Stuffed Peppers Soup
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“This is my boyfriend’s favorite thing I make. Its easy and the leftovers are just as good.” ~Karen
What is Stuffed Pepper Soup and Why We All Love It!
Essentially, this recipe is deconstructed stuffed peppers served in soup form. You can have all of the comforting flavors of stuffed peppers in an easy bowl of soup that’s perfect any day of the week!
As a bonus, everything cooks in the same one pot, so there are fewer dishes to wash after the meal. We can always appreciate one pot meals… because who wants to do the dishes all night?! Enjoy the night of sharing a wonderful meal with the family instead or make a double batch for a gathering of friends.
I love bringing all those flavors in an easy weekday meal! I’ve created this recipes many years ago for that reason and have not needed to change it. It’s till something I make every month. I’ve even made another dish that features the classic flavors of stuffed peppers, it’s my pasta casserole and if you love this soup, you will love the pasta.
Key Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Ground beef – use ground beef with a little more fat but not too much, like 85%/15 meat to fat ratio. This will help keep the soup flavorful and keep the meat tender. You can also substitute ground turkey or ground Italian sausage.
Bell peppers – use any color of bell peppers because they will tase the same in the soup. I like to variate the colors simply for presentation.
Tomato paste – don’t confuse tomato paste and tomato sauce! (Very different products.) Tomato paste is much more concentrated and that’s what you want in this recipe.
Rice – while I prefer to use jasmine rice, you can choose any rice you wish. This is a great recipe for leftover rice as well, just don’t cook it in the soup but add at the end. You can also substitute brown rice, or another grain all together like quinoa, farrow, or couscous. One important thing about substituting rice is to note the cooking time and don’t mix grains because not all grain cooks at the same time.
How to Make Stuffed Peppers Soup: Visual Guide
- Prepare. This is great to do before you get started. That way, everything is ready to go! Dice all of the vegetables and set the aside.
- Sauté the vegetables. Preheat a Dutch oven (or other large pot) over medium heat and add olive oil. Add the diced onions and bell peppers and cook until they begin to soften. Mix in diced tomato and cook for a few more minutes.
- Cook the ground beef. Move the vegetables over to the sides and add ground beef to the middle of the pot. Break it apart, cover the pot with a lid, and cook for a few minutes. After a few minutes, break up the meat some more and start mixing it with veggies. Close the lid and keep cooking until the beef is mostly done. Make sure to break up as many clumps as you can.
- Add the liquid. Mix in tomato paste, then pour in beef broth.
- Season and cook. Season with oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, mix well and lower the heat to low. Close the lid but leave a small crack for the heat to escape. Cook for about 20 minutes.
- Add rice. Mix in rice, close the lid back up and cook until rice is done.
PRO TIP: If you know you’ll have leftovers, cook the rice separately instead and add it to the soup as needed. Otherwise, the rice will continue to absorb the liquid from the soup and the texture may become too mushy.
Variations & Optional Add-ins
This is a great simple soup with classic ingredients but you can always adjust the flavors:
- Adding more vegetables: Some good veggies to add are mushrooms, leeks, kale, carrots, green beans, and corn.
- Other meats: if you want to try another meat, some options include ground turkey, ground pork sausage, or ground pork.
- Rice options: you can use brown rice in this soup or wild rice. If you want to substitute rice in the soup, try quinoa, farro, or couscous. (Note, farro and couscous are not gluten free.)
- Herbs: you can use dried herbs or fresh herbs in the soup. While fresh herbs are more aromatic, they are not as potent as dried ones. So adjust amounts accordingly. You can also use Italian seasoning with some salt and pepper to season the soup.
Can I Make This Recipe in the Crockpot?
While technically you can make this soup in a Crockpot, I do want to note that is is a fast soup made with ground beef, which is a soft meat, so there’s no reason to make it in a slow cooker. You will also have much more flavor making it in a pot rather than slow cooker.
- To make it in the slow cooker: Follow the instruction of cooking veggies and beef in the recipe and when beef is just about done, transfer everything to the slow cooker. Mix in tomato taste, beef stock, and season with oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mix well, close the lid, and cook on LOW for 6 hours.
- You can add the rice during the last 20 minutes or so and cook until rice is just tender. (Or, you can cook rice separately and add rice to each bowl as you serve.)
Storing, Reheating, and Freezing Instructions
- Storage – Store the stuffed pepper soup and rice in separate airtight containers and keep in the refrigerator. Both will last up to 4 days before the texture starts to change.
- Reheating – Simmer the soup on the stove or heat in the microwave until warmed through. Then, mix in fresh rice or add cooked rice towards the end of reheating to warm it at the same time.
- Freezing – Again, store the unstuffed pepper soup without the rice for best consistency. Freeze in a zip-top bag or sealed container for up to 3 months, then thaw in the refrigerator before reheating. It may help to store the soup in individual portions so you can thaw just what you need.
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Stuffed Pepper Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion
- 1 green or red bell pepper*
- 1 yellow bell pepper*
- 1 large tomato
- 1 lb ground beef 85/15 recommended
- 3 cups beef stock
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4-1/2 tsp black pepper to taste
- salt to taste
- 3/4 cup Jasmine rice**
Instructions
- Dice all the vegetables first and set the aside.
- Preheat a Dutch oven over medium heat and add olive oil.
- Add diced onions and bell peppers and cook until they start to soften. Mix it diced tomato and cook for a few more minutes.
- Move vegetables over to the sides and add ground beef to the center of the pan. Break it apart, cover the pot with a lid, and cook for a few minutes. After a few minutes, break up the meat some more and start mixing it with veggies. Close the lid and keep cooking until the beef is mostly done. Make sure to break up as many clumps as you can.
