and mozzarella

Making Stuffed Pepper Recipes

Below are the two recipe card versions of traditional and mom's Italian stuffed peppers.


Version 1 is the adaptable 1 if you're going to stuff it with anything other than eggs meat and rice.


If you're not fond of boiled eggs in version 1 then just omit them.


Then you can add anything else you prefer.


I hate to admit it, but no one ever ate the peppers in the family here, they absolutely loved the filling with the cheese, go figure!

Version 1

Mom's Italian Stuffed Peppers

Yield: 8

Author: Claudia Lamascolo

prep time: 10 Mcook time: 1 hourtotal time: 1 H & 10 M

Here are two recipes for stuffed peppers one the way mom made them Bari style with boiled egg, the other are traditional meat and rice stuffed.

ingredients:

• 6 to 8 peppers cleaned see below
• 4 boiled eggs were cleaned and chopped up
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 1/2 pounds raw hamburger or ground turkey
• 1 cup raw rice ( I use minute-long grain rice) (otherwise cook the rice first that's what mom used regular rice)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, and basil
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• small 4 oz can of tomato sauce
• Sauce:
• 1 28 oz can of whole tomatoes put through a food processor with little chunks left or make a homemade meat sauce with ground hamburger into the sauce.
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup of grated pecorino romano cheese
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 2 cloves of whole garlic

instructions:

How to cook Mom's Italian Stuffed Peppers

1. Slice the top of each pepper off with a sharp knife, remove the stem leaving a circle on the top of the pepper, then slice the bottoms so they are flat when standing up ( about a 1/4 of an inch).
2. Scrape the inside using a melon ball scooper or spoon to make it smooth. Save scraps of peppers.
3. Mix the raw meat with chopped eggs, rice, herbs, bread crumbs, and a small can of sauce together.
4. In a medium-size bowl, mix the large can of tomatoes and wine together and pour it around the bottom of the pan.
5. Sprinkle with grating cheese and add any scraps of peppers and whole garlic to the sauce around the pan in the sauce.
6. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes to an hour, if the bottom looks evaporated, add some water to the sauce.. Keep basting the tops with the sauce.
7. Add more cheese if desired to the top when serving.

Calories
289

Fat (grams)
22

Sat. Fat (grams)
11

Carbs (grams)
19

Net carbs
14

Sugar (grams)
9

https://www.whatscookinitalianstylecuisine.com/2011/10/moms-italian-stuffed-pepper.html

boiled egg stuffed peppers, stuffed peppers, Italian stuffed peppers

casseroles, Italian food, pepper recipes, stuffing

Italian

Created using The Recipes Generator

Version 2

Italian Traditional Meat Stuffed Peppers

Yield: 8

Author: Claudia Lamascolo

prep time: 15 Mcook time: 1 hourtotal time: 1 H & 15 M

These are the Traditional style Stuffed Peppers with Ground Meat and Rice with Italian seasoning.

ingredients:

• 6 to 8 bell peppers 
• 28 ounce can of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
• 2 pounds ground beef mixed with pork or use all ground turkey
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup Italian style flavored bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1/4 grated cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed (optional)
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 diced tomato
• 1 cup instant long grain rice
• salt, and pepper to taste
• white wine or water
• Garnish with grated cheese
• mozzarella or fontina cheese shredded

instructions:

How to cook Italian Meat Stuffed Peppers

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large bowl, mix together ground beef or turkey, eggs, diced tomato, bread crumbs, grated cheese, and 1/4 cup tomato sauce, and add rice. Add oregano, basil, garlic powder, and any other seasonings.
3. With a sharp knife halve the peppers or cut the middle core out and leave whole to stuff. Clean, wash, removing seeds.
4. Place in a greased large baking pan. Stuff peppers with meat mixture. Pour some sauce over each one and add wine or water to the bottom of the baking dish around 1/2 cup.
5. Bake covered with foil at 400 until pepper is soft and meat is cooked and around 45 minutes to an hour. Add more water and sauce if starting to dry out. Last top with cheeses on each pepper and cook for around 10 minutes just to melt or broil. Add more sauce and grated cheese on top when serving.

Calories
229

Fat (grams)
23

Sat. Fat (grams)
15

Net carbs
19

Sugar (grams)
4

https://www.whatscookinitalianstylecuisine.com/2011/10/moms-italian-stuffed-pepper.html

Italian meat-stuffed peppers, Italian rice and meat stuffed peppers

vegetable, peppers, stuffing, Italian food

Italian

Created using The Recipes Generator

Pin for later Mom's Italian Stuffed Peppers or Traditional Italian Meat Stuffed Peppers

More Italian Recipes We Love

Homemade Tortellini

Homemade Cavatelli Pasta

Mom's Lasagna

Homemade Orecchiette Pasta

Disclosure: This recipe was originally shared in 2011. It was edited and re-published in 2019.