This stuffed pepper soup is a hearty meal loaded with ground beef, onions, rice and bell peppers in a tomato based broth. It tastes just like classic stuffed peppers, but without all the work!
I love stuffed peppers, but it seems like they take forever to bake, and I always end up with peppers that are either too crunchy or too mushy. Stuffed pepper soup has all the same flavors but is so easy to put together on a busy weeknight. Looking for more amazing soup recipes? Don’t miss my albondigas soup, pasta e fagioli soup, turkey soup and matzo ball soup!
When we have cool fall and winter nights, I like something warm and hearty. My kids love stuffed peppers so I started thinking about stuffed pepper soup. It’s delicious any time of the year, but it’s best on a chilly night!
Serve this soup with a baguette slices, cheesy pull apart bread, homemade dinner rolls or my elegant butterflake rolls!
Table of Contents
Stuffed Pepper Soup Ingredients
To make this stuffed pepper soup recipe, you will need olive oil, ground beef, onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, a red bell pepper, a green bell pepper, a can of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, Italian seasoning, white rice and fresh parsley.
How Do You Make Stuffed Pepper Soup?
When you make stuffed pepper soup, start by heating olive oil in a large pot, then add the ground beef. Cook the beef, breaking it up into small pieces as you go, then add onion. Cook until the onion is soft, then add garlic. Season the beef and onion mixture with salt and pepper. Add the cut bell peppers, then cook for a few minutes until the peppers start to soften. Next add tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth and Italian seasoning. Bring the soup to a simmer, and cook until the peppers are tender. Add in the rice, and season the soup with more salt and pepper. Sprinkle with parsley, then serve.
Tips For The Perfect Dish
- I recommend using 90% lean ground beef. It has a lot of flavor without excessive amounts of grease. If you use beef with a higher fat content, you may need to drain any excess grease from the pot before continuing with the recipe.
- This recipe calls for cooked rice. It’s important to use cooked rice because if you use raw rice, it will soak up all the broth from the soup.
- I recommend a long grain rice. You can use white rice or jasmine rice. I wouldn’t use basmati rice or a short grain rice.
- Stuffed pepper soup can be made up to 2 days before you plan to serve it. I recommend storing the rice separately and adding it when you reheat the soup.
- Leftovers will stay fresh in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- The soup will last in the freezer for up to 2 months. Again, it’s better to freeze the rice separately so it doesn’t absorb all the liquid. You can reheat the soup by letting it thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then you can heat in a microwave or on a stove top.
Quick Tip
You can use any type of bell pepper in this dish. Green, red, orange and yellow all work great!
Recipe FAQs
Stuffed pepper soup contains ground beef, bell peppers, rice and tomatoes, all in beef broth with onion, garlic and herbs.
You need to remove the seeds from peppers before you cook with them. Pepper seeds have a hard texture which is unpleasant in most dishes. Use a small paring knife to cut the seeds out of peppers before you use them.
Peppers are done cooking when they are tender. You can check to see if your peppers are tender by piercing them with a fork. If the fork goes in easily, the peppers are ready.
To cut bell peppers for soup, simply cut off the top and bottom off the peppers. Next Cut the peppers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and ribs. Finally cut the outside of the peppers into vertical strips and cut them again horizontally so that you have squares that are approximately an inch long.
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Flavor Variations
While this soup is delicious as-is, you can swap out some of the ingredients to customize the flavors to your tastes.
- Protein: You can swap out the ground beef for ground chicken, sausage, ground turkey or even ground pork with good results.
- Rice: Many people have substituted cauliflower rice to turn this into a low carb dish. Brown rice also works well, or experiment with other cooked grains such as quinoa or farro.
- Vegetables: Feel free to add more veggies to the mix. Some great options include spinach, carrots, mushrooms or celery.
- Broth: If you prefer chicken broth, you can use that instead of beef broth.
