Peperoni ripieni, Italian stuffed peppers, are a complete main course from home cooking. The pepper is the container, and the filling brings meat, bread and cheese. They take about 25 minutes to prepare, then the oven does the work for around 50 more. This is the baked version with mozzarella and whole peeled tomatoes, the one in the photo: red and yellow pepper halves, a soft filling and a whole tomato on top that melts as it bakes and keeps the meat moist. In Italy it is a late-summer and early-autumn dish, made while garden peppers are still in season.
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 4 large bell peppers, red and yellow (about 1 kg / 2.2 lb)
- 400 g (14 oz) ground meat, half beef and half pork
- 60 g (2 oz) stale bread, crusts removed (2 slices)
- 100 ml (scant ½ cup) milk
- 1 egg
- 50 g (½ cup) grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- 150 g (5 oz) mozzarella, well drained, or provolone
- 1 can (400 g / 14 oz) whole peeled tomatoes
- 1 garlic clove
- a small bunch of flat-leaf parsley and a few basil leaves
- extra virgin olive oil, salt, black pepper
How to make Italian stuffed peppers
- Prepare the peppers. Wash them, cut them in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and white ribs. Leave the stem on: it helps each half keep its shape in the oven. Heat the oven to 190 °C (375 °F), conventional setting.
- Soak the bread. Tear it into the milk, leave it for 5 minutes, then squeeze it out well with your hands.
- Make the filling. In a bowl, combine the meat, the squeezed bread, the egg, the Parmigiano, the finely minced garlic and the chopped parsley and basil. Season with salt and pepper and mix by hand until soft and even. Dice the mozzarella and work half of it into the mixture.
- Fill the peppers. Divide the filling among the 8 pepper halves, pressing it well against the sides. Fill them to the rim without piling it high: the meat firms up and releases its juices as it cooks.
- Set up the dish. Crush half of the tomatoes with a fork, season them with a little olive oil and salt and spread them over the bottom of a baking dish. Arrange the peppers on top, close together. Place a whole peeled tomato on each half, or half a tomato if they are large, and finish with a drizzle of oil.
- Bake covered. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. The steam softens the peppers without drying out the meat.
- Finish uncovered. Remove the foil, scatter over the rest of the mozzarella and bake for another 20 minutes, until the peppers are tender at the edges and the cheese has melted.
- Let them rest. Leave the peppers out of the oven for 10 minutes before serving. The filling settles and the sauce in the dish thickens.
Tips for a juicy filling
Bread soaked in milk is what keeps the filling tender. It holds on to the meat juices during baking, while dry breadcrumbs soak them up and make the filling dense. The choice of meat matters too: beef alone tends to dry out, and the pork adds the fat needed to get through nearly an hour in the oven.
The tomato on top is not just for looks. It shields the surface of the meat from direct heat and seasons it as it melts. To check that the filling is cooked, cut into one at the centre: it should no longer be pink. With a kitchen thermometer, the core of the filling should reach about 70 °C (160 °F).
Which peppers to choose
Pick large peppers with thick flesh. Blocky, four-lobed bell peppers stand up on their own and hold their shape in the oven. In Italy the reference varieties are the Quadrato d’Asti and the Quadrato di Carmagnola, two historic square peppers from Piedmont. Long, thin horn-shaped peppers cook faster and work better in a pan.
Colour changes the result as well. Red and yellow peppers are fully ripe and sweeter. Green ones are picked earlier and taste grassier, slightly bitter. Mixing red and yellow in the same dish, as in the photo, also looks good on the table. Italian field-grown peppers are in season from July to October.
Regional versions and meat-free fillings
Every Italian region has its own take. In Campania, peperoni ‘mbuttunati are filled with stale bread, olives, capers and anchovies, with no meat at all. In Sicily the filling is made with toasted breadcrumbs, pine nuts, raisins and caciocavallo cheese. If you want to stick with meat, replace half of the ground meat with crumbled Italian sausage for more flavour, or add a diced eggplant sautéed in a pan beforehand. For a lighter version, use veal or turkey and add a little more soaked bread.
What wine to pour
Tomato and pepper call for a wine with good acidity, and the meat for some body. The easiest match is a young red with soft tannins: a Barbera d’Asti, a Sangiovese di Romagna, a young Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. The meat-free Campanian version also pairs well with a savoury white such as Falanghina.
Where to taste them in Italy: farm stay restaurants
An agriturismo is a working farm that hosts guests, and many have their own restaurant. There the kitchen follows the vegetable garden and the calendar. In late summer and early autumn peppers are among the vegetables in season, and stuffed vegetables belong to the tradition of many Italian country kitchens. On Agriturismi.it you can search farm stays with a restaurant by region and province. October is also the month of the olive harvest and new olive oil, so a weekend in the countryside can bring the olive mill and the table together.
Italian stuffed peppers: frequently asked questions
How long do stuffed peppers with meat take to bake?
About 50 minutes at 190 °C (375 °F) in a conventional oven: 30 minutes covered with foil and 20 uncovered. In a fan oven, lower it to 175-180 °C (350 °F) with similar timings. They are ready when the peppers are tender at the edges and the centre of the filling is no longer pink.
Do you need to blanch the peppers before stuffing them?
It is not necessary. During the first half hour under foil the peppers soften in the steam. If you like them very soft, almost melting, blanch the halves for 3 minutes in salted water and dry them well before filling.
How do you keep the filling from drying out?
Three things: bread soaked in milk instead of breadcrumbs, a beef and pork mix, and a first bake under foil. The peeled tomato on top does the rest, protecting the meat and seasoning it as it melts.
Can you make them ahead?
Yes. You can fill them in the morning and keep them covered in the fridge until the evening; add 5-10 minutes to the baking time. Once cooked, they keep in the fridge for 2 days in a closed container. Reheat them at 160 °C (320 °F) for about 20 minutes, although they are also good just warm.
Can you freeze stuffed peppers?
Yes, preferably after baking. Once cool, seal them in an airtight container and freeze for up to 2-3 months. Thaw them in the fridge overnight and reheat in the oven. The peppers get softer after freezing, but the filling holds up well.