My Crock-Pot Stuffed Peppers

Crock-Pot Stuffed Peppers
By: Corey Pauley (You may use this recipe for your own personal use; in no way may you re-use for your own personal gain, Thank-You I am sharing because I love to help other Mom's for easy day meal.)

• 4- Green Peppers or Red Peppers your choice or bit of both *tops carved and cleaned out
• 1-Yellow Onion 1/2 for the sauce (chopped) & 1/2 for the stuffing of pepper (minced)
• 1/2 - Green Pepper for sauce chopped ruffly 
• 1-2 -Cloves of Garlic -pressed with the side for knife & chopped up.
• *you can omit the next 5 ingredients if you are not making your own sauce & use your store bought sauce*
• 1- can of Chopped Tomatoes
• 1- can of Chopped Tomatoes Italian Style
• 1- small can of Tomato Sauce
• 1- small can of Tomato Paste
• 2-3 Tbsp of Olive Oil
• 1- bag of ready-boil rice *I'm terrible at making rice-so these instant cook bags work so well
• 1lb - of lean Hamburger
• 1/3-1/2 cup of Italian Style Bread crumbs
• On a guess because I've made this recipe so many times the following are 1tsp to 1 &1/2 tsp of garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, salt, parsley, Italian seasoning. (which you will do twice in this recipe if you are making your own sauce.)

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Prepped Bell Peppers

So from the beginning Prep your peppers by removing the tops and the inside webbing/ seeds. (see my pic)  Then begin to prep for your sauce, & filling.

Saute the mixture

  Have a pot on the stove for your sauce and a mixing bowl for your meat filling. Chop green peppers, onion, and, garlic as written above. Place pot on medium heat with olive oil into that pan, then place chopped green peppers, onions, and garlic into the pan and saute them till tender.(Skip this step of sauteing these 3 ingredients if you are using store bought sauce) Place the other onions into the mixing bowl.

instant rice-easier for me

Boil rice (if your good at it you'll need about a cup of rice and cook according to package) package that is the easy kind. Just follow instructions on the package, but cook just a few minutes less for allowing it to cook in the bell peppers in the crock pot. Just makes it a bit simpler also when its earlier in the morning.

crock-pot ready & rice cooling to make mix

Once Rice is cool enough to take out of package poor into the mixing bowl  and get your crock-pot ready. My well love crock-pot in this pic is nicely a size-able pot. So I chose the 4 qt pot to use this time for the recipe. Once rice is cooled get ready to make your mixture. Turn Crock-pot onto warm/low.

sauce simmering

Now this a part you may skip if you don't like making your own sauce. I've been doing it since I was young so it doesn't bother me. At this point it is where you add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, & tomato sauce. Add seasonings I listed above and taste. Add more if needed. To cut acid in your sauce you can add a tsp of baking soda if you need to. Bring this to a simmer while you do the next step.

Pepper Filling

 Now to the bell pepper filling you will mix this by hand. You will add the next items to the mixing bowl. Hamburger, Seasonings listed above, Italian style bread crumbs, and a bit of the sauce you are using. Enough to combine that its wet but not soupy. Now your ready to stuff. This should be the amount good for 4 peppers. Fill peppers up to the top but don't apply to much pressure to split the pepper.

Stuffed Peppers

Now were ready for the Crock-Pot, put a little sauce in bottom to prevent burning, place all 4 peppers standing upward. Now time to bathe them in the sauce. Pour sauce over peppers to, put the lid on, and whoo hoo you are now cooking! Cook on Low for 6-8 hours. You could shorten time by starting on Low for 4 hours and 2 hours on High = 6 hours.


Poke with a fork to make sure peppers are soft and just almost melting and you are done!

Looking Yummy Already!

So I hope this recipe is a great dinner for you and yours . It is one of my favorite comfort foods. I have found them so yummy, but I hated waiting over an oven for them. I'm a busy Mom who home-schools my pre-K son and I have a very active older son who I have to drive back and forth to school. Not to mention my regular duties in the household... I could go on and on.. But I hope you enjoy the recipe. Below is the picture of the finished meal. In our family it is traditionally served with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans.

Hope this tantalizes your taste-buds and starts you off into a nice home cooked meal that warms the heart and tummy! I've got lots in the works keep an eye on my Blog for new things to come!
~ Corey

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