Stuffed Peppers with Beef Paella! Filling, delicious and nutritious, bell peppers are a great vehicle for pasta, rice, vegetables and protein. This stuffed pepper recipe works well with red, yellow, orange or green bell peppers. Stuffed green peppers are my favorite!
This bell pepper recipe came together because we had an abundance of bell peppers, hello Costco trip, and I decided I wanted to stuff and bake them. After rummaging through my pantry and discovering a half bag of paella rice and some saffron, hooray, this all came together. I made this dish yesterday on my Instagram stories and got some feedback from some of you. Let me just say this is not meant to be an authentic Spanish paella dish. I literally just threw this together based on what I had here at home and, in order to save some time, I make the paella a little faster.
Stuffed Peppers with Beef Paella
This recipe is simply meant to be a recipe to share with your loved ones. A recipe to feed people. A dish for people to make if they are looking for a tasty dinner idea, but don’t have all the time nor the ingredients on hand to make a more authentic paella recipe.
And, although this recipe is amazing, I will caveat the recipe and technically refer to it as a Stuffed Peppers with a Beef Paella mixture (if that makes you happy). Again, this is not traditional paella and my only hope is that this recipe can feed people and make them happy. Click for a more traditional seafood paella recipe.
I hope you enjoy!
Stuffed Peppers with Beef Paella
Ingredients
For the Paella:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
- 1 medium sized onion finely diced
- 2 large carrots finely diced
- 3 stalks celery finely diced
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic minced or finely chopped
- 1 lb. lean ground beef
- salt and pepper
- 2 to 3 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads ground
- 1 (14.5 oz.) can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 2 cups medium-grain Spanish paella rice
- 3 cups beef stock
- 2 to 3 cups fresh baby spinach
For the Stuffed Peppers:
- 3 to 4 bell peppers assorted
- olive oil
- fresh parsley finely diced
Instructions
For the Paella:
- Using a paella pan, large pan or Dutch oven over medium high heat, heat the olive oil and add in the diced onions and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add in the carrots and celery and continue cooking for a few more minutes, or until tender. Add in the garlic and stir to incorporate.
- Add the lean ground beef and cook until all browned and cooked through. Season with salt and pepper and the smoked paprika and the saffron threads. Stir to incorporate and mix everything together. Pour in the fire roasted diced tomatoes and the paella rice and stir everything together, making sure the rice is coated and incorporated with everything.
- Pour in the beef stock; you want to add enough so that the rice mixture is barely covered. Bring everything to a boil, then turn the heat to low and let simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If some of the rice sticks to the bottom, that's fine. This will create some nice crispy bits (this is actually my favorite part). Lastly, turn the heat off and stir in the fresh spinach; the spinach will wilt and soften quickly. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.
For the Stuffed Peppers:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet or you can use a casserole baking dish. Prep the bell peppers: slice each bell pepper in half lengthwise and remove and discard the seeds.
- Place all of the bell peppers halves into your baking dish and fill them with the beef paella mixture. Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes. I prefer my peppers to have more of a bite so I like to only bake mine for 18 to 20 minutes. If you prefer softer and more tender bell peppers, bake them for 5 minutes longer.
- Remove from the oven. Drizzle with a finishing olive oil, or good quality olive oil, and garnish with some parsley. Serve and enjoy!
If you are looking for a sauce or topping for this stuffed pepper recipe, I would highly recommend serving with this chimichurri sauce
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