Austrian Grandmother's Stuffed Peppers (Gefuellte Paprika)

About This Recipe

Gefuellte Paprika, peppers stuffed with a rice-and-ground-meat filling and simmered gently in tomato sauce rather than baked dry, is a genuine and beloved dish across Austria, especially in households with Hungarian or Balkan family ties. This version stays close to that tradition, using a rice-and-beef filling, but adds roasted garlic mashed into the tomato sauce for extra depth, a small but meaningful update to the grandmother-style recipe many Austrian families still make today. The rice is only partially cooked before it goes into the raw meat filling, since it finishes cooking as the peppers simmer in the sauce, absorbing flavor the whole time rather than being fully cooked and then reheated. The peppers are stood upright in a pot just wide enough to hold them snugly, submerged about two-thirds in a light, slightly sweet tomato sauce, and simmered gently rather than boiled hard, which keeps the pepper walls tender without falling apart. Roasted garlic stirred into the sauce toward the end adds a mellow sweetness that plain raw garlic can't match, rounding out a dish that's meant to be eaten with crusty bread to mop up the sauce.

Ingredients

Serves 5

• 5bell peppers(tops cut off and cored)
• 500 gground beef
• 0.5 cuplong-grain rice(partially cooked, 10 minutes)
• 1egg
• 1onion(half grated into the filling, half chopped for the sauce)
• 1 headgarlic(roasted)
• 2 tbspolive oil
• 1 tspsweet paprika
• 800 gcanned crushed tomatoes
• 2 cupsvegetable or beef stock
• 1 tbspsugar
• 1.5 tspfine sea salt
• 0.5 tspblack pepper
• 3 tbspfresh parsley(chopped)

Instructions

1. 1

   Roast the garlic

   Roast the garlic head wrapped in foil at 200C for 35-40 minutes until soft, then squeeze out the cloves and mash into a paste.

2. 2

   Mix the filling

   Combine ground beef, partially cooked rice, egg, grated onion, paprika, half the roasted garlic paste, 1 tsp salt and pepper. Mix gently.

3. 3

   Stuff the peppers

   Fill the hollowed peppers with the meat mixture, packing loosely to leave room for the rice to expand.

4. 4

   Build the sauce

   Heat olive oil in a pot wide enough to hold the peppers upright. Cook the chopped onion 5 minutes, then add crushed tomatoes, stock, sugar, remaining garlic paste and remaining salt.

5. 5

   Simmer the peppers

   Stand the stuffed peppers upright in the sauce, cover, and simmer gently over low heat 40-45 minutes until the peppers are tender and the filling is cooked through (74C internal).

6. 6

   Serve

   Spoon extra sauce over each pepper when serving and scatter with fresh parsley. Serve with crusty bread.

Variations

• •

  Pork version: substitute ground pork for beef, or use a half-and-half mix for a richer filling.

• •

  Vegetarian: replace the meat with a mixture of cooked rice, mushrooms and lentils, seasoned the same way.

• •

  Extra-rich sauce: stir a spoonful of sour cream into the sauce at the end for a creamier finish, common in some Austrian households.

Storage

Refrigerate in the sauce, covered, up to 3 days — the flavor improves overnight. Reheat gently on the stovetop over low heat, covered, until warmed through.

Frequently Asked Questions