If you were looking for a perfect recipe for stuffed peppers, look no more. We are going to share one with you. Stuffed peppers are a delicious meal on their own, but sometimes you just need something extra with them. This is such a specific meal so not everything goes well with them, but there are some side dishes that go perfectly with stuffed peppers. Some are so easy to make, some are a little bit more complicated, but every one of them makes a perfect match with our star dish.
First, you’ll need to make stuffed peppers, and now we will share a perfect recipe with you. And then we will share some ideas about what to make alongside with them.
You need to know that this is not a quick dish, and it will not be finished in half an hour. This recipe takes time and some love while preparing it. You’ll probably need around two hours to prepare everything. But once it’s done, you will not regret the time you spent preparing it. And you will definitely go back to this recipe once in a while.
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Contents
Ingredients that you’ll need:
One cup of long grain white rice
Two cups of water
One diced onion
Two tablespoons of olive oil
Two cups of marinara sauce
One cup of beef broth
One tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
One-quarter teaspoon of red pepper flakes
4 large green bell peppers
1 lb. lean ground beef
1/4 lbs. of hot Italian pork sausage
10 ounces of diced tomatoes
1/4 of a cup of fresh parsley
4 cloves of minced garlic
1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons of salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper
1 cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
The recipe:
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First, you need to boil the rice, and you will do that by putting the rice in a saucepan and pouring the water over it. You need to wait for the water to boil and once it boils lower the heat to medium and cover the rice and let it all simmer until the rice is cooked. Once it’s cooked, set the rice aside and prepare the sauce.
You need to cook the onions until they are soft and you need to cook them on olive oil. Once they are soft enough, separate them into two half. In one half add beef broth, balsamic vinegar, red pepper flake, marinara sauce and let everything cook for a couple of minutes. When it’s done put the mix into a baking dish.
And now the best part, preparing the stuffing mix. You’ll need the other half of the cooked onions, add the ground beef to it and the Italian sausage and mix everything. Once you mixed it add the tomatoes, parsley, garlic, black and cayenne, and salt and mix again everything. Now you need to combine this mixture with the cooked rice. And the final ingredient is the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
Source: Pixabay
Now you need to stuff your peppers. You need to cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds. Stuff the halves with the mixture you previously made and put the halves in the baking dish where you poured the sauce. When you finish with stuffing and placing the peppers you can add some Parmigiano on the top of your peppers if you like the taste of it.
You need to cover the dish with the aluminum foil and bake everything in the oven. The oven needs to be pre-heated to 375 degrees F. After around 45 minutes, remove the foil and bake it uncovered for around 20 minutes. You’ll know that everything is done once the peppers are tender and the cheese is a little bit brown.
What can you serve with stuffed peppers?
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Stuffed peppers are good on their own, but sometimes you need something extra with them. If you want to surprise your loved ones or your friends this is something that you can serve with this delicious dish.
Pasta
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There are a few people on this planet that don’t like pasta, and almost everyone loves it. So why not serve it with stuffed peppers. It’s easy to make, it’s quick to prepare it and it does great with stuffed peppers. You can serve a stuffed pepper on top of pasta and it will turn a traditional dish into something else. And the sauce that you have from baking the stuffed peppers goes great with pasta. Try it for yourself and see.
Salad
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Stuffed peppers are delicious but this dish also has many calories. So if you want something to go well with your stuffed peppers and also to be light, make a salad. You can make whatever salad you want and like. Choose something that goes well with meat and rice, but something that will not add extra calories to your dish.
Potatoes
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You can serve your stuffed peppers with potatoes. And you can choose which style you want. You can boil the potatoes, this is the easiest and most simple way, but you can choose to do something else. Stuffed peppers go very well with mashed potatoes. Creamy mashed potatoes are the best solution if you ask us. You can make them simple, or you can season them with anything that you like. But if you don’t like mashed potatoes, try combining the stuffed peppers with fried or baked potatoes. You can add a twist to this dish by seasoning the potatoes and spice them with some spicy chili pepper.
Red wine
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And when you decide what extra to serve with the stuffed peppers you will also need some beverage that goes great with this dish. And what’s better than some sweet red wine. The wine will go great with the meat and the sweet bell peppers.
Beer
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If you don’t like wine, then you can drink beer with it. You will be surprised how well the bitterness of the beer goes with the sweetness of this dish. If you don’t believe us, try it for yourself.
Now you have everything that you need to have a great meal, you just need to go shopping for the ingredients and you are ready to go. We hope that you’ll enjoy this meal as much as we do every time we try it.
