Stuffed Pepper Soup | foodiecrush.com

This easy stuffed pepper soup recipe has the classic savory flavors you love from stuffed peppers, all in a hearty, comforting soup.

I live for an easy, clean-out-the-ridge or raid-the-pantry type of meal. Recipes like my easy hamburger vegetable soup, pasta puttanesca, and tuna noodle casserole are just as satisfying to make as they are to eat. Inspired by one of my favorite comfort food dinners—stuffed peppers, this stuffed pepper soup is hearty, comforting, and teeming with awesome, savory flavor. I make this soup with lean ground beef, a blend of veggies, chunks of green pepper, and cooked white rice. Just like my stuffed peppers, I serve it topped with cheddar cheese and all of its melty goodness (it’s a favorite part). It’s so delicious and so easy, I guarantee it will become a family-favorite.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• This soup comes together easily on the stove and cooks in about 30 minutes
• It tastes just like stuffed peppers, but in soup form, for maximum coziness
• It’s a great way to use up leftover rice

What’s in Stuffed Pepper Soup

• Ground beef—I use lean ground beef but you could try sausage too
• Yellow onion—yields so much flavor to this soup
• Celery—sautés with some onion to flavor the base of our soup
• Garlic—for big flavor
• Green bell peppers—I prefer the flavor of green bell peppers best for this soup, but you could use red, yellow, or orange if that’s what you have
• Tomato paste—makes up the soup base and lends great umami flavor
• Roma tomatoes—I like Roma tomatoes because they don’t have as many seeds or pulp, so the tomatoes hold up better and also don’t make the soup too thin
• Beef base—I prefer using concentrated beef base over a beef stock as it has a richer beefy flavor and lends the best savory notes to the soup
• Bay leaf—for aromatics (you can use fresh or dried)
• Freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt—always, for flavor
• Cooked white rice—in keeping with the classic stuffed peppers dish, I like cooked white rice in this soup (you could also use brown rice though)
• Cheddar cheese—I like a medium yellow cheddar but any melty cheese works great

Find the complete recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Stuffed Pepper Soup

• Brown your beef. In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, brown the ground beef, breaking it into small pieces, and seasoning it with some salt.
• Sauté the veggies. First, cook the celery, onion, and garlic together until they’ve softened. Then add the green pepper and cook for another 3 minutes.

• Build the savory soup base. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute to lose its raw flavor. This deepens the umami character and adds depth.

• Add the tomatoes and beef base. Stir well to combine, and season with freshly ground black pepper and salt. The beef base rounds out the acidity from the tomatoes.

• Boil and simmer. Add the water and bay leaf, then bring to a boil and return to a simmer. Water with the beef base creates an unctious broth when it cooks with the vegetables.
• Skim any foam from the soup, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.

• Stir in the cooked rice and finish the soup. Cook the soup until the rice is warmed through, 3-4 minutes. Taste for seasoning and serve topped with shredded cheddar cheese.

Recipe Tips

• This soup is a great way to use leftover rice. Or, cook your rice in a separate pot and add near the end of the soup’s cooking time so it doesn’t soak up all of the broth. Be sure to check out my tips on how to cook rice perfectly every time.
• Don’t cook the rice in the broth as it will absorb too much liquid and make this soup too thick.
• Break the beef into bite-size pieces but don’t make them tooooo small. You still want to enjoy chunks of beef alongside chunks of the bell pepper.

Ingredient Substitutions

• Swap 1 or 2 of the green bell peppers for another color like red, yellow, or orange
• Instead of the fresh tomatoes use a 15-ounce can diced tomatoes in its juice
• Add some chopped Savoy cabbage
• Try cooked orzo instead of cooked rice, or omit the rice if you’re looking to cut carbs
• Swap the ground beef for ground turkey
• To make this soup vegetarian, use a concentrated vegetable base instead of beef base, and add white beans or pinto beans in place of the ground beef
• Serve with a dollop of sour cream if you like

Storage Tips

This stuffed pepper soup will keep stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. You can also freeze this soup for up to 3 months.

What to Serve With Stuffed Pepper Soup

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

This stuffed pepper soup recipe comes together so easily on the stove, with very little work, and it has all of the classic savory flavors you love from stuffed peppers, all in a hearty, comforting soup.

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Course Soup

Cuisine American

Keyword stuffed pepper soup

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Calories 244kcal

Ingredients 

½x1x2x3x

• 1 pound 85% lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt , divided
• ½ yellow onion , chopped
• 1 celery stalk , chopped
• 2 cloves garlic , pressed or minced to make 1 tablespoon
• 3 green bell peppers , seeded and chopped
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 2 Roma tomatoes , seeded and chopped
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons concentrated beef base
• 6 cups water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 ½ cups cooked rice
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

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Instructions

• In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, brown the ground beef over medium-high, breaking it into small pieces, about 5 minutes. Season the beef with ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Add the onion, celery, and garlic and cook until the onion softens, 3-4 more minutes. Add the green pepper and cook for another 3 minutes.

• Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute to lose its raw flavor. Add the tomatoes and beef base and stir well to combine. Season with freshly ground black pepper and the rest of the salt Add the water and bay leaf, then bring to a boil and return to a simmer. Skim any foam from the soup, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.

• Stir in the cooked rice. Cook until the rice is warmed through, 3-4 minutes. Taste for seasoning and serve topped with shredded cheddar cheese.

Nutrition

Calories: 244kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 53mg | Sodium: 947mg | Potassium: 410mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 565IU | Vitamin C: 41mg | Calcium: 131mg | Iron: 2mg

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