Beef and rice stuffed peppers are deliciously oven-roasted and filled with a mix of ground meat, rice, garlic, and seasonings making for a perfect lunch or supper.

You may have landed on this page if you were searching for stuffed beef and rice peppers like in a Turkish restaurant!
I recently went to a lovely Turkish restaurant situated in a local Turkish community. My friends and I ordered a variety of dishes for sharing, and one of the dishes was a tasty stuffed pepper. Well, all I can say is that it tasted amazing!
I've recreated the stuffed pepper recipe here, as best as I can, and it tastes pretty close to what I had experienced in the Turkish restaurant.
Speaking to the waiter, he told me that their stuffed peppers dish was their most popular and people would order from afar and come and collect to take home to eat.
The stuffed peppers I had there were spicy hot and loaded with ground meat, (lamb), and cayenne pepper plus black pepper. I've adjusted the ingredients for this recipe so it suits more of our readers as I know not everyone likes spicy hot and we do have young ones here making lots of our recipes too, but feel free to turn up the dial on the heat if you like spice and add double to what I've listed below.
I've swapped the ground lamb for ground beef as it's easier to buy and also much cheaper than lamb. There isn't much difference in flavor, using beef, but if you prefer lamb, use that.
I also replaced the cheese topping with general cheddar cheese. The Turkish restaurant used a kind of Turkish feta cheese called beyaz peynir, which as you will know is pretty hard to find. Again, sub the cheddar for Greek feta if you prefer.
I've answered some questions below which you may be thinking of before making this recipe, so you don't need to go looking for the answers.
Should peppers be cooked before stuffing?
You can pre-cook the peppers, either by popping in the oven or blanching them, but it isn't necessary. The peppers are cooked for around 50 minutes in a moderate oven so you won't get raw peppers with this recipe.

Do you have to precook the beef and rice before stuffing peppers?
Yes, this will ensure all the ingredients are cooked evenly before going into the peppers and the seasonings have a chance to meld with the meat and rice.
How do you cut peppers for stuffing?
We've answered this below with a couple of photos for you to see. It's very easy and you just need to make sure you have a sharp knife.
So let's get straight to the recipe, it's super easy and really tasty! Enjoy!
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
50 minutes
Servings
7
Ingredients
7 Large Bell Peppers
1 ½ cups or 280g rice, uncooked
1 lb or 450g ground beef
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 pinch cayenne pepper
¼ cup parsley, chopped
1 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoons pepper
1 egg lightly beaten
1 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F, 180C
- In a frying pan, add the butter then add the chopped onions and gently fry until soft.
- Add the ground beef, garlic, thyme, tomato puree, cayenne pepper, salt & pepper. Fry until almost cooked through.

- Add the rice and stir to combine well. Place the lid on the pan and let simmer for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the peppers but slicing the tops off each one and running a sharp knife on the inside to remove any pith and seeds. Run under a tap to wash and then dry with kitchen paper.

- Arrange the peppers in an oven-proof dish. Try and find a dish or baking pan just large enough for all the peppers so they are standing up without toppling over.

- After 10 minutes of cooking the beef and rice, add the beaten egg and give it a good stir. Add the chopped parsley and mix through.
- Stuff each pepper with the beef mixture until just beneath the tops of each pepper.
- Cover with foil and place in the oven for 45-50 minutes.
- 10 minutes before the end of cooking time, remove the foil and add the grated cheese on the tops of the peppers.
- Return to the oven and finish the cooking time or until the tops are golden brown.

- Serve hot from the oven.
Hint: Feel free to add more or less cheese to your liking!
What can you eat with these beef and rice stuffed peppers?
Apart from the salad listed below (no cooking needed), you can cook the other dishes in the oven at the same time as your stuffed peppers to save you fuel costs!
A nice simple salad
Substitutions
- Instead of ground beef, you can use any other ground meat such as chicken or turkey.
- If you want to make this vegetarian, swap the beef for tofu or a mixture of chopped squashes, such as butternut. cook as you would the ground beef first.
- To make this low carb, leave the rice out altogether and just increase the meat quantity.
- You can swap out the herbs and spices for other ones you might prefer. A teaspoon of Raz el hanout will give a wonderful Moroccon flavor and goes well when using ground lamb.
- If you don't like bell peppers, you can also use this recipe for stuffed Aubergines (eggplant). If you do, cut the eggplant in half lengthways and scoop out the flesh of the eggplant and transfer the flesh to the frying pan with the meat so you don't waste anything.

Variations
- Spicy - add chili pepper flakes while cooking to imbue heat into the dish, or banana peppers
- Cheese - Use other types of cheese other than cheddar like feta, mozarella, monterey jack, pepper jack
- Rice - instead of rice you can use cous cous or quinoa
Storage
Refrigerator: Store any stuffed pepper leftovers in the refrigerator for up to four days. Cover with plastic wrap. You can reheat the peppers in the oven or the microwave.
Freezer: Freeze the peppers by placing them in an airtight container. They will freeze for up to 2 months. To use, simply thaw at room temperature and then reheat in the oven or microwave.
Top tip
If you're cooking on a tight budget, you can reduce the meat quantity and add extra rice to bulk the peppers out.
Recipe Card
Beef and Rice Stuffed Peppers

Beef and rice stuffed peppers are deliciously oven roasted and filled with a mix of ground meat,rice, garlic and seasonings make for a perfect lunch or supper.
Ingredients
- 7 Large Bell Peppers
- 1 ½ cups or 280g rice, uncooked
- 1 lb or 450g ground beef
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- ¼ cup parsley, chopped
- 1 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoons pepper
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F, 180C
- In a frying pan, add the butter then add the chopped onions and gently fry until soft.
- Add the ground beef, garlic, thyme, tomato puree, cayenne pepper, salt & pepper. Fry until almost cooked through.
- Add the rice and stir to combine well. Place the lid on the pan and let simmer for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the peppers but slicing the tops off each one and running a sharp knife on the inside to remove any pith and seeds. Run under a tap to wash and then dry with kitchen paper.
- Arrange the peppers in an oven-proof dish. Try and find a dish or baking pan just large enough for all the peppers so they are standing up without toppling over.
- After 10 minutes of cooking the beef and rice, add the beaten egg and give it a good stir. Add the chopped parsley and mix through.
- Stuff each pepper with the beef mixture until just beneath the tops of each pepper.
- Cover with foil and place in the oven for 45-50 minutes.
- 10 minutes before the end of cooking time, remove the foil and add the grated cheese on the tops of the peppers. ½
- Return to the oven and finish the cooking time or until the tops are golden brown.
Serve hot from the oven.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 7 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 374Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 108mgSodium: 508mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 2gSugar: 4gProtein: 25g
Nutrition information isn’t always accurate
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