Thai Basil Pork-Stuffed Bell Peppers

About This Recipe

Stuffed vegetables show up across Thai home cooking, most often as stuffed bitter melon or cucumber simmered in a clear broth, a dish that leans on the vegetable's mild bitterness or coolness rather than a tomato-forward sauce. This version swaps in bell peppers, which are easier to source and hold their shape well, and takes its seasoning cues from pad kra pao — garlic, chili, fish sauce, and a big handful of Thai basil folded through the pork filling. The filling needs to be packed just firmly enough to hold together during simmering without becoming dense; overworking the pork mixture makes the stuffing tough once cooked. Simmering the stuffed peppers gently in a light tomato-and-stock broth, rather than baking them dry, keeps the pork moist and lets the peppers soften without collapsing. It's a comforting, one-pot dinner that borrows Thai flavor logic — garlic and chili bloomed in oil, basil added at the very end — while landing somewhere between a Thai soup and a Western stuffed pepper.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 4 wholebell peppers, tops cut off and seeded
• 500 gground pork
• 5 clovegarlic, minced
• 2 wholeThai chilies, finely chopped
• 2 tbspfish sauce
• 1 tbspoyster sauce
• 1 tspsugar
• 1 cupThai basil leaves, chopped, plus extra for garnish
• 2 tbspvegetable oil
• 2 cupcrushed tomatoes
• 500 mlchicken stock
• 1 wholeegg

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the filling

   Cook half the garlic and chili in 1 tbsp oil until fragrant, 1 minute. Cool slightly, then mix with ground pork, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, egg, and chopped basil until just combined.

2. 2

   Stuff the peppers

   Pack the pork mixture into the hollowed peppers, mounding slightly on top, without pressing too firmly.

3. 3

   Build the broth

   Heat remaining oil in a wide pot, add remaining garlic, cook 30 seconds, then add crushed tomatoes and stock. Bring to a simmer.

4. 4

   Simmer the peppers

   Nestle stuffed peppers into the broth, cover, and simmer gently for 30-35 minutes until the peppers are tender and the pork is cooked through (74C/165F internal).

5. 5

   Finish and serve

   Stir extra basil into the broth off heat and ladle everything, peppers and broth together, into bowls over rice.

Variations

• •

  Use ground chicken or turkey instead of pork for a lighter filling.

• •

  Add cooked jasmine rice to the filling to stretch it further and change the texture.

• •

  Swap crushed tomatoes for coconut milk for a richer, curry-like broth.

Storage

Refrigerate in the broth in an airtight container up to 3 days; reheat gently on the stove over low heat, covered, until warmed through.

Frequently Asked Questions