- Vegetarian: Omit the meat and use vegetable broth instead of beef broth for a vegetarian version of this soup.
- Flavorings: Amp up the flavor of the soup with some spices such as smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, oregano or onion powder. You can also substitute green onions or a little chopped basil for the parsley.
I always love a good bowl of soup, especially during the fall and winter months. We enjoy our soup with a few toppings so I recommend trying shredded cheese, sour cream, or fresh herbs on top of this delicious stuffed bell pepper soup. Add a side of garlic knots or an Italian salad, and dinner is served!
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Stuffed Pepper Soup Video
Love This Recipe?
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Stuffed Pepper Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef I use 90% lean
- 3/4 cup chopped onion
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic minced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 red bell pepper cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 green bell pepper cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 14.5 ounce can beef broth
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 2 cups cooked white rice
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the ground beef and cook until browned, breaking up into smaller pieces with a spatula (approximately 5-6 minutes).
- Add the onion to the pot and cook for 4-5 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Season the beef and onion mixture with salt and pepper.
- Add the bell peppers to the pot and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth and Italian seasoning to the pot; bring to a simmer.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes or until peppers are tender.
- Stir in the rice and season the soup with salt and pepper to taste as desired. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Notes
- I recommend using 90% lean ground beef. It has a lot of flavor without excessive amounts of grease. If you use beef with a higher fat content, you may need to drain any excess grease from the pot before continuing with the recipe.
- This recipe calls for cooked rice. It’s important to use cooked rice because if you use raw rice, it will soak up all the broth from the soup.
Soup is on up here in the north country now that winter is coming. This is a great recipe in my rotation!
I love this soup it has the best flavor !!
Made recipe exactly as written, was excellent. I have already been asked to make it again! Much easier to make than stuffed peppers with same excellent flavor. Thanks!
10/10 delicious! Used 1lb ground chicken and half pound sweet Italian sausage. Added additional spices as comment section suggested. Really good!
Do you measure the two cups of rice before or after you cook the rice? In other words, do you add two cups of cooked rice to the soup or do you cook two cups of rice, which would make a bit more than two cups, and then add all of that?
You measure after you’ve cooked the rice!
Excellent
Cooked the ground beef and onion on stove top. Then added everything into a slow cooker. Used four different colors of bell peppers. Turned out great.
Just made this with frozen peppers from my garden and Elk meat! YUMMMM! Added a little Worchester sauce ! Comfort food on a cold dreary day in Michigan!
Can the cabbage soup be frozen?
This recipe is for stuffed pepper soup. You can freeze this recipe, and you can freeze cabbage soup!
My family loves this soup. Very easy to make with common ingredients. We grow peppers in our garden and chop them up and freeze them. When winter comes, we usually have everything on hand to make this soup several times. Easy and delicious.
Deeelicious! Made it this aftnn but used Better than Boullion Beef paste to make 16 oz of beef broth and ground turkey in lieu of ground beef. Added shredded cabbage the last 10 minutes to up the veggie factor some. Used the frozen organic brown rice from Trader Joes and kept it separate from the soup for us to ladle it into the soup bowls instead. Hubby loved it!
Very tasty and aromatic. Next time will make a bit healthier by using turkey sausage and cauliflower rice. I have swapped out for those items before I similar recipes with great success! Could also use taco seasoning mix instead of Italian seasoning.
OMG this is so divine…only changes I made was using combo ground turkey/italian sausage in place of ground beef and added lil cheese in before plating. On my rotation for when I’m craving stuffed bell peppers. Thanks for a great recipe 🙂
You can add some tomato paste and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.
I love it I have made it with hamburger meat and mostly make it with deer burger.. no grease and very tasty
This recipe is just perfect! I just wondered for those nights when I realize I don’t have the peppers in but I have frozen peppers, can I use them? Thank you so much. This is a delicious recipe.
Yes frozen peppers will work, they’ll just need to cook for less time.