How To Make Orzo And Beef Stuffed Peppers

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Today I am going to share with you how to make orzo and beef stuffed peppers. It’s a fantastic dish that is full of flavor and common in many types of cuisine. You can easily make this ahead of time and make extra for the freezer. Plus there are a ton of different food combinations you can use to stuff the peppers to appeal to your taste.

What are stuffed peppers? Stuffed peppers are a dish that consists of hollowing out and/or cutting in half bell peppers. They are then stuffed with a variety of meat, rice, or pasta, a sauce, and then topped with cheese.

Stuffed peppers are also a great way to incorporate any leftover meat from pork, chicken, or beef roasts. Orzo is perfect in this dish because it holds its texture well and the pasta flavor nicely compliments the roasted meat.

When I cook roasts, I usually go big and have leftovers. I will portion out 1-2 pounds in freezer bags. See how I prep meat for the freezer here. In this recipe, I use 1 pound of beef roast meat that I had in the freezer.

Ingredients For Orzo And Beef Stuffed Peppers

• 5 Bell Peppers (any color you like), cut in half and scooped clean
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 pound cooked and shredded beef
• 1 lime, juiced
• 16 ounce bag of orzo
• Tomato Sauce topping
  • 5-6 Roma tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon oregano
  • Salt and pepper to taste
• Seasonings
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp curry powder
  • Salt and pepper to taste
• Handful of Colby jack cheese for the top

How To Begin Making Orzo And Beef Stuffed Peppers

Several things can be happening at one time to make this come together more efficiently. If you can multitask then this is perfect for you.

Step 1 Roast The Peppers

The first thing I do is ready the peppers. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Start by cutting them in half from stem to bottom creating two “boats”. Scoop out all the seeds and remove the stems.

Be sure to save your veggie scraps to make broth.

Check out my post on how to make broth here. Roast the peppers in the oven cut side up until tender. Mine took 30-40 minutes. Oven temps vary as well as the material of the pan you use. Metal cooks faster than glass or ceramic. Cooking the peppers before stuffing them ensures they will be tender and delicious when you are finished.

Step 2 Cook The Orzo

Set a pot of water on the stove to boil. Add about two teaspoons of salt once the water comes to a roiling boil. Once the water is ready, cook the orzo according to the package directions being sure to check the doneness at the end. You want to make sure your orzo is al dente (to the tooth) which means it still has some firmness to it. It will be further baked in the oven so this is important.

Step 3 Sautee The Onions And Beef

While you wait for the water to boil, use this time to cut up your onion to the size you prefer. Set a cast iron skillet (or whatever skillet you like) over medium heat and melt about 2 tablespoons of butter. Add in the diced onions and sprinkle with a dash of salt. This releases the moisture in the onions and allows them to brown.

Let the onions cook for five or so minutes and add in the cooked shredded beef. If you forget to thaw it that’s ok. Just run it under hot tap water for a minute and add it to the skillet and cover. Check it often. You don’t need to cook the beef just warm it in with the onions. Add a splash of water if you think it is too dry.

After your onions and beef are cooked and warmed add in your orzo and reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Stir the mixture around to meld all the flavors together. Then take your lime and squeeze the juice into your filling. The lime adds a bright note to the overall flavor profile.

Step 4 Make The Tomato Sauce

Make the tomato sauce. You can absolutely buy tomato sauce or canned petite diced tomatoes (I would not use pasta sauce). However, it is just as easy to get out your blender and make a homemade sauce.

Take 5-6 fresh Roma tomatoes and cut off the tops and then cut them in half. Throw them into the blender. Add a bit of sugar, salt, pepper, and oregano. You can also add jalapenos for some heat.

Blend it up until it is smooth and pour it into a small saucepan. Simmer for about 10 minutes while other things are cooking.