- Mix in tomato taste and then, pour in beef stock.
- Season with oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, mix well and lower the heat to low. Close the lid but leave a small crack for the heat to escape. Cook for about 20 minutes.
- Mix in rice, close the lid back up and cook until rice is done.
- Serve right away.
Alternate option:
- If you don't plan to eat all of the soup right away, you can cook rice separately and add some to individual soup servings. Cook the rice in salted water according to the package instructions and add it to each bowl of soup as needed.
- Store cooked rice separately from the soup. Make sure to keep it refrigerated in an air-tight food storage container.
Video
Notes
- * When it comes to the bell peppers, feel free to choose any colors you want. Choosing a couple of different colors will make the soup more fun though.
- **Jasmine rice is a personal preference but you can substitute long grain rice, Basmati rice, or even brown rice.
- Ground Beef – You can use lean ground beef like 90/10, but it tends to be chewier due to the lack of fat. I prefer to use 85/15 or even 80/20 ground beef for juicier and tastier beef. You can also substitute ground turkey for a leaner version of this recipe.
- You can also use lean ground turkey meat instead of ground beef. (Not extra lean!)
- Storage – Store the stuffed pepper soup and rice in separate airtight containers and keep in the refrigerator. Both will last up to 4 days before the texture starts to change
Nutrition
More Comforting Recipes To Try
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in January, 2014.
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Categories:
Beef Recipes, Dinner Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Most Popular Recipes, Rice Dinner Recipes, Soup Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
The Stuffed Peppers Soup was really good! I cooked the rice separately since most of the soup was going to be eaten over the next couple days as leftovers. I also sprinkled a little shredded mozzarella cheese over the top of individual servings. Excellent!
Sounds perfect, Angie! Thank you so much and I’m so glad you liked it 🙂
This sounds delicious. Have you tried it with brown rice?
Love your soups. Thank you.
And I love making them! Thank you, Liz 🙂
Made Stuffed Pepper Soup for dinner and it was fabulous! I love when recipes like this make the house smell so delicious! It always makes me smile…even on cold & windy march days 🙂
I’m so happy you liked it! I love the smell of dinner in the house (and baking of course)!
Would a can of diced tomatoes work?
Sure, Ida, it will work!
how would I tweak the recipe to make it in a crockpot? I don’t own a large stock pot yet so I have to make every soup in my crockpot! Thanks in advance!
Honestly, I don’t use my crock pot for soups (I don’t use it too much at all). You can use a medium pot for this soup, it doesn’t have to he very big (Unless you are planning to double the recipe). If I had to make it in the crock pot, I would say to cook everything but rice first, for a few hours. Then add rice and cook just until rice is done. I hope this helps!
I was asking the same question! It’s 110 degrees in the summer in Texas so I try never to turn the stove on lol
Can you tell me the yield of this recipe please?
It’s about 5 cups, Valerie. Thank you!
I love stuffed peppers so I’m sure I would love this soup! Great idea!
Thank you, Kristen! 🙂
I love stuffed peppers, too, and this soup really grabbed me when I saw you featured at 504 Main! Wow, so easy and I’ll bet it tastes every bit as good as you say!
Debbie 🙂
Awww, thank you, Debbie!
Oh my…what a perfect soup! My family will love it and so will our guest next weekend!
Aww, thank you, Holly!
This soup looks fantastic! What a comforting soup with so many wonderful flavors – I love stuffed peppers and a big bowl of this would be perfect on these chillier winter months 🙂
Thank you, Kelly!!
Mmmm….I bet this is FANTASTIC, Lyuba! YUM!
It sure was, Kristi! Thank you!
What an awesome idea Lyuba, I will definitely have to give this a try! 🙂
I hope you do, Lisa! Thank you!
We love stuffed peppers here at our house, so I know this soup will be a huge hit. Such a great idea! Stopping by from Show Stopper Saturday. Thanks so much for hosting another great party! ~Erin
Thank you, Erin 😉
You always have the best recipes! This looks another amazing soup to add to that list 🙂
Thanks for sharing. I can hardly wait to try it.
Make it a great weekend.
You are so sweet, Meegan! Thank you!
I am so making this soup on Saturday! Sounds yummy!
I hope you did! Thank you 🙂
This soup sounds so yummy! Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
Blessings,
Nici
Thank you, Nici!
Stuffed Peppers are my of my favorite comfort foods in the winter. Love that you turned that deliciousness into soup, also comforting. Just pass me a book, blanket, and this bowl of soup and I’d be good to go for the night! Pinning Lyuba! 🙂
That sounds like a nice, cozy night! Considering the baby is asleep 🙂
Thank you, Krista!
I am curious that the grease from the burger remains in – not drained. Or did I miss something?
Do you mean from the ground beef? I usually buy 80% lean so there is not much grease. It is juices that goes into the broth and give the soup a lot of its flavor. This is not a greasy soup by any means! Don’t worry, Debbie!
I didnt use a lean ground beef amd it definitely came out greasy. Since the grease rises to the top I just took a measurimg cup and scoop it out…took about 5 scoops…then it was fine…next time i would drain some off
You know what I do sometimes, when I have some grease on top? I place a clean, dry paper towel gently right on top and it soaks up the grease:) Just like a dab of paper towel on the spots with grease and it easily picks it up!
What a fun soup Lyuba! I think this sounds just as delicious as the traditional meal without all the hassle 🙂
Absolutely! Thank you so much, Emily!
I made your chicken parm roll ups this weekend. So easy and good. Your recipes look so interesting. I am not an experienced cook thank tou
I’m so glad you liked it, Michelle!
Thank you! (No worries, we all start at the beginning 🙂 )