Bell peppers filled with a seasoned rice and beef mixture, baked until tender, a homely Australian family dinner staple.
Stuffed capsicums are simple, practical family cooking, built around whatever ground meat and grain are already in the pantry. Bell peppers are halved and their seeds scraped clean, then filled with a mixture of ground beef, rice and a tomato-based sauce, seasoned just enough to let the pepper's own sweetness come through once roasted. Roasting the empty pepper halves briefly before filling them softens the walls slightly, which helps them hold their shape without collapsing while still cooking through fully in the same time as the filling. A layer of grated cheese melted over the top in the last few minutes of baking finishes the dish with a golden, bubbling crust. This is unfussy, freezer-friendly dinner-table cooking, popular across Australian households as a way to turn a single pound of mince into a full, satisfying meal that also looks like more effort went into it than actually did.
Serves 4
Brush the halved peppers with olive oil and roast cut-side up at 400°F for 10 minutes to soften slightly.
Meanwhile, cook onion and garlic in a splash of oil for 5 minutes, then add ground beef and cook, breaking it up, until browned, about 6-7 minutes.
Stir in cooked rice, tomato sauce, oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer 5 minutes until thickened.
Pre-roasting the empty pepper halves for 10 minutes keeps them from collapsing while the filling finishes cooking in the same time.
Spoon the beef and rice filling generously into the pre-roasted pepper halves.
Return to the oven and bake 20-25 minutes until the peppers are tender.
Top each pepper with shredded cheese and bake 5 more minutes until melted and golden.
Serve hot, straight from the baking dish.
Pre-roast the empty pepper halves before filling — it softens them just enough so they finish cooking evenly with the filling.
Use already-cooked rice rather than raw, since raw rice won't fully cook through in the baking time without extra liquid.
Add the cheese only in the last 5 minutes of baking so it melts and browns without burning.
Use ground turkey or lamb instead of beef for a different flavor.
Add corn kernels or black beans to the filling for extra texture.
Make it vegetarian with a lentil and rice filling instead of ground meat.
Refrigerate up to 4 days or freeze unbaked, filled peppers up to 3 months. Reheat in a covered dish in a 350°F oven until warmed through.
Stuffed peppers with rice and ground meat are common across many cuisines, and the Australian home-cooking version reflects the country's broader mid-20th-century embrace of easy, freezer-friendly family dinners built around ground beef and rice as affordable staples.
Yes — assemble the filled peppers, cover and refrigerate up to a day ahead, then bake fresh, adding a few extra minutes since they'll be starting cold.
Trim a thin sliver off the bottom of each half so it sits flat, or nestle them snugly together in the baking dish so they support each other.
They likely needed more time or a higher starting temperature — pre-roasting the empty halves first, as in this recipe, helps ensure they're tender by the time the filling is done.
Per serving (320g / 11.3 oz) · 4 servings total
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