Freezer Friendly Stuffed Peppers - No Getting Off This Train
With a little prep work, these Freezer Stuffed Peppers make an amazing weeknight dinner! Have dinner on the table in 30 minutes without the fuss!
Who else hates the hassle of making stuffed peppers?
I mean, I honestly don’t have a ton of patience when it comes to cooking dinner. I like just plain old cooking something- and if I have to cook something and THEN bake it… well, we have a problem.
We like 30 minute dinners- how about you? Luckily, these stuffed peppers CAN only take 30 minutes… if you turn them into a freezer meal!
See, making food ahead of time saves SO much time and sanity. It’s so easy to pull a meal out of the freezer and cook it the next day. No extra prep work required!
And these stuffed peppers are no different. You can make one batch just to put in the freezer, or do a double batch so you can eat some first.
Do a little bit of work now so you don’t have to panic when you’re low on time for cooking.
The ingredients are simple:
- Ground beef (or ground turkey)
- Rice (Instant rice works well, or you can cook regular rice quickly in a rice cooker!)
- Onion
- Bell peppers
- Garlic
- Diced tomatoes
- Tomato sauce
- Cheese
- Lots of yummy spices!
To prepare these stuffed peppers, start by cutting off the tops of six bell peppers. They can be any color- I prefer green most times because they’re cheaper.
Next, cook up some ground beef along with chopped onions. While that’s cooking, prepare some instant rice.
Can you use regular rice? Sure, but that takes upwards of an hour while instant rice takes minutes. Sometimes convenience wins out!
When the ground beef is fully cooked, add the rest of the ingredients and combine, saving a little bit of cheese for later.
Now it’s time to stuff the peppers! If you have any leftover mix (Which I did, maybe a half cup), you can freeze it for later or use as a topping for pasta. Or get creative!
Make sure your peppers are quite frozen before transferring them to a freezer bag (About 2-3 hours of freezing time). Some of the filling may fall out otherwise; and if it still does, no biggie.
Try to keep the bag flat in the freezer so the peppers stay upright.
What can you serve with Freezer Stuffed Peppers?
A nice big salad would work nicely with these stuffed peppers! Or if you think you’ve got enough veggies, you can serve with dinner rolls or even some fruit.
Do you have to freeze the stuffed peppers?
Nope! You can go ahead and bake them as normal per the instructions. I’ve done it both ways and they’re both perfectly delicious.
This was so easy to make, I think I’ll do this more often! Stuffed peppers are a rarity over here, and that’s about to change.
Want more freezer recipes? Check out my 25 Days of Freezer Meals series!
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Freezer Friendly Stuffed Peppers - No Getting Off This Train
Recipe details
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 cup uncooked brown instant rice (Standard rice is fine but will take longer to cook)
- 6 bell peppers, any color
- 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup shredded cheese, divided
Instructions
- Cook rice according to the directions and set aside.
- In a large pan, sautee the onions until they become translucent. Add the ground beef and cook until no longer pink.
- Add garlic and continue to cook for another 30 seconds.
- Cut off the tops of all six bell peppers and remove the membranes and seeds. Set aside.
- Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, chili powder, salt, and pepper and stir to combine.
- Add the rice and half the cheese and stir.
- Fill each pepper completely with the mixture, then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Freeze any extra mixture for later.
- To freeze, place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put in the freezer for 2-3 hours. Then transfer to a gallon-size freezer bag.
- Thaw overnight and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
Comments
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