Mom’s Stuffed Bell Peppers

StuffedPeppersMashedPotatoesAI — Stuffed Peppers with Mashed Potatoes (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

What’s that favorite comfort food that your mom or grandma used to make when you were feeling down in the dumps? What special recipe brought you back to happiness? For me, it was Mom’s stuffed bell peppers, her deviled eggs (Mom-style), and her meatloaf (super secret meatloaf ingredient keeping it succulent — Roka blue cheese dressing — who knew???).

Mom's Stuffed Pepper served over basmati rice (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals) — Mom’s Stuffed Pepper served over basmati rice (Photo Credit: Adroit Ideals)

My Mom’s stuffed bell peppers recipe calls for red or green bell peppers, ground beef or meatloaf mix, crushed garlic, an egg, some milk, an onion, a can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup, and 1 can of water. Bakes in under an hour!

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From the kitchen of A Food Lover’s Delight….

Mom’s Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients:

4 red or green bell peppers, fairly uniform with fairly flat bottoms so they will stand up in pan
1 lb ground beef or meatloaf (beef, veal, pork) mix
1 onion, half thinly sliced, and half finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 T milk, or more, if needed
1.5 t salt
Couple grinds of fresh black pepper
1 can (14.5 oz) Campbell’s Tomato Soup (original recipe used Campbell’s “Italian Tomato” Soup — no longer available unfortunately)
1 can water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease or oil a glass baking pan large enough to fit the four peppers.
2. Carefully cut tops off bell peppers and set tops aside.
3. Core and seed peppers being careful to keep peppers intact.
4. Slice half of onion and set aside. Finely chop other half of onion.
5. Mix together ground beef (or meatloaf mix), finely chopped onion, crushed garlic clove, lightly beaten egg, salt, and black pepper.
6. Fill each pepper with the meat mixture and place into the glass baking pan.
7. Mix the tomato soup with the water in a medium bowl.
8. Pour the soup and water mixture over the peppers, and around them in the bottom of the pan.
9. Add an onion slice to each pepper on top of the meat mixture.
10. Replace the pepper tops on top of the onion slices on the peppers.
11. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 – 50 mins. Serve.

Serves 4 as a main course. Serve with my Easy Mashed Potatoes and a side salad.

Variations: Use crushed tomatoes instead of tomato soup if you prefer a more rustic texture to the sauce. Serve with/over rice instead of mashed potatoes. To stretch the meat mixture, add cooked rice to the meat mixture before you fill the peppers. Mix in 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan to the meat mixture before filling peppers for a cheesy outcome. And if you prefer an herby taste, sprinkle in some dried or chopped fresh herbs such as thyme or basil into the meat mixture before filling peppers. For a vegetarian version, you can use a mixture of squashes and other veggies with rice and omit the meat.