Step 5 Putting Together Orzo And Beef Stuffed Peppers

Take your roasted peppers and arrange them in your baking dish and/or freezer container. These 9×7-inch aluminum pans work great for a lot of my freezer meals. Put six halved bell peppers in the main 9×13 dish and four in the freezer container. I usually make one for us and one for my mom’s freezer or in this case my niece when she has her baby. (She did and I am a Great Aunt!!)

After you put the peppers in, take your orzo mixture and stuff them. Feel free to stuff them as full as you like. After I took this photo, I topped them with the remainder of the stuffing.

Next, you will take your homemade tomato sauce and pour that over your peppers as evenly as you can. Adding the sauce brings all of the components of this dish together.

Finally, you will bake your peppers. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bake covered with aluminum foil for 30-40 minutes. Take it out of the oven and top it with a handful of shredded cheese. You can use any cheese you like, cheddar, Colby jack, Monterey jack, southwest blend, parmesan… whatever tickles your fancy. Return the pan to the oven and bake uncovered for an additional 10 minutes.

Wrapping Up Orzo And Beef Stuffed Peppers

These orzo and beef stuffed peppers are the ultimate comfort food. In addition to that, they are great for make-ahead freezer meals and incredibly versatile with ingredients. Instead of orzo, use long-grain rice, wild rice, quinoa, barley, couscous, or riced cauliflower. For the meat, use ground beef, diced ham, shredded or rotisserie chicken, or pulled pork. For the topping instead of tomato sauce try a bechamel sauce. I show you how to make one for my homemade mac and cheese.

We would love to know how you do your stuffed peppers over here at Inspired Homemaker. Share your story in the comments below. Please take a moment and consider subscribing and never miss another post!

Cheers,

Sarah

How To Make Orzo And Beef Stuffed Peppers Recipe

Yield: 10 servings

Orzo And Beef Stuffed Peppers

Print

These stuffed peppers are filled to the top with perfectly cooked orzo and shredded beef. Smothered in a fresh tomato sauce and topped with cheese, these are a dinner favorite that the whole family will enjoy.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Additional Time 10 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 5 Bell Peppers (any color you like), cut in half and scooped clean
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 pound cooked and shredded beef
• 1 lime, juiced
• 16 ounce bag of orzo
• Tomato Sauce topping
• 5-6 Roma tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Seasonings
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Handful of colby jack cheese for the top

Instructions

1. Rinse, seed and cut your bell peppers in half. Place cut side up onto the baking sheet and cook in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. While these cook, work on the filling.
2. Set a large pot of water to boil and add a heaping teaspoon of salt. Boil the orzo according to package directions for al dente. You want them to still be a bit firm.
3. Blend tomatoes, sugar, oregano and salt and pepper. Transfer to a small pot and simmer while you prep the filling.
4. In a large skillet melt butter and sauté the onions until translucent. Add in the cooked shredded beef and stir together on low heat for 5 or so minutes.
5. When the orzo is ready add that to the meat and onion mixture. Squeeze in the juice of one lime. Stir well to meld all the flavors together. Take off the heat.
6. Take the peppers out of the oven and arrange six of them in a 9x13 baking dish cut side up. This recipe makes an additional pan with 4 peppers for the freezer or if feeding a crowd.
7. Take your orzo beef mixture and stuff the halved peppers as full as you like. Doesn't have to be neat.
8. Pour the tomato sauce over the peppers.
9. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 20-30 minutes. Take out of the oven and sprinkle with cheese. Return to the oven and bake uncovered for an additional 10 minutes.

Notes

You can make any variety and quantity you like with this dish. It is very easily adjusted to suit your tastes. Use any kind of meat from pulled pork to shredded chicken or for a more traditional style use ground beef. For the carbohydrate try long grain or wild rice or even couscous.

Cooking dishes like this allows you to get creative in the kitchen. I love mixing things up with different ingredients and spices.

These pans can be made ahead of time, covered and put in the refrigerator to bake later. Up to 2 days.

Wrap up tightly to freeze.

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