Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan (Video)

Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan are one of my earliest and most popular recipes for stuffed peppers, and they freeze well too! 

PIN Stuffed Green Peppers to make them later!

I’m a long-time fan of stuffed bell peppers, and I’ve made a lot of stuffed pepper varieties through the years. But what inspired me to create this recipe for Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan was finding an amazing sale on green peppers at the grocery store. I stocked up on peppers and let what I found in the fridge inspire the recipe.

At first I planned to make a meatless stuffed pepper but when I found two links of Jenni-O turkey Italian sausage in the fridge. I couldn’t resist adding that to the mix. However, you could easily make this vegetarian by substituting sauteed mushrooms for the sausage. But don’t skip the ground fennel and grated Parmesan added to the stuffing because that flavor combination is what makes these stuffed peppers so over-the-top good!

What ingredients do you need?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

• Uncle Ben’s Brown Rice (affiliate link), or other long-grain brown rice
• green bell peppers
• onion
• Olive Oil (affiliate link)
• Sweet Italian Sausage
• ground fennel (affiliate link)
• dried Greek Oregano (affiliate link)
• grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• grated mozzarella cheese

How can you make stuffed green peppers lower in carbs?

You could use more sausage and less rice if you want a pepper recipe that’s lower in carbs. Or check out Low-Carb and Keto Stuffed Pepper Recipes for lots more tasty ideas!

What kind of Italian sausage should you use?

I prefer Jenni-O turkey Italian sausage for this recipe, but if you have a hard time finding that any turkey Italian sausage or pork Italian sausage will be fine.

Can you use other colors of peppers?

Of course you can use another color of peppers for this recipe if the green ones don’t appeal to you!

How to make Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.

1. I started by cooking one cup of Uncle Ben’s Brown Rice in my Zojirushi Rice Cooker (affiliate link), or follow package directions and cook the rice on the stove.
2. Then barely slice off the bottom of each pepper so they stand up in the dish.
3. Cut off stem end of the pepper, then remove seeds and membranes.
4. Remove the stems, then chop up the pepper tops along with one large onion.
5. Heat olive oil, then saute the peppers and onions for 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat.
6. Remove peppers and onions, add more olive oil, then squeeze the sausage out of the casings and saute until browned, breaking apart with the turner.
7. Add the onions and peppers to the sausage, add dried spices and saute 2-3 minutes to blend the flavors.
8. Then mix in the cooked brown rice and Parmesan cheese and cook 1-2 minutes to warm the mixture.
9. Stuff the filling mixture into the peppers, pushing down with a spoon so the peppers are tightly stuffed.
10. Cook the stuffed peppers at 375 F/190C for about 30 minutes.
11. After 30 minutes, remove from oven and put a generous pinch of grated mozzarella on top of each pepper.
12. Put peppers back in the oven and bake 10-15 minutes more, or until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Serve hot.

More Tasty Recipes with Bell Peppers:

• Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Stuffed Peppers
• Cauliflower Rice Southwestern Stuffed Peppers
• Italian Sausage and Mini-Pepper Sheet Pan Meal
• Sausage and Peppers Casserole
• Air Fryer Sausage and Peppers

Weekend Food Prep:

Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan are a perfect recipe to double so you have some to refrigerate or freeze for later, so this recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

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Yield: Makes 4 large stuffed peppers

Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan are one of my earliest and most popular recipes for stuffed peppers.

Ingredients

• 1 C uncooked long-grain brown rice (I used Uncle Ben's Brown Rice, but any long-grain rice will work.)
• 4 large green bell peppers, bottom trimmed, cap end cut off and diced, and seeds removed
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 T olive oil
• 8 ounces turkey Sweet Italian Sausage (see notes)
• 1/2 tsp. ground fennel
• 1/2 tsp. dried Greek or Turkish oregano
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Cook rice according to package directions, or using a rice cooker. (Rice can be cooked ahead and used in this recipe later.)
2. Preheat oven to 375F/190C.
3. Trim bottom of bell peppers so they have a flat surface to stand on. Cut off a fairly generous amount of the stem end of peppers, then remove seeds.
4. Place hollowed-out peppers in a baking dish that you've sprayed with non-stick spray or olive oil. (A dish that's close in size to the peppers will work best.)
5. Remove stem part from the pepper caps and trim off any white membrane, then dice pepper caps and the onion into fairly small dice.
6. Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a large skillet, then saute diced pepper and onion for 3-4 minutes, until they are starting to soften but aren't browned.
7. Remove pepper-onion mixture to a bowl, add 1 tsp. more olive oil, then squeeze sausage out of the casing and cook until it's lightly browned, breaking apart with the back of the turner.
8. Put the onion-pepper mixture back into the pan with the sausage, add the dried spices, and saute 2-3 minutes to blend the flavors.
9. Then add cooked rice and Parmesan cheese, season the mixture with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, and cook just long enough to warm, about 1-2 minutes.
10. Stuff the filling mixture into the hollowed-out peppers, using a spoon to press the mixture down so it's tightly packed into the pepper shell. (A few years ago I stopped pre-cooking the peppers before stuffing, and now I prefer peppers that are stuffed raw.) If you have any extra filling, you can put it in a small ramekin and bake along with the peppers.
11. Bake peppers for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and put a generous pinch of grated mozzarella on top of each pepper. Put peppers back into the oven and bake about 10-15 minutes more, until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Serve hot.
12. You can freeze leftover peppers for a month or two, although the frozen peppers will be a little softer in texture (but still very tasty.) I cut them in half top-to-bottom before freezing and freeze two halves in a small baking dish with a snap-on lid.

Notes

Use any sausage of your choice. Use diced mushrooms instead of sausage for vegetarian version. This recipe created by Kalyn when her market had a great sale on peppers!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 345Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 5gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 84mgSodium: 597mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 3gSugar: 5gProtein: 27g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Did you make this recipe?

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Green and red bell peppers are low-carb and very nutritious, and Stuffed Green Peppers with Italian Sausage and Brown Rice are a great main dish for phase 2 or 3 of the South Beach Diet. For Phase One or other Low-Carb Diets, you might like my Low-Carb Stuffed Peppers with Turkey Italian Sausage, Ground Beef, and Mozzarella.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Oven Dinners to find more recipes like this one. Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe was first posted in 2010. I used to make Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan often for my father, and I’ll always think of sharing them with him whenever I make this recipe. The recipe was last updated with more information in 2023.

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