Bell peppers filled with smoky tomato rice and melted cheese, a classic Brazilian family dinner.
Pimentao recheado, or stuffed peppers, is a staple of Brazilian home cooking, usually built around leftover or freshly cooked rice mixed with ground beef or just vegetables, bound with a smoky tomato sauce, and baked under a layer of melted cheese until the pepper softens and the top turns golden. It's the kind of dish grandmothers make on a Sunday and everyone eats reheated on Monday. The key technique is blanching the peppers briefly before stuffing, which softens them just enough that they finish cooking evenly in the oven without turning mushy or staying raw and bitter at the stem. The filling itself is really a smoky tomato rice, cooked down with smoked paprika (pimentao defumado) until it's thick enough to hold its shape when scooped. This version keeps it vegetarian-friendly with the option to add ground beef, and leans on catupiry or mozzarella cheese for the finish, since a bubbling cheese cap is non-negotiable in most Brazilian households making this dish.
Serves 4
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil peppers 3-4 minutes until just slightly softened, then drain upside down on a towel.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion 5 minutes until soft, then add garlic and smoked paprika, stirring 1 minute until fragrant.
If using, add ground beef and cook, breaking it up, until no longer pink, about 6 minutes. Skip this step for the vegetarian version.
Stir in crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes until thick, then fold in the cooked rice and parsley off the heat.
Heat oven to 190C/375F. Stand the peppers upright in a baking dish, fill each with the tomato rice mixture, and top generously with cheese.
Bake 25-30 minutes until the peppers are tender when pierced with a knife and the cheese is bubbling and golden in spots.
Blanching the peppers first prevents the common problem of a filling that's done before the pepper softens.
Use day-old rice if you have it; it holds its shape better in the filling than freshly cooked rice.
If your peppers won't stand up straight, slice a thin sliver off the bottom so they sit flat in the dish.
Vegetarian: skip the beef and add a can of drained black beans and corn to the tomato rice for protein.
Add chopped olives and hard-boiled egg to the filling for a more old-school Brazilian version.
Use catupiry cheese instead of mozzarella for the traditional creamy, tangy Brazilian topping.
Refrigerate stuffed peppers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat in a 180C/350F oven for 15 minutes covered with foil, or microwave until the center is hot.
Stuffed peppers arrived in Brazil largely through Italian and Portuguese immigrant cooking traditions in the 19th and 20th centuries and were adapted with Brazilian rice, catupiry cheese and smoked paprika, becoming a fixture of Sunday family lunches across the country.
Yes, stuff the peppers up to a day ahead, refrigerate covered, and add 5-10 extra minutes to the baking time since they'll start cold.
A mix of cream cheese and mozzarella gets you close to its creamy, mild, stretchy texture.
They likely weren't drained well after blanching, or the tomato filling wasn't simmered long enough to thicken before stuffing.
Per serving (380g / 13.4 oz) · 4 servings total
Ask our AI cooking assistant anything about this recipe — substitutions, techniques, scaling.
Chat with AI Chef →Join the conversation
Sign in to leave a comment and save your favourite recipes
Have feedback or need help?
We read every email and reply within 1–2 business days.
© 2026 MyCookingCalendar. All rights reserved.
